Wednesday, February 16, 2011

PAS fieldtrip to Campo Chagres

Last sunday, february 13th, I guided the Panama Audubon Society (PAS) fieldtrip to Campo Chagres, in Chagres National Park. The group of PAS members included Itzel Fong, Javier Tejeira, Celeste Paiva, Michael Froude, Antonio Domínguez, Dona and Rick Pfarschner, and Jennifer Wolcott. After an early encounter at the meeting point, we departed to the site where Rolando, the park ranger, waited for us to open the gate. In the first part of the entrance road, the dry forest allowed views of interesting birds, including Gray-headed Kite, Collared Aracari, Yellow-backed and Baltimore Orioles, Scrub Greenlet, Cocoa Woodcreeper, Snowy-bellied Hummingbird, among others. Some others birds were only heard, including both Lance-tailed and Golden-collared Manakins and Rosy Thrush-Tanagers. We left the cars at the rangers' station and walked the trail to the lake, which was not as hot as I was expecting, surely because of the partially clouded day. We heard several species, but actually saw only a few of them, including a cooperative Blue-crowned Motmot for some of us, the noisy Red-throated Ant-Tanagers and a pair of Red-lored Amazons (file photo) perched in a Ficus tree. By the end, Jennifer wrote down the group list with her I-Pad, showing how the technology can help the birder in the field. We had a great time in this corner of Panama, and I had so much fun guiding this group of nature lovers.

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