Monthly Archives: July 2022
Black Hawk Eagle
Black Hawk Eagle: Canopy Tower, Panama, July 2022 — As we were driving down from the Tower on my first full birding day at Canopy Tower in Panama, I glimpsed a raptor sitting in a dead snag across the sharp little valley of the stream that that road follows down, silhouetted against the overcast sky. My immediate reaction was Crested Hawk Eagle as, at the moment I saw it, it had its crest raised. (The Crested Hawk Eagle is actually an African Bird…though the name was commonly used for what is now called the Ornate Hawk Eagle in Central America.) We were in the Canopy Tower Birdmobile…a 4 wheel drive pick-up with two bench seats mounted back to back in the open bed of the truck, facing left and right. I pounded on the roof of the cab and called out Hawk Eagle to make the driver stop. We backed up until we re-found the gap in the foreground foliage that gave us the best view of the bird. It was, indeed, a Hawk Eagle, and it did have a crest…but it was the Black Hawk Eagle…and perched…a rare sight indeed! The photo is not great…but the bird was far away against the cloudy sky in poor light and barely visible through foreground foliage…so, all in all, after some serious post-processing, I am pleased with a record shot. There would be people who doubted we saw what we saw without it 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. (In the original the bird is so heavily silhouetted that you can see no detail at all, and tiny in the frame.) ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus 1EV exposure compensation.
Geoffroy’s Tamarin
Geoffroy’s Tamarin: Canopy Tower, Panama, July 2022 — Tamarins are among the smallest of primates, and the Geoffroy’s is small for a Tamarin (1.1 pounds). It is also the only Tamarin in Panama. There are at least three families of Tamarin’s who live on Semaphore Hill and visit the Canopy Tower several times a day. The kitchen and dinning staff enjoy putting out bananas for them, sending the bananas out on a kind of pulley string to a branch at eye-level, or swinging a banana out on a string to drape over an even closer branch. If there are no bananas out, a single Tamarin may come and wait for one, but as soon as the banana appears the whole family comes running through the canopy to join in. At first glance the Tamarins are more cat-like than monkey-like, but they have long prehensile tails and definitely use their “hands” as we do, for grasping and grooming, and generally holding on to things. They are always calling to each other, and their habit of pulling their lips back to show their row of tiny, very sharp teeth, give them a somewhat fierce appearance. They are great fun to watch as they clamber over the trees, and each other. One of the families had a two “toddlers” and they are, if possible, even cuter than the the adults. Sony Rx10iv at various focal lengths for framing. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos.
Stripe-throated Hermit Hummingbird
Stripe-throated Hermit Hummingbird: Canopy Tower, Panama, July 2022 — The Stripe-throated Hermit is a hard hummingbird to photograph. They rarely perch, and when they do it is in deep cover well away from any feeders. I caught this one momentarily perched on a feeder in the courtyard of the Canopy Tower lodge in Panama. Though I don’t like, or often post, feeder shots, this shot is exceptional (at least among my shots) in that it shows this tiny hummer in all its fine detail. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications with multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 5000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
White-vented Plumeleteer
White-vented Plumeleteer: Canopy Tower, Panama, July 2022 — Another hummingbird from the courtyard at Canopy Tower, and another new bird for me on this trip. I have seen the Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer in Costa Rica, but the White-vented does not get that far north, and in Panama is limited to the east haft of the country, from the Canal Zone to the Darian. The plumeleteer is a fairly large hummingbird, and the brilliant green certainly makes it stand out. My Panama Birds app has it as rare but also a species of least concern from a conservation standpoint. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 3200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Blue-chested Hummingbird
Blue-chested Hummingbird: After my orientation and my welcome by the Red-lored Parrots from the top floor dinning area and lounge of the Canopy Tower, I went down to ground level to check on the hummingbirds I had glimpsed between the van and the door of the Tower on my way in. There were at least 5 species coming to the feeders they have out in the front courtyard. This is the Blue-chested Hummingbird, a new hummer for me on this trip. Blue-chested is an optimistic name for the species, as it it hard to see the blue…I see it as more of a light purple wash, and more of a bib than a chest orniment, in most light. Not as flashy as some hummers but still a beautiful bird. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 2000 and 1000 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Minus .3EV.
Fleischmann’s Glass Frog
Fleischmann’s Glass Frog: Canopy Lodge, Panama, July 2022 — One of my favorite things to do in the tropics is to go out at night with a flashlight looking for frogs (and whatever else we find). I was particularly eager at the Canopy Lodge in Panama because Glass Frogs live on the property. I have seen a few different species of Glass Frogs in Costa Rica, but only when Cope has brought them in for photography at his place. I was hoping to encounter one “in the wild” in Panama. Tino, my guide at the Lodge, was pretty confident he could find me some around the ponds on the far side of the stream, and indeed he did…three individuals and a couple of egg clusters. Fleischmann’s Glass. Frog is one of the smaller Glass Frogs…at under one inch, the smallest I have seen so far. All Glass Frogs shelter on the underside of leaves in the rain and it had just stopped raining when we went out, so we did a lot of peaking under leaves. These were hiding along the small stream that runs out from the lower swimming pool/pond. The egg cluster was about 20 times as big as either frog. There are fertile eggs in the cluster, and infertile. The tadpoles first meal will be the infertile eggs. The call of this Glass Frog is a sharp “wheeet” and, as you can see from the inflated call sacks, they were calling almost continuously…trying to attract females and defending their small territories. Sony Rx10iv at 330mm to 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Taken by the light of a led flashlight. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos.
Black-crowned Antpitta
Black-crowned Antpitta: Canopy Lodge, Panama, July 2022 — The Antpittas are all smallish birds that stay pretty close to the ground in the dense undergrowth of old growth rainforest through Central and South America, where they follow Army Ant swarms and feast on other ants of the forest. Most are listed as “rare”, but I think that is due mainly to how difficult they are to see. The Black-crowned ranges through most of Panama, and is found in Columbia and Costa Rica as well. We found this one in dense forest on the edge of the huge chicken farm above Canopy Lodge. And of course, photographing an antpitta is always a challenge…down low in heavy undergrowth, with limited lines of sight,and never enough light. They do have the habit of hopping up on a log and running the length of it…every antpitta I have seen, we first spotted when it did that. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 6400 @ f4 @ 1/20th and 1/25th. Plus .3 EV.
Aplomado Falcon!
Aplomado Falcon: Las Uvas, Panama, July 2022 — We were on our way back to the highway when Tino spotted this bird in a tree right beside the road. I was cooperative enough so we could park up and get out and walk a bit closer. It eventually flew off, only to land on a tree further down the road with it mate. I have see a few of the reintroduced population in South Texas and New Mexico, but this was a first for Central America. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixomator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/800th. Plus 1EV exposure compensation.
Lance-tailed Manakin
Lance-tailed Manakin: Las Uvas, Panama, July 2022 — Another bird we had to work for, walking long sections of dirt road and checking frequently, but well worth it when we finally got good views. All credit to Tino, my guide. We drove up and over the mountains from Canopy Lodge and down to the Pacific Wetlands. What a bird! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 4000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Rosy Thrush-Tanager
Rosy Thrush-Tanager: Canopy Lodge, Panama, July 2022 — We (or at least my guide, Tino) worked hard for this bird. We visited three locations around Canopy Lodge, and heard them each place, before fining one that would come out for a photo. Tino has more patience that I have for this kind of thing, but the wait was worth it. 🙂 Conditions were not ideal. These were taken from under an umbrella in moderate rain. Still a beautiful bird and unique among Tanagers in spending more time on the ground than in the foliage…hence the Thrush part of the name. The female, which I got a glimpse of, is orange where the male is rose red. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Equivalent ISO 5000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.