The Twitching Sailor

D Dock News January 30, 2012

2012-01-30T12:45:00.000-08:00

Hi All,
Just a quick post to keep you updated on the exciting life of world traveling adventurers. It's not often that I scoop Gene, the Mayor of D Dock, on the lastest comings and goings of the marina, but I did a few days ago when I met Cooper before he did. Cooper is chef Chris's new puppy.

COOPER

Other important dock news also involves a four legged marina resident. Priscilla aboard Sandial is pregnant. Her teenage, human mother proudly carries her around and invites all to put their hands on her belly and feel the babies. I think every body in the marina has been asked if they would like a guinea pig. The due date is February 12th.

The beautiful, intelligent and adventurous Glyn.

I first met Glyn in the forest. She was out on her bike and I was out on my feet. She has seen a few things I am jealous of; Southern River Otters at Diablo Creek, and a good sized Boa Constrictor. She and Dave live aboard Dignity and Dave is the manager of the hard stand area. Not for long though as they plan to start sailing back to South Africa this year. I don't know how the marina will manage without Dave. Glyn and I are planning a trip to Panama City. As soon as my cold is gone, we're off. We plan to take the shuttle in and stay one or two nights. The Metropolitan Park is my main goal, but I'm up for other exploring too. We plan on going to the casino in the evening to pokie. I would like to take the train back, but I don't know how Glyn feels about that. We also want to get back to Pipeline Road for a day. She went with Gene and I when we went and we were rained out. The dry season is upon us and we're ready to go again.

Coffee Sauce and Jimmy Buffett

2012-01-29T19:12:00.000-08:00

January 28, 2012
Hi All,
The Arc is gone and things are quiet at the marina again. Chris, the young chef at the restaurant, had his coffee dinner special tonight and we liked it so much last time, we went up for dinner. It was just as good this time--even better because a dessert of coffee creme brulee came with it. The menu of filet mignon with coffee sauce, coffee mashed potatoes and coffee green beans sounds weird, but it is GREAT. Sorry the desert was already started when I got the shot. After Gene and I had ours, I thought I should come back up and get a photo, but our Canadian neighbor had already gotten and started his dessert by the time I got back. You get a spoon of coffee custard, swirl it in the chocolate and pick up a coffee bean--yum!

I think I've mentioned Steve, on Liward before. He sometimes takes his guitar up and plays for the marina folk. He also knows Jimmy Buffett and is a fan, so he rigged up speakers and broadcast Jimmy Buffett's concert live from Miami. He put out chairs and served margaritas in paper cups. A good time was had on the dock!

2012-01-20T12:44:00.000-08:00

January 20, 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
Hi All,
There is one certainty in the world of circumnavigating sailors; plans change. We had planned to transit the canal in mid-January and finish the circumnavigation this year, but one day during the first week of December we changed our minds. I should say I did and Gene was happy to go along. We're both very content here and I'm just not ready to leave the rainforest.

I knew Bons would be disappointed that we would be staying another year so we decided we would fly home twice this year for short visits. We figured the first flight home should be over Christmas and New Years. Our friends, the Lafitte's, have been hosting a boat parade party at their place on Balboa Island for over twenty years. We knew that most of my family would be there, so we decided we would fly in and surprise everybody at the party. We didn't tell anyone but Bonnie who picked us up at the airport and Mike and Rhiannon because they had decided not to make the long drive from San Diego and we wanted to see them.

We wandered into the Lafitte's living room and melted into the mob just as Raves came in from the kitchen. She was so shocked I felt bad afterwards for surprising her, but not before having a good laugh. She does like to be organized and have things planned just so! My brother, Jim, looked at me for a few minutes before saying anything. You could almost hear the gears going--"Isn't she in Panama?" Grandma and Grandpa weren't there because they had a bug.

Now we have a bug. We both feel pretty bad; coughs, snot and fevers. I have been out in the jungle twice, but we have not even given the boat a good cleaning since we've been back. We're just too weak. Gene did go into the grocery and all the people on the shuttle held up their arms in the sign of the cross. The Aussies on Virgo's Child gave him a eucalyptus lolly. Last night when I blew my nose for the eight hundreth time I got a bloody nose through both nostrils that lasted a half hour. I finally got to sleep at four. I'll give the cough a week to clear up and if it doesn't I'll make an appointment to see if we need antibiotics.

Sorry for this crappy post, but I feel crappy. I started it last night, worked on it while I had kleenex stuffed in my nose to plug the blood, and finally gave up when my eyes closed while shrinking the photos. I finished this morning, well, at 1:30 p.m. when I finally woke. The internet connection went off before I finished and didn't save all I'd added. I didn't have the heart or energy to make it right again.
Talk to you all later.
Sue

Some Balboa Island Christmas pictures

click to enlarge and see gallery:

My three year old grandson and six year old granddaughter having a go at the pinata.

Italy With Our Germans III: A Blessing from the Pope

2011-12-10T16:41:00.000-08:00

A little Christmas flashback: Italy 2007

A Blessing From the Pope

Detail of the Trevi Fountain.

Click to enlarge.

Life ashore is so luxurious! I love that the shower is a few feet from a bed that doesn’t require a climb to get into. Going in and out is as simple as opening and closing a door and there is no gank plank at the threshold. Our mornings at the hotel were luxurious too. It became our habit to make our plans for the day over a leisurely buffet breakfast. On the 23rd we decided to go to the Pantheon and the German Pilgrim center to see if Ilka and Jurgen could get tickets for the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. We had tried the center the day before in the morning and afternoon but nobody answered the buzzer/speaker that was mounted on the massive double green doors that faced the street. We decided to go to the Pilgrim center first. It was near the Vatican so we took the metro rather than walking all the way again. Gene was doing really well with his gimpy leg, but his feet were killing him. The last time he wore shoes was at our daughter’s wedding eight months ago. Before that, I think it was five years. We got to the Green Doors and Jurgen pressed the intercom; still no answer. There was another button and I reached up and pressed it. The massive doors swung open onto a courtyard. A line of doors ran along one side and the Pilgrim Center was one of those, it was closed. A small hotel was at the back of the courtyard and it was so charming that Jurgen and Ilka went in to inquire about room rates and availability (we were thinking about where we would stay after getting back from Florence). Communication was no problem because the manager was German. The guy looked like a movie star and was so aristocratic I wondered what he was doing there. He told them nothing was available but suggested another place in Vatican City. He called the other hotel and arranged for us to go and see it; and while he was at it made it possible for us to have cappuccinos on their terrace at noon. Ilka and Jurgen weren’t able to get tickets for Midnight Mass, but ‘The Count’ had arranged front row seats to see the Pope give his Sunday Blessing. It was very close to noon when we arrived at the second hotel. It had been an Abbey at one time and had been beautifully done up. Unfortunately, the only rooms available were about $1,000 a night! Bit much for us. Still, the clerk allowed us to go up to the terrace and said he’d send someone to get our coffee orders. We couldn’t believe it when we went out onto the terrace--the Pope’s balcony in the basilica was a stone’s throw away. Our Germans were turning out to be quite the tour guides. It turned out that the Pope wasn’t addressing from the balcony in St. Peter’s, he was addressing the crowd from his private offices. A carpet hung from the window to mark where he’d be. It was across the square from us and much farther than we originally thought, but still we were relaxing with cappuccinos and good views as opposed to standing with hundreds of others in the square.

Ilka and Jurgen waiting on the terrace for the Pope's appearance.
We couldn't see the crowd in the square below us, but could hear them cheer each time the Pope sent a prayer and blessing in a specific language.

Good thing a birder was in the group. Binoculars--don't leave home without them.Ilka got spectacular views of an exceptional Cardinal.

Pope Benedictus XVI
The Pope has a marvelous voice and blessed people in I don’t know how many languages. I’m not religious but the experience was really very moving. Afterwards, we left our privileged seating and headed for the Pantheon. Ironically, the Pantheon was built as a temple for the ancient Gods. It was commissioned by Agrippa in 27 B.C. Today it holds the tombs of the likes of Raffaello and the kings of Italy.

The Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon

Fountain outside the Pantheon
Next stop, the Trevi Fountain.

We had dinner in a small family restaurant and were entertained by a loud disagreement that was being carried on in the kitchen. When we got back to the hotel we opened the adjoining doors to our rooms and shared a bottle of very nice wine.

Sue

A Visit to the Dentist

2011-12-02T07:35:00.001-08:00

November 30, 2011

Hi All,
We had our appointments with Dr. Ida Herrera today and whe was great. She is a lovely woman and very gentle. I am a big baby when it comes to shots, and I didn't feel a thing. She did a beautiful job on my broken tooth and I recommend her to fellow cruisers who are in need of a dentist. The office is in Colon, but don't let the looks of the neighborhood worry you, once you are in the office, it's a different world. I have another appointment scheduled for next week for a few small fix-its. The hygenist, Nallie, was very gentle and did an excellent job.

Nallie

So, okay, Dr. H is a good dentist, but what I really like about her is that......She's a birder!! No kidding. She knows the Audubon Panama people and has an Eco-lodge http://www.sierrallorona.com/sierra/. She offered me the names of a few guides, but birding is a hobby for me and the 'hunt' is part of the fun. I have had the time in most places I've been to wander on my own. Later, I realized I should have gotten the names. Most birders coming to Panama to see birds don't have the luxury of time and need a guide to take them to the good sites and point out birds because they are difficult to see in the rainforest. I will get the names on my next visit and post them on my birding blog.

We got the car, but it was late and we were tired so we didn't go anywhere but the grocery store. Tomorrow....Achiote Road.

The Universe of Peregrine is Heading for Destruction

2011-11-29T20:41:00.001-08:00

November 28, 2011
Hi All,
The universe of Peregrine is getting sucked into a black hole and things are falling apart as it disappears. My life in the magical and wonderous rainforest is scheduled to come to an end in about six weeks, my computer is dead, our sweet little geckos have turned cannibalistic, I am stressed about the transit, and my broken tooth started to really bug me so I made a dentist appointment and I'm worried about that. I decided that as long as I was going, Gene was too, so I made a cleaning appointment for him. The good news is that I will not leave Panama without birding the famous Pipeline Road. I figured as long as we had to go to Colon for the Dentist, we could rent a car at Budget in the cruise ship port and I would have a chance to see Pipeline and a few other top birding sites before leaving Panama. Leaving Panama. I am suffering separation anxiety and we haven't left.

My computer is dead because it fell of its cantilevered perch this morning and I can't re-boot it. My intructions tell me I don't need a disk to recover; everything is on the hard-drive. Simply click f11 and things will be fine. Right. I pushed f11 and got told to put the disk in to re-boot. It was cantilevered to try and keep it cool. It kept overheating and shutting off on me.

I'm using Gene's computer, but it's on one leg. Gene sneezed right after taking a swig of beer while playing Texas Hold Em and sprayed his key board. The beer shower put the keyboard out of commission so we have another keyboard plugged in. It's not as confusing to use as I thought it would be, but it messes with my mind and the blog is too big for his screen. I have to shrink it to 75% and when it's shrunken, it is hard to read. Under normal circumstances it really wouldn't be a big deal, just another punch to roll with. It's not as bad as some of the punches we've taken. It's not a rough ocean crossing or a mozzie virus or threatened amputation or a broken back or broken boom or a Tsunami. It's just a dead computer. So why does the punch feel like a knock down? Because the dead computer isn't the only thing. It's other things, too. Little things; but those little things feel like large beasts circling. I always get butterflies when it's time to cast off, so some nervousness or anxiety is always there. This time is worse because we've been connected to the dock for two years. This time it's worse because we have a long slog and the wind won't be behind us. This time it's worse because our journey is nearing an end and our life on the floating island will end with it.

I have been wondering what to do about the geckos. How can I get them off the boat? They need to stay where they belong. This concern has floated in and out of conscious thought for awhile, but it had been buried under other worries until two nights ago when an incident brought it to the forefront again. I was reading and heard strange sounds near the sink. I got up to look and one gecko had it's mouth over half the head of another. When I got near, they froze; one with his jaws clamped over the whole left side of the other's head. I ordered it to let go and it ignored me. I reached out and touched the end of the tail of the clamper and it let go. It ran down the slats of the louvered folding partition between the aft-cabin and galley and hid on the backside. The other seemed to have a tiny bit of skin loose above his eye, but was otherwise fine. What am I going to do with them? I thought I should make a terrarium of some sort with a small opening and something inticing inside. I would have to stand guard at night to wait for them to enter and then cover the opening, then take them to shore and turn them loose. I will have to do this shortly before leaving or they might come back. On second thought, I should try it asap to see if it will work. I hope it does because I don't have a plan "B".

November 29
We have the dental appointment and get the car tomorrow. We have had three or four people tell us that they really liked Dr. Ida Herrera and were happy with the treatment they received, so everything should be fine, right?

New Mini-Mart at Shelter Bay Marina

2011-11-21T20:18:00.001-08:00

November 21, 2011
Gene went to do grocery shopping and I am below being lazy. Gene is buying stuff to make dressing for at least ten people. Chris, the chef at the marina restaurant, is roasting turkeys and the crusiers are bringing the side dishes. It will be like the real Thanksgiving; a pot luck. We are taking the stuffing and a relish plate. It should be fun.

The new marina mini-market is up and running. They sell some good Panamanian coffee and we decided we would get some of it when we ran out of the mediocre coffee we have. One morning when we had only two tablespoons left of the so-so stuff, I asked Gene to get some at the Marina store. The next morning I opened it and found the package was filled with sawdust; it was the display package. Texas boat, Liward, had the same thing happen to them. Luckily, there were only two display packages hiding in the stock, so no one else should get sawdust. The real stuff is excellent. I threw away the package, so I can't give the name right now, I'll edit this when I get the name. Since I am depriving myself of grog, it is nice to have a really good cuppa. Fresh veggies are available and that is a good thing. The veggies at Rey at Cuatro Altos are usually on the limp side and these are bought at the main market in Colon and the lettuce is crisp.The mini-mart also has ICE-CREAM!

The mini-mart is good, but the new laundry facility isn't; laundry continues to be a head-ache at Shelter Bay. The hours are limited and it's hard to get machines. I preferred doing my laundry at night when the crowd was gone, but the laundry room is locked at night now.

November 24, 2011

I failed to take my camera up, but we had a great turn out for Thanksgiving with all sorts of good dishes. We even had Pumpkin Pie(s). There were probably 80 of us and all the tables were full. Live music was provided by musical cruisers.

Mr. Toad

2011-11-17T14:33:00.001-08:00

My Dearest Professor Lafitte,
I present to you, Bufo marinus or Marine toad, AKA Cane toad (the bane of OZ). This is a dangerous fellow and one should not kiss him/her lest death occur in 15 minutes time (not the toad, but the bestower). They have poison glands and aren't afraid to use them; even the eggs and tadpoles are toxic. The marine toad is the largest toad in the world and can be up to 9 inches long and weigh over 4 pounds. They are mostly noctunal. Their life span is 10 to 15 years.

Bufo marinus

I took this at night with a flash so the color isn't great.

Lafitte, I'm sorry about Elvira, but really, you should have known better than to take on the Queen of Tarts. On the matter of muses, Erato can be fickle, Calliope or Thalia might be better choices.

Your Wild (and crazy) Friends,

the Osierians

P.S. Sometimes on the comments, you just have to type in the comment and after you push publish, it will give you the goofy letters. Normally, it is the way I have written for instructions. Blogger seems to have trouble with consistency. I looked after I recieved your email and got the red 'x' in the goofy letter box. I posted a post and now all seems right again.

Butterflies of Fort Sherman, Panama

2011-11-09T00:32:00.000-08:00

All of these butterflies have been seen in the Fort Sherman/San Lorenzo area. If anybody sees errors, or knows what the 'unknowns' are, please leave a comment and educate us. Thanks in advance for any help.
Below: Zebra-striped Hairstreak. It's about the size of a quarter. I saw flashes of electric blue when the wings opened but I'm not sure how extensive the blue was. You can see the color in the last photo where it is barely showing on the back of the butterfly.

click on photos to enlarge

Zebra-striped Hairstreak. It's about the size of a quarter. I saw flashes of electric blue when the wings opened but I'm not sure how extensive the blue was. You can see the color in the last photo where it is barely showing on the back of the butterfly.

Here is a 14 second video I took of a Blue Morphos Butterfly. It's hard to tell in the video, but this butterfly has a wingspan of 5 to 6 inches. It's big and beautiful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC5gJ8D9_pY

Very large, fat caterpillar.

Large skipper, about 3 inches across.

Sara Longwing

click photo to enlarge

Variable or Grey Cracker?

Malachite

I have told you about the giant, electric blue Morphos butterflies that 'bounce' around in the forest. I think I told you to google them because I couldn't get an image and had never seen one land. I have seen two of them land since being back in Fort Sherman. Yesterday I was able to get some good shots of one, but only with the wings closed. It landed on the asphalt of the San Lorenzo road where some fruit had fallen and it was eating. It opened it's wing a few times, but every time I tried to catch it with the camera, its wings were already shut! On one of the photos, you can see a sliver of blue and it will give you an idea of their color. There are about six inches across and even though I see them everytime I'm out, I still am amazed at their beauty.

Above and below: Ringlet Euptychia of some sort?

Little Banner

Veined White-skipper

Tropical Checkered Skipper (above)

I have identified the above as either Euptychia mollis or Euptychia westwoodi. Corrections or discussions would be appreciated so please leave a comment if you can add something.

Click photos to enlarge them.

The best I could do with this one is a Metalmark of the Detritivora species. Apparently there are a lot of ssp. I couldn't find an image exactly like mine.

Urania Swallowtail Moth

White Peacock

Banded Peacock

Monarch

Gray Cracker

Red Passion Flower Butterfly

Heliconius erato

Common Buckeye

Thoas Swallowtail

Don't know yet.

Tiger Longwing

Heliconius hecale melicerta

Another Unidentified

Grumpy, in Panama

2011-11-08T15:28:00.000-08:00

Hi All,
It's windy and rainy and we are below and have been all day. I'm cold because I have the fan on to keep my computer from heating up and cutting off on me. I have the computer cantilevered off the chart table so the bottom is exposed to the air-conditioned air the fan is moving. It's at a weird angle and typing is a pain. It feels like we are in Alaska.
I've already removed one towel from the baby-stay and put a new dry one up. We have a baby stay rather than forward lower shrouds. The baby-stay is a wire rope and goes down to a hydraulic cylinder in the hull. The rain comes down the baby-stay and soaks our mattresses unless I clothes pin a towel on it to absorb the rain. But, Hey, we can go to weather! I say it that way because nearly all the issues I have with Peregrine stem from the fact that she was built to race, not live on for 12 years. When we looked for our 'cruising' boat, Gene kept coming back to the type of boat Peregrine is; fast and points to weather. Not being a sailor, I bowed to his superior knowledge. Now, I would say go with the fat, comfortable, dry slug. Of course I say that without ever having had to sail in one. Everything is a compromise when deciding on a boat unless you're well heeled enough to be less compromising.

I've unplugged the fan because my fingers were turning purple. Hopefully I can finish this and post it before the computer cuts off on me. If I sound crabby it's because I am. It's now getting dark on top of being cold. I would love a glass of cabernet, it's the perfect evening for one, but I have cut myself off and my mood is as foul as the weather. Today is day nine of abstinence. It's not too bad when I can get out, but cold, dark and gloomy is not helpful. I guess I should turn off the air-conditioner. I can't believe I am actually cold! I guess it's gotten cool enough outside to allow the air-conditioner to actually work. Usually it hums away and always feels like it's ready to lose the battle against the tropical heat.

Okay, enough whinging. We are going to have a great rainy weather dinner of beef tenderloin and garlic/cheesy mashed potatoes. I'll play a little bridge and start another paper-back novel.

Bye, for now.

Halloween Party at The Dock

2011-11-07T06:34:00.000-08:00

Just before I flew home last May for a visit, the restaurant here at the marina was taken over by new management. A young, (Chris Young, to be exact), chef was hired to run the place. He has really tried to make it a place for the cruisers to hang out. He has created a good Happy Hour and has occasional specials to liven the place up. The restaurant even has a name now: The Dock. If it had a name before, I never know what it was. Chris put on a Halloween BBQ party and a good time was had by all.
Cruising musicians supplied music that ranged from Jimmy Buffet to the Stones and free Rum was distributed by Panamanian rum company (and the rum we buy), Ron Abuelo Anejo and a good time was had by all.

Chris Young at the BBQ

Dock Master and bass guitarist,

Frank.

Our slip neighbor off the British yatch, Sanjola.

Our Dock's computer wizard, Bret. He is on a Candian vessel with his brother and parents.

Yachty musicians.

It's A Glamorous Life

2011-10-17T12:25:00.000-07:00

October 17, 2011
Hi All,
It's nearly noon and it is raining. Gene took the shuttle into the grocery store today and I am below trying to catch up on my writing and cataloging. I say trying because I can't concentrate due to the mess Peregrine is in. I guess I put blinders on so I can go birding rather than doing domestic chores, but when I'm locked in, I can't avoid seeing the dirt and disorder and shabbiness. I need to spend some time cleaning the old girl up, but cleaning will not help the shabbiness. Things need to be replaced and repaired. This isn't the best place to get things done due to remoteness and anyway, we're almost home. Even then things might not get done because I won't be aboard much and Gene doesn't care about esthetics.
I stare at the seetee cushion that Gene sits on while he plays computer cards. The cushion is crushed and the melo-hyde is cracked. A lot of Texas Hold'Em has been played. I will have to tuck a sheet around it when our canal transist crew comes in. The counter-top laminate is lifting, the hardware is oxidized, the interior wood looks dry. We could give the interior wood a good scrubbing and rub it down with teak oil, but ventilation would be a problem in the rainy season.
As I write, I pop up and do the dishes or clean the stovetop or toothbrush around the sink/counter edge, trying to give an air of respectibility to the place. As I was doing the dishes, it occured to me that I should post a few photos and explanations about life aboard. So many people think we live a glamorous life. We are lucky we have seen what we've seen and as we get to the end of the circle, I find myself thinking back about some really great experiences. It's been magical and I wouldn't trade it for comfort. However, we are not a cruise ship and sailing around the world is hard, unglamorous work.

GLAMOUR ILLUSTRATED:

The kitchen sinks. I got these from Gene for my birthday a few years ago because our first tubs got cracked and the handles broke off. I don't like these as much because they don't fit behind the companionway steps as well as the old, but they do the trick. We don't have hot water on the boat, so we have to boil water for dishes. As long as we didn't use the faucets for hot water we went with tubs because they are shaped better and easier to use for washing and rinsing than the sinks on the boat. Yes, one half of the table is hanging and it is not level. The table was horribly designed and placed to begin with and being broken only adds to the charm.

The coffee machine. Unless we are at a marina and plugged into electricity, we can't use electric appliances. (We use the computers by connecting them to power with a cord that plugs into a car cigarette lighter type recepticle.) Do cars still come with cigarette lighters? We boil water and pour into the Melita funnel that goes into a thermos to keep the coffee warm through breakfast. Gene had to cut a notch in the funnel so it would fit on the thermos. I have been looking for another funnel like this for years, but apparently, they are not made anymore. Why would anyone use that when they've got Mr. Coffee?

The ice machine. The ice cube trays fit vertically in our spacious freezer. They came with plastic cube dividers, but they were impossible to use and wouldn't separate from the cubes. We just fill the tray with water, remove the single giant ice rectangle, put it in a plastic grocery bag and take an ice pick to it. Easy, and so glamorous!

I suppose I should email my cousin and make sure she sees this post. She may change her mind about wanting to go through the canal via Peregrine.

Gene came back from grocery shopping with three very heavy Vreugenhil shopping bags (large things), and a full backpack. As he was bringing two of the bags aboard, he lost his balance and fell into the cockpit. Nothing broken, but he will have some soreness and bruising. He peeled off some skin near his shoulder and I have betadined it. He is mad that four eggs broke. Shopping is a 1 1/2 hour round trip just for the drive and the shuttle leaves you at the shopping center for 2 hours(?) so shopping by shuttle is an event that takes nearly four hours and to break the eggs after that has pissed him off a bit. Glamour never ends on Peregrine.

Marina Caiman/Crocodile

2011-10-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

October 15, 2011

Hi All,
Not much to talk about today. I got out early to bird and Gene wandered about the docks performing his Mayor of D dock duties.
I was trying toget a youtube video posted to help ID a bird when Gene called me on deck. The marina caiman/crocodile was behind the boat. It was raining so I couldn't get a good shot of him, but I'll post anyway. The last time I tried to photgraph him he was too far. Next time maybe he'll be next to the boat in the sun. I think I'll call him Pickles cause he's all bumpy like the Gumby character. We figure he's about 5 to 6 feet.

Since our life is so boring, there is nothing else to say except we had Chile Verde for dinner and it was great. Oh, after my early morning bird walk I made a nice breakfast of salmon, capers, cream cheese and pumpernickel.

Gene had his Chile Verde made into burritos and I had mine without tortillas.

Goodnight.

Gecko Update and Haute Cuisine

2011-10-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

October 14, 2011

Hi All,
I wanted to let you know that the Geckos are still here and seem to be happy and healthy. Blondie has grown and El has a fine thick stump of a tail. I'm calling him Stumpy now. He allowed me to talk to him for quite some time before running off, so I think he knows that I didn't mean to hurt him and has forgiven me. Still doesn't trust me, but at least he doesn't run in horror at first sight.

We had nothing but the finest in cuisine today. I didn't need a cookbook, but if I had had my, 'White Trash Cookin' ' book, I might had browsed through it. Raven's Mom, Alma, gave it to me years ago. I loved it, but never had an occasion to use it. Possum washed down with peanuts in RC Cola didn't sound too appetizing. Spam and corned beef hash were never high on my list either, but that was BC (before circumnavigating). That was before I became a sailor and adventurer. Now, spam and eggs with tortillas and habanero salsa is better than the brunches we used to have at Cano's. I imagine I don't have that book anymore. It was in the storage units at our place that burned in the 2007 Harris fire. Everything is on-line for cooking now days anyway. I'm sure there is a site with Possum Pie and Corn Pone on it.

I had spam and eggs for breakfast and washed them down with a couple of beers to help with the hangover I had. Gene just ate his Spam in a sandwich.

Tonight, we just finished sliced hot dogs a la pork and beans. I did spice things up with sauteed onion and garlic, habanero salsa, dijon mustard and Worchester sauce.

I hope Dan and Yo on Jacana don't read this post.

Love and Happiness You All
the Peregrinators

EDIT: Just in case Dan and Yo do read this:
I want you guys to know that we aren't totally uncivilized comsumers of Tasty Tinnys. Gene makes the worlds best pizza and we have that when we're not having Peppered Lomito with garlic parmesean mashed potatoes, or ChileVerde, or Vongole. We don't do a five course Thai meal while being tossed at sea like the crew of Jacana, but we do OK.:) Hope you don't take us off the email list because we endulge in Spam ever now 'en then.

The Twitching Sailor's Birds Are Migrating

2011-10-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

What a handsome fellow.

October 10, 2011
Hi All,
It’s hard to believe we’ve been back in Panama for almost two weeks. Time really does fly when you are a birder living in a rainforest during fall migration. Have I ever mentioned how much I love this place?

I have been very busy birding and am usually out for about five hours a day. I come back and research the stuff I’ve seen (which takes forever with my abysmal internet connection-very frustrating). When time to write about it rolls around at 2:00 a.m., I’m too tired! I have seen so much in the last few weeks that I don’t know where to begin: the nesting Brown-capped Tyrannulets? The strange behaviour of the young Black Vulture? The predation of the white flies on the underside of Papaya leaves by a small flock of Tennessee Warblers?

I need to cut the big picture into smaller pieces and write more specifically. I want to write more seriously about what I see and learn and I know it will bore you all to tears. Even though my modus operadi is to simply post pictures of birds with brief descriptions, some of you mention how ‘birdy’ the blog is. However, most of my visitors are birders and I should be giving them the kind of information I would like to find when I get on the net to learn. I have to go with my passion so I am starting a new blog: Birding Aboard Peregrine. I will leave The Twitching Sailor for family and friends as it was originally intended, but I will post all bird and most nature related stuff on the new blog. Don’t expect a whole lot on The Twitching Sailor, because if it doesn’t have feathers or live in the wild, it doesn’t interest me all that much.

Here is a link to the new blog:
birdingaboardperegrine.blogspot.com
Sue

Back in San Lorenzo

2011-10-03T07:07:00.000-07:00

It's been difficult to get this post done. We had a ferocious lightening and thunder storm last night and the power went out. The thunder was so loud Peregrine vibrated when it boomed and rolled overhead. I was writing when the power went out and I was unable to finish. Now, this morning, I am having problems adding images; blogger must be having issues. I've decided to post without photos so you all know what's up. I'm frustrated at this point and am going birding.

October 2, 2011
We are back aboard Peregrine after a four month visit home. The trip back was so easy it was downright painless. We arrived at 5:00 p.m. and spent the night at the Hotel Milan in Panama City. There is a fairly nice steak house across the street, so we walked over and had dinner. The hotel was recommended by some fellow cruisers and we stayed there on the way out of Panama. It's cheap and clean so we came back. It was still cheap and clean, but they had put some moths balls in the room to keep out something. Bedbugs?? They were overpowering (the balls, not the bedbugs) and I was getting fumigated. I looked in the closet and all the drawers but couldn't find them. I finally got dressed and went down to the office to ask that the stuff be removed. The bellboy came in, lifted out the bottom drawer of the dresser and scooped out a handfull of poisonous balls. The smell lingered and my tongue was still numb, so I turned off the air-conditioner and opened the windows. Panama poured into the room and enveloped me like a warm, wet towel.

Next morning we took a taxi to the Allbrook Mall/bus depot and were on an express bus to Colon in less than 15 minutes. We didn't go all the way in to Colon which is a dangerous place; we got off at Cuatros Altos shopping center. Cuatros Altos is where we grocery shop. The marina has a shuttle that drops us off there and picks us up a few hours later. As luck would have it, we had time to get some things and take the shuttle back which saved us a $20.00 taxi ride.

When we arrived at the Gatun Locks, we had to wait for a freighter to go through. While we waited, lifer # 897, a Fork-tailed Flycatcher, flew over the van and landed on the grassy slope on the side of the canal. What a beautiful bird! Too bad it was at a distance and I had to photograph it through the bus windows, I would have liked a good shot of this bird.

Peregrine was in pretty good shape on the inside this time and we didn't have to do much to have a good night's sleep. Gene has worked hard the last few days cleaning the decks and hull as Peregrine was a bit green on the outside.

The next morning, Friday the 30th, Gene took the shuttle in to get a few more groceries and I went birding. In fact, I went twice that day, once in the morning and again after lunch. The birding and communing with the rainforest was fabuous and I picked up Lifer #898, a Giant Cowbird. I realized in short order that I had Left My Heart In San Lorenzo.

OK, I'm Besotted

2011-09-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

September 15, 2011

click photo to enlarge

Hi All,
As a few of you have noticed, I haven't been very active with the blog since arriving in California. I've even gotten comments from people other than my Dad and Gene about the lack of activity. I loved this one from an email I got from Dan and Yo on Jacana:
"noticed you are so besotted on the new lil uns that the blog has been shoved into the back closet,Sue."
I love that word; besotted. OK, so I am a bit, but my new grandaughter is cuter than a Blue-footed Booby Baby. Yeah, I'm besotted:

And the pictures don't convey the soft snuggles and snorts.

Budding Birder

2011-09-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

September 14, 2011

Walking on a fallen log while out birding with Grandma.
click photos to enlargeWhile I was at my daughter's, I took my grandson to the neighborhood park a few times to walk and look for birds and bugs. It's a good park with natural areas and a seasonal creek. I pointed out pollywogs and dragonflies and, of course, birds. On one outing, I caught a pollywog in a glass so he could see it up close. It was just developing legs.

Looking for a lizard.

"Where'd he go?"My grandson just turned three in June, but it seems the outings with 'neema' have had an impact. My daughter took him to get his hair trimmed and the cosmotologist kept up a banter to keep him from squirming too much. She mentioned Halloween coming and asked if asked him if he liked Halloween and what was he going to be. He said, "A birder." The woman looked at my daughter, "Did he say birder?"

A Western Tiger Swallowtail is beautiful enough to make an impression on a mind of any age.
Bonnie says yes as she's thinking, "A birder?"
"What's a birder?", the hairdresser asked.
"Neema", he says.
Bonnie cracked up. She couldn't believe he had picked up on the term 'birder'.

Another time, they were driving home from somewhere and they passed the street where the park is. Bonnie said he was blabbing away in his car seat in the back. At first she didn't understand what he was going on about. She focused in and he was saying,"Dragonfly, pollywogs, butterflies, birdies, gopher, neema."

We go back to Panama and Peregrine at the end of the month for what I hope will be the final leg of our circumnavigation. I'm going to miss my little birder.

Hooray, Jacana!

2011-09-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

September 13, 2011

A few days ago I got an email from Aussie compadres, Yo and Dan on Jacana of Melbourne. They have arrived in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Port Vila was their outbound track and they have officially finished their circumnavigation. They have a great blog and it will interest sailors, birders and epicureans alike. Check it out:

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/jacana/

We met Yo and Dan in the Darwin to Kupang Rally in 2004 and we crossed paths a few times though Indonesia and Thailand. They crossed the Atlantic via the Cape of Good Hope and we went the Red Sea route to the Mediterranean. A few years later, we ran into each other in Grenada and yet again in Panama.

Congratulations Guys and Fair Winds to Oz!

The Case of the Lost Umbilical Cord

2011-07-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

My grandson and I are out in the pool when my daughter calls out, "Mom, did you carry Kennedy anywhere other than her bedroom when you changed her?"
"Yeah, I went to my room to get my flip-flops, and I went in the upstairs bathroom to get a warm cloth for her eye. Why?"
"Her umbilical cord dropped off and I can't find it."
Those of you reading must know and understand that Bonnie keeps nearly everything as mementos (ex: a birthday card for Gavin that was cleaned off after soaking for hours in melted Sponge Bob Squarepants cake frosting). You can imagine how a cord that for nine months attached her to her new baby rates on the Importante Meter, even if it is a disgusting, shriveled piece of human flesh.
"I hope it didn't drop in the hallway when I went to my room. If it did, the dogs might have eaten it!"
The dogs are kept contained in a section of the house that includes a bath and bedroom and a hallway to the garage where they can get in and out through their dog door. The doorways to the other areas of the house are closed off with child gates. Most of the day they are sprawled on the cool tiles of the hallway. I could just image the cord dropping in the hall as I walked through to the guest room where I am staying.

The angelic Lab would never do such a dastardly deed.

The little yipper-snapper however....."Oh My God! that's what happened with Gavin's! I don't know if it was the dogs or Gavin that ate it!"
"What?"
"Yeah, when we were moving, I put Gavin's cord in a little tooth treasure chest and left it on his dresser. The next time I saw it, the treasure chest was open and lying on the floor. I looked everywhere for the cord but I'm pretty sure either Gavin ate it or one of the dogs did. Pretty disgusting, huh?"
Well, yes. "I guess there's worse things for a toddler to eat."
The search went on for quite some time until the dessicated part was found clinging to a receiving blanket/burp cloth.
Now we can dress the baby in all the cute things we didn't want to put on while the cord was sticking out because we were afraid it would be pulled off before it's time.

Look at the little duck feet!
As me old Pappy used to say (and still does), "All's well that ends well."

The New Granddaughter Arrives

2011-07-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

Kennedy Jean photo by Matt M.

Welcome to the world. Photo by Matt M.

First cuddle. Photo by Matt M.

photo by Matt M.
After two false starts and a week of nail biting because we were sure she would demand to be born before the scheduled cesarean, the suspense finally ended with Kennedy Jean being born on the scheduled date; July 1, 2011. It was a good thing she wasn't born early because she only weighed 6lbs 4oz. She was 18.5 inches long.
A week later, Mommy and baby are doing very well, Daddy is getting some sleep and big brother is adjusting. Grandma (neema) most likely won't be needed for the projected six weeks recovery time. I think things will be back to 'normal' in no time. Matt has family medical leave and will be off for Bonnie's recovery time.

Still wish they'd named her Alice. photo by Matt M.

Serious Daddy

Big brother is doing pretty well with the invasion.

photo by Matt M.

Love at first sight. photo by Matt M.

Hasta Luego Rainforest, Hello Coastal Scrub

2011-05-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

One of the cruising couples here bought property and built a house by Lake Gatun. They invited us out for birding and lunch. Not a bad view, eh?

Home
May 6, 2011
In a matter of days I will be home. I am looking forward to being with family and seeing my place, but I am suffering from a little anxiety. Last night as Peregrine gently rocked me to sleep, I reflected on how peaceful and simple and quiet our life is here and the worry of sensory overload came upon me like a squall in the dark. The real world can be a bit overwhelming. It’s so fast, so busy, so complicated--so noisy! I reassured myself that this visit will be nothing like the last. The last trip home was especially stressful because we had seemingly insurmountable obstacles to overcome to get our place put back together after the wildfires of 2007. Thank God the really tough problems are behind us now. Thank God I have Gene or the problems would still be there. I would not have been able to deal with the county or our nasty neighbors. I find that after floating around on the Island of Peregrine for over ten years, I have become ill equipped to deal with people and situations that others would probably think nothing of.
There are still a few tedious, costly and time consuming chores waiting, but the legal issues and problems of access have been addressed. This visit, I can spend some time relaxing and enjoying family and friends and the beauty of our little spot, Tar and Feathers (I have been calling our place that for years--Tar for Gene and Feathers for me, but the place has given me so much grief that I am considering calling it, The Cursed Plot.) My dream for the next phase of my life is to make our 32 acre property even more of a santuary for the native flora and fauna than it already is. I want to provide more food, water and shelter for the year-round birds (and other animals) and those that migrate. I plan on planting lots more natives and offering nesting sites.
The last time we were home, we decided since we were so close, it would be a good idea to divide the year between life on Peregrine (where ever she was) and life in Southern California. The main event this visit is a joyful one. Bonnie is going to deliver our new granddaughter and I want to be there to help her recover and mess about with Alice (fat chance of her being named that, but I can call her that for now).
We will divide our time between my parent's house, Bon's house and our place. It's ideal for me--my parents are down the road from good birding at Bolsa Chica, Bons and Matt are in Murrieta and Lake Skinner is always good as is the drive over Ortega Hwy to get to her house. Mike, Rhiannon and the grandkids are living at our place so I will be able to go and hang out at my 'sanctuary' where the birding is spectacular.
Here are some photos of our Panamanian 'home' and our California home.

Three-toed sloth.

Barn Owl at our place.

Slider in the little river that runs out at Playa Diablo.

Gopher Snake at home.

Purple Gallinule

California Quail

Immature Yellow-headed Caracara

California buckwheat

Green Kingfisher in the little river to Playa Diablo.

Creek at home.

Crimson-backed Tanager

Happy Earth Day!

2011-04-22T14:50:00.001-07:00

Click on photos to enlarge.

Blainville's Horned Toad

Baby Tarantula? It was the size of a dime.(Panama)

Granite Lizard

Golden Eagle and Crow

Acorn Woodpecker Tree

American Kestrel (Panama)

Seasonal Creek at Home
Respect Mother Earth

Lazy Day

2011-04-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

April 8, 2011
Happy Birthday, Mom!
We’re snuggled below today while the rain, lightning and thunder carry on above decks. I heard the whining of the Kiskadees and looked out. The crane putting in the new dock posts is right behind us and close to the nest. I’m sure the noise and action is stressful for the birds. The rain isn’t doing them much good either and the nest seems to be sagging. I just noticed that they have a few short pieces of polypropylene lines as nesting material. I sure hope they are able to successfully hatch and fledge their brood.

Last night we went up for a “Laura Loves Ribs” dinner at the restaurant. Ribs are a favorite of Laura Dekker who is here in the marina, so the restaurant had a special dinner. Laura is a 15 year old Dutch sailor making a solo circumnavigation. We gave her “Fair Winds” and good luck wishes.
I should work on my Boquete blog, but I’m lazy and may spend the day reading a novel.
They just started pounding in one of the metal pilings--my ears are ringing!

Panama Visa Renewal Run

2011-04-03T20:40:00.001-07:00

March 21, 2011
Happy Birthday, Ricky. Rest In Peace.

Today is the start of our Visa Renewal trip. We have to leave Panama for 72 hours and get our passports stamped in another country for proof. We decided we do the usual ex-pat thing and go to Costa Rica. I have been online for the last week trying to make plans for Costa Rica. I wanted to go up to the small town of San Vito and from there go to the Wilson Botanical Gardens for birding. That plan wasn’t appealing to Gene. He wanted to find a place close to the border and vegg out.

Via travel blogs, I found a nice place close to the border. We decided we would relax there and not do anything else in Costa Rica because we planned on doing a lot of driving and sight-seeing (birding) in the Panamanian highlands. Gene’s thoughts were we can see Costa Rica when we get there in Peregrine. (My thoughts are as soon as we leave Panama, we are going to go off-shore and sail straight home—no stops; but you’ve heard that before.)

I was dreading this border crossing. I had read so many horror stories. Everything from a dusty, dirty ‘Twilight Zone’ filled with predators to four hour lines in the hot sun where the predators were officials from both sides feeding on the joy bureaucrats the world over get antagonizing weary, defenseless tourists. Well, it had to be done.

I called ahead and made arrangements for one night at the Alcala Hotel in David, Panama and three nights at the Hotel Higuerones in Paso Canoas, Costa Rica. We left this morning in the car that brings the marina employees in from Panama City. The marina will arrange a ride for the return trip to Panama City for $15.00 a person. Unfortunately, the driver was held up because the office had paper work to send back and it was not finished. No worries though, we weren't late and everything worked like clockwork—the whole trip really except for a few small glitches.

From Albrook Mall (and Bus Terminal) in Panama City, we took the air-conditioned Express Bus to David (Da-veed). It’s about a seven hour drive and cost about $14.00 per person. If you are a ‘Monk’or germaphobe, you might not be comfortable riding on the bus this long. One time when I was on the bus, I had a guy behind me who hacked constantly for the entire hour and a half long ride. I did a lot of cringing. Thankfully, this particular group was hacker-free and I didn’t feel claustrophobic until about the fifth hour. Flights are a more expensive option, but apparently, rental cars aren’t for crossing the border.

Our hotel was a $1.50 fare from the bus terminal and by six o’clock we were comfortably set up in the Hotel Alcala. In case someone is doing what I did and looking for information about a Visa Run, I need to be honest and say I thought the bedspread was too dirty and took it off the bed. The rest of the room was clean. The hotel has a restaurant and the food was good and inexpensive. The staff was exceptional. We were to come back to the Hotel Alcala several times on this trip.

David

Tuesday, March 22, 2011
We got up early and took the “Frontera” bus to the border town of Paso Canoas. The crossing was a piece of cake. Stamp from the Panama side, Stamp from the Coast Rica side. The officials were nice and there was no tearing the luggage apart. They didn’t even check it. We did get approached by a teen to ‘help’ but we told him we were fine, and that was the end of it. The whole thing took less than 30 minutes. I don’t think most of the people writing about how horrible this crossing is have checked in or out of many countries.

Los Higuerones

A short taxi ride later we arrived at the Hotel Higuerones. It is gorgeous with gorgeous grounds and it is spotless.

Scarlet-rumped Tanager on the grounds of Los Higuerones

We paid $60.00 a night and got the room with a small refrigerator; it would have been $50.00 without it. It was a good idea because the hotel has no restaurant and keeping some lunch and breakfast food in the room was nice. The drawbacks were no coffee in the morning unless you hiked to one of the Paso Canoas restaurants. After we checked in, I noticed there was no coffee machine in the room and went to ask about coffee. I was told that coffee would be made in the morning. There was a drip coffee machine in the check-in area. Before I turned in, I asked the evening staff what time the coffee was made and was told six. Next morning, bird song woke me early and I had to wait until six. I went down and no coffee was brewing. I asked the morning staff member about coffee and he went over to the coffee machine and flipped on the heat element switch to heat the remnants of yesterday’s coffee. I was thinking, “Are you kidding me?” I have to have coffee in the morning and I don't want re-heated, 24 hour old sludge. I was unhappy to put it mildly. Incredible--this is Costa Rica—it’s famous for coffee! And a hotel like this--it was crazy! I went back to the room and ranted. Gene got out of bed and we walked the shabby streets of Paso Canoas to find a cup of coffee.

Paso Canoas Restaurant

We had a good breakfast and cup of coffee here.

I later realized that the time zone was different and I was asking at five. However, even at six, no fresh coffee was brewing. We bought cups and a jar of instant and the next morning I used the microwave in the check-in area to heat the water. The other drawbacks were nobody at the hotel speaks English and the water and water pressure for the shower was almost non-existent. Maybe if my Spanish was better or they spoke some English I would have understood what the employee was saying and the coffee thing wouldn’t have seemed so incomprehensible. I do recommend the place. The staff was friendly and except for the coffee, accommodating. The gardens are really nice to bird, and it is a lovely spot. Take some instant coffee if you need it to be human in the morning and maybe one of the downstairs rooms might have better water pressure.

More on Peregrine's Great Kiskadees

2011-04-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

I’ve done a little reading and I’ve found I will not be here when the chicks fledge. Great Kiskadees lay two to three clutches a year; breeding season begins in late March. Clutches are 3 to 5 eggs. The eggs hatch in 13 to 15 days and fledge (take flight) 35 days after that. I leave for California the first week of May. Darn!
The Kiskadee nest on our boat doesn’t exactly fit the height usually observed. They usually nest in a fork of a branch 6 to 50 feet off the ground. I’d say their nest on our wind vane is about three feet off the water.

Kiskadee Nest In The Wind Vane

2011-04-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

Great Kiskadee
April 2, 2011
Our Visas to stay in Panama run out at the end of April so we needed to do what I will call the Visa Stamp. The Visa Stamp is a dance that involves leaving a country when your time is up and staying out for the required time and returning with stamps in your passport that prove you were out long enough to renew your visa. We had to leave Panama for three days. I have been wanting to do a driving tour of Western Panama and the Chiriqui highlands for some time so a we decided we would combine a Visa Stamp run to Costa Rica with a short Panamanian road trip. We have just returned from our trip and if the pounding for the new pilings on the new docks behind us doesn’t drive me crazy, I will write about our trip in the next few days. I didn't see a Resplendent Quetzal, but we did see some very nice birds and I got about thirty-five lifers.
While we were gone a couple of guests moved aboard. A pair of Great Kiskadees have built a nest in our wind vane. I hope if they have already laid eggs that our comings and goings don’t drive them off. The nest is only about twelve feet from the hatch. This is our second day home and they are still here, so maybe things will work out. This morning, it wasn’t us that drove them off, it was the activity of the workers building the new dock. They came over in a skiff to secure lines to our docks and the Kissadees flew off in a noisy protest. Now, Gene is sitting out in the cockpit watching the work going on. Poor birdies! Humans to the left of them, humans to the right. I told Gene that if he sees the birds flying by, but afraid to land, he needs to move. As I am writing, Gene is coming back in because he heard them calling and thought they might be uncomfortable. We will just try to stay as hidden and non-threatening as we can.

Gene had to go to the doctor yesterday because his ear was killing him. It got so bad he couldn’t chew. He has an infection and is on an anti-biotic, an anti-inflamatory and painkillers. I think the most painful thing for him is no beer for the next ten days.

Common Pauraque

2011-03-20T09:33:00.000-07:00

March 18, 2011
I went out for my walk just before dusk and told Gene not to worry if I didn’t get back before dark because by then I would be in the cleared area around the marina and it is safe. He ignored me and said if it got dark, he would be out to get me. I reiterated that if it was dark, I would be very close to the marina and for him not to worry. The area around the marina is lit up and is safer than nearly anywhere in the world for heaven’s sake. It’s Friday and BBQ-Yacht-luck night for the cruisers. I told him to have a few drinks with the gang and I would be hanging out close by.
I hurried to the clearing with the cinder-block buildings (Gene thinks it was a shooting range so from now on, I refer to this site as the Old Shooting Range), where we heard the Common Pauraque last night. I didn’t hear anything as I walked down the path and I felt a little let down. What if it didn’t show tonight? I stood at the edge of the clearing as the almost full Supermoon rose and settled above the canopy. It was so beautiful! It lit the clearing with a soft glow. Ok, I admit I was a I was a little spooked when I heard the snapping and crunching noises in the forest around the clearing, but I’ve been here so many times in the daylight, I knew there wasn’t anything to worry about. Of course, chupacabras don’t come out during the day. Neither do werewolves, or vampires. It was quite windy and the trees waved and let out the kind of sighs they do only at night. The clouds were swept along with the wind and the light of the moon was turned off and on by their passing. It was dark now and I knew I had to head back so Gene didn’t worry. I was on the path to the main road when I heard men talking on the road. They could be anything from Park Guards to Blackguards! Homo Sapien; the most fearsome thing in any jungle. I turned and went back to the clearing hoping they weren’t headed my way. I went behind one of the cinder-block buildings and waited. Just then a Pauraque started calling. He was close by! I snuck towards the sound and in the moonlight saw the flash of an eye on the ground. I froze and raised my bins. It was a terrible view, basically just a dark shape, but the moon illuminated enough that I could see his body moving as he called out. I crept closer and he flew away. I turned and headed back for the path and heard another call and it was answered by another. As I got close to the path I could hear one very close by and even though I figured it was futile I put up the bins and a short scan brought me another dim view. It was an outline of a bird and, once again, I could see it jerk as it called. I could make out white near the throat, but that was as good as it got. I could see that it was making the call and was quite happy with adding it to my life list, I just wished I had taken the flashlight and had a better look.
The men were gone and I walked quickly out of the forest to the clearing around the marina. The night air was sweet and the breeze was so nice. It was exhilarating to be out under the supermoon and I was thrilled with my sighting. As I neared the marina, I saw Gene, flashlight in hand, coming out to meet me.

El Gecko is OK

2011-03-07T20:16:00.000-08:00

March 7
11:15 p.m.
El is OK!! I just went to get ice and he was coming out of the pantry. When he saw me, he ran and hid. His tail is off, but he seems to be alright otherwise. I'm so relieved.
I got two lifers today: Yellow-bellied Seed-eater#854 and strangely enough a Piratic Flycatcher#855.
Sue

Another Gecko?

2011-03-06T16:55:00.000-08:00

Sunday, March 6
8:00 p.m. I washed the gecko dish and opened the pantry (gently) to get out honey for the injured gecko and a small gecko was on the lid of the honey jar. I'm not sure, but I think it was too small to be one of our other two. The honey is stored very close to where the recuperating gecko went to hide and I hope he is not stressed even further by the appearance of this gecko. I still haven't seen the hurt one.
I put the honey dish in the pantry near the cripple. I hope there isn't a showdown because without a tail to fling around, El would be disadvataged to say the least.

Trauma and Tragedy with one of the Geckos

2011-03-05T22:01:00.000-08:00

Saturday, March 5th
Tonight I accidentally cut off one of the geckos tails. He must have been hiding in the pantry in the grooves that the slider doors fit into and I slid one side open hard getting salt. I happened to glance over and saw him squirming in the closed door. It looked like his body was cut in half. I quickly opened the slider and he scurried out. His tail was stuck to the plexi-glass slider, still wiggling. It fell off and dropped next to the plates where it writhed angrily. He ran across the cupboard to the other side, went up into a corner and turned to look. He looked right at me as if to say, “Why did you do that?” Then he went up into an area I can’t see. Poor little thing. I feel awful. He must be in so much pain. He was squirming so hard when he was pinned. I haven’t seen him since he went into the dark corner.
They do drop their tails when caught by predators or trapped and they re-grow, but this door was so forceful and sharp and I don’t know if he is hurt in the middle of his body. He is so tiny and cute and I feel like a big monster, which of course I am from his point of view.
I’ve put out banana, I hope he can eat.
I have to go to bed, but I know I’m going to see him suffering in the door when I close my eyes. I am just sick about this.

The gecko guillotine with a new low tech door stop.

Playa Diablo

2011-03-05T06:55:00.001-08:00

The little river that runs to the beach.

March 2, 2011
It was a beautiful day yesterday and I was out for 6 hours. I walked the San Lorenzo road to Playa Diablo (Devil’s Beach). While I was on the San Lorenzo road, I heard a strange call and stopped to find who was making it. Some warblers flew in overhead, but the call was lower. I finally saw movement and picked up a Southern Bentbill. I’ve only seen this bird twice before, it was a lifer for me last March. As it flew from perch to perch, I saw some movement lower and got the bins on it—Magnolia Warbler-- sorry Dad, I still couldn't get a picture. Just as I was going to check out the higher branches, Glyns rode up on her bike. We talked a bit and when she rode off, the birds had gone. I went on toward the beach.

As soon as I stepped onto the path, I knew I was in for a good day. There was lots of noise. The first sound to greet me was large group of Crested Oropendolas. Their liquid calls echoed in the forest and I caught glimpses of quite a few as they flew on both sides of the path. They seemed to be picking things off the dried leaves in the middle height area of the forest. As I watched one looking for goodies, a Chestnut-mandibled Toucan landed close to it and the Oropendola flew off. The toucan was pretty close and I thought it was my chance to get a really good photo. Unfortunately, my camera refused to focus. I took ten or so shots and not one was good. The bird sat there are cocked his head at me, posing and investigating and the damn camera was worthless. I hate this camera! I never know when or why it will or will not work. Sometimes, the zoom lens gets stuck and the camera won’t do anything. It won’t take a picture in the ‘stuck’ mode, it won’t retract. It won’t even turn off. I just push buttons until it finally goes off and I can turn it back on again. If you are looking for a zoom camera, do yourself a favor and don’t buy a Nikon Coolpix p100. The peaceful remembrances of a beautiful day have just been obliterated.
….Ok, a fresh coffee and ten deep breaths later….
(Turns out to be four days later)

It is only a short walk to the beach from the San Lorenzo road, but it can offer surprises because the path parallels a small river that empties into the bay. I have seen a caiman in the river and there is a good population of Common Basilisk lizards along the banks. This lizard is also known as the Jesus Christ lizard because it runs on top the water to evade predators. I have startled a few and watched them run for a short spurt to put distance between us. I saw a good sized basilik with most of his tail gone. It looked as though it had been bitten off. Caiman?

There is a resident Kingfisher who always chirrs loudly at me as it flies off. Today for some reason he flew away silently. The path was littered with leaves that seemed too fresh and healthy to have come off naturally. I looked up to see Howlers lazing in to top of the canopy. Some of the trees along the path are very high and the monkeys were hanging out higher than usual.
I heard the soft grating, chirring sound of a Southern Bentbill again and placed myself on the path next to the call. Weird, I haven’t heard it for so long I’d forgotten I’d heard it before and now twice in one day. I need to find out if they move elsewhere during the rainy season, or if I’ve just failed to notice them. I got good views and tried to get a photo. Ha!

A very bad photo of a Bentbill. I sharpened it in Picassa.

I heard manikins snapping their wings in about the same spot they did last year when I finally saw my first. Last year, I heard them multiple times in different areas of the forest, but this walk gave me my first view. Other lifers on this short path are Bi-colored Ant wren and Broad-billed Motmot. Today I added another; Streaked Antwren #853.

Somebody's baby.

Up the Mast Again

2011-02-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

click photo to enlarge
February 23,
The day started with hauling Gene up the mast again (via anchor windless). He packed a bucket with a wrench, lubricant and a propane torch and I pulled it up to him with the jib halyard. He was still unable to loosen the tang cups from the threaded tie-bar. After this attempt he emailed the rigging supply company we bought our new rod rigging from and asked about our connection. We found that our coupling has an aluminum tie-bar and a stainless cup. Now he is on the look-out for a saws-all. The hauling went well; practice makes perfect. I guess I’m losing a bit of the fear I have of screwing up. The spreader he’s working on is about 40 feet off the deck and a fall would not be a good way to start the day.

The Battery Trail

2011-02-25T08:41:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Female and Male White-tailed Trogons.
click photo to enlarge

Beautiful backside of the male.
This morning, Susan from Limerick came over and told me she and Tom saw a White-whiskered Puffbird in the old Battery area next to the hard stand area.

I drew in white lines where the paths are.

click photo to enlarge

There is a path that leads to Batteries built from 1912 to 1916. You can still see the names of Battery Stanley and Battery Mower. There are five more batteries in different locations on our peninsula. They were all named after Generals from the American Civil war. They are overgrown now and the jungle is trying to take back what she lost.

I wandered around in there for about three hours, but I didn’t see much. A pair of Gray-headed Tanagers flew down to check me out. I heard the descending cry of what I believe is a Cocoa Woodcreeper and saw a flash of rufous fly deeper into the forest. The tiny firecracker sound of manikins snapping their wings shot from both sides of the path and they were answered by short calls. I heard trogons and I got some photos of two new butterflies; one a skipper and the other, I don’t know yet. There were two of the unknowns perched on a log in deep shadows about ten feet in from the path.

As I came out to the cleared area, I saw a few Variable Seedeaters and Palm Warblers. I’ve noticed the seedeaters are not nearly as numerous here as they were at the Linton Anchorage (about 30 miles east of us). The Palm Warblers are coming into their breeding plumage and look so different then they did a few months ago.

Shadow loving butterfly, as yet unidentified.

February 24, 2011
It rained briefly this morning and when I opened the hatch, I saw a Great Egret and a Green Heron in the mangroves behind us and the air carried a carnation-like scent. I left the dirty dishes and went back to the Batteries and was rewarded with a lively forest. Two big trees on the sunny outskirts of the path held Thick-billed Euphonias, Streaked Flycatchers, Yellow-bellied Elaenias, a Warbler I’m not sure about, and a Crimson-backed Tanager. A Crimson-headed Woody screamed an alarm call. Down the path into the darker areas, I heard a Blue-crowned Motmot and saw Mr. and Mrs. White-tailed Trogon, a female Fulvous-vented Euphonia, a pair of Slaty Antshrikes, and lifer #851 a Plain-brown Woodcreeper. I looked at all the appropriate branches for Potoos, but didn’t see any. I did see two more new butterflies.
In the evening, I walked to the beach behind the hard stand. There were quite a few Yellow-backed Orioles whistling their off key songs. Several months ago they were on the San Lorenzo road, but I haven’t heard them there for some time. I was glad to see them again, I thought they had gone to parts unknown. Variable seedeaters and Indigo buntings perched in the chain link fencing surrounding the marina’s hard stand area. Orange-chinned Parakeets squawked and a Red-crowned Woodpecker chirred from it's vertical perch on a palm. Overhead the usual Black Vultures and Magnificent Frigatebirds soared.

Chestnut-headed Oropendolas at Fort San Lorenzo

2011-02-20T10:17:00.000-08:00

The Chagres.

Friday, February 18, 2011
I rode my little fold up bike to the Chagres River today. It’s only about 18 K round-trip, but it was a rough with a bicycle with wheels the size of dinner plates. The road was slightly uphill both ways and I was whipped when I got home.

The vehicle for the great (or common)Potoo hunt.

I thought I might see a Potoo if I went into the National Park and I wanted to scope out Fort Lorenzo. It is cleared with good trees on the periphery and it is right next to the Charges. I thought it might be a good prospect but I didn’t see any Potoos. I did see a Yellow-rumped Warbler that looked very unlike the Yellow-rumps we get at home. At first I thought it was a Cape May Warbler, which would have been a lifer, but I suspected Yellow-rumped. I got help on Bird Forum to nail it down as a Yellow-rumped. Not a lifer, but not a common bird here. The Chestnut-headed Oropendolas were noisy and beautiful and had their nests made. They were in the same spot last year. The Crested Oropendolas that nested near the marina on the road to Kennedy Loop last year did not make their nests here again. I have heard them off the San Lorenzo road though, so maybe they just moved to a quieter spot?

Chestnut-headed Oropendola nests.

I really didn’t see much today which didn’t seem fair after peddling my arse off. One great sight was a Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, Keel-billed Toucan and two Red-Lored Parrots perched near each other in a tall, spreading tree that was just getting new leaves so the birds were easy to see. I got two new butterfly species; Crimson Patch and Thaos Swallowtail, and I saw a big walking stick bug at the park administrative building. I took a gazillion pictures of the stick bug and none of them turned out. I really wish I hadn’t broken my old Sony; I can’t seem to get sharp photos no matter what I do with the Nikon, and it has more pixels. I would have gotten another Sony, but, of course, they didn’t make the same kind anymore.

Playa Diablo was still closed and I asked the park guys about it again. This time I was told that two swimmers have died and that’s why it’s closed. I told them I only wanted to bird, and they said it would be okay to go on the road. I’m happy about that, it’s one of my favorite places to walk.

Damselfly: Megaloprepus caerulatus

2011-02-17T09:55:00.000-08:00

Megaloprepus caerulatus
click photo to enlarge
Thursday, February 17, 2011

It’s another day of sprinkle and rain. The last few days have been that way. I got out briefly on Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday it rained off and on and it was on every time I thought about going out. Gene and I got a soaking when we went to watch Yo and Dan of Jacana pull away from their slip and head for their transit. They are on their way home to Oz via Galapagos and the Societies. I look forward to looking in on their blog to see what Galapagos photos Dan will post.
I have their blog posted under "Sites to See" on the left hand side of my blog. It's, Jacana's Yarns.

Gene went into Quatro Altos to grocery shop and get a propane torch. I’m staying aboard today and trying to write and research. Maybe today I’ll actually do that rather than play computer games like I did yesterday.

I’ve already found that one of the giant “dragonflies” I saw is a damselfly: Megaloprepus caerulatus. It is a beautiful insect to watch and looks like an ‘X’ when it flies. It’s flight is slow and it seems like a lot of effort goes into it. I thought the body was 5 or 6 inches, but apparently it’s only 4 and the wingspan is 7.5. Still seems bigger than 4 inches to me. On Monday, I was able to get better pictures of it. The photo I posted is the clearest, but it doesn’t show the beautiful blue in the wing like some of the fuzzier shots do. I tried to get it in flight, but the shots aren’t worth posting. This damselfly would even grab the attention of people who usually pay no attention to the natural world at all.
I knew there were Damselflies and Dragonflies, but I never did any reading on the subject. Now I think I get the difference:
http://insects.about.com/od/identifyaninsect/a/dragonordamsel.htm
I have photos of both Damselfies and Dragonflies from various parts of the world and when I am not being overwhelmed by new bird species, I will be very happy to spend time on them. If I spend too much time on them now, I’m afraid I’ll be like the old ichthyology professor who forgot a fish every time he remembered a student’s name.
I saw a Hummingbird Moth on Monday.

We Start the Re-rigging

2011-02-16T13:16:00.000-08:00

Tuesday February 15, 2011
I hauled Gene up the mast this morning so we could get started with the re-rigging job. I am always very nervous about hauling him because one time he dropped a few inches, and we both had heart attacks. It really wasn’t my fault, but to hear him talk, you’d think I tried to kill him. Lucky thing I am the reporter so you will get the truth. In the case of the short, but rapid, drop: I needed to unwrap a wrap on the wench and I yelled up to him to hang on. I got a definite “OK” back. I then unwrapped and even though he was hanging on to the spreaders, he felt the tension go and it scared him. He proceeded to yell, and I yelled back that I told him to hang on. He didn’t think I was going to totally let off pressure and I didn’t know he expected only a slight lessening. Really? Am I supposed to hold all his weight with one hand on the line while I unwrap with the other? After that bit of drama I get stressed about this job. We’ve done it plenty of times since the scare, but I still dread it.
Once he was up, he discovered what he was hoping he wouldn’t find, but knew he would. The stem-ball tang cup for the intermediate shrouds is fused and won’t budge. He will have to take up a torch and heat it in hopes it will loosen. I get a break till the next haul-up because Gene has to go into town to buy a propane torch.

San Lorenzo Road Walk and a Yellow-throated Vireo

2011-02-10T22:37:00.000-08:00

Crimson-crested Woodpecker
February 10, 2011
I had a great walk on San Lorenzo Road today. The forest was lively and it was difficult keeping up with all the activity. I saw my first Yellow-throated Vireo, #850.

Yellow-throated Vireo
The Wood-Warblers were out in force and kept me confused. I finally identified the not so easy as: Bay-Breasted, Chestnut-sided and Tennessee. The easy birds: Black and White and Northern Waterthrush. On the subject of Wood- Warblers, a few days ago on the Kennedy Loop, I saw a pale blue-ish gray bird land quite close. It was light below with the throat slightly darker. It had two wing-bars and it cocked it’s tail at a severe angle. My first thought was Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. I knew it wasn't a Blue-gray, but I figured it was one of the Gnatcatchers here. When I got home and pulled out the books, I was reminded that the Gnatcatchers don’t have wing-bars. I went through everything I thought it could possibly be and finally decided it had to be a young, nearly colorless Chestnut-sided Warbler; that the lighting and my eyes played a trick on me. I saw the bird again today for a heartbeat. It was with a mixed flock, there and gone. Has anyone seen Chestnut-sided looking almost all light gray? Well, enough with the Warblers, I’ve spent too much time on them today. Sometimes I don’t even want to look at them. Here, they hang out high in the canopy (which is high!), they are invariably back-lit and show only the undersides. After trying to follow them in those conditions, the neck and eyes suffer and I’m not sure they’re worth it.
A few other birds seen: Crimson-crested Woodpecker, Red-crowned Woody, Cocoa Woodcreeper, White-flanked Antwren, Yellow-rumped Cacique, unidentified Flycatcher and two unidentified Hummers.
I almost forgot! I saw a Tayra today. It is in the weasel family.
Sue

The Rainy Season Is Over

2011-02-09T10:33:00.000-08:00

February 9, 2011
The rainy season appears to be over and the forest is drying. That it can be so dried out in so short a time is amazing to me. We had torrential rains this year. People in Panama were killed in rain related incidents and the Canal was even closed for a short time due to flooding. A fellow sailor lost his boat in the Chagres when he went in to find refuge; Gatun was released due to flooding at the time, and his boat was a casualty of the torrent. He, his wife, and a crew member were lucky to swim ashore and not be washed away. It was really rainy!
The small streams around the marina are rapidly drying out. Some only have isolated pools left and the pools have the Mollies (?) in them. I think I might try to get them in a jar and put them in deeper water. Things are drying so quickly though, I’m afraid I’ll see the pools gone today when I go out. Poor little things.
The birds are pairing. Yesterday, I saw a Common Black Hawk carry nesting material and a Crimson Crested Woody finishing off a hole. A Plain Xenops was furiously digging at the top of a dead tree. I don’t know whether it was getting bugs or making a nest. I will keep an eye on the tree. It won’t be long before the Crested Oropendolas start making their fantastic hanging-basket nests. I have photos from last year on February 13, that show the nests beginning to take shape. I hope they build in the same spot.

Common Black Hawk
The drier, sunny days have brought out butterflies and I am busy clicking away with the camera. I have a stack of unknowns that will probably take to the end of my days to ID. The dragonflies have also drawn my attention. Yesterday, I took a photograph of my second five or six inch long (13-15cm) dragonfly. I have to go back and check my photos, but I’m sure the other one was different other than its size. I have also had a few snake encounters recently. There is just so much life here, in any season. Have I mentioned I love this place?
Off the dock:

Baby Barracuda

Five-lined Cardinalfish

A Little Night Walking

2011-02-08T19:45:00.000-08:00

Tungara Frogs
These frogs are tiny, but they sure put out the sound!
click photo to enlarge

February 8, 2011
My new target bird is a Potoo. There are two here in the SLPA: Great and Common. They remind me of the Frogmouths in Australia, birds I really loved! In the Americas, they resemble nightjars. They are nocturnal and very difficult to see during the day due to their camouflage coloring and ablity to look like a broken branch in their stance. I have really been looking forward to some night walks and a chance to see one. Gene bought a big flashlight in town today and we’ve just come back from our first excursion. It was a bit anticlimactic. I guess I was thinking that now we had a big flashlight and a big jungle, we’d see owls, snakes, potoos and all sorts of things.
I was somewhat nervous about snakes, but the desire to find a Potoo overrode my fears. We heard some monkeys scream like wildcats, we saw and heard what I believe are Tungara frogs (photos attached), and heard other frogs and insects. A few bats of different sizes were occasionally caught in the light. I had been out at night a few times, but only very close to the marina and had told Gene about some fluorescent green lightning bugs in the grass and he got to see them. We did get a few reflective eyes in the small runoff creeks; mollies and shrimp, but no reflective eyes in the trees. No owl calls. No Potoos.
As I write this, I realize that I didn’t really immerse myself and open up to all the smells, sights and sounds out there tonight. That was partly due to it being my first walk at night, but it was also because I was so focused on finding a Potoo. There is nothing wrong with choosing a target bird, and I am still on the hunt, but I think on my next night walk, I will not focus on one thing. It’s sacrilegious to feel let down in such a place and I need to get my mind right for my next nocturnal visit.

Laughing Falcons

2011-02-08T07:12:00.000-08:00

The road to the Kennedy Loop.
February 4th A.M.
I went by Yo and Dan's (the Aussies) boat this morning and he told me he saw a Laughing Falcon yesterday in Kennedy Loop. He saw it about 5:00p.m.and told me which tree it was in.
I should have gone straight to the loop, but it was quite windy and I thought I’d have a better birding day on the San Lorenzo Road because even when it is blowing like stink at the marina, it’s calm on the road. Kennedy is fairly open and close to the beach.
I headed for the back road to the old complex and as I turned onto it I saw small bird fly very low from one side of the road to the other. I kept my eyes on the shrub and sped up to get closer. I could see the branches moving as he jumped from one to the other. He perched briefly on an outside branch and I saw a bright yellow breast and two wing bars before he dove into the shrub. I took a good position and watched as he moved about. I got excellent views of a Magnolia Warbler. lifer #848
Suddenly, the call of a Laughing Falcon reverberated through the forest. It was coming from the other side of the complex---Kennedy Loop. It is a long walk from the back side of the complex to the Loop and I knew he’d be gone before I got there so I continued birding the road I was on. It seemed like he called forever! I caved in and headed for Kennedy Loop. Of course, by the time I got there he was quiet.

Start of the Loop

Old cement steps up the the plateau in the middle of the Loop.

On top of the plateau.

Drive off the Loop to the old complex. It ends at a locked gate.

Looking back to the Loop from the gate.

The end of the Loop.

Back home
February 5,
Since the Laughing Falcon is a snake eater, I figured morning and evenings might be my best time to get him, so I left the boat at 7:00 a.m. for a walk around the Loop.
It turned out to be a good decision because I got my Laughing Falcon!! Better yet, a PAIR of Laughing Falcons. Lifer #849

Close up of the Loop Walk

click on photo to enlarge

Life in a Panamanian Rainforest: Black-throated Trogon

2011-02-01T17:10:00.000-08:00

click photo to enlarge
January 28, 29
I took evening walks around Kennedy Loop looking for the Laughing falcon. No luck. Some birds not on the previous Kennedy list:
Swallow Tailed Swift--beautiful
Plain Tanager
Boat-billed Flycatcher
Blue Dacnis
Gray Catbird
Lineated Woodpecker
January 30
I decided to go to Playa Diablo for my walk today. It was about 11:00 when I left and it was sunny and hot. I didn’t dally in the sun to bird, but quickly headed for the shade of the forest. I chastised myself for not remembering that the next time I went to Playa Diablo, I wanted to wear my bathing suit under my clothes.
I was comfortable in the shade of the canopy and soon forgot about the missed opportunity for a swim. Where was everybody? Hardly a peep! I walked nearly the whole way to the Playa Diablo turn off without seeing much. I occasionally glimpsed Gray-breasted Martins, Short-tailed Swifts, Black and Turkey Vultures through the canopy. I could see a car parked on the side of the road where the beach path began. I decided to go up the ‘new’ road that appeared when we came back to Panama in October. I hadn’t been all the way up it yet. I figured the people on the beach may be gone by the time I finished and I’d have a quiet path to myself.
As I started up, a movement drew my attention and I got about a 5 second look at a small bird clinging to a vine. It seemed to be warbler sized; 5inches/12.5cm? The face jumped out at me and I didn’t notice much of anything else, except heavy contrast to the edge of the tertials and maybe greater coverts; the wings in general. Black and yellow, I think. The face/eyes were white against whatever color surrounded it. Big spectacles?? It was not a slender bird. There was something familiar about it. Well, it was gone before much registered.

The road to the water tanks.

The dirt road was slightly steep and went up to two old cement water tanks. The end of the road was enough away from the main road that I was sure I’d see something. About halfway up, I saw a shadow flying between the trees about 20 feet in. I saw it land and was able to ID a Broad-billed Motmot before it was off again. I heard a Trogon and saw the rufous flash of a wood-creeper, and that was about it.
I headed down and finally heard some soft tsipping. High in the canopy I saw a Chestnut-sided Warbler and a White-shouldered Tanager. A Black and White Warbler appeared and a Black-throated Trogon flew in front of me to land very near, giving me excellent views. I’ve only seen this Trogon species once before and that was a female. What a beautiful bird! I couldn’t get the camera to focus for the life of me, and got a lousy shot even though it was so close! The Trogon flew off in the quiet way they do and I focused on movement across the road; Plain Xenops, and then another Woodcreeper; smaller than what I usually see. I tried in vain to get a good look at it as it jumped around or disappeared behind trunks (that were behind other trunks).

Black-throated Trogon
It’s always hard to decide whether to stick with the bins or try to get a photo so I can look at the bird frozen! If I go with the camera and miss getting a shot, I wonder if I’d kept with the bins, would I have been better off? I’ve developed a dependency on my camera in part because I’ve had such a short time at many places I’ve been, and I know I may not see the bird again or, I don’t have proper reference material. There have been many times a photo has locked an ID for me. I am so used to using it now, I will go through withdrawals when I get home and learn, once again, go without it.
I got a useless shot of the woodcreeper, so I probably wasted bin time. I watched as it flew deeper into the forest. It appeared to deliberately land on another tree-creeper of the same size and they were a brief blur of tangled wings in the forest shadows, just out of clear view on the edge of a slope. I think it could have been a wedge-billed.
A White-flanked Antwren flew in and clung vertically to a sapling and quickly darted to another slender tree, and another, till it worked its way into the forest and couldn’t be seen. I’ve only seen that bird once before also, so that was a treat. I saw movement of a larger bird and got my bins on a female Slaty Antshrike. The Black and White Warbler made another quick appearance and suddenly everybody was gone again.

The Entrance to San Lorenzo National Park
I got to the road and went to the Playa Diablo road. There is always a car barricade across the road, but today a no entrance sign was hanging from it. The San Lorenzo National Park starts just on the other side of a small river a few feet from the Diablo road, and I went to the Park Rangers office to ask about the sign. I understood that the beach was closed to due to contamination. Something to do with diesel? Government people were down there now, he said. It will be open again sometime in the future. I was ready to go home anyway. There were Swifts flying overhead at the intersection of the main road and the Playa Diablo road. I could see white on the back of their necks, shining in the sun. I remembered seeing them last year, but the name escaped me: White-necked Swift? I watched them for awhile thinking how big they were compared to the Short-tailed and Lesser Swallow-tailed. I tried to get a photo, Ha! I managed a couple of very distant silhouettes. When I got home, I looked up the name and was surprised to find it was White-collared Swift. I didn’t see the white go all the way around on the birds today, but it was clearly very white on the back of the neck. Apparently, the immature can be patchy or lacking, but what I saw was very visible white on the back but didn’t see it under the neck. Maybe shadows hid the white? It was a big swift with a slightly forked tail and there is nothing else in these parts it could be.

On the way home, I went on two more side roads. One to a clearing with disused cinderblock shelters of some kind; small buildings about 8x6. I’ve found good birds here at times. Nothing today. I walked along the road that goes to the other side of the Kennedy Loop complex. I saw the resident Broad-winged Hawk and heard a grating call of something inside too far from the road to see. I was ready to call it a day and headed home as a few sprinkles fell. I got home at 3:30.

Broad-winged Hawk

Life Aboard: Embera Indian Art

2011-01-30T20:23:00.000-08:00

Isn't she cute? Five years old, same age as my grandaughter.

click photo to enlarge
I decided to go to Playa Diablo for my walk and give the search for the Laughing Falcon a break. As I walked down the dock, I saw a woman standing behind a table of crafts set up next to the marina building. I could see basketwork and I knew she would be an Embera Indian. She was. She was here with another woman and a little girl, all dressed non-traditionally. The woven art was beautiful. She had a woven plate with a bird design. I thought it was a little pricey at $40.00, but I'm not used to shopping. After some thought, I realized it wasn't over-priced. It's art, and it is obvious that a lot of time and care when into it. It's ridiculous that I have gotten so used to minimalist living that I feel the need to rationalize a non-necessary purchace, even if it's not expensive, but I'm good at rationalizing:

1.) The Embera, like the Kuna, are trying to cling to their traditional way of life, and a piece of the tourismo pie can’t hurt.
2.) Nearly everything we owned got burned in the 2007 Harris fire in San Diego County and eventually we will need some art.
3.) Even if what we owned wasn’t burned, I am collecting little things around the world for our ‘Adventure Room’.
4.) I hardly ever buy anything for myself, and I really like this.

5.) It isn't a tourist trinket made in China.

About the size of a dinner plate. I will hang it on a wall in the Adventure Room next to a Kuna Mola.

I walked Back to Peregrine, got some money, and bought the plate and a small basket with pink butterflies for my grand-daughter (she loves butterflies, and pink—hey, it was a once-in-a-lifetime find!).
I went back to P to drop off my finds and headed out again. As I left the marina complex, I got another surprise. A line of Harleys. One would think we were at the Barrett Café in Dulzura, CA. Ah, it was Sunday. I guess Panamanians are as taken with the week-end Harley rides as so many in the US are.

Life in a Panamanian Rainforest--Searching for a Laughing Falcon

2011-01-28T11:56:00.000-08:00

Crested Oropendola. This is a spectacular bird with a spectacular call. This bird is about 17 inches long.

January 26, 2001
After the two day transit and the bus ride home, I came home and crashed. I slept for 16 hours. Naturally, I couldn’t sleep last night. At 3:00 a.m. I decided to do laundry and stay up for an early morning bird walk.
On the day of the transit, Sue, from Limerick told me about a Laughing Falcon she’d seen in Kennedy Loop. She told me it practically posed for her. I asked her when she saw it. "Yesterday." Damn. I couldn’t go and search, it would have to wait until I got back. Speaking of birds on the Kennedy Loop, Dan on Jacana of Melbourne told me he saw a Blue Headed Parrot there. I didn’t even know they were here. I don’t know how they went under my radar, but it’s nice having other birders around to point things like that out. I wonder how many times I have heard Parrots squawking and assumed them to be Red-lored or Mealy and didn’t investigate.
I left Peregrine at 6:15 a.m., but that was too early. It was too dark to see well until about 6:45. During my insomnia, I went on line to Xeno Cantu and listened to the call of the Laughing Falcon. I heard a loud repetitive call that might have been one at the start of the loop, but I didn’t see it. It came from too deep in the trees allow walking toward it. I completed the loop walk and didn’t find the Falcon or the Parrot. I had great views of the Crested Oropendola I’ve been hearing and getting glimpes of the last few weeks. I saw a pair of Buff-breasted Wrens. They were vocal and active and I spent quite a bit of time trying to get good looks of them. At one point, they flew across the road and into some thick growth in the understory. I tip-toed across and peered in. I was crouched down low and I could see them through the leaves. They were on the ground. One of them stood perfectly still and the other was rubbing the front of his/her neck on the side of the neck of the still bird. It was a very sweet and loving contact. I moved away quietly and went on.

It was still early and it was nice out so I decided to the back side of the old American complex that Kennedy Loop goes to. The back side is a short road off the San Lorenzo Road.

Thanks, Google!

Back road to the Kennedy Loop complex
Just as I left the loop, two Blue-headed Parrots squawked by! I had an excellent view of the blue, blue head in the sunlight. Lifer#846.
I didn’t take a notebook and write all birds as I saw them, but this alphabetical list is a pretty good account of the birds seen today. Also saw what I think is a Yellow-head Gecko, although this one looks different than usual. Also several new Dragonflies. I couldn’t get a shot of the big fuchia/purple one—it was gorgeous.

American Kestrel
Bay Wren
Black Vultures
Blue-headed Parrot
Brown Pelicans
Buff-breasted Wren
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Clay-colored Thrush
Cocoa Woodcreeper
Common Black Hawk
Crested Oropendola
Gray-breasted Martins
Great Kiskadees
Indigo bunting
Keel-billed Toucan
Magnificent Frigatebirds
Mealy Amazon
Palm Tanager
Red-throated Antbird
Short-tailed Swifts
Social Flycatcher
Streaked Flycatcher
Thick-billed Euphonia
Tropical Flycatcher
Unidentified Hummingbird
Varieted Seed Eater
Violaceous Trogan
White-throated Thrush
Yellow-bellied Eleania

Sailing and Cruising: A Canal Transit

2011-01-26T14:44:00.001-08:00

Opening to the Pacific, Gene at the bow.

Minerva at the marina.
January 23, 2010
We went through the Panama Canal today as line-handlers for Don and Bonnie aboard Minerva. They were great hosts and Minerva, a Maramu, was comfortable for all aboard. We were rafted to two other sailboats and we were on the port side. Gene handled lines forward and Tito, of Tito Yacht Services, handled aft. I had nothing to do and felt a bit like a bump on a log, but the Canal Authority requires four line-handlers.

Anchored at sunset on the Caribbean side in the 'flats' waiting for our advisor.
I was reluctant to go again after our last transit. It was pretty stressful and I couldn’t see doing it again until we went on Peregrine, although this was Gene’s third transit. On the one I went on, the advisor for the port boat had placed the man who threw the lines from the walls, too far back and the line fell short. By the time it was ready to throw again, the aft of the whole flotilla had swung to the starboard and the sailboat on that side was being pushed up against the cement wall of the canal. Nail biting time in my book.
A brief description of the procedure in the rafting method: Two or three boats raft together and enter the canal. Men on the top of the canal walls throw long lines with heaving knots called ‘Monkey Fists’ on the ends, to the boats. There are four lines; forward and aft on both port and starboard. The line handlers thread the weighted lines through a looped line tied to the boat and the Canal workers pull them in. The idea is to keep the raft in the center as the lock fills up and when we move as one into the next lock. The line handlers take in and let out line appropriately as the men on the walls walk along with the boats. There are three locks going up on the Caribbean side and three locks going down on the Pacific side.

The lock gates close, Tito at the stern.

Waiting for the fill.
The passage is done in two days. Our first day, we went up the locks to Lake Gatun; the second day we crossed the lake and went down the locks into the Pacific. We had a nice spaghetti dinner in the lake and a huge breakfast in the morning before starting round two.
There was a slight mishap on day two of this crossing when Don’s advisor told him to reverse, but didn’t communicate that to the other advisors and with one boat in reverse and two going forward we had enough pressure to pull out a cleat on one of the boats. It sounded horrible, but was not a catastrophe. From then on Don and Tom (owner of middle boat confirmed power and steerage with each other).

Sunrise in Lake Gatun
The longest part of the transit is the roughly 28 mile crossing of Lake Gatun. That is easy going and very scenic. The boats are not rafted together for this. Since I had nothing to do, I tried to bird, but the islands were too far for good views. A few birds were unmistakable even at a distance, or some that flew close enough to see were: Osprey, Magnificent Frigate, Laughing Gull, Black Vulture, Mangrove Swallow, Gray Breasted Martin, Royal Terns, Sandwich Terns (new for my Panama list), Brown Pelicans, Great Blue Herons, Yellow-crowned Night-Herons and Keel-billed Toucans. I recognized a Kingfisher and a pair of Doves from a great distance, but couldn’t identify species.
Don and Bonnie are on their way to Equador, with plans to cross the Pacific in the future. Bon Voyage and Fair Winds, Minerva!

The Pacific.

Life in a Panamanian Rainforest: Toro Point

2011-01-22T11:44:00.000-08:00

click on photo to enlarge

Toro Point Lighthouse

January 19, 2011
Took a short morning walk to check out the beach and mangrove areas near Toro Point.
I hoped to get a decent photo of what I think is a Green Sea Turtle. My last two attempts were no good. When he popped his head up, I pushed the shutter button, but by the time the shutter opened, he was under the water. I also wanted to see if the terns I saw a few days ago were close enough to see clearly.
The waves in the little mangrove bay near the parking lot were too big and choppy and I knew that I couldn’t get a photo of the turtle's head. The terns were way out on the edge of the reef and were not identifiable. Fairly certain they’re Royals. I had taken a few shots and when I put them on the computer, one seemed weird. I appeared to have a black crown that went from forehead to nape. Probably distortion. I'd like to see them in good light, so I'll keep trying. This isn't my favorite area, so I turned and headed back for the forest. As I passed the marina, I looked down into the drainage ditch that runs under the road and saw what looked like guppies!

Jungle side of drainage ditch.

This is brackish water. It’s a mix of run-off rainwater and tidal saltwater. I walked a few steps along the ditch away from the marina side to see if I might find more in possibly less salty water. There were plenty and also what I think is a shrimp. It had very long pincher arms. I looked on the net to try and identify both. The best I could come up with for the fish was Mollienisia sphenops. I never found the shrimp. If anyone knows what the fish or shrimp are, please let me know.
This has turned into an aquatic animal post so let me mention the Manatee and her baby that were in the marina earlier this month.
Sue

Life in a Panamanian Rainforest

2011-01-22T11:04:00.000-08:00

According to what I’ve found on the net, 'my' backyard is part of the San Lorenzo Protected Area (SLPA). There are over 900 bird species in Panama and about 435 of them live in the SLPA. To get an idea of the size and complexity of the SLPA, you can go to this excellent PDF site by Pete L. Weaver and Gerald P. Bauer for the US Forest Service. It really is informative and I use it for reference a lot.

http://www.sanlorenzo.org.pa/docs/IITF_25r_03_30_04_ingles.pdf

For some reason, it's not highlighting. You can copy and paste into google.
My section of the SLPA takes in only what I can walk or bike and goes from the canal entrance to the Chagres River.

click on the photo to enlarge
I don’t know the name of the road that goes from Fort Sherman to Fort San Lorenzo. I meant to ask the National Park employees the last time I went into the park, but I forgot by the time I got there. I must have been distracted by the forest. I think it might simply be called the Fort Sherman/San Lorenzo Road. Ridgley refers to this road as a gravel road in the back of his, ‘A Guide To The Birds Of Panama with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras’. It’s now a nicely paved road and it is easy to walk through stretches of very wild areas and view wildlife and stunning rainforest plant life. I know that Pipeline and Achiote Roads are the famous birding roads in Panama, but I can’t help think that in many ways this road could hold its own against those. Achiote Road falls within the SLPA; but it is on the other side of the Chagres River from me. I plan to visit both those roads while I am in Panama, but that is not a nagging desire because I am very happy and busy where I am.
While I am here, I am going to try to post regularly about my jungle walks and what I see. I don’t think this area gets a lot of visitors and I might be able to provide some information to fellow birders even if I am just learning myself.
There are several areas I habitually go. I will post the appropriate google maps so you will know where places are when I write about them. Most often, I walk the San Lorenzo Road and stop at the entrance to the San Lorenzo National Park. On the way, I usually turn off the road and onto a few loved side roads. Yesterday, I did that very thing and walked from the main road to the small bay called Playa Diablo. The path gave me lifer: #845 Fasciated Antshrike.
With this post, I wanted to lay the groundwork for what I hope I’m not too lazy to keep up with: Life in a Panamanian Rainforest.

Lingering in San Lorenzo

2011-01-22T07:53:00.000-08:00

One of a million reasons I don't want to leave.
click photo to enlarge

6'3"Gene on the San Lorenzo Road

Hi All,
A year ago, if anyone had suggested that I would deliberately stall the completion of our circumnavigation, I would have told them they were crazy. Most of you all know how tired I am of camping on a boat with minimal comforts. I’ve certainly railed about it! Ten years is a long time to be showering with a garden bug-sprayer or plastic water bottle with ice-pick holes in the cap, boiling water and washing dishes in tubs (or worse, washing in cold sea water and rinsing with the bug sprayer shower as the boat bucks and heels, throwing-up into zip-lock bags, having your hair and skin care done by Wind, Spray and Tropical Sun, having to wear Bushman’s as perfume, stinking due to lack of water, broiling, getting eaten alive by mozzies, sleeping on wet mattresses or wet sheets, or sleeping without air because the hatches have to be battened, stressing about what is out there in the dark while on watch, stressing about provisioning and having chocolate available when you are thousands of miles from land, stressing about nearly amputated legs, stressing about family emergencies when you are far, far away. I could go on, but you get the picture. I was ready to finish this sail around the world.
That was before the Panamanian rainforest. That was before daily walks in a green world filled with vibrant birds, raucous monkeys, timid sloths and a symphony of various frog calls. The rainforest offers me tranquility, beauty, mystery and endless hours of exploration and discovery.

Agouti

Capuchin Monkey

Marina life is luxurious compared to being underway. Our life is here is simple and we are content. The thought of having to move from our dock and go through the canal made me feel rushed and I realized I wasn’t ready to leave this extraordinary place.
We have decided not to transit the canal this year.

Peregrine at anchor, San Blas

Linton Anchorage Mangroves
We will not be in Panama for the entire year. I will spend at least four months in California. We are thinking that to avoid the problems of leaving Peregrine unattended for too long, I will fly home first and Gene will follow in a month or so and leave a month or so before me.
Hasta Luego,

Sue

Zebra Longwing

Life Aboard: Our New Addition

2011-01-15T22:05:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

We have a pet! He's been on board for about a month and is getting less and less shy. For awhile I thought he had moved on, but he seems to be here for good. We think he has been covertly checking out the whole boat because we used to see him only around the galley and aft-area but the other night Gene went to bed and let out a bit of a surprise yell when El ran across his legs after the light was turned off. El is nocturnal; another reason we don't see him often. I am up late doing laundry and playing bridge and I got a picture of him. It will be the last I take because I'm afraid the flash could hurt his eyes. I'm so happy to have him, he's just the cutest thing. So here he is, El Gecko:

Common House Gecko--just look at those cute little feets! click to enlarge

Gene read on the net that they have a sweet tooth. I got worried that he might eat the sweetened condensed milk laced with boric acid 'cakes' that I have out for the cucarrachas and I threw out all the cucarracha cocktails. Hopefully El will eat the cucarrachas. The cocktails seemed to do pretty well. I haven't seen any bugs in the salon for ages, but I did see and kill a few new hatchlings in the bathroom a few days ago. I hope El takes care of any still around.

I guess we'll have to trap him somehow when it's time to leave. I read that you can't really handle them because they are too delicate and can be hurt.

The Trouble with Geckos...

2011-01-14T11:10:00.000-08:00

Nothing but the finest Australian China dishes for El & Blondie
These are from a series of tiny plates I got in Oz from a colletion called 'Feathered Jewels' by Sara Attanasio
Gene is in the process of replacing the rotting/delaminating wood frames that border the windows (inside)and has spent the last couple of days staining them. He had to put them in the aft-cabin 'garage' to keep them from potential rain and they smell very stainy/varnishy. By coincidence, El didn't show the first night of storage and I thought the fumes had driven him away or killed him. (Gene has now found a place to keep them out of the rain in the marina work shop area.) Naturally, I hoped he'd moved rather than succumb to fumes (the Gecko, not Gene). After reading a bit more about our new little life form, I was thinking that it wouldn't be a bad thing if he had decided to move. Not that I don't get a big kick out of him, but we have read some Gecko horror stories. One lady writing from Tahiti said her house was over-run with Geckos. One got in her printer and died. One night she was awakened when two fighting geckos fell from the ceiling onto her face. She also complained about Gecko poop. Gecko poop seemed to be a theme when I went on the net to learn more about our darling lizard. A woman from Texas asked some questions about Gecko poop and was eeeueing and worrying about her kids eating it. Gene was reading Latitude 38 and read a story about a guy who had a boat full of geckos and how sick he was of Gecko poop. The more I read, the more I wondered if I should be so delighted with our new 'pet'. The way everybody was talking, you'd think Gecko poop was the size of Whale poop, but it was described as being somewhat like mouse poop. Surely, Gecko poop must be cleaner that mouse poop! I expressed a little concern to Gene about Gecko poop. He said not to worry, that the reason these other people were having problems was because they were over-run with Geckos. We wouldn't even notice poop with only one Gecko and it was a hell of a lot better than cucarrachas and cuccaracha poop. I couldn't disagree with that, now could I?
Last night, I went to the refrigerator for ice and when I turned on the galley light, I saw El eating banana from his Splendid Fairy-wren plate. I was relieved to see that he had not died, but he hadn't moved either. Since the light was on and he stayed put, I watched him and talked to him while he ate. Strange, he never ate in front of me before. He always took off and hid. As I'm talking to him, I notice that he seems smaller. I tell him he doesn't look like my gecko. He looked at me, licked his lips, and took another bite. "You don't act like my gecko either."
Humm. I decided I was imagining things. I turned off the galley light, and went back to the net. About a half hour later, I decided to turn in. I snuck over to the sink area to see El one more time before going to bed and there were two geckos clinging to the wood wall behind the sink. They faced each other in a Gecko Standoff. Damn!

Our Geckos Don't Poop In The House

2011-01-12T22:09:00.000-08:00

January 6, 2011
It’s 12:35 a.m. and I’m doing laundry. I saw our second Gecko tonight. Well, really he’s our first Gecko, El. I haven’t seen him for a week. I thought Blondie chased him off. I called the second one Blondie because the two of them faced off like a couple of characters in a Spaghetti Western. I could almost hear the theme for the ‘Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ playing when they’d stop and face each other, their tails whipping ferociously.
One of the less appealing sides of Geckos is that they are cannibalistic, and I was afraid Blondie may have dined on El. Reminds me of the old Gecko joke, “did you hear about the Gecko who passed his friend in the jungle?”
Anyway, they are both still here enjoying their honey and bananas.
For about three days we didn’t see either one and I thought that between the air-conditioner, my nocturnal activities, and the decimation of the cucaracha population, they had moved one. Once again, I had mixed emotions. Then one morning about 3:00, I turned on the galley light to make tea, and there was Blondie licking honey out of his dish. He was startled and after waving his tail at me, he lept to the wall and went outside through the crack at the top of the hatch.
No wonder I don’t find Gecko poop, our Geckos are boat-broken.

Fellow Birders

2011-01-11T08:24:00.000-08:00

Squirrel Cuckoo

Crimson-crested Woodpecker

Bay Wren
December 29, 2010
I am feeling a bit under the weather with a sinus thing I think is coming from a fresh bout of mildew bloom on the boat, but I made myself go out because it’s not raining and I thought the freshly made jungle air would cure me. It didn’t, but I had a good day and managed a few lifers: Bicolored Antbird and Broad-billed Motmot. I also found a new frog/toad. I researched and can’t be sure, but I think it might be a Tungara Frog.

There are also BIRDERS here! An Aussie couple we did the Darwin to Kupang rally with have arrived. Our first reunion with them was in the Caribbean and it’s very nice to see them again. They are Dan and Yo of Jacana of Melbourne. Dan has taken up bird watching and is as enthralled with the forest as me. There is also an American couple, on Limerick, who are birders and are taping calls. I ran into all of them yesterday. The Aussies reported a Tayra in the San Lorenzo forest, and the Americans came along as I was tring to photograph the Red Throated Ant-Tanager, it was a new one for them. When we see each other on the docks, we tell each other what we’ve seen. Kinda nice.
Well, back to bed…I’m depleted.
Love, Sue

Birding Panama: A Birding Day List

2010-12-27T10:24:00.000-08:00

click to enlarge

December 21, 2010
The sun came out this morning, and I did too. It didn’t rain for the whole day and I was out for six hours. I got two lifers and three mystery birds.
I left at 9:30 and had just gotten past the marina complex when I realized I had left my bum-bag on the boat. I wanted my sunglasses and they were in the bag along with water. I decided not to go back. I just wanted to get out and do some birding. I figured I’d be back in an hour or so and it was no biggy to leave the bum-bag. I had a small container of mozzie repellant in my pocket and that was what was important.
I took a notebook to write down all the species I saw because I planned on writing a birding post. Here, when you write a day list, the notebook is almost always in hand because there are so many birds. I had to hold the pen in my right hand and notebook in left while I looked through and adjusted my bins.
On the following Google image, you can see the marina and I have marked an X in white where the forest starts. The yellow is the Kennedy Loop.
Before I got to the forest I saw these birds:
Gray-breasted Martin
Black Vulture
Yellow-headed Caracara
Social Flycatchers
Great Kiskadees
Blue-gray Tanagers
Palm Warblers
Tropical Mockingbird
Keel-billed Toucans
Turkey Vultures
Short-tailed Swifts
Tropical Kingbird
I was relieved to get onto the shade covered road because the sun was very bright and I was getting warm. It was humid and I was already sweating. I usually hang around the edge of the forest and the clearing because it is sometimes busy there, but I just wanted to get out of the sun so I walked on without lingering. I had only gone about one hundred yards before I ran into some activity. A mixed flock of small birds were very busy in one tree. I got the Plain Xenops, Golden-collared manakin, and Black and White warbler very easily, but the Chestnut-sided Warbler and Lesser Greenlet required time to see them well and make notes. I was trying to find the Greenlet again when I saw Glyns, riding her bike toward me.

Glyns is Dave, the hard-stand manager’s wife, and I often run into her out in the forest. She takes her bike out every day when weather permits. She pulled to a stop and asked the usual question we ask each other. What had we seen. She was quite excited about her sighting that morning and with good reason. She saw otters at the little river that flows at the entrance to the San Lorenzo National Park. I didn’t know otters were here. I love them! I have only seen otters in the wild once, and that was in Port Townsend, Washington. She said she had snapped a few photos with her phone and I asked if they turned out, would she email them to me. She did, but they are blurry and I don’t think anyone can see them well enough to post. We said our good-byes and I continued looking for my birds, but they had gone.
I started back up the road as a noisy group of Orange-chinned Parakeets flew overhead. Soon I saw the Skipper of Mariya come walking toward me. He stopped and told me he had just seen a pair of otters in the river. I asked if they were shy and he said they behaved as if he weren’t there. He said he had left them about a half hour before. I decided to stop birding and do a fast walk to the river. I made pretty good time, stopping to catch my breath once and saw a Yellow-rumped Cacique in the tree overhead and a Gray Catbird, low, close to the road. I also heard a call I was not familiar with but could not locate the caller. It was a high “Tseeep” followed by five descending ‘tseeps’. Aware of time, I gave up looking and went on to the river. Very close to the river, I noticed a new road cut into the forest off the main road; it’s swath a wide scar in the jungle. I couldn’t help wonder what had been displaced. When I got to the river, the otters weren’t there. The only thing I saw while I stood on the bridge was a Chestnut-sided Warbler actively flitting in the trees that hung over the river. The place was strangely quiet.
I was thirsty at this point and mad at myself for not going back to the boat and getting what I knew I should have. I thought of going down to Playa Diablo and getting a drink in the creek that flows into the sea, but decided I shouldn’t. I was thirsty, but I decided to go up the new swath and see if it lead to another view of the river. It was much longer than I thought and I turned around before it came to an end. It didn’t seem ‘new’ to me and I wondered if it had been there all along and was hidden by scrub at the intersection of the road until now. I will check it out another time.
I passed a group of noisy Bay Wrens, but didn’t stop because I really needed to get home. Not long after that, I saw a man in the road just as a ‘bird boil’ started in the shrubs next to me. (When we are at sea and there is a sudden, concentrated splashing of fishes in a particular spot, Gene calls it a fish boil. Activity is fast and furious as sea birds gather over it and big fish thrash about as they feed on the smaller fish. I find that often, birds do the same gathering thing. There can be one tree that seems to interest multiple species at a particular time and the whole tree is alive with birds; so I call it a ‘bird boil’.)
The birds I could see and ID in the trees were Blue Dacnis, Slaty Antshrikes, and White-shouldered Tanagers .

White-shouldered Tanager

Others were too fast or in too deep and I was distracted by the guy standing in the middle of the road. He didn’t have a camera or bins and didn’t look like he was walking. I continued toward him and saw his van pulled into a side road. It was one of the big tourist vans and I realized he was a driver. I thought he must be taking a break and waiting for a pick-up. I said, “Hola” and we got into a broken conversation because I still can’t speak Spanish. He was patient and seemed to grok what I was saying. He pointed out a Howler and we talked about Trogons and the forest. He suddenly stopped and made a comment that I had no water. Would I like some? I said I was ok, but thanks. He looks at me again and is probably thinking, “Dummy old gringa, what is she doing out here without water.” He says he has it right here in the van. I say I don’t have money and he laughs and says no, no, it’s ok. He walks to the van and hands me an ice cold bottle from a cooler. I thank him profusely and try to say I forgot the water on the boat, but I don’t know how to say ‘forgot’. Just as I’m drinking, a guide with a flock of tourists came walking out of the forest. The guide spoke English well (went to University in Southern Cal). We talk a bit while he loads the van with about a dozen Canadians. I asked Felix for a tarjeta and he happily gave me one. I yelled my thanks again for the water as he drove off. I don’t usually give plugs on my blog, but my good Samaritan gets one. He was genuinely nice and I think he would be a good choice for a driver in Panama:
Transporte de Servicios de Turismo
Felix Sanchez
I have his home and cell phone numbers if anyone is interested. Just leave a note and your email in the comment section and I will send it to you.
As I came out of the forest, I encountered another mixed flock. More Chestnut-sided Warblers, Lesser Greenlets, Palm Tanagers, a Tropical Gnatcatcher, and another White-shouldered Tanager. I heard a harsh calling across the road and saw movement deeper in near a small creek. I moved onto the shoulder of the road to peer in. At first I only see birds flying back and forth across the creek. I finally see one light in a place clear enough to view and I get my bins on it. It looks like a big grosbeak/female seed eater; a plain but beautiful cinnamon bird with a grosbeak bill. There are two of them and as they fly off I see another bird moving. I get him in the bins and see another plain bird---but distinctive because of a vivid red throat. I got a very good look at him before he yelled at me and flew off across the road. I later identified them as Blue-black Grosbeak (lifer #836) and Red-throated Ant-tanager (#837) respectively. There is another bird in there and I try to see it, but I am interrupted by stings on my ankle. I looked down to see fire ants covering my right shoe and going up my legs. I got back on the road and stamped and swiped till all was well.
I was now refreshed thanks to Mr. Sanchez, so I decided to go to the Kennedy Loop walk. On the way, I went around the old military building to see what I can see and notice a small bird in the top of the canopy. It is almost butterfly like as it flutters at the end of a branch high over-head. It moves restlessly from branch to branch. I get a brief look and think it is the smallest flycatcher I’ve seen; hard to say because it is way up there. Size, wing-bars and warbler-like behavior makes me think Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, but the wings seemed so dark and I don’t see it cock its tail. I took a few photos in hopes of capturing something.
I walked the loop and saw a Red-crowned Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Thick-billed Euphonia, Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift (#838), Broad-winged Hawk, Streaked Flycatcher and a Chestnut -mandibled Toucan before running into fellow birder and cruiser, Sue from Limerick. She was out with her husband and two other people and was pointing out a Keel-billed Toucan. I noticed a bird fly off when the Toucan landed and think it is a Pale-vented Thrush. When Sue and her party reach me, I tell her I’m sure I saw it and we both look—and find it. I headed home and they headed for the loop. As I turned into the marina, a Magnificent Frigatebird soared over.
I was hot, tired, stung and ready for a cold drink followed by a cold Cuba Libre.

Pale-vented Thrush in the Canal Zone

2010-12-05T11:13:00.001-08:00

Immature Pale-vented Thrush

This is a terrible shot, but I'm posting it because there doesn't seem to be too many images of Pale-vented on the net and maybe this crummy one will be more helpful to someone than nothing at all.
Hi All,
This is strictly a bird post so those of you who don't care for 'birdy stuff' should stop reading now.
On November 30, I saw five new birds and was only able to ID one of them: White-throated Thrush.
One of them I can’t ID because the sighting was bad, so we’ll scrub that one.
That leaves me with three unidentified birds. I got good pictures of two and good views of the third. Even with the photos, I was unable to ID. One of them is a woodcreeper and the others??

First bird:
Woodcreeper. I gave up on woodcreepers long ago. This time I even had good shots. None of the illustrations seemed quite right (again). I’m sure I have seen four different woodcreepers and yet I only have two on my life list: Buff-throated and Barred. Still, I went online and gave it a quick try. I think I have another Buff-throated. I’m not going to go on about woodcreepers. I think I’ll try to get photos and when I can get a book with very detailed illustrations, I’ll try to ID them then.

Second bird:
I found it part way down a ravine. It was perched on a log on the forest floor. I thought Thrush; a reddish brown Thrush. I clicked off some photos.
When I looked in the book, I couldn’t find a Thrush that looked like my bird. I considered Thrush-like Mourner, but the bill wasn’t right in the illustration and the legs were dark and my bird had lightish legs. The illustration wasn’t detailed enough for me and I was unable to decide. I went online and found a few images. It was a little (Reddish) brown job, but it didn’t look enough like my bird for id, but it could be. Speckled Mourner might be better though because my bird showed a somewhat scalloped breast. Again, from the book to the net. No not a Speckled. The back wasn’t that marked and it didn’t have that ‘shrike-like’ bill. From there I went to foliage gleaners…no, then spinetails…no..definitely not that tail! Scaley-throated leaftosser—no bill wrong. I went through all the LBJs in the book. I kept thinking thrush and gave up.

Third bird:
Time to thumb through and find a very distinctive undertail. Surely, I could get SOMETHING identified.
All three of these ‘lifers’ were in the same area. I first saw the woodcreeper and as I was watching him, I saw movement in another tree higher up. I put the bins on it and could only see the head and tail. The middle was obscured. The undertail was white and was contrasted by rufous flanks. It tilted its head, looked at me, and took off. The whole thing took about 10 seconds. I thought it looked a little thrushy. Did I just want to see a thrush today or what?

So, I’m going through the book looking for white vents with rufous contrast and I find: Pale-vented Thrush. Suddenly, I think..."You never saw the underside of the “thrush” on the ground.”, and I begin to believe the Pale-vented Thrush is the same as the Ground Bird. The problem now is that it shouldn’t be a Pale-vented Thrush. I have a web site that lists the birds in the San Lorenzo Protected Area and PVT isn’t on the list. I realize that that isn’t necessarily a concern since the Southern Lapwing and White-throated Thrush aren’t either and I have seen them here. But Ridgely makes mention that the type specimen was supposedly found in the canal area, but probably wasn’t because there haven’t been any more records. I found a site from Canopy Towers that wonders about this:

http://www.canopyreport.com/birdinfo/watchlist/paleventedthrush.html

By this time it’s four in the morning and I am tired and frustrated. I decide not to go to bed and go at first light to find the bird again. I make coffee and wait.
December 1
I leave at 6:00. I decide since it’s early, I’ll go by the dead palm and see if the Short-tailed Swifts come out in the early morning. They do. I think it was about 6:15. They go into the palm at about 6:15 at night. Dawn and Dusk.

After I watched them flee from the palm, I headed for the ‘Thrush’ ‘Mourner’ ‘Whatever’. I was out for three hours and was really tired at this point. I couldn’t find the bird(s) and I went home and went to bed.

December 2, 2010
Rained all day—no birding.

December 3
Rained most of the day, but I got out during a break and hurried to the site. There it was! No, there they were. Two of them. Flying from the ground up to low limbs then down again. I tried to position myself for a photo and saw one fly away. I saw a white vent. The other one took off. I backed away and hung at a distance. Then, one of them flew up to a vine growing on a tree. Of course, it had its back to me. I couldn’t see the front or undertail. I snapped a couple more shots. It started to rain and I took cover under the canopy. Soon it was so torrential that there wasn’t cover and I was being attacked by stinging ants. I put my camera and bins down the front of my shirt and started walking home. My shirt was soaked and I tried to hold it out to keep it away from my camera. At the same time, I cradled the camera and bins with my other arm. I looked like Quasimodo’s mother hurrying to the hospital for delivery. I finally reached a deserted building and I put the camera in my bum-bag before going on. Just as I got to the road that goes into the marina, the rain began to let up. I’m not kidding when I say that not drop was falling when Gene slid the hatch back for me.
I put up my photos and had decent shots of the bird's back again. It was the ame bird as the bird on the ground on Nov.30. I still couldn’t figure out what I had. It seemed that there was some scalloping on the neck. That kind of fit with a photo of something I saw while looking at 3,000 LBJ pictures! Leaftosser? Arggh! I started thinking I must have seen two birds again today and that explained the white vent. No, it had to be the same bird. I saw it fly off.
The sun came out for a time in the afternoon and I went back. No birds. Had I scared them off?

December 4
Sunny and glorious day! Went out into a shining and beautiful forest. Instead of going straight to the site, I wandered and took the long way. Suddenly, I was in the middle of a bird-boil. There were birds everywhere. My eyes went up to a cluster of palm fruit because there was a great deal of calling and bickering going on up there. A Red-capped Manakin fluttered, and Social Flycatchers noisily flew in and out. The manakin flew off and I followed him. There, in the tree he flew into, sat a Thrush. No...two Thrushes!! I got the camera out. These were distant, but it was worth a try. I took a few shots and went back to the bins. I saw a slightly scalloped breast and once again, thought that the ground bird and the Thrush were one in the same. I got good looks and was sure they were Pale-vented Thrushes. They saw me watching and flew up into the palm fruit. Then, flew deep into the forest. I went to the original site anyway and hung out for an hour. Nothing. Came home and put up the photos. I believe I have two Pale-vented Thrushes! I realized I should say something because I don’t know if there is now a record for here or not. I couldn’t find a date on the Canopy Towers Watch List piece. Maybe they’ve been seen here since then.

I decided to post the bird on BirdForum and get confirmation or correction. I'm certain the bird with the underbody showing is a PVT. I would just like to make sure the bird with the back showing is a PVT and not something else.
Pale-vented was confirmed on Bird Forum. I have found a bit of a rarity for the area.
Thanks again to the people on BF who give their time and efforts to confused birders like me. A copy of the post:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=1997442#post1997442
Sue

Three Hours of Freedom

2010-12-02T08:20:00.000-08:00

November 30, 2010
Hi All,

It has been raining nearly non-stop for three days and we have been holed up in Peregrine. We have both been going a bit stir crazy. Two days ago, Gene got so verbally abusive with the computer characters on his card games that I decided I should put on some Jimmy Buffett to shut him up. That was a sacrifice for me because I have gotten to where I don’t want to hear music of any kind at all. I simply want silence. God, I’ve turned into a Blue Meany! We haven’t played anything for some time and I shoulda known that the CD would just be another thing around here that doesn’t work anymore (forgot to write that our auto-pilot is shot again). Gene decided last night that he was going to go to the Free Zone today to get a new CD player/radio.

The Free Zone: The world’s second largest Duty-Free shopping complex. Singapore is first.

This morning when Gene got up, I could hear vast quantities of rain assaulting the tarp over the hatch. I had been up all night reading so I rolled over and went back to sleep. I never smelled coffee or heard him leave and I slept till noon. I don’t think I’ve done that since I was a teenager.

I made coffee and was doing some inter-netting when I realized that it wasn’t raining. I decided to go out and try to get an hour in before it started again. Gene came back as I was heading out so I helped put away the groceries and left him to put the new radio in.

I had a great time in the forest and was out for about three hours. I saw five new birds today and so far have identified only one; and it is not on the bird list I have for my area. I am positive about it though so: #833—White-throated Thrush.

It started to rain and I headed back to Peregrine very excited about identifying the new birds I had seen. I slid back the hatch and John Lennon singing “Eight Days a Week” came up the hatch as I went down. Gene was standing at the bottom to collect my bins and camera. “Anything interesting?”

“Arggh, I gots treasures!”

I got settled at the nav station with my computer and books, eager to find what I saw. I listened to the Beatles and put Genesha in front of the CD face so I wouldn’t have to look at its crookedness.

A Surreal Day in the Rainforest

2010-11-20T19:54:00.001-08:00

I have just spent an extraordinary four hours in the rainforest. I often feel euphoric when I am communing with Mother Nature, but today was more than that, it was surreal. When I tried to analyze it, I realized it had the qualities of the idyllic childhood days I spent lazing on the banks of the Elbow River; days that seemed endless and all thoughts were for the moment.
I can’t explain the sense of timelessness I felt and how sharpened all my senses were. Was there some chemical in the perfumed air? Was it the unadulterated oxygen put off by all the green life around me? I’m not going to analyze anymore, I’m simply going to accept it with gratitude.

Three-toed Sloth (Bradypus variegatus)
Click on photo to enlarge.

Even before entering ‘dreamtime’ I had a better than usual day. The Short-tailed Swifts were back! I had such a hard time ID’ing these guys last season and I had to get help from Birdforum. Today, a small flock of them flew low and very close. They spoke to each other in sweet whispers as they flew by me and rose to fly high overhead. I was thrilled to see them again and wondered if they had taken up residence in the dead palm they lived in last February. I decided I would come back and see them in the evening and headed for the shady road that goes through the forest ‘proper’. (The swifts are in a clearing very close to the marina.) As I turned to connect to the road out, I saw a raptor flying fairly low toward me. It went by and I had a very good look. At first I thought it was a Peregrine because my eyes went straight to a dark hood, but it had a very light underbody, and the wings were broad. As it flew off, I grabbed the camera and took a few shots. I got her back in my binoculars as she turned and came back my way, then she turned away again and rose to join a group of Black Vultures. I later identified it as a Short-tailed Hawk.
Female Slaty-tailed Trogon
At this point, I was really happy that I had decided to get off my behind and go birding. It was 1:30 and it was a bit too hot and still. I was tempted to stay in the air-conditioned comfort of the boat and play bridge or Myst on the computer and start early on icy Cuba Libres.
By the time I got to the shaded road, a breeze had come up and the temperature in the shade was comfortable. The breeze carried a delicate perfume and I was reminded of the big pink lillies that popped up in my Costa Mesa garden in winter. I wondered if it came from the lily-like epiphytes that grow here.
I have terrible eyesight and sometimes I have bad vision days. My eyes can feel dry or puffy or here in the ‘steamy jungle’ my glasses will sometimes fog when I put my binoculars up to them. Today everything seemed to have a sharp edge and was clear and defined.
My sense of smell has always been excellent, but it was so tuned in today it was…cubed. Even on ‘normal’ days, I have smelled the musky or strong scent of mammals in the forest. Monkeys marking their territory?? But today every breath was an inhalation of scent and freshly made oxygen. The earth was damp and I could smell it and the decaying limbs lying on it. I could smell different leaves and barks.
I hadn’t gone far on the road before a sound close by got my attention. I saw the leaves at the top of a vine encased shrub moving and a small three-toed sloth raised its head above the greenery to look at me. He was nearly at eye level which is unusual. I always see them high up in the trees. I think it must have been very young. I took some pictures while I talked to him and moved on so he would not feel threatened.
I turned off the main road to a narrow one that leads to an old American installation. I could hear some Bay Wrens bickering in the underbrush and when I went to see if I could get a peek of them, a heavy dark thing flew up from the forest floor and went further into the forest as it rose to a limb. That was about twenty feet from the wrens and when I got to the spot I followed the movement and was rewarded with a Keel-billed Toucan. It was the best view I’ve had of one. Three or four noisy Black-chested Jays flew back and forth across the road ahead of me, chastising me for being in their forest. I won’t name all the birds I saw or this post will go on forever.
I walked to the locked gates of the complex and turned around to go back to the main road. I happened to look up and see a two-toed sloth stretched out on a high limb of a huge tree. I have seen the three-toed six times, but this is only the second time I’ve seen this type.

Two-toed Sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni)
I continued on and when I came to the main road I noticed a small spot on one of the big heart shaped leaves of the understory across the road. I walked to it thinking it might simply be a leaf of lighter color that dropped onto the bigger dark green leaf. As I got closer, I thought, no, it’s a bug. Maybe it’s one of the cicadas (or whatever it is that buzzes here). It was a little green tree frog, one of those kind that is always shown in rainforest ads. After I watched him for a few minutes he opened his eyes wider to show fantastic red eyes with the elongated black irises. Then, like one of those transformer toys the grandkids have, he opened from his closed oval to reveal orange feet and inner legs. He was so beautiful! I have been hearing several different frog calls (mainly in the evening) but have not seen one.

Poor little guy has a foot injury and some growths on his back.
I had been standing in one place too long and the mozzies were after me. I got out my tropical scent spray and covered my lower legs and ankles. I had just zipped the bottle back in the bum-bag and looked up in time to catch a small black cat slink into the forest after it had crossed the road. I researched later and found I had seen a jaguarundi.
I was thinking how strange it was that I noticed that little spot and having seen the cat in broad daylight. As I walk, I’m kind of meditating and I get this weird idea that the forest is revealing things to me. Showing me treasures. I realize that I am feeling almost….what? Hypnotized? After three hours in the forest, I finally acknowledge how dreamlike things are; how strange this day feels. My thoughts are interrupted by a slight movement out of the corner of my eye. An armadillo! It didn’t look like what I’d imagined and I thought there must be different species of armadillo or this one was just recently born. It was so small! It wasn’t much bigger than a guinea pig. He wasn’t sluggish and as he went from spot to spot digging with his snout, his little rubbery ears bounced back and forth. He was adorable! I had been hearing thunder rolling for some time, but it was sunny and I had ignored it. Now, it crashed and loudly rolled close by. I could smell rain hitting the earth (roads?) at some distance. I decided it would be a good time to head home. I hadn’t brought a plastic bag for my camera and binoculars.

Nine Banded Armadillo
A sense of reality returned as the first drops of rain hit and I emerged from the tree lined road to the cleared area of the old military complex.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I went online to find out a bit about the mammals I saw. I think the reason I saw the Three-toed sloth down so low was because it was doing its weekly business. They come down once a week to defecate. While holding on to vegetation, they reach down, dig a hole, go in the hole and bury their dropping.
The jaguarundi is endangered.
There are different species of armadillo, but this one is a Nine Banded. They get to be 20 to 42 inches long from head to tail and weigh 12 to 22 pounds. Reproduction is interesting.

Another Wet Sunday

2010-11-14T06:32:00.000-08:00

Golden-collared Manakin
click on photo to enlarge
Hi All,
It’s Sunday again and Gene is up at the lounge watching the Grand Prix. I can't understand the attraction. Why do people want to hear and smell stinky, noisy things being driven at dangerous speeds; I don't get it. Like last Sunday, he had to endure a downpour to get to the buildings. It’s raining, and when I say raining, I mean raining. There are some cruisers here from Oregon and even they are impressed!
A few days ago I put a plastic tarp over the forward hatch and even through last night's torrential rain, we were dry and comfortable. Gene put up our shade cover yesterday. We had hauled it out of the aft-cabin a week or so ago and it was pretty mildewy. It’s a heavy, cumbersome thing that stretches from aft of the mast to the end of the boom. Actually, it was designed to go beyond them boom and cover the whole cockpit. It has a hole sewn in so that you can remove the topping lift from the end of the boom, drape the shade cloth over and re-hook the topping lift. The cloth then goes out another three feet to shade the cockpit. We don’t use it that way because that section got torn in the wind. The thing does a great job shading us and keeps the boat interior much cooler on hot days, but if the wind comes up, it behaves like a giant wild bird frantically flapping powerful wings against captivity. Its size makes it a cleaning problem so we decided to put it up and let mother nature wash it. Last night it was a shield against the rain and we didn't have to put out the towels and containers. It was really nice hearing the rain and not watching it. I enjoyed listening in the wee hours while I played Myst and drank pomegranate tea. Occasionally, a flicker of lightening would flash through the small windows in the cabin top.
With most of the mold and mildew gone, the air purifier and air conditioner going, we are quite comfy in our rotting hole in the water.

I doubt I’ll get out today. I’m pretty sure this will be one of those all day rains. The forest should be beautiful tomorrow. It really is a magical place and I love it. When I have been out, the temperature has been very comfortable and I am able to walk without the usual rivulets of sweat running down the back. The air is clean and fresh and is a tonic. I stick to the paved roads because the truck trails I ventured out on in the dry season are small lakes now. I was out a few days ago and one of them seemed to be drying a bit. There were only small pools in the tire tracks. New vegetation and shrublets were growing between the tracks and the tree limbs on the sides were reaching to each other so the track was narrowed. Last season, this was one of my favorite roads to turn onto. It leads to a big clearing and I have found a few treasures in the trees surrounding it. I thought maybe I could weave through the new shrubs on the muddy strip between the tire tracks and squeeze my way through to a quiet, hidden place. Not that the paved road is busy, but occasionally you get a car or two (and their stinky fumes) disrupting the peace. They always seem to come by when I am straining to see a bird deep in cover or trying to photograph something. Often, they see me on the road peering into the forest and stop to ask if I am looking at monkeys . Everybody loves the monkeys and they are great PR for the forest. I had a local cab driver tell me that road kill monkeys are removed quickly because seeing them upsets the tourists.

I started off the edge of the paved road and in a small pool, I could see pollywogs swimming. I love pollywogs! I got a couple of shots because I had gotten one of some on my place in Dulzura and they looked so different from each other I wanted to compare. I am still struggling with my new Nikon and I am now able to get about one clear picture in a hundred. Amazingly, the pollywog shot came out. If it had been a bird, I would have gotten a blob! I really wish I hadn’t dropped my Sony, I really liked that camera. I will google the pollywogs and see if there is any way to ID the species. Not likely.
I started down the track and got about halfway before my antennae went up. The word snake popped into my head and I stood still and scanned. Just being paranoid Sue. I go a little further and now my antennae are vibrating. I thought about the snakes I’d read about, especially the Bushmaster and the Fer de Lance. I decided to listen to my instincts and turned around. Stick to the roads and stay off the moors!I have gotten a few lifers: Yellow-green Vireo, White-necked Puffbird, Tennesee Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, Gray-cheecked Thrush, and Red-capped Manakin.
The female Red-capped Manakin took me awhile to ID. My bird guide shows the Manakins with dark bills and this female had a lightish bill. I googled, but all I could find was images of males. I finally found a video of a male displaying; they do a little dance on a branch to attract a female. There is a video on the net of the bird “moon-walking” to a Michael Jackson song and at the end a female flies to him. She clearly shows a light bill and I have lifer #827. You can’t believe the stuff that came up when I typed in Red-capped Manakin! I hope my computer isn’t tagged as one that is interested in kinky stuff. If I start getting ads for blow up dolls, I’ll know why. I typed in Manakin, not mannequin! The Moon-walk display is worth watching if you are so inclined:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdryccHXNUc

PS. I started to doubt myself and my ID for the Red-capped Mankin for various reasons. I put a picture and my confused thoughts up on bird forum so some 'real' birders could validate my ID. If you ever wonder about what kind of bird you see or if you want to look at some incredible photography drop into birdforum. You go to the Gallery to view photos from around the world.
http://www.birdforum.net/

Old and Young Peregrines

2010-11-12T16:48:00.000-08:00

Thank heaven for the birds that make ID easy.

Click on photo to enlarge.

White-necked Puffbird (top)

Southern Lapwing (lower)

Hi All,
Not much happening. We're just here livin' the dream. We've had a few nice days and Gene bleached and cleaned the aft berth mattress. Unfortunately, we couldn't leave it out to dry completely due to sporadic rain. If it looks good again tomorrow for a short time, we'll give it more airing. It's a two person project pushing in out the hatch. The old Peregrine is coming along.
The cucarrachas seem to be dwindling. They love their sweet treat and it takes care of them. You just mix sweetened condensed milk with boric acid. It has to be thick so it can be rolled in balls and tucked away. A little sweet milk, a lot of boric acid.
I've been out a couple of times. Twice the weather held out for most of the day and I was out for six hours on one of them. I would hang out under the densest canopy I could find for the occasional showers. This week has been agouti week. Last season, I only saw flashes of them in deep cover. The last three days they have been practically following me. Funny little things. I did some googling on them and found there are quite a few different kinds. I have come to the conclusion that these are Central American Agouti (Dasyprocta punctata). Makes sense, we are in Central America. There is a Mexican Agouti too. I peeked briefly at the pictures and saw that it is endangered. I didn't do much but scratch the surface about them. I've been a bit busy with birds and ID.

There are some confusing plumages (for me) at the moment and I've spent a good bit of time on IDS.

Female Summer Tanager

Juvenile Common Black-hawk

One day I came back thinking I got an Aplomado Falcon. I'm coming down the hatch and as usual Gene askes if I got anything interesting. I was bubbling. "I have to check, but I think I got an Aplomado Falcon! I can't believe I got this bird!"
"What is an Aplomado?"
"This!" I say as I show him the illustration in the Ridgely/Gwynne guide. He loves raptors and the bird is stunning. He took the guide, "Wow". He starts reading. "Very local...........Western Panama............. likely confused with Peregrine."
I say, "This was no Peregrine. It didn't have a hood and moustache. Well, it had a moustache, but the line under the eye kind, like a Kestrel, only one line. Like the Aplomado."
"......rare......open areas........few scattered trees..." His reading began to sound like a eulogy. He asks, "What did the breast look like?"
"I didn't see. He was perched with his back to me. He turned his head, and I could clearly see the markings on his face."
By now I have two horrible photos up on the computer. Shot from from a distance, with the new camera I hate, while standing under the eaves of building while it drizzled.
I grabbed my Sibley's and while I'm going to the falcons I'm saying, "This bird could not be confused with a Peregrine!" I look at the Peregrine illustrations and one is of a juvenile Peregrine and my lifer is going down in flames. My Icarus bird. It really didn't take me long to snap out of it. Geez, I see my first juvie Peregrine, and I'm dissappointed? Gene's right, I'm getting hung up on the lifer thing. But it really would have been something to see an Aplomado.

Wet Sunday

2010-11-07T10:06:00.001-08:00

It’s Sunday morning and I am entombed in a leaky Peregrine. The heavens have waged a watery war on us since last evening. It’s hard to believe so much rain can fall for so long. I slept in damp sheets and unless I held myself in just the right position, had a drip dropping on me from the hatch. The rubber on the hatch cover is another thing that needs to be replaced. If we get a break in the rain this morning I am going to go up and jury-rig something to keep the hatch area dry.
Gene braved the walk up to the bar to watch the Grand Prix and I am enjoying the solitude with a cup of coffee and toast with honey. The coffee thermos that we have used for years is no longer an option for me. It’s coated with a thick, grainy film and the coffee tastes like sludge when it is stored in it. Gene tried cleaning it with vinegar, bleach, scrubbers stuffed down and twisted with long-handled implements, but it refuses to come clean. We used to put the plastic Mellita filter holder on top of the thermos and drip the coffee in. We could make enough for several cups each and keep it warm. Now, I just put a couple of tablespoons of coffee in and set the Mellita filter and holder on top of my cup. Ah, fresh and strong and not muddy. Gene reminded me that we haven’t found the cone type filters here and I am going through them pretty quickly. I’ll just have to improvise with the round type I guess.
I dug out the toaster and fortunately it had the proper extension cord on it so I didn’t have to search for it. We bought the toaster in Australia so it has an Aussie plug. We bought the electric water kettle in Europe, so it has the European plug. Gene cut off the end of the extension cord that goes to the Aussie plug and put a European male part on it so it could plug into the European receptacle that we use for the kettle. We are using a European connection to the dock, so that all works. A lot of confusion for a cuppa and a piece of toast, right? Still, we have electric appliances and what a luxury! The coffee water is done in the blink of an eye and the toast doesn’t have to be put in a skillet on low heat until browned.
We have not been working at the speed of light and Peregrine is still not entirely cleaned and repacked. Gene did empty the aft-berth of fold-up bikes, kayak and the big wash tub, but the completely drenched mattress still sits. I have it tilted on its side to avoid getting even wetter from the water that flows down the cabin wall when it rains. You can see the water running down the wood slats that cover the fiberglass hull. I couldn’t image what would be causing such a horrible leak. Gene fessed up that when he put the new compass in just before we left he didn’t bed it with compound because it had a rubber gasket. Well not caulking it cost us two wool blankets, a comforter, and a comforter cover I got in Italy that I LOVED. I’m sure the new mattress we had made in Italy is also toast, but Gene wants to hold off throwing it out until we can dry it and see if it can be salvaged. Trouble is, there are no dry days to take it out and let it air and dry. So we still have the aft-cabin door closed. Several books in the bookshelves got it too. Thank God my 1961 printing of Peterson’s 1941 publication of “A Field Guide To Western Birds” was safely stowed in a ziplock. Gene would have really faced long term the heat over that. As it is, I told him he was not allowed to do any more repair work on the boat. Unfortunately, there is no one else here to do the rod-rigging replacement. Peregrine is in bad shape in the interior wood department too. We have some wood rot issues and we are not in a place conducive to repair work. Even if it were easy to get supplies, it is not a Gene project! He gets terribly offended when I make negative comments on his handy work; but he’s not Tim the tool guy. He's great with the engine and mechanical things. It's the other stuff. If he was a craftsman, the gages, equipment and toilet paper holder would not all be hanging at an angle. I hate it when things are not straight; it really offends my sensibilities. Everytime I look at the crookedness of Peregrine I am assaulted. Ten years of what amounts to listening to fingernails on a blackboard. No wonder I’m nuts.
Alright, enough with the Life Aboard entry. I’m posting this and then I’m going to write about the beautiful forest and birds in a Birds/Birding post.
[Gene’s usual contribution]: Living the dream!

Back In Panama

2010-10-30T23:37:00.000-07:00

Home, Moldy, Home. Click on photos to enlarge.
October 30, 2010
Hi All,
I can’t believe it’s been seven months since my last post. Tempus fugit. We have been home in California for those months and I have been too lazy and preoccupied to bother with my blog.
We have been back in Panama for three nights, but last night was the first night aboard Peregrine. The first night we stayed in Panama City and headed out by bus for Fort Sherman/Shelter Bay Marina the next morning.
When we were home, Gene noticed that our monthly slip fee was billed for a slip number different than the one we were in when we left. He emailed the marina and was told that Peregrine had been moved to slip without electricity to accommodate boats needing the hook-ups. Gene emailed again on several occasions the week before we left to alert them we were returning and Peregrine needed to be moved back to a slip with power and water. He got no response, so it wasn’t a great shock to find her moored at the new, unfinished dock when we arrived at the marina.
What was a shock (for me) was Peregrine’s condition. When we opened the main hatch, a river of moldy smelling air flowed out.

Every cushion, bulkhead, and stowage area was covered in a thin grey, green film of mold. As I stood there thinking about the hours it was going to take cleaning up, Gene pipes up with, “It’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be.” Really?
We went to the office to tell them we needed to be moved. Our prop and rudder are covered with growth of all kinds and steerage was a worry. We needed them to move us by dink—the same way they moved us from our slip.
We got a stare and a shrug from the new assistant manager, and the manager was gone. When he did speak, he said it was too late to organize the move. It was 2:00. We reminded him that we had sent emails letting the marina know we would be back today and there were vacant slips. Finally, Dave, a face Gene knows well, comes in. Gene has spent hours watching the haul-outs and comings and goings of the hard-stand area and Dave is the manager. We explained that we couldn’t get Peregrine cleaned up without water and electricity and we really had to have her clean so we could have a place to sleep. He tells us the guys who transport the boats are trying to get a large catamaran off the hard and into the water and there is no way they are going to be able to move us. He arranges a room for us in the small hotel above the marina restaurant and says we will be moved first thing in the morning. It was really good of him to get things organized as this is not his job.
We spent a good night in the immaculate room although I was up for much of it watching the rain and lightening and listening to the thunder. I don’t think we’ve had that much rain in three years at home. No wonder Peregrine is in the shape she’s in after seven months in the Panamanian rainy season.
Thank God the boat maintenance/yard people are all mostly still here; they did a great job with the transfer and while I had breakfast at the restaurant, Gene hooked up the electricity and got an air conditioner fitted to the main hatch to help with the drying out process. We hauled all the cushions out and I washed them with bleach water. We scrubbed the v-berth, head, headliners and main salon bulkheads down with bleach water also. Never think things are bad, because when you do, things get worse. Peregrine has become overrun with cockroaches. I picked Gene’s moldy backpack off the moldy settee cushion and four of them scuttered out. I handed it to Gene and told him to throw it in the cockpit. As I made up the V-berth for a much needed sleep, a cockroach ran across my mattress and scurried for sanctuary in the recesses of the sail storage area under the berths. I will make up the yachties famous cockroach cocktail today and begin the elimination process. I got out my air filtering machine and turned on the ionizer/ozone thingy in hopes that it will start killing and filtering spores.
Well, I have finished my coffee and must get to work. Gene took the bus into town to go to the grocery. We scrubbed a lot yesterday, but didn’t get to the pilot berths, hanging lockers, cupboards, drawers or the aft cabin. The aft cabin needs to be unloaded and scrubbed. We treat the aft cabin like a garage and it is packed with stuff; and all that stuff is covered in mold and mildew. If it doesn’t stop raining, it’s going to be an even tougher job. Everything will have to be dragged out into the main salon, cleaned and put back. I already have Mount Everest in laundry in the center of the salon. All the towels stored in the plastic bins that are our linen closet are mildewy smelling; all the clothes hanging are mildewy smelling or covered in mold. Even our underwear and sock bins are contaminated. I have to wash everything in the boat. I planned to do laundry last night, but I was so into getting a superficially clean place to sleep that I failed to get tokens. Didn’t matter—I was too worn out to do laundry anyway.

A Ladies Bird Walk

2010-03-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

Betsy of Equinox, Sharon of SunBow, Karen from Turning Point, Joan of Panchita and Lorraine of Black Dog II. click to enlarge
In many places during our travels I have become known as ‘the bird lady’, so I wasn’t surprised when I got dubbed that here. Fellow cruisers and marina employees see me head out or come back in from the forest nearly every day with binoculars around my neck.
I’ve told lots of people about the Toucans and Trogons and Parrots I’ve seen and it has become routine to come in from birding and have people along the dock ask if I’ve seen something new. I hope I have infected a few people with the birding virus; or at least caused them to notice birds a bit more than they did.
I often get asked to identify a bird, and fortunately, so far, they are birds I can ID. Most people ask about the Great Kiskadee or the ‘prehistoric bird’ (Magnificent Frigatebird).

Great Kiskadee

Magnificent Frigate Bird

Last Sunday, some of Shelter Bay cruising ladies had a group manicure, wine and cheese session. We introduced ourselves and talked of cruising experiences; where we’d been and where we were going.

A cruising woman's life is nothing but work, work, work!

Thanks to Sharon on Sunbow for providing the pictures of the manicure get together.
A few of them knew me as a birder and someone asked if I would take them out for a bird walk. I said sure. Someone asked when we should do it and another said she was not a morning person, so I suggested a 4:30 walk to the San Lorenzo Park. Another said, “Ok, we’ll meet Tuesday evening at 4:30 at the pool.”
I suggested binoculars and water and I took my field guide. I don’t usually take it because it weighs a ton, but I still have a problem remembering which Trogon is which and I thought looking up the birds as we saw them would be nice. I warned them that we may not see much because we were a crowd.
I quickly established myself as a cut-rate guide when someone pointed out a distant bird on the top of a palm and asked what it was. Without even looking through the bins, I told them it was a Yellow-headed Caracara. “You can tell that far away?” “Yeah, I know it because it is there all the time and I can tell by the posture.” The bird flies toward us and I see that it is a Crested Oropendola and I sheepishly correct myself. I was a lot more careful after that.
All of these women are a bit more adventurous than most people or they wouldn’t be out risking life and limb at sea. A few had already been exploring and had a good sense of the forest, so we had some sharp eyes. It was sometimes hard to decide where to look at a given time. Betsy, on Equinox pointed out two sloths and we were treated to seeing one move along a branch. Most of the time they are stationary.
I was going to keep a day list, but forgot about it once we started. I hoped everybody could see a Trogon and we found a White-tailed Trogon. I got lifer #814; an Olive-sided Flycatcher. Unfortunately, I had taken the batteries out of my camera to charge them and forgot to put them back in, so I was hauling around a worthless camera. Sharon on Sunbow had a very good one, but it did not have a 12x zoom like mine does. She took a few shots for me and we hoped that the pixel count would allow me to zoom on the computer to get a good image. (It turned out they were not any help, but I went out the next two days and found one again on the second day. I had my camera with me and got a few bad, but id-able shots.)
Turning Point is now on the hard and Karen has gone home. Sharon and Sunbow have sailed off for adventures in the Caribbean. Lorraine and Black Dog II also sailed off for the Caribbean; planning a first stop in the Chagres River. Gene and I got our new (old) bikes not long after they left and when we pedaled to the Chagres, we saw them anchored. I figured someone might have an email address for them so I took some pictures of them. The next morning, Black Dog II came back into Shelter Bay after breaking their boom. Joan, Betsy and Lynn are still here.

Slow Days In Panama

2010-03-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

Chesnut-headed Oropendola click image to enlargeThe days have melted into weeks and the weeks to two months. We are lazy to the extreme and are quite content. Gene wanders the docks and hard-stand daily and thinks of himself as the mayor of ‘D’ dock. I wander in the forest most days.

I think this is a Pale-throated three-toed sloth.

He's more active than Gene and I.

Coatimundi and baby.

The cruisers have gotten together for Yacht Lucks a few times and we have a nice community. Recently, volley-ball has been an evening draw. Most people are gone in a few days, but there are some who are here for long term.
We’ve fallen into a loose routine. Gene usually does the grocery shopping and I do the laundry. I do most of the cooking but Gene does sandwiches, hamburgers and pizza fairly often. The grocery shopping is the biggest job and Gene usually does that because he can carry things more easily and seating is limited on the free grocery store shuttle. Due to the new dock and heavy transit traffic, the marina adopted a ONE PERSON per boat rule for the shuttle. The cruising world has Special People just like all segments of society and they have provided drama, amusement and irritation with their belief that the rule applies to everyone but them. There is a sign-up sheet hanging outside the office with a very clear notice at the top advising riders that there is a limit of ONE PERSON PER BOAT allowed on the bus. Everyday there are people who didn’t sign up or have two or three people per boat sitting on the shuttle. Once Gene was the first person signed on the list and couldn’t go because the bus was full. He was not a happy camper. Other people experienced this and it didn’t take long before the normal people complained. The mild mannered assistant manager would come out to the bus with the sign in sheet and ask how things were going. Some of the less special, special people grokked that that meant everyone who was not supposed to be on the bus should get off and they would, making room for the person who was forced to complain. Most of the special people would stay, as is proper with their station in life. Gene was on the bus one morning and, MY HERO, an unknown cruiser, complained. When the assistant manager showed up with the list and asked how everybody was and nobody moved, the irate (first signature on the list) cruiser grabbed the list from him and told the riders that there was only one person per boat allowed on the bus and anyone not signed up needed to get off the bus now. He was met with vacuous stares and no movement. All right, says he, everyone off the bus and we will call off names. That got a few people off. Some saying they didn’t know there was a sign in sheet! The bus problem may be solved now because things came to a head when the manager had to deal with the special people one morning. He came out of the office with the person who complained and the sign-up list in his hand. He told everyone on the bus to get off and then had an assistant read off boat names. One person per boat was allowed to get on the bus. One of the special ladies said she had to go shopping and her husband had to go to the hospital. The manager looked at her and said one person per boat. Keep in mind that there are taxis, it’s just that they cost $15.00. Anyhoo, now we have two free shuttles per day; one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Now you guys know why I write about the ‘bird stuff’!

Since I was unable to get any photos of people duking it out on the bus, I thought I post some photos of our backyard. See why I like to wander in the forest?

Crested Oropendola

Trogons, Crested Oropendolas and Muscovy Ducks

2010-02-17T06:37:00.000-08:00

February 13, 2010

Black-tailed Trogon

click on photo to enlarge

My birding day started before I’d finished my first cup of coffee. Gene had poured his and was out in the cockpit. I had just had a sip when he put his head in the hatch and says, “Kingfisher…a big one”. I grabbed my binoculars and headed up. I was hoping it wasn't going to be another Belted. I couldn’t remember the the name of Panama’s largest Kingfisher, but I knew I’d recognize it because I have been on the illustrated pages of my bird book many times. There are too many new birds to remember all the names at this stage, but the images are pretty well imbedded in the old gray cells. I stood on the first step of the companionway and Gene pointed to a spot in the mangroves. I didn’t need the bins to tell me I had lifer #782. What a beauty. I thanked Gene for the alert and got out my book; Ringed Kingfisher. After coffee, I headed out for my morning walk. I had planned to walk to the San Lorenzo Park headquarters, but when I got to the fork in the road, I changed my mind. The Kenedy Loop road lured me with calls from a pair of Crested Oropendolas. A group of flashy Yellow-rumped Caciques added to the draw by calling while they flew from one side of the road to the other. Both of these birds are spectacular. For the non-birders checking in--the Oropendolas and Caciques are in the same family as Orioles and Blackbirds, but these birds are big. The Crested Orodendola is about 17 inches long and the Yellow-rumped Cacique is about 11 inches. The call of the Crested Oropendola is unforgettable. Turn up your volume and go the site I have posted. When you get there, just push the first play button. Remember that this is only one of the sounds in the jungle; it’s alive with strange calls and noisy movements. It’s so magical! Have I mentioned that I love this place? Here is the site:

http://www.xeno-canto.org/browse.php?query=sp:3872.00

The birds were quite high up in the trees and I couldn't get a decent shot. I found a site with some good photos of them here:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.avianweb.com/images/birds/orioles/oropendola.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.avianweb.com/oropendolas.html&usg=__vy68FFGyr9cp5lDh4UaocT0zA1M=&h=392&w=368&sz=118&hl=en&start=89&itbs=1&tbnid=AYd86X9yYMhj1M:&tbnh=123&tbnw=115&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcrested%2Boropendolas%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D72
Wow, that turned out to be quite a url!

I watched the Icterids until my neck hurt and continued on the Kennedy Loop walk rather than going to the San Lorenzo Road. I call this walk Kennedy Loop because there is street sign near the deserted old US base buildings with the name, 'Kennedy Loop Pl.' on it.

The first part of the walk, before you get to the loop, is shady forest. The loop surrounds a low hill and with the exception of a few palm trees and shrubs, it is cleared and open and sunny. The jungle fringes the outside of the loop. Flycatchers of all sorts like this area and a group of Yellow-headed Caracara have made it home.

I went around the loop and heard manakins. Finally! This was probably my sixth time back looking for them. I spent a half hour or so trying to see them but I could tell they were too far in to be seen so I gave up and started home. I was a bit disgusted with myself for quitting but I had been out for a few hours at this point and my two cups of coffee were long gone. The manakins probably heard my stomach growling and decided to keep away from the large, hungry predator peering into their yard.

Yellow-headed Caracara

I went out again this evening and took the San Lorenzo road. The birds were active and noisy and I saw or heard many of the usual suspects. As I got further down the road I began to hear the more secretive birds. I scanned the trees and spotted something. I got the bins up and saw the indigo blue back of a Trogon, what a beautiful color. I love these birds. I could just see a glimspe of an orange-yellow breast. As I walked slowly under the tree to try and see the front of the bird, a car came by and I had to get out of the way and the bird flew off. I walked on and saw an Agouti cross the road ahead of me. I finally got a good view of one. I have seen their sillouettes in the forest twice. I heard a strange sound just off the shoulder and slowed to a crawl, creeping up to where it was. There is a slope down into a gulley here and about halfway down, perched on a low branch was a Rufous Mot-Mot. On the branch above him and over a few feet was the same kind of Trogon I had just seen up high. I could see the breast and throat now and I knew I would be able to ID it.(White-tailed Trogon #783) He was fanning his tail; spreading his feathers and closing them rapidly. It was like he was displaying to the Mot-Mot. Just then a motor-cycle roared by and they both took off. I waved to the motorcyclist, recognizing him as one of the park employees. Nearly as soon as the sound of the engine faded, it grew close again and he was back. He said something quickly in Spanish and gestured to the road ahead. I couldn't hear and he turned off the bike. I understood 'Pato'--duck. With very broken sentences we communicated. He wanted to show me a duck up in a tree. A duck in a tree not in the water,I asked. He said at night the bird was in the trees. It was beginning to get dark and I suggested it was too late. He said no, it was just a short way. Ok, I said. I was curious about a duck in a tree. He stayed on the bike and propelled by foot. I starting thinking it really was getting too late to get back before dark and I wondered if the duck was all the way up the road by the small river that runs by the Park Headquarters. That would definately be too far. I asked if the duck was at the river and he said no it was close; and it was, we were there. He pointed up into a tree and there was a Muscovy Duck! He was so sure I'd be thrilled with the find that I waxed enthusiastic, and thanked him profusely. I headed home feeling very good. I was laughing to myself about the Muscovy Duck and happy with my two lifers and two new words for the day: arbol, and bosque.

Living Like Land-lubbers

2010-02-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

Gene's jury-rigged air-conditioner.
Last Week…..
I know I’ve been writing about the birds and the jungle and how much I enjoy it here, but even a place with Toucans, Crimson-headed Woodpeckers, monkeys and anteaters has a few drawbacks. The number one drawback for me is the mosquitoes. I really don’t like having to cover myself with poisonous spray when I go birding, but I can accept it. I can’t accept having to light coils and spray bug killer in the boat. That choice gives me another mosquito virus or lung cancer. I have had hundreds of bites and I am on my second pack of Benadryl. If I don’t eat it to ease the intense itching, I scratch the bites open. I told Gene I could feel the symptoms of Ross River Fever coming back. It has to be my imagination, but I swear that there were a few days where my ankles were locking up. We don’t always have to light mosquito coils, only on still evenings, but we’ve had too many of those lately. In the early mornings, the coil is burned out and the mozzies are sucking my blood and trying to give me malaria or God knows what! I wake up scratching a dozen angry red welts. The weird thing about these mozzies is that they don’t make a sound. They are small, silent and deadly little bastards. Why should they whine, they’re getting what they want.
I would leave the hatches shut at night to keep the mozzies out, but it is too hot for that, and the days are getting hotter. It has become unbearable on the boat from about 3:00 to 6:00. I usually go up to the restaurant and hook up to the wi-fi to study birds or mess with Picasa. I am deleting the hundreds of movement-blurred blobs from my picture files and sending what I want to Picasa Web. The restaurant is air-conditioned and I can have ice cream while I work. The employees help me with my Spanish and a few hours can blow by. Gene usually escapes with a dip in the pool.
As we would walk the dock to Peregrine, we would see the fancy big boats all closed up to keep in the cool of their air-conditioning. I kept saying we needed to get an air-conditioner. We could keep out the heat and the mozzies. I pointed out that we were really going to suffer when the rainy season arrived. We already spend a few nights opening and closing the forward hatch and it’s the dry season. We read that during the rainy season the rain can come so fast and furious it can fill your dinghy during the night. There would be no way to open hatches under those circumstances. When we were in Townsville, Oz, Gene rigged an air-conditioner to the main salon hatch and it was heaven. We were cool, dry, and mozzie free. I finally told Gene I was going to get an air-conditioner. He told me had already checked some out (such a communicative guy) and we signed up for the Monday bus to 4Alto shopping center.
Monday, February 15
We took the shuttle in, did our grocery shopping and bought a small air-conditioner. We took a taxi back because we would have made life difficult for everybody trying to fit on the shuttle. The negotiated rate for a taxi is $15.00. I put groceries away while Gene started cutting pieces of foam to use as a casing for the air-conditioner. A few hours later, we closed out hatches and turned on our energy sucking machine.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
I had such a good night’s sleep last night. No mozzies, no getting up to open or shut hatches, no waking up feeling half cooked with a sweat drenched pillow and my hair plastered to my face. I am having my coffee in a cool, mozzie free salon. What a luxury being comfortable is.
Oops! The electricity just cut off.

Birding San Lorenzo- Feb. 11, 2010

2010-02-11T18:41:00.000-08:00

Garden in a tree.
Click photos to enlarge.
I have had plenty of time to get comfortable with my new environment and I enjoy my daily walks immensely. The Howler monkeys whose terrible roaring scared me at first are now creatures I am in the midst of very often. There is a colony of them on the San Lorenzo Road and I bird while they jump in the trees around me. They are quiet while I am near and only seem to ‘go off’ when a car or motorcycle goes by. I am used to the crashings of small things (that sound big) in the dense green and the of the huge palm fronds that drop from eighty feet; the frog sound of the Keel-billed Toucans; liquid calls of the icterids; the Kookaburra-like chuckling of the Slaty Antshrikes; the constant calling of the Great Kiskadees and in general the great cacophony that is the rainforest. I am hearing and identifying new sounds daily.

This anteater came out of the greenery and walked toward me. He didn't seem to have very good senses and when he got within five feet I thought I should gently alert him so I said softly, "Hello there." He immediately turned and went into the forest. About a half hour later he came out again where I was further up the road. He walked along with me for awhile before going into the forest on the other side. Why did the anteater cross the road? I don't know, but I enjoyed his company.I would really like to have a bike. I have extremely good birding in the immediate area but I want to be able to get to the Chagres River which is about 10K away. Every other day or so I walk to the San Lorenzo National Park Headquarters, a few K away, but I would like to on for the remaining 8K and see the river. The problem is I can’t speed walk the road to get there at a decent time because there is a noise here, and a noise there, and a flutter in the leaves and so on and so on. Each stop to investigate results in another half hour gone. It would be dark before I got to the river and then I’d have to get back. I’m not that comfortable with my new environment! We plan on renting a car soon and I suppose I’ll just drive down and check things out. If it turns out that I wouldn’t want to spend time there every other day or so, I’ll pass on the bike and stick to walking. The bike would be a pain to stow for the canal transit; but I want one!
There are three places I habitually go and I have named them:
The Kennedy Loop walk, the Deserted base Walk, and the San Lorenzo Road walk.

This google image shows an x at one end being Peregrine and the x at the other being the San Lorenzo National Park Headquarters. The big red circle on the road is the ‘Deserted Base’ area. On this post I’ll tell you about the ‘Deserted Base’ walk. The whole area around the marina is a deserted US base of some kind. The Kennedy Loop walk also has deserted buildings but they are off to the side and behind locked fencing, I think maybe they were housing.
The Deserted Base walk goes though a cluster of low, utility buildings that are in the process of being reclaimed by Mother Nature. Corrugated metal roofs are in different stages of disrepair and some are only partially connected. They are at right angles to the rest of the roof and when the wind gusts, these large flaps swing on their rusty bends and make a racket. A few of the buildings are in fairly good shape and I wonder why they were allowed to deteriorate. Some of them are quite large and it seems they could have been put to some kind of use. One tall building has the fading word HANDBALL written on the side. It’s an eerie feeling walking in these modern ruins. I can almost feel the ghosts of past activities; men and machines moving with deliberation. Thank heaven it’s only the ghosts of past goings on at the base I imagine and not the ghosts of the nearly 30,000 people that died during the making of the Panama Canal.

Deserted pump.

Coatimundi.
Some of the area around the buildings has been cleared and ground water has come up. I found a pvc pipe end that releases fresh water, but I have to believe much of the wet areas are brackish. Grasses, reeds and low shrubs cover the ‘marshy’ site and the forest with its tall trees rim the buildings on one side of the road. Part of the road itself is covered by fresh water and the birds use it as a giant bird bath. I have found and continue to find great treats at the Deserted Base. Yesterday evening I found a pair of Collared Aricari, lifer #780.

Panama list continued from last post:
Baltimore Oriole
Yellow-rumped Cacique #752
Chestnut-headed Oropendola #753
Wattled Jacana #754
Purple Gallinule #755
Common Moorhen
Anhinga #756
Saffron Finch
Dot-winged Antwren #757
Dusky-capped Flycatcher #758
Blue Dacnis #759
White-necked Jacobin #760
White-fringed Antwren #761
Bay Wren #762
Yellow-backed Oriole #763
Summer Tanager
Lineated Woodpecker #764
Broad-winged Hawk
Slaty-tailed Trogon #765
Gray-headed Tanager #766
Chestnut-sided Warbler #767
Rufous Momot #768
White-shouldered Tanager (panamensis) #769
Plain Xenops #770
Black-chested Jay #771
Masked Tityra #772
Slaty Antshrike #773
Panama Flycatcher #774
Paltry Tyrannulet #775
Violaceous Trogon #776
Crimson-crested Woodpecker #777
Dusky Antbird #778
Tropical Pewee #779
Collared Aracari #780

Howler Monkeys and Red-lored Amazon, January 19, 2010

2010-02-10T14:22:00.000-08:00

Howler Monkey
I went back to the marshy area where I saw the mystery‘pipit’. No luck. In this area, the road is partially covered with water that seeps up from ground water. The birds bathe here, and at least one Pygmy Kingfisher fishes here. Just off the shoulder of the road are deeper pools and small fish abound. I originally saw the mystery bird on one side of the road and when I was unsuccessfull finding him again there, I crossed the road to check the other side out. I was hoping to see the Kingfisher again and get a photo but no luck with that either. I walked along the road, peering through the chain link fence and saw movement; a small bobbing bird. I got the bird in my bins. This time, the sun was behind me and I was between the bird and the sun. A Waterthrush! I knew it from going over the book last night. Ok, a lifer, but this bird was not the one I saw yesterday. Humm, still a mystery. I turned around and started heading toward the treed area that is beyond the cleared marsh site. Just as I was to go around a bend in the road, the Howler monkeys let out a great roar. If you have never heard these things you won’t understand why I was afraid to go on alone. The first time I heard them, Gene was with me, thank God. We were in the forest and heard this hair-raising howl. We looked at each other and said simultaneously, “What the Hell was that?” I said, “American Werewolf in Panama?” It is truly a frightening sound. It’s a bit like an angry bear facing an angrier lion and an eighteen wheeler slamming on its brakes to avoid hitting them. I think they are the reason mankind had to harness fire; they needed something to keep away the demons and give them light and comfort. It sounded like thirty or so of them just hanging out around the bend ready to tear me to shreds. At this point, I still had no idea what they looked like. I am getting cowardly in my old age and I turned around. I looked them up on the net today and some fellow cruisers told me they’re harmless. I think part of the reason I was so leery was that during out last visit home, I heard a horrible 911 call on a talk about some woman’s chimpanzee attacking her friend. This happened some time ago and the victim was going to appear on the Oprah show. Apparently, the chimp tore off her hands and face. Anyway, I chickened out. Before I get back on track with this post I have to mention I saw a Coatimundi in the mystery bird area. I heard a thud in dry leaves near me and when I turned he was just a few feet from me. I think he dropped from a large tree I was near. What an adorable thing—and he was quiet.
After I turned from the howling, I heard parrots down another fork in the road and followed the sound. Six or seven fly over and landed in a distant tree. I was a bit tired and it was getting late, but I decided to do the walk in hopes they wouldn’t fly off as soon as they got in viewing range. They stayed and I got a Red-lored Amazon Parrot #751 .
When I got back to Peregrine, I confirmed that what I saw was a Northern Waterthrush and not a Louisiana Waterthrush. I pulled a couple of my North American field guides to view their illustrations and as I turned the pages I found the mystery bird—a Palm Warbler. I am confident that was my bird and counted it as #750. The Palm Warbler even pumps the tail.

Shelter Bay Marina, Panama

2010-02-07T07:11:00.000-08:00

Morning at the marina. 9*22.037N 79*57.029W
click to enlarge
HiAll,
As I mentioned last post, our new home for at least a few months is the Shelter Bay Marina on the Caribbean side of the canal. It is a small marina with only two docks of 45 slips. A third dock is going in as I write and I have no doubt that it will soon be full and the small anchorage area at the end of the marina will still be in full use. The marina is the only game in town and it is extremely busy. The amenities and services are under pressure and I have found if I want to do laundry the best time is about 10:00p.m. I mentioned to a few of you how happy I was to see individual bathrooms here rather than the usual rows of showers and toilets. The space and privacy of the bathrooms here is a luxury. They are attractive and even have hot water. Unfortunately, they are in constant use and as a result are not as clean as they should be. I am always paper- toweling the shower drain of hair before turning on the water; I won’t get into the toilets. No solid waste can be discharged from the boats as this is a fairly closed off spot and water exchange is not good. It is uncomfortable in the mornings sometimes to go up and see a line waiting!

At first we thought the pressure was on because the ARC (Cruiser’s Around the World Rally) came in a few days after we arrived; but no, there is just a constant coming and going of traffic through the canal and it is simply a busy place. There is an anchorage area in Limon Bay for those awaiting transit and that is the only other waiting area on the Caribbean side. It is not an option for people who need supplies or repairs because there is no dinghy landing anywhere and you are locked on the boat until transit.
One of the marina services is a shuttle to the 4Altos Shopping center where there is a Rey’s Supermarket. It is an okay store. If you hit it when new veggies come in, the produce is good, but sometimes we’ve been and the veggies are masses of wilt. You have to sign up on the passenger list to get a seat and even then you should be waiting a half hour early to get a seat. The free bus leaves at 8:00am from the marina and leaves Rey’s at 11:15(Well usually. Last week the return bus was 2 hours late. Fortunately that day we had little in the way of refrigerated stuff. Hey, it’s ‘free’—can’t complain.)
One of the reasons we will be hanging out here is that after we left the San Blas/Kuna Yala Islands, the intermediate shroud of our rod rigging on the starboard side gave a ‘pop’ and came down. We immediately took in sail (as luck would have it, we were going down wind and had only the jib out). We have to order new, expensive rigging and put it up ourselves as there is no rigger here. For you non-sailors, the rigging coming down is not a good thing. It holds up the mast and if the mast comes down things could be very, very bad.
We are comfortable and content in our new home. Gene takes a walk around the marina a few times a day and watches the construction of the new dock and the business of incoming and outgoing yachts. I go birding once or twice a day in the surrounding rainforest. It is beautiful and a whole new environment for me. I love it. There is a bar and small restaurant and we go up every now and then for dinner.

We can eat much better aboard Peregrine though. A large screen TV at the bar keeps tuned to sports and Gene has a place to have beer and football. In fact, today is Super Bowl Sunday and we are going up to watch and have the ‘special’. GO SAINTS!!!
A second floor over the bar has seven rooms for rent and a lounge area for marina residents. The lounge has a computer area with cable plug-ins but we can also pick up wifi. My computer would not pick-up the wifi at first but the computer guy was out and now I can get it but the signal still won’t reach the boat. We have to come up to the complex if we want to use the internet. Right now the connection is extremely slow, and /or not functional, supposedly because too many people are on it.

Hasta LuegoSue and Gene

View from our stern. There is a small anchorage area here for the overflow.
View from the patio.

The Pool Area

The other pool area.

The luke-warm jacuzzi

Birding In Panama

2010-02-04T08:03:00.000-08:00

Gene on the San Lorenzo National Park road.
February 4, 2010
On October 31, 2000, we began our attempt to sail around the world aboard our 43 foot sailboat, Peregrine. It’s been a long nine years and I found myself wanting to really push this last stretch and get home as soon as possible. We only have to get through the canal and go north to Newport Beach, California (only!). I thought how ironic that just as we came upon some of the best birding areas of the world, I was too burnt out to want to linger and enjoy. Since making landfall in Panama I have gotten a second wind. I can easily linger here.
We are now safely at dock on the Caribbean side of the canal. We have very nice live-ashore amenities and the rain forest is our backyard.

This Google Map is a bit old because it doesn't show the marina docks. We are anchored in the red x area. The water to the right is Limon Bay and the entrance to the Canal.

I saw my first wild Toucan yesterday; a Keel-billed Toucan—gorgeous!
Before arriving here, we made several stops in the Kuna Yala/San Blas Islands and I had some enjoyable days birding an island in the Holandes group. We spent some time in the Linton Island anchorage (about eight miles east of Portobello). I went ashore nearly every day there and collected quite a list.
I have run into a few snags, but overall I have done much better than I thought I would in the identification area. Most of the birds I’ve seen so far are quite distinctive and that makes ID fairly easy. I don’t know how many birds, especially flycatchers, I’ve missed, but relatively few and I am not frustrated yet. However, there are some birds I’m struggling with and would like to have some discussion about them. I have done some searching on the net, but still have questions. I will post them on the ID forum even though some of the images I got are really bad.
I’ve had a few surprises. I found a bird yesterday that confused me. I went through my huge Panama book and couldn’t find it. I kept thinking I knew the bird. My mind finally came around to buntings and I identified it as an Indigo Bunting. I’ve only seen one once before (in Arkansas) and it was in breeding plumage, so the non-breeding plumage threw me.
Also yesterday, I found a little bird that screamed “pipit” as soon as my bins landed on it. It doesn’t seem to fit any pipits though, and after reading some, I thought my bird must be a Northern Water-thrush. It flicked its tail and bobbed a bit like a Spotted Sandpiper (mentioned in the description), but it did not have a boldly streaked breast. Do the streaks ever fade? I only saw it for seconds—and not well. I have two horrible and distant shots because after I flushed it, I got it in my bins but it was distant and I wanted to try to creep up and get a better view. I figured I should try to get a few long distance photos before I moved in case it flew. It flew as soon as I had taken two steps, and I lost it. I will go back this evening and try to find it again.
I hope to have some photos and material on my blog in a few days. I have so much to write about, birding and otherwise that I am overwhelmed (and I would rather be out in the forest than typing). It’s going to take time to get organized. I haven’t even updated my electronic life list yet. It’s awful to have so many lifers each day that I can’t even get them listed. I LOVE this place!
Here is my Panama list so far:
American Pygmy Kingfisher #746
Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola Mexicana) #715
Barred Antshrike #736
Belted Kingfisher
Black Vulture
Black-bellied (Grey) Plover
Black-crowned Tityra #714
Blue-black Grassquit #713
Blue-chested Hummingbird #731
Blue-gray Tanager #699
Brown Pelican
Buff-breasted Wren #724
Buff-throated Woodcreeper (confirm—eyebrow not mentioned in book)
Cattle Egret
Clay-colored Thrush #741
Common Black Hawk #705
Common Tody-Flycatcher #739
Crested Guan #710
Crested Oropendola #742
Crimson-backed Tanager #718
Golden –hooded Tanager #726
Gray-breasted Martin #704
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Great Kiskadee #725
Greater Ani #730
Great-tailed Grackle
Green Heron
Green Kingfisher #732
House Wren (Troglodytes aedon inquietus) #711
Indigo Bunting
Keel-billed Toucan #747
Laughing Gull
Lesser Kiskadee #734
Lesser Seed Finch #729
Little Blue Heron
Magnificent Frigatebird
Mangrove Swallow #703
Neotropic Cormorant
Orange-chinned Parakeet #716
Osprey
Palm Tanager #728
Plain-colored Tanager #720
Pomarine Jaeger #697
Red and Green Macaw #722
Red-crowned Woodpecker #712
Red-legged Honeyeater #737
Rose-breasted Grosbeak #744
Royal Tern
Ruddy Ground Dove #708
Ruddy Turnstones
Rufous-breasted Hermit #723
Rusty-margined Flycatcher #748
Sapphire-throated Hummingbird #698
Smooth-billed Ani
Snowy Egret
Southern Lapwing #721
Southern Rough-winged Swallow #733
Spot-crowned Barbet #740
Spotted Sandpiper
Squirrel Cuckoo #717
Streaked Flycatcher #745
Thick-billed Euphonia #727
Tropical Kingbird #706
Tropical Mockingbird
Turkey Vulture
Variable Seedeater #707 #
White-crowned Pigeon #701
White-tipped Dove
Willet
Yellow Mangrove Warbler #700
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-bellied Eleania (Eleania flavogaster pallidorsalis) #719
Yellow-crowned Euphonia #735
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Yellow-faced Grassquit #709
Yellow-headed Caracara #702
Yellow-tailed Oriole #743

Good-Bye and Merry Christmas

2009-12-18T12:37:00.000-08:00

December 18, 2009
Hi All,
Unless something unforeseen happens, today will be our last day here. Provisioning is done and Gene will check out of the country today and settle up with the boatyard. I am going to do a load of handwashing and wipe down the interior while we have access to water. I still have some water and books to stow. Not sure where I’ll find room.

washing machine
Some Parakeets just flew over. I will miss their morning squawks.
This leg will be about 630 nautical miles. If we have a decent passage without much drama we should make the Holandes group in the San Blas Islands (Lat. 9*36N 78*40W) in four days. That means we should be at anchor and rested and comfortable for Christmas. We spent Christmas last year at sea and I don’t want to do it again this year. Gene is saying I shouldn’t put in writing that we should be at anchor in four days because it’s bad luck. God, talk about a superstitious sailor. I’m glad I haven’t become that way. We checked out today but won’t be leaving until tomorrow because today is Friday and everyone knows you can’t set sail on Fridays.

Our route; we're taking Jimmy Cornell's advice and staying off-shore.
Our new Solar Shower is already broken. It came that way. The flap that you close after filling it with water doesn’t close properly and the water seeps out. I sat it upright to keep the water in, but it probably won’t stay that way under sail. These things have been around forever; WHY CAN’T SOMEBODY DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE SOMETHING THAT WORKS???!!! This is our 10th????solar shower? Well, we still have the old standby—the bug sprayer. I just thought it might be nice to get more than a mist for a shower. Shoulda known better.
I guess my nerves are making me cranky.
We will contact you all again when we can.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR
The Peregrinators

A Few Birds of the West Indies

2009-12-17T09:21:00.000-08:00

Tropical Mockingbird
Click to enlarge photos.

Roseate Terns

Little Blue Heron

Lesser Antillean Bullfinch

Eared Dove

Carib Grackle

Black-whiskered Vireo

Antillean Crested Hummingbird

A Hard Decision

2009-06-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

PEREGRINE WILL GO ON THE HARD

We are approximately where the arrow is. The Red Tracks represent hurricanes. 2005 Map.
Theoretically, we are too far south for hurricanes and can sail to Panama at anytime of the year provided we ‘keep an eye’ on the weather. On Tuesday, three couples we spent time with on the grocery bus and happy hours took off for Panama (1), and Cartagena, Colombia (2). We had two days of the calmest weather we’ve had since arriving so I hope they had a good sail. Supposedly, you only need two good days and then you will be around the Peninsula de la Guajira and out of any stormy weather.
I kept hearing the sailors saying travel in the hurricane season is not a problem; the old, “We’re out of the hurricane zone” mantra. As we inched closer to July, the birder decided to do a little independent reading. So if hurricanes don’t come down here; who the Hell are Dennis, Emily, Ivan, Charlie, Isidore, Joyce and Lenny? Ok, so their paths didn’t hug the Colombia coast and bend around De La Guajira, but one of them wiped out 90% of the nutmeg crop on Grenada and two sailors were lost off the Colombian coast in another. That’s close enough for me. I don’t want to add surviving a hurricane at sea to our list of thrills, chills and spills. Or worse yet, I wouldn’t be around to add it. Although it would make a good chapter in my ‘100 Things Not To Do Before You Die’ list. So I’m a wimp. I don’t care. I told the captain I did not want to go to Panama during the hurricane season and he conceded.
We are going to hang on the hook here in Spanish Water for the month of July then put Peregrine on the hard. We will go home for August and September. We will come back to live at anchor until the end of November and then continue on to the San Blas Islands after hurricane season.
Goody, Goody! New underwear! Some better birding books! New bins for my birthday??? (fat chance). Chili relleno, sour dough bread, BIRDS! My 2009 list has been moving slower than the California Legislature. I can bird Bolsa Chica, Huntington Central Park, Upper Newport, possibly Salton?? Maybe not the Salton Sea, it would probably be considered bad form not to make time to see kids and grandkids.
Movies! Books without mildewed pages. I’ll have a bed I don’t have to climb into with sheets that fit and smell good. A shower with hot water in droves, no holding the water bottle over my head! Ah! Life is going to be sweet! We’ll be able to stay with the LaFitte’s some of the time and play bridge at night and bird Newport Bay in the mornings. Gene can have all the Cheez-its he wants and can wash them down with Sierra Nevada India Pale Ale.
I’ve got to go now. I have a For Sale sign to paint.

Almost forgot here is the url for a great web site:
The National Hurricane Center.
On the left hand side under Hurricane History you can click ‘Seasons Archive’. It takes you to a page where you can enter a year you’re interested in. Click on the year and you go to a page that describes the hurricanes and tropical storms of that year in detail. It also has a track map at the bottom of the page. Click it twice and you get an enlarged view. The site is very interesting and informative. It is also responsible for my lack of desire to move along to Panama at this time.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastall.shtml
Year 2005
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/2005atlan.shtml
Year 2007
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/2007atlan.shtml

At Rest, at Last

2009-06-14T05:40:00.000-07:00

June 14, 2009
Curacao
12*04.701
68*51.529
So after coffee this morning, we take up anchor; again we are very well set. At least we know holding is excellent in the bay. We move over a boat length and drop our hook at the stern of an American from Rhode Island. We end up parallel with a sport fishing boat from Florida with plenty of room between us. I tell Gene thanks, I’m happy now. He didn’t think it was necessary to move since we were on the anchorage area 'line'. Soon a couple from each of the American boats dinghy over. The Sportfisher says laughingly, “You can’t be here.” We all laugh and we explain that we were straddling the line and felt we had to move in. Sportfisher says if we need to come in more it’s not a problem. He doesn’t freak out at closer proximity. Gene says, “She does.”, and points at me. Introductions went all around and they both took off to catch the grocery bus. I went below to check our position. Ah, well within the line.
I turn on my laptop to connect to the internet and what do you know? 'Page won’t display’ The powerboat is between us and the antennae and is causing a disrupted connection. This definitely won’t do. As I’m complaining to Gene he says he thinks a French boat is pulling up. He is! He will leave a hole in an ideal spot. As he motors off we take up anchor and move again. We are now in a great spot with a clear corridor to the wifi antennae. I won’t be nervous about leaving Peregrine to shop or bird or pokie. Captain says (after five moves in four days): “Thank God and Maxwell for electric windlasses!”

In spite of what we were told by several people the first day, the winds have died down considerably. It’s very nice weather and the dinghy ride in would be dry even if it is a long way. The wind has died so much that we can actually hear other sounds and we seem to be under a flyway for a flock of Caribbean Parakeets. Several times a day they fly across the lagoon; squawking, bright green missiles. I love the sounds of parrots in the morning.
We have contacted a sailmaker by email and Gene is going to meet him at the cruisers hang out, Asiento, at five this evening.
As usual, we still don't know what our plans are.
The batteries are drained and I’m signing off.

Hurricanes Hardly Happen

2009-06-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

The dinghy dock is where the buildings are.
June 12, 2009
Spanish Waters, Curacao
All things considered, I’d rather be in Bonaire.
While we were in the West Indies and Bonaire, we were told by a few cruisers how great Curacao was. Some stories were third hand friend of a friend things, but at least one accolade came from someone who had been here. While we were in Bonaire we discussed the possibility of spending the hurricane season in Curacao. We could get in a marina and fly home if necessary and have some of our sailing buddies from home come for a visit. Boy, have I changed my mind since arriving here in Spanish Waters.
I can’t fathom why anyone would be enamored with this anchorage. The place is a wind tunnel. You could boogie board the wind waves in this almost land-locked lagoon. You are soaked when you finally tie off at the very distant dinghy dock. By soaked I mean you have been doused with the equivalent of at least one bucket of saltwater. Laundry? A bus ride away. Groceries? A bus ride away. Water, a long haul in the partially submerged dink. Ok, the bus to the grocery is a freebie. It comes to the traffic circle close to the dinghy dock at 10:00 in the morning and takes you to the supermarket. You have an hour to shop before the bus goes back. That is a nice gesture and much appreciated, but daily life is beyond inconvenient. The bus to Willemstad (capital) comes about every hour and it takes about a half hour to get to town. Town is attractive and the locals are wonderful. There are several casinos and they have POKIES!; the same video poker machines that I got addicted to in Australia.
I have to sign off now, I’m very stressed and have to go up on deck.
Later…
It’s 12:30 and Gene is back aboard Peregrine after a two hour trip ashore. He took the dink to check out a few ‘marinas’ and then got on the grocery bus. I suffered from high anxiety the entire time because we are anchored right in front of someone else. We have had gusts of 35 and even though we are well dug in (Peregrine bowed when we backed down), I hate being in this situation. We had to run the engine to charge the batteries, so on top of being on top of them, we fumigated them!! I would be sorely vexed if I were them. I believe in the Golden Rule, so I am insisting we move. This will be our second move. We found a great spot when we came in two days ago. Great except that we were outside the anchor area by about a boat length. We didn’t have the anchorage ‘map’ when we arrived. We simply saw boats anchored and found a spot with them and anchored. The Curacao Coastguard followed us the whole time we were looking for a spot. After we anchored they came alongside and we handed over our boat papers and passports. Gene asked if we were ok where we were. After the tiniest pause, they said, “Yeah.” Yesterday, we were approached by a local business owner and told we were hanging out of the anchor zone and into the local water sport area. We moved and here we are in this horrible spot. I didn’t sleep last night.

A few hours later…….

We moved. Now we are just on the border line of another side of the anchorage. After we anchored we put the coordinates of the area into our electronic chart. We swing in and out of the zone. The problem is if we move in a boat length, we’ll be a bit close to someone else. We could take in rode, but we don’t want to do that in these windy conditions. Guess we’ll re-anchor tomorrow morning and try to get inside by a boat length. Hopefully we can squeeze in and still have adequate scope for these winds. We thought about trying another anchorage area but when we went into Willemstad to check into the country, the officials asked where we were anchored. We are in anchorage ‘B’. It now says on our papers that we have to remain in anchorage “B” (Even though Anchorages A and C are only a few hundred feet from B) Great. I guess we can go back in and have that changed. Anchorage C is a calmer anchorage tucked behind a hill but it is even an even longer ride to the dinghy dock and would be out of wifi range (Unless there is another wifi provider there—doesn’t look like it, nothing but a house over there.) We are barely in wifi range here.
So here it is June already. Official start of the hurricane season. I can’t see living here at anchor until the end of October. There is a marina but it is full and the first opening is December.
Since hurricanes don’t come this far south we can theoretically travel to Panama even at this time of the year. It would be about a seven day trip to the San Blas Islands, Panama. According to Jimmy Cornell’s, “World Cruising Routes”, it is possible to go now if we keep an eye on the weather. My problem is I don’t want to sail in the hurricane season even if we’re “not in the hurricane belt”. Won’t some of the wind and waves from the hurricane area come our way if a hurricane hits?? And…since Al Gore invented Global Warming, all kinds of weird stuff happens. We could be cruising along in our predicted 10 knot winds and suddenly be hit with the first winds over 100mph in this area since the big bang.
We are in ‘thinking about things’ mode right now so we don’t know what we’ll do. If we left right away things might be ok. Even though June is the start of hurricane season it isn’t common to get them this early. The problem with that is we have a sail to be repaired and who know how long that will take. But, hey, “We’re livin’ the dream!”

Cruising in Bonaire

2009-06-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

Peregrine at her mooring off Kralendijk
Bonaire--A Small Post for Cruisers

I know I have neglected the sailor part of The Twitching Sailor in favor of the twitching part (birds), so I am going to make a concerted effort to post more for sailors, especially cruisers, from now on.
When we left Grenada, we planned to have two rest stops before arriving in Panamanian waters; the Dutch Antilles islands of Bonaire and Curacao.
When we picked up the mooring off Kralendijk, the main city on the Dutch Antilles island of Bonaire, we figured we’d be off in three days. We are now going on week three.
When Gene went ashore to check in on arrival he ran into a fellow American who told him that the island was an aquarium surrounded by great restaurants. She was wrong. It’s the other way around, great restaurants surrounded by an aquarium. We haven’t eaten at nearly enough places yet, but so far, our favorite is a place off the main drag called The Paris Bistro. Wonderful! The island is basically a big dive resort. Divers, snorkelers, wind surfers and wind kiters come to soak in the sun and play in the pristine waters. Check in was easy and free.
The island is not focused on cruisers and nothing was convenient until we found Hank, owner of the tiny Bonaire Nautico Marina. Anchoring is not allowed anywhere and the mooring we got is not close to trash disposal, water, fuel, laundry or even landing the dink. For $30.00 a week, Hank offers wi-fi to the boat (works sporadically-not Hanks fault—the whole island goes down for days at a time), a place to take trash and a place to tie up the dink. He also sells water at $5.00 per 50 gallons. Hanks fee is well worth the cost, especially when the wifi works. The moorings are $10.50 a day. The laundry was a bit of a pain. Gene had to haul the Santa bag for about three quarters of a mile to the coin op laundry.
I’m sure life would be easier at the Harbor Village marina, about one mile from town. We didn’t stay there because it is too far from town for schlepping groceries, et al.; although showers and electricity would be grand. The marina has diesel, gasoline, propane pickup/delivery and laundry pickup/delivery. The showers are cold water only. The cost of the marina is $33.00 per night. Electricity and water is extra. Water is expensive because the water is basically all RO water.

The beach just north of town.We are having trouble making enough energy to run refrigeration and the computer. If I get on the net, I can be on for hours with bird stuff and news and emails. I pretty much use what is being generated and we often have to turn off the refrigerator at night. We need aother solar panel or something! I wants my computer and ice!!
The grocery store is good. It has a great deli section, but the veggies are hit and miss.
The restaurants are fabulous and reasonably priced. There is a marine hardware (Budget Marine) but it is sparsely stocked.

Coco's is the place for Happy Hour on Thursdays.The people are great and because the island makes most of its money off diving tourists, it is service oriented and helpful.
The weather. This morning at 8:30 the air temperature was 82.3 degrees and the water temp was 82.5.
Rainfall is 22 inches a year.
And the Skies are not Cloudy all Day.
Weather permitting we plan to sail to Curacao next Monday. We’ve heard great stuff about the Spanish Waters anchorage. We’ll write then and let you know what we find.
Fair Winds,
The Peregrinators

Two Critically Endangered Endemics

2009-05-19T06:44:00.000-07:00

Two really bad photos this time. The Dove was hard to get because of the auto-focus on the digital. Both shots are good enough for id. The latest information I could find said population could be under 100 but there could be up to 200. Quite a span. Hook-billed kites are listed as 50 to 75 individuals. The Hook-billed I am talking about is the Grenadian race.
May 18, 2009
I went back to Mr. Hartman a third time and was lucky to see the Grenada Dove and a Hook-billed Kite. It’s a bit hard to get around without a car and getting to the site I want often presents a challenge. I finally figured out the bus thing and was able to ride all the way to the entrance of the sanctuary area. I went in the late afternoon thinking I would be well placed by evening.
I walked to the place my husband and I heard them two days before but heard only Zenaida Doves. The road went on from there and I followed it to a narrow trail that cut off to the left. I walked quietly and kept an ear out while I scanned the ground and occasionally looked up for a Hook-billed Kite which I had read could also be seen in area. I walked until I thought I might be getting into the area that required a guide. (My first visit to the area took in the visitors center and I was told I needed to be escorted on the trail.) I thought I should turn around and head back to the dirt road that went to Woburn Bay. I stopped in a small shady spot and looked up to see a raptor glide behind a distant hill. D**m! Missed it. I continued walking and searching the ground, but now and then I would scan the sky above the hill. On my third scan I saw an unusual bump in a tree near the crest of the hill and I focused on it. It was too distant for features but I knew it was a raptor. I tried to get closer but no road or trail led that way.
I decided to head back to the mangrove area. Maybe I could get lucky at the base of the hill where a local had told me the dove lived. The trail through the mangroves was blocked for me because the Wilson’s Plovers had little peeps now and I inadvertently caused them to split up while the parents called and tried to lure me away. I backed up and left the way I came. Hopefully they regrouped quickly. The chicks were so tiny and cute.
I started on the road out of the park knowing this would be the last trip to the sanctuary. The sun was very low now and I searched the ground for the doves. Evening was supposed to be good. There! Movement on the ground about twenty-five feet in from the road. I got my bins up and focused and then dropped them to wait for movement. A dove! I had the bins on it and the first thing I noticed was no spots. It was a large dove with its back to me. I knew what it was and couldn’t believe that I was getting to see it on the last stretch of my last visit. It turned and I got excellent views of a Grenada Dove; I had suffered a bit for this one. The one was actually two. I had my binoculars up and down while I watched the pair slowly wander to and fro. They never made a sound. I watched them for about fifteen minutes and thought I should head off before it got dark. I couldn’t be sure I’d get a bus right away. I started up the road and glanced up to see a soaring raptor. My first thought was another Broad-winged Hawk. Wait! No! A Kite! I tried to relax and have good views before he took off but the damn sweat-wasp things were landing on me and a large swarm began to gather. I took out my OFF and sprayed at them while I coated my arms and hands. By the time I could look again, the Kite was gone. No matter, I saw it well enough for a positive ID and a short thrill. Rather be lucky than good any day.
I got out onto the paved road and started walking. It wasn’t long before I heard a bus honk from behind. I turned and nodded at the driver and he pulled over. It was the same driver who took me up. His assistant asked, “Well, did you see the Dove?”
Hook-billed Kite, Genadian mirus race.

In Search of the Grenada Dove

2009-05-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

Wilson's Plover click photos to enlarge
Yesterday I went back to the Mt. Hartman area for my second attempt to find the critically endangered Grenada Dove. The first attempt had to be my worst birding day ever. I got severely sunburned, bitten/stung by Lilliputian Yellow-jackets, and lost. I got sunburned because I was out for hours taking the shortcut home. Can’t remember when I’ve been so ill-prepared and stupid. At least I had water.
The second attempt was going to be different. I wore my lucky Ivory-billed Woody t-shirt and not a sleeveless ‘please fry me, I’m stupid’ shirt. The t-shirt acted with double duty as protection from the sun and absorbent cotton for the blisters that were now breaking. I put in new contacts and put sunscreen on over my nearly bloody, peeled nose. I put the bug spray back in my backpack (where it ALWAYS is except for THAT day). I knew where I was going because I had already trail-blazed the place and even if I forgot, I had my navigator with me; Gene had decided to go with me.
The first time I went was from Prickly Bay, this time we were starting from St. Georges, the capital of Grenada. We had come up three days earlier to escape the swells in Prickly Bay.
We jumped on the #1 bus and took it to the ‘tire’ roundabout just past Grand Anse Beach. From there we walked uphill until we reached the Grenada Dove sign where a dirt road forks off the main road. We took the dirt road and I paid attention here because I wanted better views of some Elaenias I saw on my last trip. I was rewarded with lifer #649; Yellow-bellied Elaenia.
We continued down the dirt road toward the Grenada Dove Sanctuary visitor’s center. Instead of stopping this time, we just continued on the dirt road and around the gate that went across it. It is closed to traffic but I was told on my last visit that walking was ok. We made our way slowly down to the mangroves and saw lots of Tropical Mockingbirds, Gray Kingbirds, Black-faced Grassquits, Eared Doves, Zenaida Doves, Grackles, Shiny-headed Cowbirds, and Bananaquits. When we got to the old well at the bottom, before entering the mudflats, we saw a large flock of Common Ground Doves with the Eared and Zenaida. Funny how so many Doves and Pigeons are prolific to the point of being pests and the Grenada Dove will surely be gone from this planet soon if severe measures aren’t taken to save it. It was about this point that we met Dennis. Dennis is a local fisherman who was headed to the mangroves and walked part of the way with us. He told us the Doves weren’t in the section we were in and said they were ‘on that hill’ and pointed the way. “It’s the same way I’m going. I’ll show you the trees they go to.” We followed him into the mangroves, but lost him because I saw a peep creeping through the acacia scrub that grew on the edge of the mudflat. Plovers! I didn’t know what kind but I got excellent views of a pair and heard them protest our presence. They were light and tall and the feature I noticed immediately was the large bill. I got some photos and caught up with Gene. I didn’t look in my field guide then because we were trying to catch up with Dennis.

Acacia on the left, mangroves on the right. I asked Dennis about the acacia and he said they were brought here for coal. I guess that means charcoal.

He was already in his canoe when we arrived, but he got back out and showed us the tree whose seeds the Doves ate. He said in the early morning and the evening, the doves would be under these trees. We thanked him and he went off to catch his dinner. He was right about the doves being on the hill, we could hear them. There was not path or even a good goat trail to the area where we heard them so we headed back. We stopped when we got to the Plovers and I got out the guide and identified them as Wilson’s Plovers; lifer #650.
We got to some old wells and turned right on the dirt road rather than going back the way we came. Hills rose up on both sides. We came to another fork and took the one that headed toward a view of Hog Island. I kept looking up for the Hook-billed Kite. I didn’t see him but I did keep seeing swifts. They were too fast for me to ID. We got to the top of the hill and looked out over the bay. As we turned to head back one of the swifts banked quite close and I saw a light rump. After several sightings and referring to the guide book I was able to ID lifer #651 Gray-rumped Swift.

Looking out to Hog Island.

We headed back and Gene said he was sorry we didn’t see the Dove or the Kite. I said we still had to walk back and you never know. When we reached the bottom of the hill we heard Grenada Doves. One was very close, hidden in the scrub. It called and another answered. They were SO CLOSE, but we couldn’t see them. I know if we went walking just a short way off the road into the scrub, we would have flushed them or seen them move and I would have my Dove, but I am incapable of that kind of birding. We stood under the brutal sun for awhile hoping for a view to no avail. As we walked back, I thought that if I had time, I may try again since I knew exactly where to look. If I could get there early??

Instead of going back up the dirt road to the main road, we followed my previous route to Martin’s Marina in Mt. Hartman Bay and had cold drinks. We noticed Como No was in the marina and went to say hello. Will and Annie are fellow-Americans (Texas) we met in Gibraltar. We had a few Tings and shared cruiser news before heading back to the main road. Gene was not interested in retracing the three hour tour I took from here last visit. We caught the bus at the tire roundabout and went back to St. George.
When the lagoon came into view I said, “Where’s Peregrine?”
“Someone stole her,” says Gene laughing.
“No. Seriously, I don’t see her.”
Peregrine had decided to go for a solitary sail while we were gone. She was caught by the dock guys at the new St. Louis Marina and tied to their docks. Thank God no one was hit and P didn’t suffer any damage. Amazing. We had out adequate scope and hadn’t moved an inch for three days. We had backed down when we dropped and felt very secure. It was embarrassing of course, but not as bad as our other drag in Aden. No doubt we were a good source of gossip for a few days. I hate it when that happens.
We are now still tied to the docks and enjoying the beautiful marina. We will stay here till we head for Bonaire in the next 3/4/5? days. I don’t know whether I’ll try for the Dove again; I’m kind of afraid to see what will happen with a third attempt.

Lagoon at St. Georges. It was a lake when we left. Apparently, we got some strong gusts. We had big winds the night before and didn't move an inch. Beware of anchoring in silt with plow anchors.

Nest of the wasps that either stung or bit me.

Time for a Bottom Scrubbing

2009-05-05T15:18:00.000-07:00

May 5, 2009 Prickly Bay, Grenada
Hi All,
It's dark and I'm in the cockpit typing because I can't get the wi-fi signal below decks. I have the top half of the laptop tilted down to illuminate the keyboard. It's quite windy and Peregrine is shaking on her supports. We hauled out yesterday so I am about twelve feet off the ground. It's nice to be out of the rolly anchorage, but there are always trade-offs; aren't there??

The ladder feels like it is made of titanium. There is a whole lot of wobbling going on during the climb up.
Click on photos to enlarge.
I usually get a bit nervous at haul-out. I'm always afraid those little slings won't hold the weight of the boat. This time I was distracted by an Osprey hovering and fishing next to us and paid very little attention; it was the least stressful haul-out I've ever had. It's been an easy haul-out for Gene too because we're not allowed to do our own work here and someone else is doing the sanding and painting. I've tried to get him to hire someone for years but being thrifty, he is loath to pay someone for something he can do himself. I think he likes the new way.

Peregrine in the starting block.

Lining up the sling.

Out of her element.

Driving to our space in the yard.

It's a wrap!

Nothing like a penthouse view.

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!!!!