Pipeline Road – Panama

R. Broadwell Wildlife Photography – Pipeline Road

Birding Pipeline Road on a Budget

This was my first trip to Pipeline Road in Panama, a destination I had always wanted to visit had mistakenly assumed it would be prohibitively expensive.  If money was not an issue my goal would have been to spend a week at the Canopy Tower, a world-renowned birding lodge, locating shots of some of the most unique birds in the world by using their expert guides.

Realistically I knew I would have to look into non-birding lodges near Pipeline Road to find a workaround that fit my budget.  I discovered the nearby Gamboa Rainforest Resort, an elegant though slightly rundown hotel directly in the middle of the rainforest had a greatly reduced rate during the low season.

My wife and I booked a large room with a balcony overlooking not only the beautiful Chagres River, but also the tops of the trees in the garden which I knew were frequented by some of the birds I was very interested in photographing.

On doing a little more research on the hotel,  I discovered that using the Gamboa Rainforest Resort as an intermediary, I would be able to make arrangements for one of the Canopy Tower’s expert guides, Jose Soto,  to take me on a private birding trip on Pipeline Road for the same very low price as my hotel’s other nature tours.  As a sought-after guide he was only available for one day during my week stay, but I considered myself very lucky for this unusual opportunity.

 

Gamboa Rainforest Resort

 

As it turned out, the grounds of the hotel were alive with enough birds and other wildlife to keep me easily occupied for a few days while waiting for my private tour of Pipeline Road.

Along with gardens below our balcony filled with exquisite butterflies, raucous parrots and several different types of toucans there were feeders near the parking lot where a troupe of Tamarin monkeys gathered to eat in the late afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The resort also offered daily guided walks through nature trails on the property and nightly safaris to view their resident mother sloth and baby, a cayman and sleeping parrots and once a young capybara wandering along the side of the road.

In preparation for my Pipeline Road trip my wife and I decided to schedule a shuttle from the resort a day early to the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center, a place where visitors could climb to the top of a tower to look down into the forest canopy.

There was also an opportunity to photograph hummingbirds at close range at a series of feeders placed around the edge of a wooden platform.  And because the road to the Discovery Center is part of the same forest and very close to Pipeline Road, I planned to also try to see if I could find a few of the Pipeline Road’s antbirds on my own.

Panama Rainforest Discovery Center

 

The day started off with a trip to the top of the tower.  It was unusually quiet and we could neither see or hear any birds with the exception of an occasional parrot flying through.   At some point I became distracted by what looked like a paper wasp crawling on the tower’s wooden railing.

There appeared to be a groove in the wood trailing behind it, and on closer inspection it was clear that it was using its mandibles as a scraper, with the wood curl forming itself into a ball which he rolled along.  I had an answer to a question I have always been curious about,  how wasps create the paper to make their nests.

 

 

As we walked back down the stairs, I heard a crashing through the brush. The mid portion of the observation tower now gave me the perfect vantage point to get unusually up close and personal shots of some howler monkeys passing through the forest.

 

 

 

 

 

Although somewhat disappointed at the unusual lack of early morning bird activity at the tower, the monkeys had made the long climb to the top well worthwhile.  My wife and I decided to have a rest at the hummingbird feeders before heading out towards Pipeline Road.

The feeders surpassed my expectation.  I was able to  sit comfortably on a conveniently provided stool and take picture after picture of the dozens of hummingbirds either waiting patiently for their turn or fighting for a spot on the feeders.

After a while I heard what I thought was a familiar sound coming from the trees behind the hummingbird platform.  On my last trip to Costa Rica our guide had taught us that the repetitive sound of breaking twigs we would frequently hear in the forest was actually a bird call of sorts made by a quick wing action of a manakin, as part of their courtship behavior.

After locating the source of the unmistakable sound of twigs snapping, I found this golden-collared manakin who stopped long enough for a few pictures.

 

Golden-Collared Manakin

 

 

With renewed optimism at being able to find some of these very elusive birds on my own, I began to walk toward Pipeline Road listening and watching for any activity in the forest alongside of the road.  Surprisingly, I didn’t have to wait for too long.

 

Bicolored Antbird

 

 

Very close to the road and in complete view I saw my first of several bicolored antbirds.  I had expected antbirds to be very shy and only accessible to photograph when they were intensely occupied by an army ant swarm.

Strangely, this bird seemed mildly interested in me and did not retreat, letting me take as many pictures as I wanted as it hopped from branch to branch.  It was soon joined by two others equally curious and willing to be photographed at a close range.

 

 

In the same area I also found this female black-crowned antshrike catching a meal.

 

 

When we returned to the resort, assuming we had seen everything we could for the day, we were very surprised when a hotel worker pointed out what turned out to be a resident pair of barred ant-shrikes whose nest seemed to be only a few feet away from the series of suspended outdoor hallways that led to our room.

This was a very unusual bird with almost zebra-like striping over its entire body and a thick black crest. His mate was a soft rufous red with a striking patch of bars near her eyes. This was a bird I was hoping to see, but assumed I would have to spend many days on Pipeline Road to even get a glimpse of.

 

Barred Antshrike

 

 

This pair of birds’ familiarity with the hotel residents who walked past them every day and my ability to use the covered hallways as a partial blind allowed me to easily photograph some of the intimate details of their daily lives.

I learned quickly that I needed to carry my camera even on the most mundane walk from our room to the restaurant or front desk.  There was no telling when the female ant-shrike would make her appearance on the railing.  And even  a few minutes in the parking lot waiting for a shuttle could lead to a toucan sighting or a shot of a baby tamarin monkey pausing on its way to the feeder.

 

Birding Pipeline Road

 

 

The Pipeline tour with Jose Soto guiding us came soon enough. We met at 7:00 a.m. and using the Gamboa Rainforest Resort’s van took off to the beginning of Pipeline Road, close to where we had seen the manakin the day before.

Our guide was extremely generous of his time and his expertise. We spent over four hours intensively birding Pipeline Road.  Jose Soto not only knew hundreds of birds by their call, but was able to reproduce and successfully call in most of the birds without the use of a recorder, using his voice alone, bringing them into a close enough range for at least a couple of good identification shots.

 

 

 

 

 

Sadly, our week came to an end.  We saw the last of our Chagres River sunrises and made our way back home resolved to return to this unique and beautiful country.