Western Panama, Nov-Dec 2022
It had been three years since our last long-haul holiday, and I think it was this long-absenteeism of tropical climates that meant some of the eye-watering airfares and accommodation prices were ignored in order to make this visit to Western Panama happen. It actually almost didn’t happen, largely because most of the lodges that would have been good to stay at charged extortionate prices for accommodation and tours combined. Unfortunately this ruled out a couple of the key areas I wanted to explore, primarily because I wanted to explore them on my own and not in any sort of guided group activity, but luckily other options appeared and an itinerary came together. And so it began…
The 03:30 alarm preceding the 06:00 flight to Amsterdam was not how anyone likes to start a holiday, but we were both wide-awake and ready to roll. In fact, just as we flew out of Newcastle, Jill popped on her snood, tucked it into her collar and smiled as she said “I’m ready to herp”. Two minutes later she was asleep.
The long-haul instalment was up next, and we were cheerfully told by the crew that this would be a 10hr 45min flight but “unfortunately the infotainment system is not working – so hopefully you have downloaded a movie or a photo to your phone”. First-world problems I know, but it would have been nice to have been given a warning before we boarded so that I could have found something to relieve the boredom of nearly 11hrs in the air, but alas I had not even downloaded one photo to help ease the pain.
The long-haul instalment was up next, and we were cheerfully told by the crew that this would be a 10hr 45min flight but “unfortunately the infotainment system is not working – so hopefully you have downloaded a movie or a photo to your phone”. First-world problems I know, but it would have been nice to have been given a warning before we boarded so that I could have found something to relieve the boredom of nearly 11hrs in the air, but alas I had not even downloaded one photo to help ease the pain.
Panama City – 1x night
We arrived at Tocuman and took an evening taxi to the Casco Viejo as Black vultures and the odd Anhinga flew into roosting spots around us. The early morning light revealed the skyscrapers to the north as the first of the Magnificant frigate birds and Brown pelicans took to the skies. As the morning warmed we wandered around the Old Town as more and more Black vultures filled the air, punctuated by the occasional Osprey and Turkey counterpart.
We arrived at Tocuman and took an evening taxi to the Casco Viejo as Black vultures and the odd Anhinga flew into roosting spots around us. The early morning light revealed the skyscrapers to the north as the first of the Magnificant frigate birds and Brown pelicans took to the skies. As the morning warmed we wandered around the Old Town as more and more Black vultures filled the air, punctuated by the occasional Osprey and Turkey counterpart.
If anyone is able to ID this hummingbird it would be greatly appreciated. It was tiny:
In late afternoon, as thunder slowly rolled in, we spotted a few more birds outside the city airport before boarding our flight to David. A couple of hours later we landed in Bocas del Toro, having been diverted due to storms at our destination. Eventually we were back on our way, the final leg to David being a bit bouncy as we passed through lightning on our way to the western cloud forests.
Because most of the wildlife observed during this trip comprised of birds, many of which were in darkened areas of vegetation, I don’t really have great photographic evidence of many of the species. For that reason, I’ve decided to add a little bird list for each place visited – I don’t think it’s everything we saw, but it’s most of the stuff we definitely managed to ID.
Panama City Bird List:
Anhinga
Baltimore oriole
Black vulture
Blue-gray tanager
Brown pelican
Gray-breasted martin
Great egret
Great-tailed grackle
Magnificent frigate bird
Neotropic Cormorant
Osprey
Red-crowned woodpecker
Ruddy ground dove
Rufous-collared sparrow
Saffron finch
Tricoloured heron
Tropical kingbird
Turkey vulture
Whimbrel
Wood Stork
Yellow-crowned night heron
Anhinga
Baltimore oriole
Black vulture
Blue-gray tanager
Brown pelican
Gray-breasted martin
Great egret
Great-tailed grackle
Magnificent frigate bird
Neotropic Cormorant
Osprey
Red-crowned woodpecker
Ruddy ground dove
Rufous-collared sparrow
Saffron finch
Tricoloured heron
Tropical kingbird
Turkey vulture
Whimbrel
Wood Stork
Yellow-crowned night heron
Mount Totumas – 5x nights
Following our rather late (and chilly) evening arrival, we awoke to splendid views of forested mountains wrapped in swirls of wispy clouds. Numerous hummingbirds jostled for position around feeders and flowers during breakfast in the main lodge as we looked over the maps of the various trails within this private reserve. That’s most of the fun really isn’t it, just having trails to explore and seeing what you can find. Yes there’s guides on offer in you’re into that sort of thing, but Jill and I were more than happy with kms to wander and a bird book to keep us up to speed. Altitude (and temperatures) would certainly restrict the herping options here, but I still held out some hope that something snaky would appear. Here's a habitat-based montage before I post any critters:
Following our rather late (and chilly) evening arrival, we awoke to splendid views of forested mountains wrapped in swirls of wispy clouds. Numerous hummingbirds jostled for position around feeders and flowers during breakfast in the main lodge as we looked over the maps of the various trails within this private reserve. That’s most of the fun really isn’t it, just having trails to explore and seeing what you can find. Yes there’s guides on offer in you’re into that sort of thing, but Jill and I were more than happy with kms to wander and a bird book to keep us up to speed. Altitude (and temperatures) would certainly restrict the herping options here, but I still held out some hope that something snaky would appear. Here's a habitat-based montage before I post any critters:
Here's some more critters, starting off with lots of moths (again, any missing IDs please let me know):
Some wet and windy weather made an appearance from time to time, and as the fruitless snake searching made me recheck elevation ranges in the guidebook, I became even less confident of any decent herpy finds. We did turn up a nice amphibian find though, a Magnificent web-footed salamander (Bolitoglossa magnifica) tucked under an overhang by the side of a trail.
On our final full day at the reserve we finally spied a big black snake. I assumed this would be a Clelia, but the head didn’t seem quite right, nor did the dark ventrals, nor did the elevation. I was puzzled. Delighted but puzzled. After a bit of head-scratching I realised this was actually an Ecuadorian milk snake (Lampropeltis micropholis), with adults in the higher altitudes of Western Panama turning black instead of retaining their usual tri-coloured appearance. My first Lampropeltis in fact, hopefully the first of many future lampros. Hopefully some will be more colourful. Maybe even with gray and orange bands?
The time had come to leave the stunning habitat of Mount Totumas and move on to our next location. We said our goodbyes to Jeffrey, who was quite a delightful host. In fact, I don’t think the Panama trip would have happened at all if it wasn’t for Jeffrey’s advice when we were initially trying to plan the trip. So thanks again Jeffrey – the reserve is brilliant, the food is first class and we absolutely loved our time up in the cloud forest.
Mount Totumas Bird List (only new species included):
Acorn woodpecker
American dipper
Black and white warbler
Blackburnian warbler
Black-faced solitaire
Blue and white swallow
Broad-winged hawk
Buff-throated saltator
Chestnut-capped brushfinch
Clay-coloured thrush
Collared redstart
Common chlorospingus
Common Pauraque
Dark pewee
Flame-coloured tanager
Flame-throated warbler
Gray-breasted woodwren
Green-crowned brilliant
Hairy woodpecker
Lesser violetear
Long-tailed silky flycatcher
Magenta-throated woodstar
Red-headed barbet
Red-tailed hawk
Rose-breasted grosbeak
Scarlet-rumped tanager
Scintillant hummingbird
Silver-throated tanager
Slate-throated redstart
Slaty flowerpiercer
Snowy-bellied hummingbird
Spot-headed woodcreeper
Stripe-tailed hummingbird
Summer tanager
Talamanca hummingbird
Tennessee warbler
Tufted flycatcher
Violet sabrewing
White-tipped dove
Wilson’s warbler
Acorn woodpecker
American dipper
Black and white warbler
Blackburnian warbler
Black-faced solitaire
Blue and white swallow
Broad-winged hawk
Buff-throated saltator
Chestnut-capped brushfinch
Clay-coloured thrush
Collared redstart
Common chlorospingus
Common Pauraque
Dark pewee
Flame-coloured tanager
Flame-throated warbler
Gray-breasted woodwren
Green-crowned brilliant
Hairy woodpecker
Lesser violetear
Long-tailed silky flycatcher
Magenta-throated woodstar
Red-headed barbet
Red-tailed hawk
Rose-breasted grosbeak
Scarlet-rumped tanager
Scintillant hummingbird
Silver-throated tanager
Slate-throated redstart
Slaty flowerpiercer
Snowy-bellied hummingbird
Spot-headed woodcreeper
Stripe-tailed hummingbird
Summer tanager
Talamanca hummingbird
Tennessee warbler
Tufted flycatcher
Violet sabrewing
White-tipped dove
Wilson’s warbler
Fortuna Cabins x2 nights
We picked up our hire car in David, completed a supermarket sweep and set off north over the continental divide towards Fortuna Cabins for what was initially going to be 3 nights…but the weather had other ideas.
The rain basically never stopped from the moment we arrived. It made the views rather atmospheric, but it really impacted our ability to get out and explore. We did manage to find 2 trails, neither was very long but they both went through some awesome-looking habitat. I think we walked for less than an hour before we were absolutely soaked through, returning to create a delicious red pasta meal before heading out into the night for probably another hour before we were again soaked through.
We picked up our hire car in David, completed a supermarket sweep and set off north over the continental divide towards Fortuna Cabins for what was initially going to be 3 nights…but the weather had other ideas.
The rain basically never stopped from the moment we arrived. It made the views rather atmospheric, but it really impacted our ability to get out and explore. We did manage to find 2 trails, neither was very long but they both went through some awesome-looking habitat. I think we walked for less than an hour before we were absolutely soaked through, returning to create a delicious red pasta meal before heading out into the night for probably another hour before we were again soaked through.
The next morning brought more of the same, and as our ponchos dripped by the doorway it really felt like this really wasn’t the best use of our short time in Panama and we started to think that heading onwards to the lowlands would be the play. I contacted Miguel from Snowy Cotinga House to see if they would let us arrive a day early, and thankfully we got the green light. After that bit of good news, we watched some Keel-billed toucans from the cabin windows and managed to have a few hours of diurnal and nocturnal searching before the rains started again and we headed to bed.
Fortuna Cabins Bird List (includes drive from David):
Double-toothed kite
Keel-billed toucan
Rufous-tailed hummingbird
Scissor-tailed flycatcher
Variable seedeater
Yellow-headed caracara
Double-toothed kite
Keel-billed toucan
Rufous-tailed hummingbird
Scissor-tailed flycatcher
Variable seedeater
Yellow-headed caracara
Snowy Cotinga House x6 nights
The main takeaway from the drive down the Caribbean slope and then along the coast towards Changuinola was potholes. Google maps reckoned you’d be able to maintain a steady and efficient speed, but the potholes had other ideas. We slalomed along, frequently a very slow slalom, until finally passing the Baseball stadium at El Empalme and the final few miles of banana plantations which lead to Snowy Cotinga House and its awesome grounds and gardens. A King vulture cruised over as assorted tanagers and Collared aracaris tucked into the fruits left out by Marina (one of the loveliest people you will ever meet) – the lowlands were off to a good start.
The main takeaway from the drive down the Caribbean slope and then along the coast towards Changuinola was potholes. Google maps reckoned you’d be able to maintain a steady and efficient speed, but the potholes had other ideas. We slalomed along, frequently a very slow slalom, until finally passing the Baseball stadium at El Empalme and the final few miles of banana plantations which lead to Snowy Cotinga House and its awesome grounds and gardens. A King vulture cruised over as assorted tanagers and Collared aracaris tucked into the fruits left out by Marina (one of the loveliest people you will ever meet) – the lowlands were off to a good start.
Again, this is the sort of place where if you want guides, or if you have a burning desperation to twitch a target species, then this can all be arranged. We were more than happy to be shown the areas where we had access to wander at will (the jungle trails within the grounds of the house were self-explanatory, but we had a helping hand from Kato who showed us additional land and trails accessed from various sections of the road where we’d be able to search in our own time later on). Anyway, the first port of call was the jungles trails, a quick daylight peak before returning with torches, with Jill spotting a tiny little Cloudy snail-eater (Sibon nebulatus) to get the snake species count back up and running.
During our stay, the eponymous Snowy cotingas did show up on a couple of mornings along with a whole host of other species which were new to both of us.
The nightwalks slowly provided additional snake species, but unfortunately nothing additional to what we’d seen in Costa Rica on a previous trip. They were still awesome to see again though, of course!
On a couple of occasions some birders arrived in the morning to try to spy the cotingas. It was negotiated that if we spied the cotingas on another day we would give them a shout. In return, if they spotted a Spilotes they would let us know – or, as Marina’s phone translation said – “if they see your leathery snake they will tell you”. Ah man, spoiler alert, the leathery snake did not turn up. Some kinkajous and a beautiful Eyelash viper (Bothriechis schlegelii) in the ‘oropel’ morph did their best to fill the Spilotes void, but they’re pretty big snakes which leave pretty big voids.
On our final morning we survived the weirdly crazy Changuinola traffic and dropped off the car in one piece. Marina then kindly drove us down to Almirante to take a boat across to the islands. After a false start due to the boat driver not putting fuel in the boat, we were again on our way, leaving mainland behind and headed out to Isla Bastimentos via a brief boat-swap at Isla Colon.
Snowy Cotinga additional bird species:
Bananaquit
Black-cheeked woodpecker
Black-crowned tityra
Blue-headed parrot
Cattle egret
Chestnut-headed oropendola
Cinnamon becard
Collared aracari
Gartered trogon
Golden-hooded tanager
Great kiskadee
Groove-billed ani
House wren
King vulture
Little blue heron
Long-billed hermit
Long-tailed tyrant
Masked tityra
Montezuma’s oropendola
Northern barred woodcreeper
Olive-backed euphonia
Palm tanager
Red-lored parrot
Short-billed pigeon
Snowy cotinga
Squirrel cuckoo
White-collared manakin
White-crowned parrot
White-tailed kite
Yellow-crowned euphonia
Bananaquit
Black-cheeked woodpecker
Black-crowned tityra
Blue-headed parrot
Cattle egret
Chestnut-headed oropendola
Cinnamon becard
Collared aracari
Gartered trogon
Golden-hooded tanager
Great kiskadee
Groove-billed ani
House wren
King vulture
Little blue heron
Long-billed hermit
Long-tailed tyrant
Masked tityra
Montezuma’s oropendola
Northern barred woodcreeper
Olive-backed euphonia
Palm tanager
Red-lored parrot
Short-billed pigeon
Snowy cotinga
Squirrel cuckoo
White-collared manakin
White-crowned parrot
White-tailed kite
Yellow-crowned euphonia
Isla Bastimentos (Eclypse de Mar) x6 nights
This was to be the more relaxing ‘holiday’ part of the trip but still had the potential to turn up some good wildlife. The Eclypse de Mar grounds had a couple of well-maintained paths through their own private ‘nature reserve’, providing some very easy access into a range of interesting habitats. The ‘Treehouse’ in which we stayed was located at the start of these paths and species such as sloth, armadillo and caiman were all easy spots.
This was to be the more relaxing ‘holiday’ part of the trip but still had the potential to turn up some good wildlife. The Eclypse de Mar grounds had a couple of well-maintained paths through their own private ‘nature reserve’, providing some very easy access into a range of interesting habitats. The ‘Treehouse’ in which we stayed was located at the start of these paths and species such as sloth, armadillo and caiman were all easy spots.
Across the bay lies the ‘Old Bank’, where colourfully-painted houses and free-running dogs and chickens mark the location where most of the Bastimentos residents live. A few of the shacks are kitted-out with quite sizeable sound-systems, so instead of the chilled-out Eek-a-Mouse vibes coming from the resort restaurant we were often treated to something a bit more loud and lively drifting in over the warm air. Luckily there was only a handful of people staying at the resort, meaning the nature reserve was always quiet (if even used at all…) and kayaks and SUPs were readily available. Slow wanders through the reserve allowed some comical views of displaying Golden-collared manakins, whilst similarly slow paddles around the coastline provided nice views of Caribbean whiptails and Spotted-eagle rays.
We snorkelled a bit here too, both in the area around the resort and further afield via a boat trip ran by the resort. We didn’t always have the greatest visibility (which is always great for the imagination) but always spotted a few interesting critters. For me, the highlight being when I came face to face with a Nurse shark for a few seconds before it turned and headed into deeper, darker water (video at bottom of page).
We spotted a few more Imantodes and vine snakes to add to the snake totals, but unfortunately no new species were found.
Too quickly, the relaxing Caribbean experience turned into a countdown, and before we knew it we were headed over to Isla Colon to catch our flight back to Panama City (after a short pause before take-off so that they could “remove some dogs from the runway”). Then followed a final night in the city, a long wait at the hotel, an even longer flight to Amsterdam, a long wait there, a short flight to Newcastle (arriving in icy conditions), a quick hot chocolate at Greggs and the welcoming news that Messi and the lads had just won the World Cup. And that was pretty much that.
Bocas del Toro/Isla Bastimentos additional species:
American pygmy kingfisher
Bay wren
Black-crowned antshrike
Brown booby
Chestnut-backed antbird
Common black hawk
Golden-collared manakin
Gray catbird
Great blue heron
Green ibis
Grey-cowled water rail
Laughing gull
Lineated woodpecker
Mangrove swallow
Northern tropical pewee
Northern waterthrush
Pale-vented pigeon
Prothonotary warbler
Purple gallinule
Ringed kingfisher
Roadside hawk
Royal tern
White-browed gnatcatcher
American pygmy kingfisher
Bay wren
Black-crowned antshrike
Brown booby
Chestnut-backed antbird
Common black hawk
Golden-collared manakin
Gray catbird
Great blue heron
Green ibis
Grey-cowled water rail
Laughing gull
Lineated woodpecker
Mangrove swallow
Northern tropical pewee
Northern waterthrush
Pale-vented pigeon
Prothonotary warbler
Purple gallinule
Ringed kingfisher
Roadside hawk
Royal tern
White-browed gnatcatcher
Thanks to the following good people:
Ray - for your initial information and advice when I first mentioned Panama many months ago. Your input is much appreciated as always!
Jeffrey @Mount Totumas – not just thanks for the amazing week we spent there, but indeed for the advice on Western Panama locations when it looked like the trip wasn’t going to happen.
Miguel, Marina & Kato @Snowy Cotinga House for making this a really enjoyable destination for birding and herping (tours or self-guiding).
Ray - for your initial information and advice when I first mentioned Panama many months ago. Your input is much appreciated as always!
Jeffrey @Mount Totumas – not just thanks for the amazing week we spent there, but indeed for the advice on Western Panama locations when it looked like the trip wasn’t going to happen.
Miguel, Marina & Kato @Snowy Cotinga House for making this a really enjoyable destination for birding and herping (tours or self-guiding).