Kirby’s Biggest Fear and Flower Power

 Kirby’s Biggest Fear and Flower Power

Gamboa is a “Birder’s” paradise.  With over 1,000 species in the area, people come from all over the world for a glimpse of that elusive, rare bird to add to their collection.   While some birds are difficult to find, a “Birder” can be spotted from far away - large, floppy hat up top, expensive, high powered camera or binoculars around the neck, fanny pack about the waist and hiking boots round out the look. Kirby has never understood this - “It’s just a BIRD,” he says.  But now, his biggest fear may be happening - could we be turning into - (insert scary music in your head) BIRDERS?!?

Over the last month we have been eager to catch sight of a toucan and have taken several walks with this goal in mind. After learning what to listen for, with craned necks we have been chasing their sound all over Gamboa as they flit from tall tree to tall tree.  We have not yet seen one in the wild, up close and personal.  (The above photo was taken at the Summit zoo just down the road.)  However, this week, flocks of toucans have gathered in the trees around our house.  Over morning coffee, we were entertained by a couple dozen dashing from tree to tree in our neighbor Vida’s, back yard.  We can’t really see their color but their profile with that giant beek gives them away.  They raised such a cackle that I snatched a video to share. Unfortunately, you can’t really see them in this clip but you can hear them.  Another bird chimes in occasionally but toucans have a bit of an identity crisis; they sound  more like frogs.  

Which is interesting because the frogs here might have an identity crisis as well with their very unusual sounds:

Now you might be thinking it’s natural to want to see a toucan while staying in a rain forest. Why is Kirby nervous? We’ll, there’s more.

We have also been stalking two spectacled owls that often whisper sweet nothings to each other in the trees outside our window. Late in the evenings we have perched in the street looking for these love birds. All we have managed to see are two large lumps on the branches, yet we keep going back for more. They measure around 19” in length and are the largest tropical owl in the area.  Maybe you’ll understand our interest in them when you hear their conversation:

Google has the photo of the spectacled owl that I can’t get. 

And the saga continues. . . 

We went to the Summit park specifically to see Panama’s national bird - the Harpy Eagle.  This bird is endangered and the most unusual creature. It looks like a giant bird with the head of a cat. It is half as big as an average man and twice the size of the Bald Eagle. Once again, I apologize for the quality of this photo.  Now I totally understand why “Birders” carry expensive cameras everywhere. 

At this time, neither of us are sporting floppy hats or fanny packs but we ARE here for another 24 hours. Who knows - maybe Kirby SHOULD be worried. 😳

While the forest has every shade of green imaginable, it doesn’t sport many flowers. Luckily for us, people here realize it doesn’t  take much of a green thumb to grow beautiful gardens and we have enjoyed them all month. Here are just some of the photos I’ve collected:

All of the gardeners back home need a pat on the back for working so hard to insert beauty into OUR landscape. This area has a dry season from December to March but otherwise the conditions gardeners face stay constant. Contrast this with the challenges gardeners face in our neck of the woods:  extreme winter temps and extreme summer temps, huge swings in the temp from one day to the next, wind and drought. I’ll probably look at my garden differently now - we do darn good!