Cherrie’s Tanager and Magnificent Frigate Bird

24 January 2015. Boquete, Chiquiri, Panama.  Today was my first daylight experience of this mountain town, Boquete. My purpose in being here is to learn another language, pursuing my interest in nature comes a close second
I have two days before classes start and I know Boquete and area will turn up some new and breathtaking birds, but first I have to find my way around. Boquete sits near the top of the range of volcanic peaks that comprise Panama in general and form part of the spine of the Americas. A towering, supposedly inactive, volcano (Volcan Baru) overlooks the town and all around us are thickly forested peaks, ridges and cliffs, all bisected and trisected by tumbling mountain streams rushing towards the Pacific some fifty kilometres away. At this elevation, not far from the continental divide, daytime temperatures are moderated and consequently the town has become a desirable retirement destination for Europeans, Americans and Canadians.  It makes for a cultural mix that is perhaps a bit like a trifle, the parts: ex-pats, Amerindians and mixed-race Panamanians are discernibly distinct but seem to work well together in a colourful and happy way.
Today, I took a long walk this afternoon deep into the recesses of a lush valley. I can only imagine what a wondrously wet and tangled place it was a century or two ago, perhaps even as recently as the 1990s. This valley has been tamed as a pretty ritzy, no-riff-raff-please, retirement community wrapped around a golf course.

I talked my way past the guards on the gate, easily convincing them that a pale Canadian on foot carrying only binoculars and a camera was no threat to residents. I don’t play golf, it holds little appeal, but I have to say that the golf-cart pathways winding from tee to bunker to green allowed me to wander at will and get quite close to some interesting little corners.

Notable birds along the way were a pair of Cherrie’s Tanagers, the male jet black with a hot-scarlet rump and tail, and the female, a beautiful creature of golds, browns and cinnamons. They were my Dramatic Birds of the Day. Spectacles like this are what make Central America: Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua, prime birding destinations.

I came across a pair of Tropical Mockingbirds, very much like our Northern Mockingbird, stately in pearly greys and white but lacking the bold white wing-bars of its northern cousin. My Surprise Bird of the Day was a soaring Magnificent Frigate Bird spotted cruising high over the mountains, much higher than the many Black Vultures that permanently dot the sky around here. Magnificent Frigate Birds are like huge, wildly exaggerated swallows with deeply forked tails and long slender and angular wings.  They are exclusively oceanic, indeed when I turned to my field guide, it showed their range as covering both flanking oceans only, but grudgingly acknowledged that they may sometimes be seen soaring inland. It has nothing to gain from hanging around here, I can only suppose this one had decided to cross the narrow Isthmus of Panama and give the Caribbean a try.

Interestingly, I met a few old familiars too: an Osprey scouting one of the golf course’s water hazards, several House Wrens, a Great Blue Heron and a Great Egret.  A good start on Panama with lots more to come.