We are back home from Panama. The day before we left was stifling, about 85F but with nearly 90% humidity. Tonight here at home we are to have wind chills below zero. Yuck.

We ended up with 227 bird species. We spent a lot of time looking at insects, and didn’t over-extend ourselves to identify every bird. Although I have truly enjoyed my time with several of the excellent human bird guides in Panama, seeing and figuring out birds using only a paper field guide is so much more rich. Having to really examine birds such as woodcreepers gives you a real appreciation for their subtle differences. Some birds were, um, a bit easier to see than others, like the Orange-chinned Parakeets above. They came to bananas hung a few feet from our porch at the B&B we stayed at in Panama City before our flight out.

Although we did not see quetzals, I saw the other target birds I mentioned in my 2007 year-end bird post. The Red-headed Barbet and Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher were as gorgeous as I had hoped. We saw the barbet in a little flock that also included a White-throated Spadebill, a tiny and curious-looking little bird that I had seen before but not this well.

These birds — as well as six species of gaudy tanagers, White-ruffed Manakin, the knock-out Violet Sabrewing, and many others — were seen at Finca Hartmann an eco-friendly coffee farm that welcomes birders and researchers. This was a fantastic place that I cannot recommend enough. Most people just bird the lower section, called Palo Verde. We asked if we might be able to visit the higher section, Ojo de Agua, which includes a lot of tall montane forest and borders La Amistad International Park. The next day they provided us with transportion to Ojo de Agua and we walked down after our explorations. It was one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve ever had. We had a lot of interesting insects at Finca Hartmann as well, many more than in another, larger coffee fincas that grew much of the coffee in larger patches in the sun (I’ll be writing more about coffee and habitat later). One damselfy was especially noteworthy — according to expert Dennis Paulson, our photographs are likely the first obtained of that species. If you ever find yourself in the western highlands of Panama, make time for a visit to the farm.

I think the most unexpectedly cool bird we saw was the Slaty Flowerpiercer. They are plain olive or gray birds with distinctively hooked bills, which they use to pierce the base of flowers in order to feed on the nectar. They do this very rapidly and efficiently. We saw a pair working the flowering shrubs at Los Quetzales, a popular birding lodge and restaurant. Really, I found the cafe there and the stuff they sold wildly overpriced and the service uninspired. I was really happy with our great house at Las Plumas, which has to be the best place to stay on the western side of Volcan Baru. Hard to imagine where else you can eat breakfast on a private deck and watch Emerald Toucanets and Golden-browned Chlorophonias flitting around your yard.

I’ll do a final summary of odds and ends next.

Did you really think (did I really think?) I would post every day on vacation?  The days got too long and the photos and experiences too many. We are back in Panama City after a great time in the western highlands, and I will post more about that later. We have one more day here before our return home.

Meanwhile, I’d like to announce that The Open Laboratory 2007 has now been published. This is the second annual anthology of the best science blogging of the year. I’m pleased to say that out of over 450 submissions one of my posts, “Shrew Party,” was included in this edition. I also had a post (The Little Farter“) in the inaugural publication last year. Now the pressure is on to produce at least one decent natural history post a year.

You can read more about The Open Lab over at A Blog Around the Clock. It was Bora’s brainchild, and this year’s edition was speedily edited by Reed Cartright. Many kudos to them and all my fellow authors.

Our first big bizarre caterpillar, shown to us by a worker pruning a tree along the road.

Our main bird walk this day was the beginning of the Los Quetzales trail in Volcan Baru National Park. We saw many new birds, including some favorite warblers such as Black-cheeked and Flame-throated, and birds with very cool names, such as Ruddy Treerunner and Yellow-thighed Finch.

We saw very few butterflies to photograph. This area does have a lot of small-scale agriculture, with nearly everyone working plots of a few hectares growing mostly vegetables, especially cabbage, lettuce, onions, and potatoes. People were spraying noxious crap from backpack sprayers everywhere we went. Seeing the living conditions and general lifestyle, though, makes me understand these people are just trying to earn a living. I can imagine that every last head of cabbage makes a difference. It’s unfortunate, to say the least, that the health of people and ecosystems is compromised by the realities of limited economic opportunities and, probably, agricultural education outreach, but it’s hard to "blame" these farmers.

In contrast, what excuse does an American gardener have for pouring chemicals on a sterile lawn or ornamental flowers? When I visit Latin America, even countries as stable and mature as Mexico and Panama, I still see a lot of trash, poor air and/or sanitary conditions, and environmental abuse. Despite many shortcomings, it’s easy to see how fortunate we are in the U.S. in terms of environmental protection. When I think about the waste and disregard most Americans have for their own backyards, including unnecessary chemical assault, it makes me sick.

On that note, our next excursion is to a coffee farm; this area is Panama’s major coffee-growing region and one of the most important coffee areas in the world (we have coffee growing in our yard here, too).

Normally, I don’t like spending much time in a car, but it is a good way to see the land. However, the six-hour trip between Panama City and Volcan was a dud. Lots of cows.

We’re now at about 5600 feet. The house we are renting was recommended by a friend, who has also purchased property in the area. This place is twice as big as our house at home, and cheaper than our mediocre hotel in Panama City. Check it out:

This is our house; we have 2 of the 6 acres of the property to ourselves. Just off to the right out of the frame is the Rio Chiriqui Viejo:

There are Torrent Tyrnanulets feeding on the rocks — super cool! The yellow flowers had about 15 hummingbirds of 6 species hanging around. Here’s a view of the house from the river:

The front yard had Blue-crowned Motmot, Flame-colored Tanager, and Orange-billed Nightingale-thrush, to name a few. The name of this property is Las Plumas. We can already highly recommend it! Off to sit on the porch…

Another (not quite as long) day on Pipeline Road brought us fewer birds as we concentrated on insects. We decided to focus on the Juan Grande stream crossing at 2 km and a few feeder creeks above it. We were rewarded with several new dragonfly species and some interesting butterflies, too. We were able to catch one of the super-cool helicopter damselflies by hand to show some scale. I don’t have all my reference material with me, but I am pretty sure this species is Mecistogaster linearis, a female.

As bonus, I acquired dozens of small bug bites that thankfully don’t itch too much. That’s the price you pay for sitting on logs to take notes and especially crawling around to get good looks or photos of less-annoying invertebrates. Kingfisher had fewer bites, but I did get to pull a tick off him that had found a spot nobody has seen since his mother retired from diaper duty 40 years ago.

A number of mammal species have their mating seasons in the dry season, and we’ve seen frisky Agoutis, some spirited Red-tailed Squirrels (Sciurus granatensis), and wandering coatis. If there is any discernable increase in activity in love-ready sloths, we’ve yet to see it. Kingfisher also had a glimpse of a Tayra (Eira barbara), a large cat-like weasel that I had a peek at last time we were down here. I was also intrigued by watching the fish in some of the larger stream pools. There were several species of cichlids and a couple of tetras, fish that are found in the aquarium trade. Way back in the day, I did a lot of freelance work for tropical fish hobbyist magazines, so I thought this was very cool.

After our look at Little Tinamou yesterday, on this outing we got good looks at Great Tinamou. Also terrific views of a male Golden-collared Manakin, which was a life bird for me. I think I’ve had about 11 lifers so far, but am really enjoying seeing some of my favorite birds again and again. I could look at female Dot-winged Antwrens every hour and not get tired of seeing them.

Today is a travel day, as we leave the Panama City area and head to our rented house in the highlands near the Costa Rican border, on the western flank of Volcan Baru. There will be many new birds there, as this is a new location for us. And I’m sure on the way we’ll see more of these curious street signs. Not all the pedestrian crossing signs here have bubble-butts, which makes them even odder.  Stay tuned.

An exhausting day yesterday, full of birds and bugs on only the first mile of Pipeline Road. The coolest life bird was a White-whiskered Puffbird sitting, still-life, by the side of the road. Like all other puffbirds I’ve ever seen, it didn’t move more than an inch. Kingfisher took this photo with his point-and-shoot:

Other memorable moments:

• Watching a female Fasciated Antshrike a few yards away seemingly trying to pick up a 6-inch branch. It turned out to be an enormous grasshopper. She’s still digesting.
• Finding three army ant swarms and their attending birds. I was studying where Sam Britton, our guide, was trying to get me on a Chestnut-backed Antbird, and instead saw a gray- and pigeon-headed fat bird with yellow legs strolling by — Little Tinamou. A bird most often heard than seen, and less common than Great Tinamou.
• Watching one of many Bicolored Antbirds hunt in an ant swarm right at our feet, intent on finding lunch. Amazing.
• Seeing at least four species of crackers, noise-making Neotropical butterflies I’ve written about before, one of which landed on my leg.
• Sam taking to a location where he found a jaguar track in the mud, which was still recognizable as one big cat print.
• Last lifer of the day, a gorgeous Green-and-rufous Kingfisher at Summit Ponds.
• Hiking up to the new Pipeline Road visitors center (below) which is opening later this month. It’s about 2 km from the first gate at the beginning of the road, near the first stream crossing (Juan Grande).

We are picking up our rental car today, and I think we’re going back to Pipeline. More later

After an entire uneventful but tedious travel day on Saturday, we spent today in Panama City today, putzing around a favorite place, the Metropolitan Nature Park. This is nearly 700 acres of lowland tropical forest, and the only tropical forest park in a major city in Latin America.  We had nearly 50 species of birds, most of which we’d seen before. I had three life birds: Southern Bentbill, Boat-billed Flycatcher, and Green Honeycreeper. We had great looks at the bentbill, which does have a crazy-looking bill in "person." 

We were just as preoccupied with the insects. Although not as plentiful as in the wet season, we still had fun creeping up on small butterflies, damselflies, and just flies. We did not have the abundance of hover flies down here when we were here in August 2005. This is the start of the dry season here, and just as we have more of some species of bee flies in the early spring, they were also very noticable here. You’ll recall I’m pretty fond of photographing flies. So I was happy to get a decent shot of this one when it perched:

There were many hovering in patches of sunlight in the forest. I use my left eye in the viewfinder of the camera, and that’s the eye that is still not 20/20. It took me awhile to remember to use my right eye, or trust the camera to autofocus.

We found a lot of butterflies, as usual, and the variety of very similar-looking satyrs here is almost discouraging. I think we’re pretty close in identifying this one as a Gold-stained Satyr (Cissia pseudoconfusa), although I am genuinely confused, not pseudo-confused, by most of them.

Tomorrow we have a full day at Pipeline Road, which starts near the Canal in Gamboa and snakes into Soberania National Park. We had a great time and quite an adventure (involving a thunderstorm, broken-down vehicle, rescue, re-stranding on the wrong side of a large fallen tree, machetes, and a side trip to a Smithsonian lab) last time we were there. We’re really looking forward to having a long walk doing whatever we please all day long there.

I did this for 2005 and 2006, and it's easier than making New Year's resolutions.

• Number of species seen: I generally only keep local year lists, and in 2007 only kept up with a year list for my home city. I had 156 species, which is 8 better than the year I tried to do a city "big year."
• New life birds: 3, all close to home. Purple Sandpiper, Black-backed Woodpecker, and Hoary Redpoll.
• Total life birds: 911
• Total ABA-area birds: 571
• Total state birds: 308
• Total birds in my home county: 251
• Total birds in my home city: 213 (I added five species this year)
• Total birds at my place of work: 186 (three new ones)
•  Yard birds: 134. Two came just recently. Number 133 was a Northern Saw-whet Owl and 134 was a Northern Shrike.

 I anticipate that my next life bird will be found in four days, at the Metropolitan Nature Park in Panama City, Panama. We leave on Saturday, and I can sure use the getaway even though I am a bit anxious that this isn't such a good time to go. Last time I was there, I summarized the best birds of each day, and perhaps I'll do the same this time. The new birds I'm most looking forward to seeing will be in the highlands portion of our trip. They include Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher, Resplendent Quetzal, Red-headed Barbet, Slate-throated Redstart, and Collared Redstart.

As always, I wish you new birds — or other fabulous new experiences — in the New Year!

A very dear friend and neighbor of mine tried to kill himself today. Had I not been at work when his mother called, frantic, knowing I have a key to his house, I would have been the one to find him. Not getting me, she called the police and they had taken him to the hospital before I got home. When I got her message after work, I was unable to reach her, so I went to his house.

He has made suicide attempts before, and I cannot describe how I felt going through his house, wondering at the threshold of every room, each closet, whether I would find him or not. It was horrifying. I found his glasses on his bedroom floor. I didn’t know if had a spare. He’s a slob, but nobody leaves glasses on the floor. That’s when I knew. And I still had most of the house to check. I love him, or I would never, never have had the guts to do it.

I arrived at the hospital before his mother, who was a hour away in an assisted living facility and had to arrange a ride. I was allowed into his room, but he was (and still is) unconscious. I stood at the foot of his bed, waiting for his mother. I could not hold his hand and speak to him. My thoughts became gridlocked. I know my friend and his pain and issues well. I have also been through periods of deep depression and understand how that feels. I believe people have a right to end their own lives. I understand through experience and inference that suicide is the ultimate selfish act. Being caught up in this situation gave me another perspective on this selfishness.

Not only his selfishness — and the circumstances he created which I’ll leave unsaid made it very acute — but my own. It took only an hour before I began wrestling with my anger at him (surely he knew there was a high probability it might be me that would find him), my feelings of betrayal, my hurt that he never reached out to me (then feeling guilty that I also was relieved that he didn’t, so I didn’t have to feel “responsible” for what happened), and finally feeling overwhelmed with how to deal with the aftermath. He’s in serious condition in a critical care unit. We don’t know yet how he will be physically, much less mentally.

I was both drained and keyed up when I got home to my empty house. My husband went to visit his family for the week — I stayed home to catch up on a lot of work before we leave on vacation in 10 days. I don’t really celebrate Christmas anyway, so this wasn’t a big deal to me. But it was difficult not having him here. After I talked to him, I called my own family. Things have been very difficult with them for quite awhile, another reason I was home alone. But I had already decided I would call to wish them a merry Christmas. Unfortunately, despite telling them what had happened since they know my friend, I was hit with some very unpleasant and distressing shit. It’s a situation I don’t know exactly how to resolve, but it has the potential to do serious damage to my way of life, as well as our relationships. I recall some little ditty that likens a broken relationship being like fine china: when it’s broken it can be mended, but the crack is always there. We’re at that point already. I can almost see the china plate wobbling at the edge of a tall object, poised to fall and shatter.

Well, I haven’t written too many self-indulgent posts like this, but I needed to unload. I hope everyone reading this had a much better Christmas than I did.