Portobelo and entering the Canal

 Friday, January 9 / Saturday January 10p

Friday was a transition day. We left our lodge in the highlands mid-morning and drove back to Panama City. We were grateful that we were driving against traffic— by 11:00 on a dry season (vacation season) Friday, the roads out of Panama City were packed with folks leaving for a long weekend. We had seen the same in reverse when we arrived on Sunday.

We met the rest of the group for our National Geographic- Lindblad voyage in the afternoon. We had a few hours to spare, so we walked along the shoreline in Panama City. It gave us a good vantage point to observe the older parts of the city juxtaposed with the modern high rises built in the past few decades. 

The group traveled by bus for about an hour, driving north along the edge of the canal. At this point Panama is only 50 miles across, explaining why this has been the transoceanic route for centuries. We boarded our ship and after dinner transitioned the 23 nautical miles to the sheltered harbor of Portobelo.

On Saturday morning we took zodiacs to the town of Portobelo, named by Columbus in 1502. The town and harbor played an important role as the embarkation port for treasure ships leaving the Spanish colonies in the 17th and early 18th centuries. The Spanish treasure shipments were a target for pirates of various kinds, including Sir Francis Drake who raided Panama several times before dying and being buried off shore at Portobelo in 1596.

Originally the embarkation point was further south at Nombre de Dios, but moved to Portobelo in 1597. The town was protected originally by a fort high above the town that was destroyed by Henry Morgan in 1668. A series of five forts was then built to protect the harbor. 

The wealth that passed through this port is almost unimaginable. A shipwreck from 1710 of a single galleon held 10 million gold doubloons (290 tons of gold) not to mention silver, emeralds and other riches. Much of the treasure came from other colonies (especially Mexico, Peru and Bolivia) by mule train across the isthmus. There was also a treasure route that reached from Manila to Acapulco to Veracruz, and then down to Portobelo to be included in the shipment. From Portobelo the galleons stopped in Cartagena and Havana before sailing to Spain. 

We visited one of the ruined forts. The walls were largely constructed from blocks of coral, which was plentiful and absorbs the impact of cannonballs without collapsing as stone or wood would. We also visited the church and learned about the Black Jesus of Portobelo, the focus of an annual festival for the whole region. Finally, we watched a performance by local Congo dancers. The women’s costumes were traditionally made from fabric scraps left after slaves made dresses for their mistress. The music and dances reflect the harsh life of the slaves, and the drums call devils to come as messengers to God. The devil costumes are made from rooster feathers and cow’s teeth! 

This afternoon we sailed back to Colon to wait our turn to enter the Gatun locks, the first half of the Panama Canal. The canal is comprised of three consecutive locks from the Caribbean side leading up to the enormous manmade Gatun Lake, approximately 87 feet above sea level. A series of locks then take ships back down on the Pacific side.  The water in the lake enables the system to work by gravity, but it means that 52 million gallons of fresh water is “lost” to the oceans with each passage through the canal. The original locks were completed in 1913. Panama has recently built a second set of locks to accommodate larger container ships and to enable recycling of 60% of the transit water. Ships going through the canal must be under the control of a canal pilot rather than our own captain, and for the original locks (which we used) the ships are kept centered by four sets of cables (two front, two back, and on each side) connected to small railroad engines that travel on the edge of the lock walls. 

Tonight we anchored in Gatun Lake. Tomorrow we will do morning activities and then complete our canal passage in the afternoon. Ours is the only ship that is permitted to stay overnight “inside” the canal. 

Pictured: Congo dancers, 32 pound cannons at the Santiago de la Gloria fort in Portobelo, entering the locks, moving into a new lock (note the gates that have opened and the engine on the left)

Last day in the highlands

Thursday January 8

We spent the morning wandering on a muddy trail through an old secondary growth forest up in the cloud forest. The clouds lowered, sometimes engulfing us in mist and other times downright rain. The trail was on the back side of the chicken farm. We learned that this is a farm for producing eggs (which explains why we heard so many roosters!).  The eggs are transported to a different farm at lower elevation where the eggs are incubated for commercial chicken production. 

We saw a number of insect-eating species… one interesting aspect to this kind of birding is that you may spend 15 minutes hearing and seeing nothing, and then a “mixed flock” of different insectivores that hunt cooperatively swoops in and you almost don’t know where to look as you are surrounded by birds for 5-10 minutes. 

Antpittas are a family of ground birds that live in dense forest undergrowth and are thus nearly impossible to see. The guides here have worked for several years to teach one particular bird that when they play a recording of their call, worms will appear on the trail. The bird responded to the call today and happily gobbled up worms very close to us. It even hung around afterwards, apparently hoping more worms might be forthcoming. 

Coquettes are a family of tiny hummingbirds with amazing crests. We have seen two species on previous trips to Costa Rica and were delighted to see a third species today.

In the afternoon we went to two locations in the town of El Valle. We didn’t see any new species but we saw some interesting individuals and behaviors. At a private pond there were many Boat-billed Herons, including two fledglings. The little ones were adorable and fuzzy. We learned that the mother stays awake while the babies sleep and then takes a nap once they wake up.  

Later in the afternoon we watched a female Lineated Woodpecker slip inside a groove carved into a dead tree. Shortly thereafter a male came along, landed on the edge of her cavity and poked his head in to say hello. To our eyes at least, every time he looked in she leaned further back as if she was hiding from him. Some ornithology expert will need to explain this one to us! 

Pictured: Black-crowned Antpitta, Rufous-crested Coquette, baby Boat-billed Herons talking, Lineated Woodpecker standoff, Barred Antshrike 

A full-day trip to the pacific

Wednesday January 7

We left before dawn today on a full day excursion down to the pacific coast. The goal was less about the ocean than about getting to lower elevation and a drier hotter climate to see different birds.  The actual drive would take about 2 hours without stops, but we stopped frequently (and in some cases for an extended period of time) to search for particular bird species. 

Driving up out of the caldera and then down the other side was impressive. The pitch of the roads would never work in a snowy climate, and the hairpin turns made for some exciting maneuvering when a car was coming the other way. The road itself (not the main road to Panama City that we had used on Sunday) was initially a walking path, and then the road was built by the local residents about 60 years ago. It wasn’t paved until about 2010. 

It was certainly warmer and drier once we got down to the lowlands. 

Similar to yesterday, in some cases we were able to find and view the target species for an area, but we were not always successful.  For example, the Crested Bobwhite (quail) largely eluded us, but the Brown-throated Parakeets pranced and spooned on an open branch for us. And so it went all day. We were pleasantly surprised to see three Prothonotary warblers, a species that is fairly common in the US but that we have failed to see on several occasions. 

We had lunch at a house on Santa Clara beach owned by the lodge. It was fun to watch Magnificent Frigatebirds, gulls, terns, and pelicans soar above our heads and fight over fish. 

We learned that another group had found the Spectacled Owls that hid from us yesterday, so we stopped to look again on our way back in the late afternoon. The other group had marked the location of the adult owl— but it was no longer there. Our wonderful guide heard two juvenile owls calling, and we stayed until nearly dark watching them. 

Pictured: Brown-throated parakeets, juvenile Spectacled Owls, juvenile Sapphire-throated Hummingbird, juvenile Magnificent Frigatebird, Prothonotary Warbler 

Perseverance pays off

 Tuesday January 6

Today was a true birder’s day. We walked on two different trail in the morning and the afternoon, both of them second growth woodlands full of fascinating insect-eating birds with names like antwren, antshrike, gnatwren and antvireo.  These tend to be small birds that skulk in the bushes and flit rapidly in pursuit of insects (although sometimes it feels as though they do it just to annoy the birders!) As you might imagine, actually seeing these birds takes work! Having an experienced guide who recognizes bird songs and has a keen eye for subtle movements in the underbrush makes all the difference.  We had a wonderful, patient and persistent guide today, and we were with three other guests willing to take the time to “try to see what we could hear”.  We were rewarded with seeing ten (!!!) new species today and heard several more that never deigned to be seen. The nature of the birds today also made photography a challenge to say the least; shooting through a little gap in the underbrush as with the antvireo and manakin below.  

We are staying on the outskirts of El Valle de Anton. The town and surrounding area are contained in the caldera of the ancient El Valle volcano that last erupted 300,000 years ago. The caldera is three miles wide and its floor is very flat, while the walls tend to be steep and forested. 

Our afternoon walk was on the caldera floor, in a former horse farm. Our morning walk climbed the side of the caldera to a section of the continental divide, where we could look down on either side towards the Pacific or the Caribbean. 

Pictured: White-tipped Sicklebill (a really large hummingbird), Chestnut-capped Warbler, Tawny-crested Tanager, Spot-crowned Antvireo, Yellow-collared Manakin. 

First full day in Panama

 Sunday and Monday January 4/5

On Sunday we left the house at 3:30 am for an early flight to Atlanta and then on to Panama City. Our second flight was a bit delayed because airlines were reviving from the Saturday shutdown of the Caribbean airspace. We were met at the airport and drove for 3 hours to our lodge up in the hills west of Panama City. It was sobering to see how prevalent American chain stores and restaurants were along the main roads. It was a relief to turn off the main road for the final 45 minutes of twisty mountain roads.

The lodge sits off the road in deep woodlands by a stream. The sound of the water masks the sounds from the road. We arrived just before sunset but were still able to see several bird species. On a nighttime walk after dinner we saw several frogs and got a glimpse of a nine-banded armadillo.

On Monday morning, we enjoyed seeing birds during breakfast, including some new hummingbird species. We joined 5 other guests for a birding outing, first to a set of feeders about 20 minutes uphill from the lodge, and later for a walk along a farm road higher up the mountain. The feeders erected a wide variety of birds from toucans to warblers to hummingbirds. We were visited by four Geoffrey’s Tamarin (monkeys) who also liked the bananas. At the farm, we pursued an elusive Emerald Toucan (a classic birding experience). We watched a young three-toed sloth curl up when the mist closed in and expand to soak up the warmth when the sun came back out.

In the afternoon we traveled to several locations to search for particular species. While we didn’t find many of them, we found others instead. All in all, a very satisfying first day. 

Pictured: Black Hawk-Eagle, Emerald Toucanet, Brown-throated three-toed sloth, Geoffrey’s Tamarin