February 2025 almost done...

 Hello everyone, February 2025 is almost over, just an update about this month.

It was a busy month with many guests... I think 80% of the guests were coughing, had a cold and some were sitting on the terrace in a warm blanket watching the birds. I felt very sorry. Thank God they were not staying in a hotel room and were still in the fresh nature. Many were worried about the weather... because we even had some good rain showers, which is unusual for this time of year, which was fantastic. They later confirmed that. Because of that the birds were very active and when the northerly wind blew (which is normal for this time of year) higher up in the mountains, they were nicely sheltered from the wind and we saw even more birds. For Hans and me it was important not to catch a virus, so the bottle of antibacterial gel was always with us :)

I did not have to irrigate much, the meadows are still green, horse is happy and my flowers are blooming nicely. The Thrushes are even starting to sing softly and there is already a pair of thick billed Euphonias making a nest in my flower pot on the terrace. Higher up in the mountains it is also quite busy with the three wattled Bellbirds. This was a record for me in the 27 years that we live here, so many arrived at the beginning of February, I think because we have had quite a bit of sun that the fruit is ready for them earlier.

At the moment the resplendent Quetzales are also quite active at about 1750m, here in Boquete. The best place to see them at the moment is the Pipeline trail (Bajo mono). Almost all our guests have seen them there. Me and Ann (friend) went last Monday, I never go there to guide, people can go there on their  own and I always explain to them where to go and to look out for. Sit on the bench at the sign "habitat de Quetzal" or at the "big old tree" and you will see them...be patient, stay there for a long time. When Ann and I were there we saw a pair making a nest and 2 other males. Also many other birds. We only wanted to have the goal that day to see the Quetzales and then you have to walk, as birdwatchers, that is difficult... because you see quite a lot on the way. But if you also stop a lot on the way you will not make it to the "Quetzal" spot. So successful. I had a day off, no guiding, so Ann did the honors and made a lot of people happy with the Quetzal. See photo, Ann is on the left in the front pointing out where the Quetzales were and a two toed Sloth with a baby.

For me super relaxing :) At 3.15 pm we did have a late lunch. That was a good day. Howler Monkeys with babies and also Mottled Owl and a pair barred Becards were making a nest... absolute the highlights.

Another interesting thing is that a streaked Flycatcher has decided to settle on our farm. I saw him a few times last year, but now he has been singing and calling for 2 weeks. This is a bird that actually lives in lower areas, but we are getting more and more birds from lower areas on the farm, it is getting warmer.

The yellow-green Vireos are back, singing everywhere...it is officially summer.

 I have not heard or seen a Piratic Flycatcher on the farm yet.

The lessons Motmots are very active and I think I found a nest in the riverbank on the farm this morning.

 All in all a "spring" feeling and we are heading towards March! Hope for more rain showers and no drought. Good for the migrants that are going to move north, the mixed groups are already getting bigger, nice!! There will be more surprises coming, ... until the next story!

Greetings Terry

https://coffeeadventures.net/tinamou.html

https://ebird.org/profile/NjIxMjky/world

broad winged Hawk eating a crab

Attention a crossing three toed sloth!

Attention a crossing three toed sloth!

Another special encounter this morning! A three toed sloth crossing the road. I parked my car in the middle of the road and luckily it wasn't a busy road... the Sloth took its time :) I only had to stop 1 bus and actually all passengers (many children) thought it was great fun.

Greetings from Terry

https://coffeeadventures.net/tinamou.html

Tamandua (Anteater)eating ..

This morning, 26 January 2025, I was on my way home after a morning of birdwatching and just before I wanted to leave the continental divide I saw this Tamandua eating vigorously along the road. I was able to approach him well, he was so busy, he didn't even see me.

So cool

greetings from Terry van Niekerk

https://coffeeadventures.net/tinamou.html

Finally hiking /birding on the sendero los Quetzales

Hello readers, yesterday 23th of January 2025 

I hiked on the sendero los Quetzales!

My favorite trail in Boquete. We have been hiking this trail since 1997. That year we were traveling around Panama as tourists and that year we fell in love with Panama and especially Boquete. In 1998 we hiked it again in March and then in September of that year we moved to Boquete. After that we hiked it many times with guests... tourists... bird watchers...ourselves, you name it. March 4, 2020 we went with a group to the beginning of the Quetzal trail and there was parkranger Carlos standing kind of anxiously in the front door and making gestures... no, the Quetzal trail is closed due to COVID.

 We were impressed and we went sadly to another trail and well, after that it was of course a crazy bad time and we were busy getting guests on the plane to their country as soon as possible. During Covid the trail also had problems with landslides, bad weather, bridges washing away. So after Covid the trail remained closed. Luckily we had some good alternatives. I often asked the park rangers if they were working on it and when do you think it will open again. But I often got answers that said..."not yet"

15 January 2025 there was good news. The Minister of Ambiente (Carlos Navarro) was on the trail and on Instagram I saw and heard him say .. yes good news the trail will open on 15 January... Yesss!

And yesterday it was time. I was there with a couple from America..to walk the entire trail and watch birds. Hans and I were SO curious and I promised to take pictures...although with my phone, I didn't take my camera with me..too much lugging work. I could have taken a really good pictures of a yellow- green Brushfinch and a beautiful barred Becard and a buffy Tuftedcheek and three wattled Bellbirds that also did a display...and a Deer(central American Red Brocket) all very close to see...phew. But anyway the walk was great, the trails looked really good and there were new bridges!!! really so nice and much more safer then before. The weather was also fantastic, half cloudy now and then some clouds that came in...it was perfect. So yes I just wanted to get that off my chest... unfortunately no bird pictures...but pictures of the new bridges.

The American couple was impressed, that was also really nice. As a Dutch person living in Panama for more the 26 years already... I was proud.

I look forward to more beautiful visits to this beautiful trail!  

Below the bird list of this day. And some pictures...

Greetings from Terry

PN Volcán Barú--Sendero los Quetzales, Chiriquí, PA
Jan 23, 2025 8:40 AM - 4:35 PM
Protocol: Traveling
9.15 kilometer(s)
Checklist Comments:     Part clouds, no wind, hike the whole trail..ranger to ranger  I did put a northern house Wren...but I removed it right away, now I do see that it is in the e-mail rare birds ... but it was a typo... it is of course a  southern House Wren :)
70 species

Black Guan  3
Spotted Wood-Quail  2
Brown Violetear  2
Lesser Violetear  2
Talamanca Hummingbird  1
Fiery-throated Hummingbird  1
Purple-throated Mountain-gem  1
White-throated Mountain-gem  4
Volcano Hummingbird  1
Stripe-tailed Hummingbird  1
Southern Lapwing  1
Black Vulture  3     Flight
Collared Trogon (Orange-bellied)  2     Male female
Prong-billed Barbet  3     Heard more
Northern Emerald-Toucanet  1
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Sulphur-winged Parakeet  X     Heard in flight
Silvery-fronted Tapaculo  3     Heard calls seen 1 (female)
Spot-crowned Woodcreeper  1
Buffy Tuftedcheek  2     Heard 1 seen 1
Streak-breasted Treehunter  1
Spotted Barbtail  2
Ruddy Treerunner  4
Red-faced Spinetail  1
Three-wattled Bellbird  6     display..2 females and 2 males + songs...good view and heard 2 more
Barred Becard  3     pair and male + songs
Olive-streaked Flycatcher  1
Eye-ringed Flatbill  1
Tufted Flycatcher  2
Dark Pewee  1
Yellowish Flycatcher  2
Black-capped Flycatcher  4     Heard more calls
Rufous-browed Peppershrike  1     Heard
Yellow-winged Vireo  1
Brown-capped Vireo  1     heard
Silvery-throated Jay  2
Blue-and-white Swallow  X
Southern House Wren  1
Ochraceous Wren  2
Gray-breasted Wood-Wren  2     Heard more songs and calls
Black-faced Solitaire  1     Heard more songs and calls
Black-billed Nightingale-Thrush  1
Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush  1     heard
Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush  1     Heard calls
Mountain Thrush  1
Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher  2     Heard more songs and calls, very active ..high up in trees
Elegant Euphonia  1     Heard
Golden-browed Chlorophonia  2     Heard more songs/calls
Lesser Goldfinch  4
Sooty-capped Chlorospingus  X
Common Chlorospingus  1
Chestnut-capped Brushfinch  3
Rufous-collared Sparrow  3
Large-footed Finch  1
Yellow-thighed Brushfinch  6     approx amount
Yellow-green Brushfinch  1     before open agricultural area alto chiquero..very good view, unmistaken ID... olive green back and underparts, seen a few times nearby in side trail Sendero los Quetzales
Wrenthrush  1
Great-tailed Grackle  3     alto chiquero
Flame-throated Warbler  3
Black-throated Green Warbler  2
Black-cheeked Warbler  7     Approx amount
Wilson's Warbler  2     heard more calls
Slate-throated Redstart  1
Collared Redstart  3
Blue Seedeater  1     heard calls..in dead Bamboo
Spangle-cheeked Tanager  2
Silver-throated Tanager  1
Slaty Flowerpiercer  2     males
Slaty Finch  1
Yellow-faced Grassquit  3     male 2x female1x

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S210424825

https://coffeeadventures.net/tinamou.html

A short story about the crested Caracara

 A short story about the crested Caracara... 

My sister in the Netherlands has been busy taking pictures of old slides from the past. Super cool and sometimes very surprising. This picture was taken in a zoo that had just opened a new area at the time where we went with four (us and my sister and her husband). The zoo is in Arnhem in the Netherlands (still) and is called Burgers bush. That was in 1997...a year before we left for Panama. At that time we could not have imagined that this bird...the crested Caracara would just be a bird that we see here regularly:)

This was 2 weeks ago on my way to a birding spot....

Greetings from Terry

https://coffeeadventures.net/tinamou.html

first story in 2025...

 Happy New Year! My good intentions to post more stories went a little differently in December 2024. But now I'm back with a story from December, last month.

 It was my birthday and I got a present from Hans, 3 days to Panama City. In the last 25 years we've only been to Panama City to get on a plane for our Dutch holiday. But not as tourists anymore. That was 27 years ago. I also got a nice present from friends of ours(who live in Casco viejo) who treated us to a nice dinner and then a ballet performance in the national theatre in the old town, Casco viejo. Wonderful to soak up some culture, that's one of the things I miss about the Netherlands. Of course Hans and I drove around a bit during the days we were in the city (we stayed at the Panama Canal..also good bird watching there! from our balcony..see the picture of the Keel billed Toucans down below, taken from our balcony), we had our own car. We really wanted to go to Metropolitan Park and we had never been on the Camino del Cruces. We did that.

 The last time we were in the metropolitan park was during our first vacation in Panama in 1997. Back then it wasn't really that interesting, it was dirty and not well maintained. The second time I was there alone was in 2002 with a colleague who had a travel agency and went there with me...but that was in March and it was very dry then and it was a mess. 

Now we were pleasantly surprised. It was on a Saturday December 14th and there is now a visitor center and you can buy some refreshments there and pay your donation. There was a nice man there who explained the trails to us in a very friendly way. The trails were well maintained. Hey, what a wonderful sight it was, this is good tourism. And what I also saw were enough taxis that can take you back to your hotel...that wasn't the case when we were there years ago. We had to wait quite a long time in a kind of uncertainty for the bus. 

The people were all friendly. The advantage of such a forest/park is... birds and animals are used to people and therefore easy to see. Very special to go there and highly recommended.

The camino del cruces was also cool, it was handy to have our own car in that area. Of course Casco viejo is also very nice to visit, many old buildings are still being restored, but what has been restored is very beautiful... and at low tide you can see the sea birds very nicely.

This was a highlight of the month of December 2024... but I also did very nice bird trips with very nice bird watchers and we also had visits from Dutch friends... also nice. Up to the new year!!!

greetings from Terry

https://coffeeadventures.net/tinamou.html