Dumb Vultures
On one of our many many visits to Summit Zoo we watched this vulture as it sized itself up in the mirror, before repeatedly attacking its own reflection.
These are American Black Vultures, very common here in Panama. As commonly seen here as pigeons are seen in the UK. Much as I am a nature nut, and love all God’s creatures, this is where I come close to drawing the line. They really are repulsively creepy looking, with their crinkly wrinkly heads.
Now, it might not be such a bad thing to be no great beauty, as long as you were blessed with brains by way of compensation. No such luck for these critters, unfortunately.
And again! You know, I could just do this all day!
Tropical Hummingbirds feeding
The last time we were at the visitor centre at Pipeline Road, Gamboa I managed to get a pretty nice video of some lovely hummingbirds at the feeder.
If you stay watching till the end, you will see a hummingbird with a white fanned-out tail come in from the left and just dance in mid-air!
Every time we go to this visitor centre, we see at least twenty hummingbirds of all different varieties. Although they look super beautiful, there are continual territorial battles over the feeders, so I actually think they are pretty stressed out!
For me, seeing birds like this on my doorstep is one of the major highlights of living in this tropical paradise.
Coati Quartet
This morning I had plenty of ‘Gatos Solos’, known in English as Coati Mundis (remember Kid Creole and the Coconuts?), to keep me company. While walking uphill in 30 degree heat, 90% humidity (not bad for the 15th of November!), getting an outdoor exercise fix, I stopped awhile to watch them rummage for ants.
Coati Quartet from Panamajama on Vimeo.
A family of four ambled by with their tails held high and waving. Living here in Panama as a nature lover is truly awe-inspiring. I do not even have to look for these creatures, they just step out in front of me, making every walk a real jungle adventure!
When the boat comes in
We were so lucky to be at the beach on the Pacific side of this beautiful country when the fishermen unloaded their, thankfully for us, small catch. A lot of effort was expended by ten or so men hauling a largeish net onto land. I was worried that it might be a gruesome experience for us nature lovers, as I was expecting a lot of exotic species such as squid, sharks, snappers etc. The catch that morning was only a few sprats however. But that didn’t stop the huge flock of enormous (I would guess 6 foot wing span) frigate birds getting tremendously excited!
If you go down to the woods today….
Today was a very special day for me indeed. Today I saw an anteater in the wild for the very first time! I watched it for a good long time and managed to get a pretty reasonable video of it.
Anteater in the Wild, Plantation Road, Panama from Panamajama on Vimeo.
So that was one first for me this morning, and more than enough to keep me happy. But the rainforest had other ideas, and half an hour after seeing this beautiful anteater I was being watched by a curious capuchin. I then had the privilege of watching a troop of capuchins make their way, surprisingly clumsily I may add, through the huge palm leaves near the top of the canopy. Video too fuzzy to show here, sorry!
Here is a super-short clip of a coati mundi, also from this morning’s walk, by way of compensation.
Panama: The Most Biodiverse Place on Earth
As Panama has the richest biodiversity of any place on our planet, even including the wonder that is the Amazon, I thought I would do a picture post to celebrate some of the fabulous flora and fauna of this precious country. I hope you enjoy looking at these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them!
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Baby Sloth
We were lucky enough to see this foot-long baby sloth actually move! Climbing through the trees overhanging the shore at Amador, you can see the lethal-looking claws quite clearly in the below video.
Baby Sloth, Panama City from Panamajama on Vimeo.
Mummy Bat
We just spotted this bat roosting under our roof. If you look closely you can see part of a baby clinging to its mum. The mummy bat’s eyes are wide open, even though it is noon! It has a pretty zig zag pattern down its back and largish ears. I think it is devilishly cute actually!
I would love to know what kind of bat this is if anyone knows please leave a comment. Thanks 
Punta Culebra – A Great Place to See Sloths and Iguanas in Panama City
You are virtually guaranteed the sight of a large iguana and sloth on a visit to Punta Culebra, a Smithsonian museum outpost on Amador Causeway. This centre has a small dense forest, a beach where fiddler crabs come in breeding season along with touch pools containing starfish, sea cucumbers and other sea creatures. As well as a larger tank housing marine turtles and sharks there is a small aquarium block showcasing the fish of Panama. The other side of the aquarium block is a rocky outcrop – a great place to spot pelicans fishing and to watch the ships sailing under the Bridge of the Americas at the entrance to the Panama Canal.
My daughter, aged 6, is a nature nut, and has reliably informed me that brown iguanas are male, and green ones female. So, here is a male iguana munching on a leaf high in the trees of Punta Culebra.
And over by the touch pools we spotted this sloth mooching, luckily with its head facing the camera!
I must have been to Punta Culebra at least six times since we moved to Panama almost a year ago. On all but one occasion I have seen both an iguana and a sloth, so if you want to see these creatures in the wild, this is a great place to visit.
Keel-billed Toucan Posing
This beautiful keel-billed, or rainbow toucan was posing on the tree just outside my back garden the other day. I managed to get some pictures which show off its spectacular beak.
In this picture you can also see the bright red feathers around its feet.
This picture I liked as it captures the sunshine reflecting off the toucan’s beak.
One day I hope to get a good enough picture of a flying toucan to show you, as when they fly they look just like closed umbrellas!
Howler Monkeys, Pipeline Road
We were lucky enough to both hear and see howler monkeys during a late afternoon walk along Pipeline Road the other day. The noise was just uncanny. If we hadn’t known that this area was famous for its howlers, it would have been very frightening. The word howling just does not convey what these monkeys were doing – they sounded like demons from the fiery pits of Hell! I took a video – no monkeys to be seen in this unfortunately, but worth a look just to hear this extraordinary noise.
Howler Monkeys, Pipeline Road, Panama from Panamajama on Vimeo.
They carried on making this awesome racket for maybe 20 minutes, after which we headed home. On the way back along Pipeline Road we spotted long-limbed monkeys climbing in the huge spreading tree above our heads. These turned out to be the howler family getting ready for their bed! We watched as six or seven monkeys each selected a fork in the branches in which to lie, their tails curled around the fork to grip. They then settled down and went to sleep. What a privilege it was to see them in their ‘bedroom’. Here is one of the howlers having a good look at us and our own little monkeys!
Flowers of Panama
As I’ve taken photos of some beautiful tropical plants over the last couple of months, I thought I would put them up in a little slideshow. These are all from parks in and around Panama City. Hope you like them.
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On the Trail of the Trogon
This weekend we took the children walking in Parque Nacional Soberiana, a nearby tropical forest with many different woodland walks. As it was the afternoon, we weren’t really expecting to see much as the wildlife is most active between 6 and 8 am. The trail provided stunning views of the forest canopy.
As we walked, we heard the exotic calls of a tropical bird which turned out to be a female Trogon, an exotic bird from the same family as the Quetzal. I tried to take pictures, but my camera was running low on batteries (my fault!) and wouldn’t focus on the bird, most frustratingly choosing to focus on the tree behind it. After a few minutes, along came the male, resplendent in his feathered finery. I managed to get a picture of him, and isn’t he beautiful?
Further along the trail, we came across this Ant Metropolis, right beside and in some cases, actually on the path! I wonder how many ants must be living in this Grand Canyon-like construction?
Close up Croc at Summit Zoo Panama
This crocodile lives in an open pond in Summit Zoo on the outskirts of Panama City. No railings, no bars, only a 2 foot high wall at one end separates it from visitors. Whether this is wise I couldn’t say, but it certainly makes for a more authentic-feeling experience, akin to seeing this creature in the wild, something I have been lucky enough to do.
Here is the pond, just to show the total lack of boundaries… Keep a close hold on your children if you visit!
Anteater Antics
Another school holiday, another trip to Summit Zoo with the children! Just 10 miles along the canal from Panama City, this zoo contains a very friendly and inquisitive anteater. This creature could not wait to investigate my camera at close range.
Extreme close up!
Nature on our doorstep
I tried out my new camera on some visitors to our back garden. See what you think. They are pretty mischievous characters I think you’ll agree.
And after the parrots flew away, this beautiful bright beetle arrived on the patio. I just missed getting a fantastic shot of it flying away. Never mind, maybe next time!
Ground doves are frequent visitors to our garden. These pretty birds are extremely dim-witted and fly into our windows regularly, even though our windows have bars on them.
We are lucky enough to have hummingbirds visit our feeder every day!
Unfortunately since the new year I have seen only two toucans, but hopefully they will come back more regularly so I can get a decent picture of them to show you. After the December floods, the banks on our local river shifted, causing the crocodiles to move somewhere else. I am worried that the river changing might have changed the environment for the toucans and perhaps they have moved on too. We shall see.
Rainy Day in Gamboa
Although December and January theoretically mark the start of the ‘dry season’ in Panama, this year they have been unusually rainy. In December torrential rainstorms caused flooding which closed the Panama Canal for only the third time in its near-100 year history.
As today was another day of torrential rains, we decided to go to Gamboa rainforest resort to have lunch under shelter overlooking the lake.
Almost immediately I spotted this heron. I watched it catch a fish, but my photography skills weren’t up to capturing an action shot!
Heron at Gamboa Rainforest Park
Then I saw these five turtles posing on a branch. They love the rain, even if we humans don’t so much!
Five turtles enjoying the tropical rainstorm, Gamboa Rainforest Park
Hopefully you can tell that I have finally upgraded my camera, which means I will be posting more frequently again, as I can finally do the amazing sights of Panama some justice.
Creepy Caterpillars
Back when we moved into our new house in July, my daughter found one extremely large black caterpillar with pink spots dotted down its side. It also had a tail, making it rather dog-like, oddly enough.
Anyway, we were too kind to this caterpillar – one month later there were several living in our carport in various stages on their journey to butterflyhood. There were caterpillars in our plants and cocoons behind our walls.
As we are (naive) nature lovers, we let them stay – we wanted to have a lot of beautiful butterflies around.
After a couple more months there were caterpillars everywhere we looked – this was becoming creepy. By this time our bushes had been reduced to a collection of sticks with caterpillars crawling on them. The caterpillars were crawling up our door, our walls, everywhere we looked, there they were!
So, rather belatedly, we took some decisive action. My daughter collected them all in a bucket which we took to the playpark round the corner. It feels good to finally be caterpillar free after our little plague – and our plants have green leaves at the end of the bare sticks now, so it seems we got rid of the critters just in the nick of time.
Here they are in the bucket, just before they were taken to their new home. There is a video below for the very brave….
Too Many Caterpillars!
Walk on the Wild Side
Today I went for my first walk alone since moving to Panama. I wasn’t sure how far I would be able to go in the heat with a backpack. I managed pretty well and walked a couple of miles from my door. The wildlife and plant life I saw was fabulous.
Three crocodiles, one of which I got pretty close to before it jumped into the water. It dived under then resurfaced a few minutes later and watched me from the water with a beady malevolent eye. I don’t think it was pleased with my disturbing its sunbathing session. After the crocodile swam away there was a rapid straight movement across the river – a Jesus lizard running from bank to bank!
Crocodile at Clayton, Panama
Further up the hill and a keel-billed toucan flew out right in front of me with a piece of fruit in its bill. It looked like one of the smaller pieces of fruit from this amazing tree.
Palm fruit, Clayton, Panama
Banana tree, Balboa, Panama
Then past the above banana tree on up to the lake at the top of the hill where I disturbed an iguana and several smaller lizards to sit on a bench and read my book in the hot sun with the scent of warm pampas grass surrounding me.
Lake at Balboa, Panama
After that, a nice stroll home in the rain, thunder and lightning and a final croc sighting – this time a baby on the bank. Not a bad little walk…
Parrot invasion
This is the scene in my back garden right now. The neighbourhood parrots are devouring the sunflower seeds we put out for them. The feeder was full to the brim this morning with maybe 1kg of seeds. It is truly awesome to see these emerald green birds at such close range. The chattering they make is quite deafening. Whenever we put food out, we are guaranteed this sight (and sound). Very special.
At times there can be as many as 40 parrots. They visit for 2 hours and the feeder is cleaned out! They are lovely to see, but sometimes I wish they would let the tiny finches get a look-in… We also have a hummingbird feeder, so we frequently have both parrots and hummingbirds at the same time. As I write this, they have just finished all the food, and the garden is now eerily quiet. They took what they wanted, and now they’ve gone!
Amazing cricket
Look at this amazing cricket we found! It was crawling up a walking stick outside an artisan’s shop. The spots on its side were perfect circles, with a black outline around each that you would swear had been painted on.
Within 2 minutes drive of our house this afternoon we had seen a large white heron, two cardinal birds and…. an enormous (2 metre long or so) grey iguana crossing the road just in front of our car. A car in the opposite lane had to swerve to avoid it. It was so large at first I took it for a crocodile!
Mutant Fruit: Would You Eat This?
The Qatermass Experiment?
We saw this repulsive looking fruit on our recent trip to Panama’s Summit Zoo. It was slimy and had what appeared to be snapped-off tentacles all over its skin. To me it looks like the result of a scientific experiment gone badly wrong – just looking at this picture makes me shudder. I’m sure it tastes delicious, but we weren’t brave enough or crazy enough to try. Would you have been?
Monkeys love ice lollies
Monkeys love ice lollies – I have the proof right here!
We watched this spider monkey eating this while it became increasingly exasperated with the flies which kept settling on the lolly. It would lick, then squeak, squeak, squeak with annoyance and jump away to try and shake them off. Very interesting to see that monkeys get annoyed by flies just the way we do.
This was at the Summit Zoo just outside Panama City.
Panama Praying Mantis
Yet another spectacular find by my insect-mad daughter who really excelled herself this time by spotting this praying mantis climbing up the wall of our house.
This remarkable creature climbed slowly and methodically all the way up to the first floor of our house, stretching out first one long front leg, then pulling up its body behind and stretching the opposite leg and pulling up again. It did this in such a calm controlled manner, taking perhaps 5 minutes to climb 15 feet. An insect to reckon with.
