Beautiful Panama !

Back in  May 2014 I attended a conference in Orlando.  Having birded that area of Florida a couple of times already I decided to look further afield.  I had never been to Central America so decided a quick hop to Panama might be fun.  The flight is around 3 hours so not a long stretch by any means.

I was to stay at the Canopy Lodge for 5 days.  It currently is difficult to book a private guide but when I was there the group size for the standard outings was 2 !  It's best to use flash for some of the more dense Jungle areas, I highly recommend the Better Beamer in this environment.

I was very impressed with Panama as a whole,  people were very friendly and I definitely hope to go back one day.

Difficult to pick just a few images but here are a few of my favorites.

Green Kingfisher (Chloroceryle americana)

Yellow-throated Euphonia (Euphonia hirundinacea)

Red-legged Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus)

Plain Antvireo (Dysithamnus mentalis)

Broad-billed Motmot (Electron platyrhynchum) 

Basilisk Lizard (Basiliscus basiliscus)

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl)

Spectacled Owl (Pulsatrix perspicillata)

Blue-diademed Motmot (Momotus lessonii)

Pale-eyed Pygmy-tyrant (Atalotriccus pilaris)

Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture (Cathartes burrovianus)

Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway)

New Year's Resolution!

Having not posted a blog for a year so I thought it was about time I get back into the swing of blogging.

So my New Year's resolution is to do just that !  If I can remember how to do it of course !

Here's a few images to get us going.  I had a wonderful trip to Ethiopia during 2014,  so here is a selection of Kingfishers from that trip.

Half-collared Kingfisher (Alcedo semitorquata)

Half-collared Kingfisher (Alcedo semitorquata)

African Dwarf-kingfisher (Ispidina lecontei)

African Dwarf-kingfisher (Ispidina lecontei)


Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis)

Well travelled Youngster 04.01.14

Whilst out guiding for the day in the West of the UAE last Saturday, I had the good fortune to cross paths with a rather beautiful young Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca).  Imperial Eagles are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Listing primarily due to habitat loss and degradation, adult mortality through persecution and collision with powerlines, nest robbing and prey depletion.  This particular bird had a story to tell because it was a ringed bird and after contacting the Russian Raptor Research and Conservation Network it was revealed that the bird had been ringed on the 16th July 2013 in Tatarstan, Russia being  approx 51-55 days old at the time.  The distance between the nest and the location I photographed it at is about 3375 km !  Hope the images tell the story.