Toucan Terrace

Below our terrace at Cerro Azul a large bare tree was ripe for being a toucan hang-out. We watched for several days with nothing. Then yesterday Cindy called out, "They're here!" We saw a total of 8 Keel-billed Toucans roosting and displaying around the tree. I grabbed a quick videoscope shot.

Then today I read The Birdchick note about how the birds regulate body temperature with the large bill.

First Walk on the Xenornis Trail

Cerro Azul borders on the Chagres National Forest, which explains much about the richness and diversity of the birdlife here. In A Bird-Finding Guide to Panama by Angehr, Engleman & Engleman, a recommended hike is along the Xenornis Trail. This trail is within the Chagres N.F., and a road leading to the top of it is in C.A. We drove as far as we could up this muddy dirt road. Our low-slung little Yaris performed well considering that we have had rain on each of the last 3 afternoons, and one time it was torrential, first for about an hour from the SW (causing a small flood in the kitchen due to no grout at the base of floor-length windows and no awning above them) and then for another 40 minutes from the SE. Water was pouring off the corrugated tin roof in sheets, and would have filled several 50-gallon barrels, not just a few measly buckets.

After parking the vehicle we walked up the road toward the trailhead. We heard and saw several Western Slaty Antshrikes along the way, a Song Wren, a few tanagers, wrens and grassquits. We also heard a few songs that were completely unfamiliar to us. The singers remain a mystery - we could not see them. At the top of the road, we managed to find the Xenornis Trail - it was not obvious. It is overgrown, steep, muddy, slick, and we saw antbirds within the first 10 minutes. If you try it, we recommend the following equipment (other than bins): walking stick, sharp machete, laser pointer, sturdy hiking shoes with a good tread, mosquito repellent. We really enjoyed our hike - it felt wild in there with the Bicolored Antbirds,

Spotted Antbirds (Les's stills and video are of different individuals from Pipeline road), and a lot of ants. As we were hiking up and out, a seemingly curious Yellow-eared Toucanet (our 17th lifer of this trip) flew in and appeared to be carefully examining us from several perches just 8 to 10 feet above our heads. When we exited the forest onto the road, a kettle of 8 to 10 Swallow-tailed Kites was swirling above. Rain clouds were moving in, and not wanting to give any more challenges to the Yaris, we headed back to the car and drove to our apartment to replenish the bananas on the terrace.

House-hunting in Cerro Azul

We have looked at a few houses since our arrival in Panama. We saw two in Las Cumbres (a neighborhood on the edge of Panama City at a slightly higher elevation than the city) and have seen several in Cerro Azul, since we like the climate up here.

There is no Multiple Listing Service for houses in Panama - it's every man and woman for him- and her-self. An owner can advertise property for sale by placing an ad in a newspaper or online, or by a "Se Vende" sign at the front of the property, or through the use of a licensed real estate agent. We have heard that many of the houses in C.A. that are for sale are not listed anywhere, sometimes not even with a Se Vende sign. It's all word of mouth, through friends, neighbors, gardeners. So far, we have been using all the avenues mentioned above, and it is cumbersome. We have never searched for or bought a house before in any country - whether that makes it easier or more difficult, we do not know.

We have also been driving through the entire development up here in C.A. I think we have gone up and down every street, including every cul de sac, at least once. One place where we saw the Se Vende sign had fabulous habitat on the lot, but the house has obviously not been lived in for a long time. The paint on the outside is fresh, and there are tools and supplies strewn about that indicate efforts toward maintenance and upgrades, but much work would still need to be done to make it habitable. But the birds! Violaceous Trogon, Rufous-capped Warbler, Golden-hooded Tanager, Blue-gray Tanager, Crimson-backed Tanager, Thick-billed Euphonia, Plain-colored Tanager, Bay-headed Tanager, Palm Tanager, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Blue Dacnis, our lifer Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, Masked Tityra. It was a goldmine of birds, undoubtedly due to the yard being full of native trees, several of which were in bloom or fruit, and not a single pine tree. (C.A. was planted with pine trees several decades ago. We have heard stories about why this was done, among which are: because Panamanians are fond of pine trees, the pines were used as stabilizers for the steep hillsides, and because the pines reminded the Swiss expats of their homeland.) Admittedly, we have seen quite a few woodpeckers on the pines, but other than that, we don't like the pines here and when we do buy property, we will chop the pines and replace them with cecropia or other natives that the birds love.

We have been back to the "Mega-habitat House" several times, at various times of the day, and it always impresses us with the birds. But we are not sure we have the stomach and patience for major remodeling. We have been warned away from it since before we even began exploring in Panama. Contractors from hell (some would say all contractors are from there) are legendary in the U.S.A., but in Panama, it's reported to be worse.

So there are other houses that are "move-in ready" - we have seen a few, and we wonder if we could quickly make the yards more attractive to birds, so we would not have to wait too terribly long to create our own mega-habitat house. We saw a small house on a lot with mainly pines, but the little Geoffrey's Tamarins still came foraging along through the pines. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be in a yard full of pines for a year or so. Cecropias grow fast - 6 or more feet per year - maybe we could have a cecropia forest in a fairly short time.

The Terrace

Birding from the terrace of our apartment here in Cerro Azul is spectacular. The activity begins a few minutes before 6:00 each morning. First arrivals are usually small flocks of tanagers, then the flycatchers show up, along with a few hummingbirds, seedeater types, woodpeckers and the ever-present House Wrens.

Les began putting halved bananas on the wide railing of the terrace when we moved in here, and it took less than a day for the tanagers to discover this favored snack. He filled two of the long-ignored hummingbird feeders (5 or 6 were hanging empty and moldy when we arrived - nobody lives here full-time), and by the following morning, the hummers were chasing each other away from them.

The following list includes our "every day" terrace birds - species we can see within 25 feet of the terrace:

White-necked Jacobin, Snowy-bellied Hummingbird, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Red-crowned Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Common Tody-Flycatcher, Tropical Peewee, Social Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Gray-breasted Martin, House Wren, Plain Wren, Clay-colored Robin, Hepatic Tanager, Crimson-backed Tanager, Blue-gray Tanager, Palm Tanager, Thick-billed Euphonia, Plain-colored Tanager, Bay-headed Tanager, Golden-hooded Tanager (they arrive in noisy little flocks and are the most numerous species we see from the terrace), Blue Dacnis, Green Honeycreeper, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Variable Seedeater, Yellow-faced Grassquit.

On at least one day so far, we have also seen Keel-billed Toucan, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker (a Panama endemic), Bran-colored Flycatcher, Streaked Flycatcher, White-shouldered Tanager, Black-striped Sparrow, Giant Cowbird, and just a few minutes ago we saw a lifer from the office doorway - Shining Honeycreeper.

A couple of nights ago as it was getting dark, I was sweeping the terrace and accidently swept across the head of a long, slim snake that was mostly hidden by a log near the wall. It was another lifer - a beautiful and very docile Blunt-headed Tree Snake (Imantodes cenchoa).

Looking a little farther away (using a scope) we have seen White-faced Monkey. And we have heard the quavering calls of Great Tinamou.

It's hard to go anywhere else in the mornings with so much action just outside the doors, but getting up early enough to watch it is never a problem.

Jaguar just in.

This marvelous photo of a jaguar comes to us from Jackie & Greg Willis. They are educators/researchers working on Barro Colorado Island. This image is from one of the motion capture cameras they have set-up for their work. Greg saw one of these fantastic creatures many years ago. Now they have the documentary evidence that these cats swim from the mainland onto the island.

As Jackie told us...

"We hope that if more ecotourists like us are talking about jaguars in the Canal area as a reason to visit Panama, maybe the government will exert enough pressure to enforce the hunting laws. My Panamanian friends tell me about wealthy, high-placed Panamanians who are still gleefully taking trophies of jaguars and tapirs (and) other endangered species, totally illegal, and quite unstoppable. "

This intrepid couple is now working with Canopy Tower to place cameras for documenting their night creatures. Thanks to Jackie & Greg for all of their pioneering work.

Arrangements in Los Altos de Cerro Azul

videocapture of Vistamares © 2009 Leslie Lieurance

Cerro Azul is about 40 minutes from Tocumen International Airport, at an elevation of 2,500-3,000 feet above sea level. We will be staying here until August 22, when we head to the Canopy Lodge for a final 4 days of intensive birding before returning to San Francisco.

In December 2008, Les and I birded in Cerro Azul (C.A.) on just one late-December morning of our nearly 3-week Panama trip, but we were enchanted and impressed by the birding and the area. We knew we had to get back here, one way or another.

After we left the Canopy Tower on July 31, we got our rental car and did a little shopping on the way to C.A. We will be doing most of our own cooking, so we needed supplies. The first house we rented here was huge - up on a ridge with Swallow-tailed Kites overhead and windblown trees down the slope - but we felt we were just rattling around in there, even with Jorge to keep us company.

When Les met Paul (the landlord) at the office to take care of some business, he noticed a 2-bedroom apartment below the office. The little apartment is more our style and it has several advantages over the large house on the ridge. One is the internet availability in the office - no wireless, but we are allowed to use the service in the office whenever we want. (We had no internet availability at the large house!) Another is the show-stopping avian abundance just off the terrace. More on that later.

After 2 days at the big house, we took Jorge to Tocumen for his flight to Atlana, and then we spent 2 more days at the big house before moving to the apartment above the office.

Canopy Tower to Los Altos de Cerro Azul

White-whiskered Puffbird © 2009 Leslie Lieurance

Friday morning, July 31, we went on our final field trip at the Canopy Tower - today the weather was good and we drove to Plantation Road and took a nice walk up and back to the vehicle. We saw many species that are becoming regulars for us (most of them are still really exciting, though!), with the highlight on the way up being a male and a female White-whiskered Puffbird. (See Les's great video capture of the male.) On the walk back we got lucky with a small ant swarm. Jose, our guide again this morning, heard a Northern Barred-Woodcreeper and said there must be ants nearby. Sure enough - attending the swarm we saw a couple of the N. Barred-Woodcreepers, some Cocoa Woodcreepers, several Spotted Antbirds, White-bellied Antbirds, an Oscellated Antbird, Red-throated Ant-Tanagers. It was a good way to end the stay at the Canopy Tower.

Lorenzo drove us to Tocumen International Airport, where we picked up a rental car. The Toyota Yaris we got this time has a decent-sized trunk instead of a hatchback, so we had no trouble fitting in all the luggage for the three of us. The windows, except the front windshield, have black film on them - no need for sunglasses while in this vehicle.