Embera Vija before lunch

The power came back on Sunday, the 12th, at 8:00 pm - after three nights of cold, bleak darkness.  It took me at least the next three days to warm up.  Needed to also catch up on picking up the storm debris, the laundry, grocery shopping, house cleaning, bill paying, work, etc., etc. Now it's St. Patrick's day.  Happy St. Patrick's Day.  I've torn myself away from the TCM channel where St. Patrick's Day is being celebrated.  It's time to blog again. 

To be chronological about this, I should have put this post before the kids because this was our first stop on our river boat ride.  But it doesn't matter.

Above and two below:  Dusky-backed Jacamars (Brachygalba salmoni) - one of our target birds and we saw them nearly straightaway after stepping out of the canoes and a short walk along the trail.

Above and two below (again, none are good, but I think the middle photo is best):  Maybe one of my favorite birds from the trip - Gray-cheeked Nunlet (Nonnula frontalis) - amazingly cute little bird.  We saw it again the following day, but this was my best photo-op.  It was tucked very nicely into tangles that had little openings for all to get photos.

The bird above is clearly a flycatcher, but I am not sure which.  I am going to stake my guess on Dusky-capped Flycatcher (Myiarchus tuberculifer).

Above and below:  Rufous-tailed Jacamar (Galbula ruficauda).  I was surprised when I actually studied the range map for this bird and saw how limited it is in Panama.

Perched so nicely and occasionally making its vocalization, I thought the Rufous-tailed Jacamar would make a good video subject, but my efforts above led to hilarious results - documented here for posterity.

There were a lot of good birds to see in this relatively small and quite botanically damaged area.  Above:  female Crimson-crested Woodpecker.

Above and below: my woefully inadequate photos of a very hard bird to see - White-bellied Antbird (Myrmeciza longipes).

  

This trail was our first stop (after the kingfisher boat ride) of an action-packed day.  We seemed to stay on it for only a short time and we saw the Dusky-backed Jacamar - one of our targets here - almost immediately.  Our other target, the Rufous-tailed Jacamar, was so cooperative that I think we were all left a little speechless.  Seeing such special birds so well is remarkable and memorable.