Back in the town of El Real we had a few more birds to see so we dedicated our last half-day to finding some lowland specials, especially Spot-breasted Woodpecker which I didn't want to miss. But first, we got up SUPER early because Isaac was keen to show me some night birds. We could not lure in the Great Potoo so that was a sore miss, but a nice consolation was this Tropical Screech Owl.
The whole morning was spent searching for the Spot-breasted Woodpecker, but it proved elusive. We walked and walked and walked until the heat of the day, but didn't give up. Finally, we heard/saw one quite far away and called it in with the speaker. It was an epic triumph, plus a Pearl Kite showed up which is an even better bird and quite a surprise. Panama birding is full of surprises and the diversity of birds is insane.
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| Black Oropendola doing his upside-down dance |
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| Yellow-hooded Blackbird (NOT Yellow-headed!) |
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| Spot-breasted Woodpecker |
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| Pearl Kite |
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| We had to lie down in the shade after that! |
In Yaviza I parted ways with Isaac, deciding to explore Los Saltos Road and Fajas Blancas on my own, using ebird for guidance. I got an air-conditioned room for a fair price at the Hotel Bellagio, recommended by an American guiding for one of the birding companies. Unfortunately, the hotel was keeping these red-and-green macaws in a cage. I need to figure out how to report this to the proper authorities as it must be illegal.
I had also developed some strange itchy spots identical to poison ivy rashes, some of which exuded a clear/yellow liquid. I thought it could be a rash from a plant, but maybe it was sandflies? The weird thing was they were only on my lower legs and not my arms.
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| One of many lonely dinners |
I woke up bright and early for a drive down El Salto road, but there was a little incident on the way. Right after I'd slowed down to let a pickup pass me, an animal darted between our two vehicles, and I hit it - or so I thought. It passed between my two front tires and I heard my front bumper strike the top of the animal. "Oh no! I just killed a TAMANDUA!" I thought. I pulled over to see if I needed to finish it off, questioning whether I should have breaked harder, swerved, etc. Well it turned out the tamandua seemed fine, it was was walking around and climbing up a tree. I hope it is still alive out there.
My drive down El Salto was pretty decent, bagging a few more lifers like White-eared Conebill and Golden-green Woodpecker, which we'd missed in the Darien. Without Isaac's ears I had my work cut out for me, trying to figure out what all these different calls were. I had quite a few recordings David Bell had given me, but by no means all the birds of Panama. You definitely need a guide in Panama, but affording one for each day was impossible. Here are a few more highlights from El Salto:
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| Habitat along El Salto Road |
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| Gray-headed Chachalaca |
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| Purple-crowned Fairy |
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| Golden-green Woodpecker |
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| Howler Monkeys |
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