About 45 minutes exterior Panama Metropolis, as you climb the hills of Cerro Azul, the site visitors fades and the air turns cooler. Up right here, the place clouds drift throughout the treetops, you’ll discover a place known as Comederos en las Nubes… Feeders within the Clouds.
This isn’t a lodge. There are not any cabins to hire, no restaurant serving breakfast after the morning birdwatch, though you might be welcomed to a cup or two of espresso. It’s a non-public piece of land put aside for one goal, the birds. Each path, each feeder, each patch of daylight feels prefer it was deliberate with birders and photographers in thoughts.
The structure makes you smile. Feeders grasp on the excellent distance for nearly any lens, with pure perches positioned close by so your photographs appear like they have been taken deep within the forest, not at a feeding station. Open areas catch the mushy early gentle; shaded corners preserve the birds, and the photographers cool when the day warms up.
You don’t hear the hum of site visitors or the thrill of crowds. As a substitute, it’s the flutter of wings, the flash of colors within the bushes, and the occasional rustle within the hidden foliage when one thing new flies in to feed, and sure, generally monkeys howl within the distance or come inside eyesight.
My early morning go to to Comederos en las Nubes (@comederosenlasnubescerroazul), began out with my first lifer of the day, Rufous and White Wren, and for the subsequent few hours I encountered eight lifers in complete.
As we stepped out of the automotive we have been greeted by two Rufous and White Wrens on the aspect of the highway going about their enterprise of foraging for his or her breakfast.
Varied Seed Eaters have been busy devouring the seeds put out for them on the within of the fence. Hummingbirds swarmed round, some defending “their” feeder, some attempting onerous to sneak a sip of the nectar out there whereas others simply sat perched determining their subsequent transfer. On present have been Snowy Bellied, Rufous Tail, White-necked Jacobins, Lengthy-billed Hermit, Striped-Throated Hermit and the White-vented Plumeleteer. The Striped-Throated Hermit and the White-vented Plumeleteer have been each lifers for me.
Shifting away from the hummingbird feeders we encountered the varied Tanagers, Honeycreepers, Woodpeckers, Chachalacas, Saltators and Euphonias to call a couple of. We sat comfortably no more than a few meters in entrance of the feeders having fun with and photographing the birds.
Most birders know the Hepatic Tanager as that reddish-brown fellow with the deceptive identify, “hepatic” actually simply means liver-colored. However right here’s the twist, if you’re birding in Panama, you aren’t trying on the similar Hepatic Tanager you’ll see up in Arizona or Mexico. Ours belong to the South American group, which many specialists consider is totally different sufficient to deserve its personal species standing. In different phrases, the “Hepatic Tanager” you’re watching at this time may quickly be going by a brand-new identify. A hen with an identification disaster? Solely the taxonomists can resolve.
As soon as we had exhausted our pleasure on this spot we moved on a bit additional the place we have been supplied with a coated seating space dealing with into the forest ground. One of many intelligent touches here’s a dug-out conceal, a easy pit with seating, that allows you to {photograph} shy floor feeding birds at eye stage with out disturbing them.
The Noticed Antbird didn’t take lengthy to make an look and was very snug posing for photographs whereas it looked for breakfast near the forest ground.
The Noticed Antbird was shortly joined by the Black-Topped Antshrike, lifer quantity 4 for the day. They too scurried across the forest ground in search of breakfast whereas permitting the occasional photograph ops, and probably not paying a lot consideration to us.
Quickly, the wrens arrived in type. The White-breasted Wooden-Wren adopted by the Tune Wren, two extra lifers directly, clocking in as 5 and 6 for the day
Whereas the wrens have been busy being their normal hyper selves, alongside got here the calmest hen within the neighbourhood, the White-Whiskered Puffbird. Lifer quantity seven. It perched lower than a meter away, trying round just like the king of chill, then casually hopping all the way down to the forest ground from time to time to snag a bug or two for breakfast.
Lifer quantity eight, the Northern Plain-Xenops, explored the higher branches as if inspecting every bug for freshness earlier than deciding if it was ok to eat.
Then got here the Velvety Manakins, sliding into the breakfast crowd with the attraction {of professional} pickpockets, grabbing snacks as if no person would discover.
The Velvety Manakin was lately promoted to full species standing. It was handled as only a subspecies of what was then known as the “blue-crowned manakin,” however research in vocalizations and genetics confirmed important variations. Wikipedia
Our subsequent cease introduced us nose to nose with the Broad-billed Motmot in addition to the Rufous-breasted Motmot. Two birds that look fairly related however with variations if one appears to be like shut sufficient. The payments are an apparent indication, The Broad-billed Motmot has large flattened invoice in comparison with that of the Rufous-breasted Motmot.
Motmots construct their nests in burrows dug into locations like riverbanks and highway cuts. The mud on the invoice of this Motmot suggests it has been burrowing alongside the highway cuts on this space. Driving alongside the forested roads you’ll be able to simply spot the burrows.
Within the distance we may hear the decision and response of Toucans, sadly they didn’t come shut throughout our go to. With eight lifers added, this was a profitable and pleasant few hours spent at Comederos en las Nubes… Feeders within the Clouds, and effectively value a return go to when the season adjustments.
