Panamammals

I confess to being a little single-minded when I’m birding, but even my ornitho-obsession gives way briefly when a mammal appears, particularly one I haven’t seen before.

Though we were on the Panama La Verde birding circuit, new and interesting creatures of fur appeared regularly all week long. I was especially delighted to see 3 species of monkeys. Howlers were noisy and visible at many lowland sites, and we saw rufous-naped tamarins several times. Most abundant of all, though, were the elegant white-faced capuchins, moving noisily through the trees in groups, staring disconcertingly back when we admired their grace.

There were squirrels in the trees, too. Large ones included red-tailed squirrel and variegated squirrel, while pygmy squirrels munched happily away at the bird feeders at Los Quetzales, looking like, well, squirrel pygmies.

But the strangest sight of all up in the canopy was the occasional unkempt ball of scraggly fur, moving slowly or not at all. Sloths! We ran into both two-toed and three-toed sloths several times, and couldn’t help staring at these thoroughly foreign creatures. Gradually I came to like them a lot, a sympathy founded, no doubt, in our shared love of long naps in the shade.

This guy was a little more active than average.

One of our cutest mammals was also one of the most mysterious. At the upper cabins of Los Quetzales, we saw a fist-sized rodent peeking out from under one of the patio benches, waiting patiently for its turn at the seed.

I’ll send this photo on to Luiz for identification, but any suggestions meanwhile?