The Snowy Cotinga House does not just cater to birders. The trails that Miguel has cut in the forest behind the house provides an opportunity to search for snakes, frogs, stick insects, spiders, and whatever other nocturnal curiosities one is interested in.
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| Shag Carpet Caterpillar Moth (Prothysana felderi) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
Despite long days in the field, Laura and I night hiked on two occasions. We only lasted for an hour and a half each time until the prospect of sleep proved too irresistible; given what we had found, I'm sure a much longer night hike would have been incredibly productive.
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| Red-eyed Treefrog (Agalychnis callidryas) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
For both Laura and I, snakes are our main quarry when hiking after dark. There are no sweeter words in the English language than "I've got a snake!". We discovered three serpentine friends on the trails behind Snowy Cotinga House. The first was a sleeping forest racer, Mastigodryas alternatus. This is a fairly widespread diurnal species that we had crossed paths with on a few occasions earlier in the trip.
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| Mastigodryas alternatus - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Mastigodryas alternatus - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
The second was a Northern Cat-eyed Snake cruising along some of the low vegetation beside the trail. This is perhaps the most common snake that we encounter in Central America (though the Blunt-headed Treesnake,
Imantodes cenchoa gives it a run for its money). Despite its abundance, whenever we discover one we appreciate it, so as to not anger the snake gods (who knows what might be in store later on?).
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| Northern Cat-eyed Snake (Leptodeira septentrionalis) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
The third and final snake was a good one: a Ringed Snail Sucker (Sibon annulatus). I had seen this species once previously but it was a new one for Laura. As its common name implies, much of the diet of this species is composed of snails and slugs, along with smaller amounts of earthworms.
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| Ringed Snail Sucker (Sibon annulatus) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
Arboreal snakes that feed on snails and slugs are generally quite long and skinny. My assumption is that this makes it easier to navigate along the narrow branches and leaves as they search for their prey; a heavier snake would not be able to reach the right areas.
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| Ringed Snail Sucker (Sibon annulatus) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
Lizards were frequently found on Miguel's trails. Most were Border Anoles, a widespread species easily found in second-growth and trail edges.
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| Border Anole (Anolis limifrons) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
Sometimes, other anole species lit up in our flashlight beams. This next one, the Pug-nosed Anole, was a new one for us.
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| Pug-nosed Anole (Anolis capito) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Pug-nosed Anole (Anolis capito) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
A Helmeted Iguana was a welcome surprise one night.
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| Helmeted Iguana (Corytophanes cristatus) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
Though not as flashy as the previous species, this tiny gecko was a personal highlight, as it was one I had never seen before. Behold, the Yellow-spotted Gecko (Lepidoblepharis xanthostigma).
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| Yellow-spotted Gecko (Lepidoblepharis xanthostigma) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
While we are on the theme of vertebrates, here are a few of the frogs that were noted along the trails.
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| Boulenger's Snouted Tree Frog (Scinax boulengeri) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Coastal Plain Litter Frog (Craugastor polyptychus) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Clay-colored Rain Frog (Pristimantis cerasinus) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Noble's Robber Frog (Craugastor noblei) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Almirante Robber Frog (Craugastor tabasarae) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
An excellent variety of spiders, planthoppers, leaf katydids and other invertebrates featured prominently during our night hikes. Below is a selection of some of our favourites.
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| Eriophora sp. - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Enchophora sanguinea - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Orophus sp. - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Biolleyana costalis - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Omophoita aequinoctialis - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Arachnoscelis sp. - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
Check out the camouflage on this spider!
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| Deinopis sp. - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Deinopis sp. - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
Bullet Ants are a common feature of hiking in the Neotropics.
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| Bullet Ant - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
On a couple of occasions we found roosting birds. This first one is a male White-collared Manakin, one of the specialty bird species of Bocas del Toro. The latter two are Chestnut-backed Antbirds - an adult and a young one.
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| White-collared Manakin - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Chestnut-backed Antbird - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Chestnut-backed Antbird - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
A small pond beside the house was well populated with frogs of at least seven species. We often dropped by here before and after our night hikes since species diversity was high and photography opportunities abounded.
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| Masked Treefrog (Smilisca phaeota) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Red-eyed Treefrog (Agalychnis callidryas) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Harlequin Treefrog (Dendropsophus ebraccatus) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Masked Treefrog (Smilisca phaeota) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Giant Toad (Rhinella horribilis) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Harlequin Treefrog (Dendropsophus ebraccatus) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Fitzingeri's Robber Frog (Craugastor fitzingeri) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Olive-snouted Treefrog (Scinax elaeochroa) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Savage's Thin-toed Frog (Leptodactylus savagei) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
We set up the moth sheet on two occasions. While the action was a little lower than we had hoped, there were still quite a few things of interest, as is always the case in the tropics.
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| Lintneria merops - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Trosia sp. - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Acrolophus sp. (tentative) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Stenopoda sp. - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Langsdorfia franckii - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Agelaia cajennensis - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Fissicrambus sp. - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Calyptoproctus sp. - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Aquatic Crambid sp. - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
We were not the only ones looking for moths each night.
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| Asian House Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Asian House Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus) - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
October 10, 2021
Laura and I had packed a lot of birding into the previous two weeks and so we were ready for a beach day. We drove to the town of Almirante, caught a water taxi to Isla Colón, and signed up for a boat trip in the Bocas del Toro archipelago. It was a typical touristy excursion, visiting "Sloth Island", spending some time snorkelling, and having a few hours on our own on Cayo Zapatilla - an idyllic island covered in palm trees and surrounded by perfectly warm, turquoise waters. Still, it was a relaxing day and we even had a few nice sightings, including a few new species for our Panama lists (Brown Booby, Black Tern and White-crowned Pigeon). Our couple of hours on Cayo Zapatilla also produced a few birds, despite our early afternoon visit. We noted migrants such as Ruddy Turnstone, Great Crested Flycatcher, and Canada Warbler, while a Black Skimmer cruised by offshore and a Peregrine Falcon flew overhead. We definitely got more than few weird looks from the other tourists due to our binocular use!
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| Cayo Zapatillas, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
We joined forces with Miguel Ibarra for our last morning in Charagre. Several birders had noted a male cotinga, one of the blue species, the previous day in Charagre and Miguel was intent on visiting the area and trying to re-find the bird. In this part of Panama the Lovely Cotinga is occasionally seen. This species ranges from southern Mexico along the Caribbean coast of Central America to Bocas del Toro province in Panama. However, there are only a handful of valid records from Panama. Further complicating matters is that the very similar Blue Cotinga has been recorded from Bocas del Toro as well, so one cannot assume that any "blue" cotinga here is a Lovely Cotinga. Laura and I had never seen Lovely Cotinga before and so we were eager to join Miguel. We armed ourselves with scopes, binoculars and cameras and headed to the spot.
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| Charagre mirador, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
The exact location provided a vantage point down a partially forested hillside to the river beyond. The birding was excellent from here and we noted over 50 species during our watch.
It was Laura who spotted the culprit. An electric blue cotinga! Miguel and I both frantically went for our scopes. Miguel had just trained his on the bird, and I had nearly done the same with mine, when the bird flew down the hillside. Neither of our looks were sufficient to definitively identify the cotinga to species. We fully expected it to pop up somewhere again, but that was all we would get. We waited for over two hours but, other than one brief possible sighting, the cotinga never did return.
Miguel and I both had regrets that we went for our scopes first. The bird was close enough that we would have been able to fire off some distant record shots of it, surely enough to ID it to species. But our instincts were to see the bird first, and it cost us potentially confirming a Lovely Cotinga in northwestern Panama. That one will haunt me for a while.
A heavy hawk flight commenced while we waited for the cotinga. Broad-winged Hawks comprised the majority of the birds, along with a smattering of Swainson's Hawks.
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| Broad-winged Hawks - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Swainson's Hawk - Charagre, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
Laura, Miguel and I drove over to the banana lagoons after breakfast for another crack at the shorebirds. Baird's Sandpiper was a potential lifer for Miguel; our fingers were crossed that it was still present.
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| Green Heron - Basurero de Finca 30, Changuinola, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
There had been some turnover in the shorebirds but it was mostly the same species from before. I spotted a familiar figure from back home: a Wilson's Snipe. This was a new species for Miguel, while it was a new Panama bird for Laura and I. This sighting was the first in Panama in 2021 according to eBird.
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| Wilson's Snipe - Basurero de Finca 30, Changuinola, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
It took some time but we were finally able to pull the Baird's Sandpiper from the flock. Success!
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| Baird's Sandpiper (left middle) - Basurero de Finca 30, Changuinola, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
Crakes were very much in abundance and we heard three species (though saw none): Paint-billed, Gray-breasted and White-throated. The lack of rain in the past 24 hours had dried up the fields and so the duck and heron numbers had dwindled. Below are several additional photos from our visit.
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| Solitary Sandpiper - Basurero de Finca 30, Changuinola, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Crested Caracara - Basurero de Finca 30, Changuinola, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Pectoral Sandpiper - Busurero de Finca 30, Changuinola, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
I had one more target bird in mind before Laura and I left Charagre. Miguel frequently notes Uniform Crake on his property, and he gave me the specifics on how to find one. I headed off on my own and fifteen minutes later was staring at a Uniform Crake along a muddy seep. Thanks, Miguel!
Laura and I left Charagre behind and drove east along the coast. Before heading south to the Fortuna area we made one more stop in search of Green Ibis. Half an hour of slowly driving the road paid off when a pair appeared in a wet grassy field.
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| Green Ibis - Chriquà Grande, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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