On a birding trip to Panama:
When I visited Costa Rica in 2017 the hardest bird to find was the turquoise cotinga (Cotinga ridgwayi). We checked every “umbrella tree” on our way to San Vito until our guide, Roger Melendez, found a family of three for us to view. What a thrill!
Based on that experience I thought that all cotingas were hard to find — and they are — but at Canopy Tower we have an advantage. We’re perched where the birds are.
The Canopy Tower was built as a radar installation so the roof deck is above the trees and the windows on each floor look into the forest at different heights. We’re at eye level with the birds.
This is an advantage when it comes to cotingas who perch high to show off their flashy feathers in the sun.
There aren’t any turquoise cotingas in this part of Panama but there are blue ones — literally blue cotingas (Cotinga nattererii). Shall we look for them in Cecropias and other umbrella-shaped trees?
Yes. Here’s one! (I don’t think this is a Cecropia tree but I don’t know what it is.)
This blue cotinga was far away in Billtacular’s photo, but Patty McGann had a closer look in the photo at top. Both were taken at the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center at Pipeline Road shown below. Click on the photo to read more about Pipeline Road.
I have since learned that turquoise cotingas really are rare. Endemic to a small region and with a small population, they’re considered Vulnerable by the IUCN. Blue cotingas are more plentiful with a wider range that extends from Panama to Ecuador. In any case it’s a treat to see them.
What a view of blue!
(photo credits:
close cotinga by Patty McGann on Flickr Creative Commons license,
Canopy Tower photo from the Canopy Tower website, canopytower.com,
distant cotinga by Billtacular on Flickr Creative Commons license,
Rainforest Discovery Center photo from pipelineroad.org)
p.s. Yesterday we saw two members of the Cotinga family along Pipeline Road: purple-throated fruitcrow and rufous piha. Is there a blue cotinga in my future?
Day 4: Canopy Tower, Plantation Road, Summit Ponds, night tour
When I visited Canopy Tower, one of our group stayed back at the tower while the rest of us went out to the Pipeline Road for the day and she got the Blue Cotinga from her room. Sadly, the rest of the group dipped on that bird. Hope you get it!