Greater Ani: Panama Canal, Gamboa, Panama, July 2022 — Another new bird for me on this trip to Panama, the Greater Ani is a mostly South American bird who’s range reaches just to the Canal in Panama. This is one big ani! And, in good light, it has an interesting blue sheen to the body and wings. In Panama its range overlaps with both Smooth-billed and Grove-billed Ani, but it seems to be more closely associated with slow moving water…shallow lakes and rivers. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 640 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Limpkin: Panama Canal, Gamboa, Pamana, July 2022 (near Canopy Tower) — From the numbers of Limpkins and Snail Kites seen along the Panama Canal, you would suspect that the waters are rich in Apple Snails…and indeed they are. The Limpkin is a tropical bird, common from the Amazon basin to Florida, wherever there are significant concentrations of Apple Snails…and it’s beak is adapted specifically to extract snails from their shells. It is the only member of its family…most closely related to rails and cranes. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 640 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Magnificent Frigatebird and Brown Booby: Panama Canal, Gamboa, Panama, July 2022 — Frigatebirds are common in the air over the Pacific coast of Panama but I did not expect to see them sitting on a buoy in the middle of the Canal. And even our guide did not expect to see the Brown Booby sitting with them. 🙂 That is part of the fun of birding of course…expecting the unexpected. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Frigatebird ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th, Booby ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/800th.

Striated Heron: Panama Canal, Gamboa, Panama (near Canopy Tower), July 2022 — I might have said this before, but I was surprised by the number of new birds I saw in Panama this trip. I have birded in Panama twice before, in Bocas del Toro both times, and I birded in extreme southern Costa Rica last December, but still there are a lot of birds I either missed, or that reach their northern limits in area of the Canal Zone in Panama. Turns out the Striated Heron is found pretty much all around the world in the tropics on either side of the equator, ranging further south in South American and Africa, and further north in Pacific Asia. It used to be considered the same species as the Green Heron, and if you lump the ranges of both birds that would extend the range to all of North America and Europe. Truly a bird found on every continent. I actually saw this same bird, according to some authorities, on the Galapagos, where it is called the Galapagos Heron. Those who still consider this heron to be a single species, wherever it is found, still call it the Green-backed Heron, which, if your birding memory goes back beyond the 1990s, is what we used to call the Green Heron when we saw one in North America. 🙂 Interestingly, on the Canal we saw both Green Herons and Striated Herons. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 500 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Black-bellied Whistling Duck: Panama Canal, Gamboa, Panama, July 2022 — There were large flocks of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks on the Canal. We see them, of course, in South Texas, so they are not new to me, but they are certainly a handsome bird, and it was my first sighting from a small boat, and certainly my closest approach. Sony Rx10iv at 586mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 400 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Wattled Jacana: Panama Canal, Gamboa, Panama (near Canopy Tower), July 2022 — The Wattled Jacana is primarily a South American bird, with a range east of the Andes, but it reaches its northern limits in Panama. There are apparently two forms, not separated by location, but rather by “population”. This is the black-backed variety. There is also a chestnut-backed variety that looks more like a Northern Jacana. Both have the distinctive red “wattle” above the yellow beak, and the yellow underside of the wings…as well as the bright yellow bone spur or spike at the angle of the wing. The theory is that the spike is used for defense. You can see the spike in the photo with the wings extended. We saw Jacanas everywhere from our small boat on the Panama Canal, walking on the water plants in the shallows. We were able to drift up quite close. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 1000 and 640 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Green Heron: Panama Canal near Canopy Tower, Gamboa, Panama — On my first full day at the Canopy Lodge, the morning activity was a boat ride on the Panama Canal, which, I will admit, did not sound very exciting to me when I first heard it. I had totally the wrong mental image of the canal. I was thinking a narrow cut through the landscape, something like the canals of Europe, or the Erie Canal, which was the closest canal to me growing up. The Panama Canal is nothing like. The Panama Canal is mostly lakes…larger bodies of water with deep channels for the ships, and lots of little bays and islands and small streams coming in from the sides that you can poke a small boat with an outboard up to explore. It is not contained by concrete (except a little at the locks). And the boat ride was one of the best outings of my time at Canopy Tower. We saw a lot of birds, and both Howler and White-faced Capuchin monkeys, most very close to the boat. We saw so many Green Herons, both adult and juvenile, that I eventually stopped taking photos of them. They were everywhere! Especially the juveniles. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos.