I am in love with birding at Canopy Lodge! Right now I am blogging from the outdoor library while being serenaded by a rushing stream, frogs and something that sounds like a screech owl but I just learned is actually a type of toad, a bufo marinus (Yo, Non Birding Bill--that's a Cane Toad to you--lol). The birding is leisurely, this is not like one of the media trips that I sometimes take and it's go go GO! There's ciesta time between trips, there's decent internet access, there are things like a herd of blue-gray tanagers at the feeders:
I can't believe it has taken me this long to figure out to bring the Wingscapes camera on my trips. It took over 1300 photos today and most of them are awesome--check out all those freakin' blue-gray tanagers. There were a total of 20 in this particular flock. It's like a tray full of bluebirds.
I think the guides here are going to spoil me rotten. Today, our guide Tino (who is a living, breathing iPod, he can whistle just about every bird in Panama) got all of us our target birds. As soon as he had his scope set on a bird, he'd set mine up in three seconds flat--and my scope is a different brand. I was able to digiscope way more this trip because of him.
Like this blue-capped motmot that Tino found lurking in the canopy. I hardly saw motmots on my trip to Guatemala (heard them like crazy, but rarely saw them). Today, my first day, I have seen three. I'm going to hold off on photos of the other two in the hopes that I get better ones.
The views when we can see through the canopy are outstanding, we're surrounded by mountains and humidity--good grief, my hair hasn't been this big since 1992. That's the nice thing about humidity for me. My hair can go either straight or wavy depending on the type of product I put in, so I usually have to decide what to do with my hair in the morning. Here, humidity decides for me and doesn't take "no" for an answer. Everything is so green and so noisy. In Minnesota, all is white and silent: no leaves rustling in wind, the water is all frozen so no babbling stream--same goes for frogs and toads. Ah, nature noise, I love it so.
And, I was going to hold off an showing this photo but I'm too excited:
I haven't been in Panama for 24 hours and I walked under a wild sloth and digiscoped the cute little bugger! And you can that this is a three toed sloth. Oh sloth, you look so amiable, so unlike the disapproving rabbit I come home to every night. It moved slow, it stretched up, it half-heartedly scratched its wrist (which makes me now wonder if sloth ever get bot flies), it just did all the slothy things you would hope a sloth would do on a nature program. I wanted to ask for his autograph. I can't believe we got a sloth so soon.
I can't wait to see what tomorrow (and the rest of my time here holds). Be prepared for random photos from my Wingscapes Cam. I have lots and need to share.