Panama Bird Photos - Trogons through Woodpeckers
by Will Cook
Here's a selection of bird images from a trip to Panama, March 17-April 4, 2004. I managed to photograph about 35 of the 400 species of birds we saw, though I missed many of the more common ones. We saw lots of great butterflies and a few mammals, too. All of my photos were taken using a Nikon CoolPix 995, and most were digiscoped, taken through a spotting scope. Fellow trip-mate Lynn Barber contributed some of her stunning bird shots that she took with her digital SLR with telephoto lens.
Frigatebirds through Potoos | Hummingbirds | Trogons through Woodpeckers | Passerines
| White-tailed Trogon (Trogon viridis) 3/23/04 - Pipeline Road, Panama. Male. |
| Black-throated Trogon (Trogon rufus) 3/23/04 - Pipeline Road, Panama. You can see from this female's tail color why this species is called "rufus". |
| Black-throated Trogon (Trogon rufus) 3/24/04 - Escobal Road, Colon. The male has no rufous in the tail, but is nevertheless quite stunning! |
| Black-tailed Trogon (Trogon melanurus) 3/23/04 - Pipeline Road, Panama. Male. Aptly named, with a black tail. Otherwise very similar to the Collared Trogon, which we saw in Chiriqui. |
| Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) 3/29/04 - Finca Lérida, Chiriqui. The grandest, most elegant of all the trogons. Adult males have punk hairdos, fiery-red bellies, and spectacular two foot long trains. Technically, the train is not composed of tail feathers, but lengthened uppertail coverts. |
| Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) Females are a little less resplendent. |
| Rufous Motmot (Baryphthengus martii) 3/23/04 - Canopy Tower, Panama. This species is the largest of Panama's Momotidae, but the dim lighting did not allow for a good picture. |
| Broad-billed Motmot (Electron platyrhynchum) 3/22/04 - Canopy Tower, Panama. Motmots are not the most active birds, spending much of the day sitting quietly. |
| Broad-billed Motmot (Electron platyrhynchum) 3/22/04 - Canopy Tower, Panama. Motmots have distinctive "raquets" at the ends of their two central tail feathers. These are sometimes worn off (you can see this individual is missing one), especially during nesting season. The raquet tips are produced by preening -- they don't grow that way! |
| American Pygmy Kingfisher (Chloroceryle aenea) 3/22/04 - Mangrove forest near Colon. This little fellow was so tiny it reminded me of a hummingbird! Quite difficult to spot, lost in the dense tangle of mangrove roots. |
| Black-breasted Puffbird (Notharchus pectoralis) 3/21/04 - Canopy Tower, Panama. Note the frayed tail -- this bird was busy excavating a nest hole in an arboreal termite nest. |
| Pied Puffbird (Notharchus tectus) 4/1/04 - near Cabañas Burbayar, Panama/San Blas border. The smallest of the common puffbirds in Panama. Note the prominent rictal bristles, which appear to have some sort of gunk on them. This was our only Pied Puff of the trip. |
| Chestnut-mandibled Toucan (Ramphastos swainsonii) 3/26/04 - Canopy Tower, Panama |
| Crimson-crested Woodpecker (Campephilus melanoleucos) 3/23/04 - Pipeline Road, Panama |
Frigatebirds through Potoos | Hummingbirds | Trogons through Woodpeckers | Passerines
Comments? Questions? E-mail me at cwcook@duke.edu