Two see many more species of birds than one! Hence, Carol (my latest guest & from WA) and I have been seeing incredible number of birds and other wildlife. She flew into Panama February 27 and it's been non-stop birding since. We saw a Slaty-tailed Trogon on the Pipeline Road (Panama City famous birding area), my first Panama Anhinga (water turkey) in the mangroves, and a Pearl Kite (the smallest raptor in the Americas and relatively new to Panama) very near my condo. Our first mangrove kayak trip together was a few days ago and Carol went wild looking at birds and animals. After the first bend of the river, all Carol could say was "mammals!" She was ahead of me & saw 4 crab-eating raccoons high in a tree above the water! It only got better. We got deeper into the mangroves and both saw what looked like a seal poking its head up. When the huge head (I'm talking 10" tall with a diameter of 5") dropped back into the water, we both wondered if there was a Loch Ness monster in the Panama mangroves. A few minutes later, a head came out of the water again, this time looking like a large turtle head. He (or she) was definitely curious about us. I finally figured out the species of turtle (surely he wasn't a sea turtle) when I looked on the Internet for snapping turtles. By the way... I took none of these pictures as they were pilfered off the Internet. Upcoming adventures include 3 nights at a rustic cabin on the slope of Volcan Baru and 3 nights at the Pacific Bay Resort (a lone island in the Pacific). More Later...!
