Author: canopytower

Plain-colored Tanager Tangara inornata Photo by Jonathan Slifkin One of the most common sights from the observation deck at the Canopy Tower is the Plain-colored Tanager. True to its name it is mostly gray, with black wings and a pale belly, but a careful look will also reveal a flash of bright blue at its wingbend. This charming species is common in forest canopy and forest edge habitats, but it occupies a rather restricted range, being found only in eastern Costa Rica, Panama, and northwestern Colombia. Plain-colored Tanagers are typically found in pairs or small groups, and can often be seen foraging within mixed flocks of tanagers, honeycreepers, warblers, and others. They move rapidly as they forage and give away their presence with their high-pitched vocalizations. They feed both on fruits, especially cecropia fruits, and on insects and spiders. Breeding takes place from February to August in Panama. The female builds the nest alone, using fibers and cobwebs, but the male helps her to gather material and to raise the chicks (two per clutch) until they are old enough to survive on their own. As mentioned, Plain-colored Tanagers are common at the Canopy Tower, which is surrounded by their preferred habitat of cecropia-dominated canopy. They are also common around the Canopy Camp and the Canopy Lodge, although we are still waiting for one to make an appearance on the Panama Fruit Feeder Cam!     References: Angehr, G. R., and R. Dean (2010). The Birds of Panama: A Field Guide. Zona Tropical, San José, Costa Rica. Zapata, Y. and K. J. Burns (2020). Plain-colored Tanager (Tangara inornata), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA.

Wing-banded Antbird Myrmornis torquata Photo by Tyler Ficker The rainforests of eastern Panama are perhaps the most important stronghold of the rare and distinctive Wing-banded Antbird. These antbirds can be recognized by their squat, nearly tailless appearance and their bright cinnamon-rufous wingbars (or "bands"). Males have an extensively black throat and breast, while females show a rufous-orange throat patch. This species appears to have a highly discontinuous range, with populations occurring variously across Amazonia and the Guianas, at the base of the Andes, and from northwest Colombia north into Honduras. It inhabits the interior of lowland forests. The discontinuities in its reported range may be due to poorly understood details of its habitat preferences, but also to its general rarity and the lack of comprehensive surveys. Unlike many more familiar members of its family, the Typical Antbirds (Thamnophilidae), the Wing-banded Antbird does not forage by attending army ant swarms. Instead, these antbirds forage by carefully and slowly probing through the leaf litter on the forest floor for insects and other arthropods, usually alone or in pairs and almost always away from ant swarms or other mixed species feeding flocks. This highly unobtrusive behavior—slow, quiet, and often solitary—contributes greatly to the difficulty of spotting and observing this bird in the field. The Wing-banded Antbird is not currently considered a threatened species, although much more remains to be learned about its distribution and ecology. In Panama Wing-banded Antbirds are found only in the eastern half of the country, including in protected areas such as Soberanía and Darién National Parks. It is very unusual to see this species on birding tours from the Canopy Tower, but it is often one of the top avian prizes for our guests at Canopy Camp Darien. Sabrewing guide Tyler Ficker narrates a recent encounter with a Wing-banded

Veraguan Mango Anthracothorax veraguensis Photo by Danilo Rodriguez Jr. Named for the Panamanian province of Veraguas, the Veraguan Mango was long considered to be strictly endemic to Panama but in recent years has been documented as well in far southern Costa Rica, where it appears to be expanding its range northward. Nonetheless, this species remains a much-wanted restricted-range specialty for avid Panama birders! Within Panama, the Veraguan Mango is mostly restricted to the Pacific lowlands of the western half of the country, from Chiriquí to Coclé. The male Veraguan Mango is green with a diffusely blue throat to belly, a maroon tail, and slightly decurved bill; the female has white underparts with a blue-green stripe down the center. Young birds look similar to adult females but with rufous coloration along the throat and breast. Both sexes are most easily distinguished from the more familiar Black-throated Mango (Anthracothorax nigricollis), which occurs in central and eastern Panama and in South America, and from the even more similar Green-breasted Mango (Anthracothorax prevostii), which occurs from western Panama north into Mexico, by their paler blue-green, rather than black, throat and central underparts. An adult male Veraguan Mango at Juan Hombron, photo by Carlos Bethancourt. Within its very limited range on the Pacific lowlands, the Veraguan Mango prefers open habitats such as pastureland with scattered trees or the edges of streams. Veraguan Mangos feed on the nectar of trees and shrubs, and individual birds may defend territories at trees in flower. The best opportunities for viewing this special hummingbird are on Canopy Family day trips from the Canopy Lodge to Juan Hombron on the Pacific coast. Aside from the unique Pacific dry forest and coastal environments, this birding excursion provides access to the Veraguan Mango's core habitat along pastures and in roadside scrub. Our experienced Canopy

Swainson's Hawk Buteo swainsoni Photo by Jonathan Slifkin. Every October and November, and again in March and April, nearly every Swainson’s Hawk in the world traverses the isthmus of Panama, on its way between its breeding grounds in western temperate North America and its wintering grounds on the pampas of Argentina and Uruguay. Swainson's Hawks migrate in large flocks or "kettles," sometimes in numbers as strong as 10,000, and often in association with additional thousands of Turkey Vultures, Broad-winged Hawks, and Mississippi Kites. They migrate by day and over land, taking advantage of thermals to conserve energy. The passage of these great flocks through Central America is widely regarded as one of the birding world's greatest surviving spectacles. Fall migration surveys conducted from the Canopy Tower (see here) have recorded over 100,000 Swainson's Hawks in a single season, and over 70,000 in a single day! Although the great majority of Swainson's Hawks undertake the full long-distance migration, small numbers may spend the winter further north, including on Panama's western Pacific slope. The Swainson's Hawk is highly variable in appearance, often being separated into pale, dark, and rufous "morphs," although many individuals show intermediate characteristics. A typical pale morph individual has a distinctive rufous-brown breastband between its white throat and white belly, and white underwing coverts contrasting with dark gray flight feathers. Dark and rufous morph individuals have, respectively, brown to black or rufous underparts and underwing coverts, with variable barring or streaking. In all plumages this species may also be recognized by its long wings and tail, dark flight feathers, and pale undertail coverts. Swainson's Hawks generally prefer open habitats, such as grasslands, open woodlands, and agricultural areas. Their diet consists mainly of small mammals, reptiles, and birds while breeding, but predominantly of grasshoppers and other insects while migrating or