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Rod Sheppard travelled on our 'Panama - Canopy Tower' tour and submitted this entry to our writing competition.
Keel-billed Toucan
It is dark but the pre-dawn sounds of the forest are apparent. The Howler monkeys are beginning to roar their eerie calls from some distance across the forest and there are the first sounds of random bird call. There is a skittering sound above me, some sort of creature is chasing across the roof of my room as I get myself ready for an exciting day at the Canopy Tower, Panama. The morning drill involves getting up to the ‘top deck’ of the tower (in a former life it was a US radar station) and finding the coffee; so I grab my camera whilst trying to remember the basics – batteries charged, appropriate settings, correct lens, and so on.
The view from the top deck is 360° of mist-shrouded forest, gradually revealing the shapes of the canopy and in the far distance, the high-rise towers of Panama city. Mist lounges in the recesses and dips of the forest whilst there is more evidence of mysterious calls emerging from the changing darkness. The light is growing and, with it, the colour of the rainforest becomes more nuanced – universal grey is changing to various shades of green, the structure of the trees more defined and colours of sunrise evident in the developing dawn. The group is eager, the coffee has dispelled the torpor of an early awakening and our guide, Alexis, is starting to recognise individual bird call and provide a response. Some of the local birds need no encouragement and the first ones emerge in a Cecropia tree close to where we are waiting.
The most obliging is a male Euphonia – that much I know as I have seen relatives of this extravagant blue-and-yellow bird before – but which species? It is one of the regulars – the Fulvous-vented – and is attracted by the flowers of the Cecropia tree. Everyone sees this ‘little wonder’ at a range of a few metres and the photographers get their first fix. Next along is a Green Honeycreeper with gaudy plumage, a sort of unlikely turquoise green with a black face and piercing red eye. The birds keep coming: Palm, Plain-coloured and Blue-grey Tanagers, Chestnut-sided and Bay-breasted Warblers and a provocative Tropical Knatcatcher – a charming little poser.
We are alerted by raucous calls. One of my targets for photography – Keel-billed Toucan – is in the vicinity and arrives on a tree 200 metres away with two companions. What a wonderfully bizarre and fantastical creature. A flamboyant combination of rainbow colours with an absurdly cumbersome looking bill. My first observation is wrong in one important respect. The one bird manoeuvres with great precision and delicately passes a tiny fruit, of no more than 2 centimetres in diameter, to its partner using the tips of its curved mandibles. Such affection for a mate combined with unlikely finesse!
An hour and a half of avian magic and now for breakfast!
It is not possible to describe all the species seen on that early morning without probably boring the average birder and irritating the hard core twitcher. The species observed during the week at the Canopy Tower included a host of warblers, tanagers, trogans, owls, flycatchers, parrots, woodpeckers, raptors, manakins and many hummingbirds. The immediate area has incredible biodiversity and I’m not just referring to the 400-plus species of birds. It came as a great surprise to see so many species of mammals including irritable White-faced Capuchin, curious Howler Monkeys staring down as they observed the passing traffic, a very rare Silky Anteater – an arboreal species; both sloth species, and daily sightings of both Coati and Agouti. Our local Three-toed Sloth treated us to a display of rare physical activity one early afternoon as it munched through a lunch of Cecropia flowers and young foliage.
During a visit to the ponds close to the Summit Point we came across a female American Crocodile sitting on a mound of earth – which I understood to be a nest. She was quite large – around 3 metres long – and as I crept closer it occurred to me that this magnificent creature was bigger than me and certainly faster. I beat a quiet retreat and managed to watch this great reptile from behind a wire fence which seemed to suit both of us! It hadn’t occurred to me that we would see crocodiles in Central America along with one of their relatives, the Spectacled Caiman.
I can’t remember such a relatively short wildlife holiday (nine nights including flying) that was so rich in wildlife experiences. So much was packed into the itinerary that it felt as though I’d been away for much longer. I hope to return to Panama.
Read more about our 'Panama - Canopy Tower' holiday.