September and October 2026

Hello All, here an update ...time flies😊😊

Wet season birding in Panama: Lifers and the Ultimate Relaxation

September and October are always some of the most thrilling months of the year for a birder. Migration is in full swing, the skies are moving. Lately, I’ve been spending every spare moment with my binoculars...

A Surprise Lifer in the Rice Fields

One of the absolute highlights happened during a trip to the rice fields around David City. Rice fields are always interesting around this time of year, but this day ended with a core memory. I was actually getting ready to head home and was just stepping into my car when three birds landed in a wet pool right in front of the vehicle.

I didn't recognize them immediately. Once home, I hit the books, studied my pictures and asked around for some expert opinions. The verdict? A Baird’s Sandpiper! A brand-new bird for me. 

Coastal Gems and Caribbean Magic

The beach trips during this period were equally wonderful. I managed to spot again a beautiful Kelp Gull, which is always a special and powerful sight to behold. Sorry I cannot find my picture of him. But here a nice picture of the beach...

Another highlight was a full-day trip to the Caribbean side with Patricia. We were blessed with gorgeous weather, saving just a little bit of rain for the very end of the day. For me, no trip to that side is complete without seeing the Long-tailed Tyrant. They never fail to make me happy, but this time was extra special: we found a pair actively working on their nest!

Singing Grassfinches and Global Big Day Success

Closer to home, I had another win. I managed to spot the Wedge-tailed Grassfinch near my house again. Even better? I caught it on video—and this time, it was singing!

During the dry season, that specific patch of land is often at risk of being burned. Fortunately, thanks to stricter supervision, it was left untouched this year. Seeing this bird thrive is living proof of how vital habitat protection is.

Then came October 10th: Global Big Day.

I spent the day out in the field, though I chose to stick to the lower elevations this year because the clouds rolled into the high mountains quite early. After a bit of afternoon rain—which gave me the perfect excuse to catch up on photo editing and logging my lists on eBird—I headed back out at 3:30 PM and stayed until dark. The highlight of the evening was spotting my first female Chestnut-sided Warbler of the season:)

Canyon Comforts: The Best Seat in the House

Between all these birding trips, life on the farm has been busy. This is the prime season for mowing and pruning, so I’ve been doing a lot of heavy lifting. But hard work deserves a reward.

This week, I set up a cozy little spot with two chairs right next to our canyon. Sitting there is pure bliss. You look straight into the canyon with its trickling streams, surrounded by activity. Just the other day, I watched an Ochre-bellied Flycatcher taking a peaceful bath right in front of me, while a Long-billed Starthroat hovered just above, patiently waiting its turn. Of course, I didn't have my camera with me—isn't that always how it goes?

The Ultimate Escape

Moments like those remind me why we do this. In a world that often feels turbulent, fast-paced, and heavy, birding offers the ultimate relaxation. It forces you to slow down, look closer, and connect with the quiet rhythms of nature. I couldn't be more grateful for these past two months.

Greetings from Terry

June and July 2026

 Dear everyone!! it’s been a while, so time for an update. Busy with all sorts of things; it is low season, of course, so we are doing some work around our house and cottages. And enjoying working in the garden, giving some extra attention to the horse, dogs, and husband :) , connecting with friends.

But naturally, birds and nature have also been on the agenda. The highlights in that regard were seeing some new birds. 

One thing I don't really aspire to is going out to sea on a boat. Were it not for the fact that a Waved Albatross had been spotted in the Gulf of Chiriqui, and besides that, there were also Inca terns, my heart started beating faster. And 7th of July, we hired a boat with a boatman and set off with Patricia and Bernie. We sailed off from Boca Chica harbor. 

We couldn't find the Waved Albatross; the boatman was very helpful and we took extra time. We saw the Blue-footed Boobies, not a new bird for me, having seen them before in Peru, but certainly a new one for Panama.

The sooty Tern and the bridled Tern...new to me...and of course some other seabirds.

                               The sooty Tern is in flight and the bridled Tern on the rock(above)

                                                Down below a nice bridled Tern:

And then the Inca Tern, super happy to see this bird!!

The weather was beautiful, not too many waves, but around the rocks it did get a bit more "up and down" as the day progressed. I held up well, but I was borderline seasick. The other girls were steady, and Bernie in particular is used to boats; she comes from the Dutch Antilles. I didn't mind having both feet back on dry land. But it was a beautiful day! 

Another thing....A Kelp Gull had been spotted on Barqueta beach in David; well, that was a new bird for me. So the next day, Patricia and I went to the beach.

When we arrived, there weren't many birds. But in David, there is often a beautiful sunset and people come to watch. Usually Panamanian families. And then when the people came... (around 5 pm) the seagulls came (just like in the Netherlands). People eat and spil and they know that :) And I did see a big seagull flying in, so I looked through my binoculars and sure enough, he came straight at me and looked at me intently; he seemed to be saying, "You need me." The Kelp Gull! And so, a new bird for me. Patricia had already seen it that week, but she was just as happy as I was. It is always nice to share a "lifer" experience together.

June and part of July is naturally immature time, lots of young birds, always quite an event. Also on the farm this year, many different seed-eaters in the meadows and for 3 weeks now, 2 orange-billed sparrows have been singing their hearts out from the edge of the woods.

Also on the Quetzal trail Hans and I did see a nice nest with an immature of the ornate Hawk Eagle.On the left is the immature(white) :

With Ann, we went birdwatching in Dolega, between Boquete and David. Great weather and a good list of nice birds. Dolega is really worth visiting.Even "down town" is surprising good  to see birds, also el caño Dolega.

With Ian Sanchez, I went to a farm belonging to acquaintances. Ian is the son of friends of ours. He lives in Panama City and when he is with his parents here in Boquete, we try to head out. Ian is working  in tourisme ...nature, rafting, and much more guide for years and he is my kind of birder. Saw some good birds and enjoyed it.

And the day before yesterday, I spent a day birdwatching with Matthew... he is married to a Panamanian lady and we hiked the Quetzal Trail with them a very long time ago. We have actually kept in touch(they live in the states) and whenever they are here in Boquete to visit the family (with their two children), we see each other at least twice, preferably more. It is so nice. And birdwatching with Matthew is fun... but his passion is insects and butterflies. So I went with him to a farm where there was all sorts of... birds, butterflies and crazy insects and very colorful ones too. He takes macro photos and I learned a lot again. And birds, of course. But I must say, that is almost impossible to combine; it is, of course, more staring into bushes and at and under leaves. But we did have a pretty good bird list, too. 

Proud of my pictures of the Wheelbug(Arilus carinatus)

and long-tailed Skipper:

All in all, we've had quite busy weeks, fun busy... with the World Cup and the Tour de France, of course also and nice guests in the cottages.

Oh  a fun thing was also that I was attacked by these southern Lapwings. I did run away..after taking this quick picture, because  one of them really touched me. Probably close to immatures or nest.

Well, that's about it...here as dessert a cute picture of thick billed Euphonia female with  her immatures on our balcony... they flew out half July. 

Until next time and best regards from Terry😊😊

https://coffeeadventures.net/tinamou.html

The white-tailed Eagles in the Netherlands

As you can read in my April story ...in April we were in the Netherlands and did see a White-tailed Eagle nest near the village where we lived before Panama. It is a successful nest; two beautiful, healthy immatures have been ringed!

The reason this makes me so happy is that when we lived there, not much was being done about nature conservation. Now, the dikes are still a mess, because they are currently being raised... this in connection with climate change and potential future problems with the water... But what is also nice is that this area has finally come to be recognized as very important nature and what they have also done is ensure that river water can overflow behind the dikes... to prevent problems as well... but at the same time, it is becoming a wet nature reserve, from which many birds, animals (and people) benefit. :)

Greetings from Terry

in Mei....in May....

 "In Mei leggen alle vogels een ei"

In May, all birds lay an egg... a Dutch saying about May... which rhymes in Dutch but not in English. But just as in Panama as in the Netherlands, it does work that way. All birds sing, too. May is always a busy time for the birds and high season for the insects as well... because they sing and mate with each other too. That means a lot of food for the birds, because they need protein.

It also means there is a lot of work for me in the garden and on the farm, because everything is growing fast. But I have to be very careful, because there are nests everywhere... on the ground, in clumps, in the trees. This morning I was transplanting some plants and putting them next to our creek, and immediately a "cocoa woodcreeper" was calling out behind me; it had a nest in a crevice in a tree. So for me, that means getting out of there quickly.

I’ve been scrolling through my photos from the past 2 months a bit and collected the cutest photos and videos. The winner of the cutest moment was in the Netherlands, in the Kennemerduinen. A Blue Tit was collecting nesting material there I will add them on my Youtube channel, because he is too long for Blogger.  But here is the picture:

Three times I have seen a nest that I had never seen before.

In our meadow, a nest of the "black-chested Jays." As with this type of bird, they are usually not the neatest nests; it survived, but when the immatures had fledged, the next day the nest fell apart with a bit of wind. It was also nice that the parents were being helped by another jay, probably one from a previous nest. I had seen them flying together for well over 3 months; I had a feeling.

The second nest was from a pair "buff rumped Warblers", never did see a nest of them, it was in the bank of the river on the ground on our farm and they were pretty upset when I passed by(singing and calling) I took a fast picture, but not a good one and walked very fast away... It was round , made from grass and the entrance was on the side. Went back 2 weeks later ..to take a better picture of the nest, the immatures fledged, the family was gone and the nest unfortunately flat and wet.

I always feel bad when I am in their space... as birdwatchers  we are indruders😐

Speaking of intruders... right now there is already a second nest in my plant hanger on the terrace; quite bold thick-billed Euphonias have taken them over... :)

I can even just water the plant, no problem!

Then the third nest that I had never seen before was at the Global Big Day on May 9th, and that was a nest of the Golden-browed Chlorophonia, never seen before; that was definitely one of the highlights of that day... I had to zoom in, because it was high up in a bare dead tree, so the light was a bit poor.

This was in the cloud forest at an altitude of 2020 meters.

Of course, I saw a lot more young ones and nests... here are some more photos.

A  just fledged Istmian Wren in Fortuna forest reserve

nest of a clay colored Thrush, next to our balcony.

And also in the Fortuna forest reserve a very cute just fledged scaly crested Pygmy-Tyrant.

When you see an adult ...they are already very tiny birds:

Did see two adults around the nest.

Only in case of the Chlorophonia...I did see only the female feeding, no males in the area.

Anyway, June will give more immatures and nests. I did hear this morning the blue ground Dove singing and also the ruddy Quail Doves are really very active.

I will update my youtube channel and you can check out more videos :)

Have a good month June!

Greetings Terry

https://www.youtube.com/@terryvanniekerktinamoucott7548