Panama Birds

Wednesday, 11/24/10-Thursday, 11/25/10. Happy Thanksgiving to all my North American friends and family. I hope you all have a fulfilling and grateful holiday. Eat some white meat for me, ok?

As promised, this posting is for the birds. Panama is home to many bird species. They are varied and some are quite colorful. The Pacific side of Pamana of course, has many types of coastal birds and watching them is one of my greatest pleasures when I hit the beach.

I would like to start with a photo of my friends, the Bananaquits. These are the fellows who periodically come to tap on my windows and roof. Well, pound is more like it. I think their beaks must be made of steel, because they will poke at my house for hours (usually when I am trying to take a nap). These are the birds that were mentioned in an earlier post:

The bird below is called a Frigatebird. They fly along the coast in gliding lazy circles, moving slowly along the treeline. They can stay up in the air for weeks, rarely landing (maybe just to eat). Watching them gracefully hover overhead is very tranquil:

This little feller is a Willet. He looks like he's playing when he runs up and down the coastline, running up just ahead of the waves and down toward the water when the wave recedes. But he's really working at grabbing the insects that the sea washes ashore. Up and down, up and down - it's mesmerizing:

There are lots of birds that look similar to the ones in North America that run around in my yard too. And another bird I have seen many times are huge vultures. These are the size of turkeys and scary looking but they serve a very special purpose and that is to clean up dead animals.

There are many websites that list the Birds of Panama if you are interested in learning more about them.