Puerto Rico

Ventured to Puerto Rico in March of 2014 for some birds and butterflies.
The goal in Puerto Rico was to see all 17 endemic birds. Sixteen of 17 species were seen, missing only the Puerto Rican Nightjar.
My guide was Julio Salgado. An excellent and very knowledgeable guide with great passion for the birds of Puerto Rico. If I return to Puerto Rico, he will be my guide again.
This was a quick trip of 3 nights and 4 days. I liked the pace of the tour.
During this quick visit, we recorded 112 bird species and 15 species of butterflies, including 2 endemics.

This is a guest cabin at TJ Ranch.I stayed here for 1 night. I could have stayed here for a week!.
Birds seen here included Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoo, Puerto Rican Screech Owl  and Puerto Rican Tody. On the road into TJ Ranch, we saw Ruddy Quail Dove.

The food was excellent along with the view.

 Bananaquitse  were common throughout the trip.
This one was at Julio's parents home.

 Puerto Rican Calisto is endemic to the island.
Saw several of these on multiple days.

American Flamingos are a rare sight on the island. "Mr. Pinky" showed up a few years back along with another flamingo. Mr. Pinky stayed, the other left.

The birding was pretty good here. The scenery wasn't bad either.
This is along the north west coast. 

Taken from the road to the Elfin-woods Warbler spot.

PANAMA May 2013

In  May of 2013, my mom and I took a trip to Panama. Both of us had dreamed of birding in Panama.
And if we were going to Panama, we had to stay at The Canopy Tower. We decided to make that dream come true.
Everything about this birding vacation was amazing. The birds. The butterflies. The mammals. And lets not for get the food. The food was excellent.

Our main guide, Carlos, was incredible. His reputation as "the best guide in Panama" is well deserved.

A sloth having a bite to eat.

This use to be a US radar base. The owner converted it into an ecolodge. This is the Canopy Tower! You can walk around the top! A great place for early morning birding.

No better place to be than on top of Canopy Tower with my mom on Mother's Day, 2013

One of the "Birding Mobiles" we used to get around to birding sites. A nice way to get around...except when it rains.

Golden-hooded Tanagers were an everyday bird from the top of the tower.