Posts in Category: Panama
Three-toed Sloth
Three-toed Sloth, Tranquilo Bay, Panama
The poor Sloth has gotten a bad name…or rather the Sloth’s name has be used to name one of the least desirable of human characteristics. I think. I would hate to think it was the other way around. Just imagine if the Sloth had been named the “Leisure” or the “Relax” or even the “Sleepy”…the Sleepy Bear…how great would that be! For the Sloth anyway. This Three-toed Sloth was high in the canopy at the local chocolate farm, across the channel from Tranquilo Bay Lodge…one of the regular tour destinations from the lodge for a variety of more mainland rainforest birds…birds that do not cross the water to Tranquilo Bay.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/80th @ ISO 800 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Poison Dart Frogs
Several varieties of the same species of Poison Dart Frog, and one of another species.
There is a spot on the bigger island, closer to the mainland, in the Bocas Del Torro archipelago, where a number of color morphs of one species of Poison Dart frog coexist. This is unusual. It is not a place you are going to find, or to want to go, unless you are with the excellent guides at Tranquilo Bay Lodge. And there is a second species there as well. (The black and yellow frog is the second species…all the others are the same species.) These are tiny frogs…not the Amazon Poison Dart Frogs you have seen on Nat Geo. They are about a half inch long at best. They hop about in the leaf litter all over the forest floor. The black and yellow frog has a large cluster of tadpoles on her back. She is ferrying them high into the canopy, where she will deposit them in a bromeliad. She will then tend and feed them until they morph into frogs, at which point they will then climb back down to the forest floor to live and breed. Very interesting!
Because of the low light under the heavy canopy, I had to use the flash for all these images, and because of size of the frogs (and how fast they are), all the images are cropped from full frame. Nikon P900. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Phototastic Pro.
Masked Tityra
Masked Tityra, Tranquilo Bay, Panama
Despite heavy rains, I am still having lots of fun at Tranquilo Bay. The birds are right here off the deck, and yesterday I got to photograph poison dart frogs for several hours and we made it out to a Manakin leck to see males displaying and defending their little patches of bare earth in the jungle. Great stuff! This is a Masked Tityra, one of two Tityras in the area. Such a bird! About the size of a robin and related to the tropical flycatchers. You might see the overall resemblance to our Kiskadee.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/125th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Topaz Denoise and Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Blue Dacnis
Blue Dancis, Tranquilo Bay, Panama
After lunch we set out to find the Manakin leck, but we never got off the deck of the Lodge at Tranquilo Bay. Between migrants coming through in good numbers (warblers and flycatchers that I will seen in May in Ohio), and the native tropical birds there was just too much to see and photograph. The light was not at best…but what a delight. There can not be many places in Central America that are better for bird photography than the deck at Tranquilo Bay. 🙂
This is a Blue Dancis, the male. The female is not so intense but more colorful…with much more green on the body and a turquoise head. The daughter of one of the partners in the Lodge calls this bird “bluest of the blue”. I can see why.
Nikon P900 at 1600mm equivalent field of view. 1/125th at ISO 400 @ f6.3. Processed in Topaz Denoise and Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.