Bocas del Toro was not quite the trip I had planned. I went hoping to add a few birds to my life list, spend some time photographing Strawberry Poison Dart Frogs and, seeing nesting sea turtles. As it turned out, not all of those went according to plan.
The birds came first as usual, though not in the numbers and variety I had been lead to believe.
Every morning began with a noisy flock of Red-lored Parrots perched in a tree beside the lodge. They made sure I was awake early enough to go birding, whether I was ready or not. Unlike the alarm on my phone, they did not come with a snooze button.
The birding was slower than I had expected. Birds were around, but finding and photographing them required more effort than usual. The cloudy and rainy weather did not help.
Still, the trip produced three lifers: A Masked Tityra, Green Ibis and Montezuma Oropendola.
The Masked Tityra was the first of the three. It stayed long enough for a photograph, although not long enough for me to become too confident. It’s behaviour suggested that it was probably nesting in a tall palm tree, but I could not be sure.
I saw several Montezuma Oropendolas during the trip. Their size, long tails and unusual calls made them difficult to overlook. They stayed high in the trees and seemed determined never to sit anywhere useful for a decent photograph. I had hoped to see one in Bocas, so finding quite a few was a welcome surprise.
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This Green Ibis was perched high above me, looking more like the Grim Reaper than an ibis. It remained there watching me for some time, I decided not to ask what it was waiting for and quickly left the area.
Other birds included Scarlet-rumped Tanagers, Variable Seedeaters, Hummingbirds and Black-cheeked Woodpeckers.
The male Scarlet-rumped Tanager as seen in the feature photo of this post, provided some much-needed colour during a fairly grey week.
Variable Seedeaters were easier to find, although they did not always make photography easy. They had an irritating habit of sitting behind the one branch I did not need in the photograph.
Roadside Hawks appeared regularly, usually perched exactly where their name suggested. Even this one seemed to have become bored with the birding.
Birds, however, were only part of the reason I had travelled to Bocas del Toro.
I had also planned to spend time studying and photographing Strawberry Poison Dart Frogs with a resident biologist. I had seen these frogs before, but this time I wanted to learn more about their behaviour and photograph them properly.
The lodge had a resident biologist who specialised in these frogs, which was one of the reasons I chose to stay there. Soon after I arrived, however, I learnt that she had fallen ill and would be unable to conduct the planned sessions.
That news was pretty disappointing.
Without her knowledge of the area, the frog part of the trip never really got started. I still searched whenever I had the opportunity, but the frogs were not interested in helping.
Instead, I kept finding red crabs.
They were colourful, cooperative and easy to photograph. They were not what I had travelled to Bocas to see, but after a while I stopped arguing with them.
The final part of the trip involved a guided night walk along Bluff Beach, as it was turtle nesting season.
We saw a Hawksbill Turtle, listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN, making her way up the beach. It was the first time I had witnessed the complete nesting process.
After she had laid her eggs, covered the nest and started back towards the ocean I took a few photographs. Once she was back in the ocean, we erased her tracks so they would not draw attention to the nest.
The birding had been slower than expected, and my planned frog sessions had disappeared before they began. But I still returned home with three lifers, although the photographs were less than impressive, and the memory of watching an endangered Hawksbill Turtle nest.
As birders we are always, or should always, be concerned with conservation, and on this occasion I felt good about doing a bit for the turtles.
Sounds like I should start a series of Demotivational Posters for Birders …
When things are going to plan you would have nothing to write about but now we have a great article to read. So thank you!
Suggestion for Kai’s poster: Serendipity – we didn’t see birds, but there were frogs.