Panama: Cerro Azul and Cerro Jefe

There are many places in the world where you have to get up early to drive or hike to where you can see some birds. Panama, it seems to me, is the sort of place where you have to get up early and stand around on your front porch to see the sort of birds that will take your breath away! At least that was our experience at the Hostal Casa de Campo, where we spent our last (alas) two nights on the Panama La Verde circuit.

The beginnings of the rainy season turned out to be a perfect time to visit, too. Over breakfast on the terraces, we could watch Crimson-backed Tanagers and Black-striped Sparrows feeding their young, while both Buff-throated and Streaked Saltators were busy singing from the tops of the trees. Rufous-tailed and Snowy-bellied Hummingbirds competed with Bananaquits for nectar, and Golden-hooded and Blue-gray Tanagers were everywhere.

Sooner or later, of course, you have to leave even the birdiest of yards (and the tastiest of breakfasts!) for localities farther afield. Cerro Jefe is a beautiful place, high and commanding, with birds worthy of the setting. A male Black-and-yellow Tanager was a stunner, and an odd popping call turned out to be a lutea-type Hepatic Tanager, sounding nothing like our familiar northern birds.