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| Buffy Tufted Cheek |
I went on a bird walk through the La Amistad International Park, a cloud forest in western Panama, very close to the Costa Rican border. In fact, most of the park is located in Costa Rica. We walked in the morning with a fantastic local guide named "Chollie". We met up with Chollie in the little town of Cerro Punta, Panama, where he has lived all his life. Chollie was decked out in camouflage clothes and lugged a tripod and optical equipment that looked like he could double as a sniper. We set off up a stony trail, into the cloud forest. He stopped frequently to point out interesting plants (warning about the poisonous ones to avoid touching), all the while keeping his eyes and ears open for birds. We had hoped to see a Resplendent Quetzal, the region's signature beautiful multicolored bird with an extraordinarily long tail, but Chollie chortled that it was much too late in the day. He pointed out a rotten tree trunk where some Quetzals live, but apparently our leisurely breakfast meant we missed the Quetzals, who retreat into their tree homes just after dawn. However, Chollie spied a Buffy Tufted Cheek - and it was just as much fun to see the bird as it was to see how excited he was to find it. Apparently, this particular Buffy Tufted Cheek guy was unusually puffy and unusually buff.
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| Very Serious Birding Equipment |
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| Umbrella Plant - So tough and big, it could be called "Golf Umbrella Plant" |
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Where Quetzals Live, and you can see them - maybe - if you go looking in the early morning
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