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.