But, first, a few words about the small and birdy Central American country, Panama, that's well known for the famous canal that connects the Caribbean and the Pacific. The country, on an isthmus, is actually a connection itself, a "land bridge", between the continents of North and South America. (In this regard, Central America is considered as a portion of the North American continent.)

A long time ago, where eastern Panama is today, there was a sea, and the continents were not joined. Today, in eastern Panama, by the border with Colombia (of which Panama used to be a part), the avifauna is notably South American, with macaws, hummingbirds, antbirds, furnariids, tapaculos, and tanagers representative of that continent.

One species, that's common throughout South America, and reaches its northern limit in the Americas in Panama, is the Southern Lapwing. Vagrants have recently been noted further north in northern Costa Rica and even Belize, but the Panama canal basin is the norm. During our March '04 tour, we saw a pair of Southern Lapwings, well beyond the canal area, at a small pond in the Chiriqui province, actually not all that far from the Costa Rican border. It may only be a matter of time before the species is routinely found further north yet. The bird may well be spreading as deforestation has occurred. By the way, it's odd how throughout the world Lapwings (of whatever species) are only absent on one continent - North America.

There are many birds that breed in North America during the summer and either spend the rest of the year in Panama, in various habitats, or migrate through it (twice, south in the fall & north in spring) across the narrow "land bridge". There were, for example, flocks of Broad-winged Hawks that were seen going north during our March '04 tour, circling in the sky above the Chiriqui highlands. These raptors, in the thousands, would soon be throughout the North American continent. In trees below the hawks, warblers such as Golden-winged and Blackburnian would soon be going, while other birds that were with them in March, such as colorful tanagers and euphonias, would stay.

Our March 2004 Panama birding tour was in two regions of the country the Chiriqui province (just referred to) in western Panama. (Yes, the country of Panama is more east-west than north-south), and the canal basin in central Panama (where the canal is more north-south than east-west).

In the canal basin, one afternoon, as many as 50 Eastern Kingbirds were roosting in the upper branches of a couple bare trees. They were enroute from where they "wintered" in South America to where they'll "summer" in North America, during their journey across the "land bridge" known as Panama. Also obvious during their migrations, were many Turkey Vultures in a "stream" overhead in the sky going north over the canal, and Barn Swallows in big numbers, likewise heading north, along the Pacific coast.

Those Eastern Kingbirds, just noted by the Panama Canal, that would leave, were in the same vicinity as Tropical Kingbirds and other flycatchers, and other tropical birds such as aracaris, toucans, and trogons, that would stay. Baltimore Orioles there would go. Yellow-tailed Orioles would remain.

In relation to another migration of birds having arrived from South America into Panama to breed, some in that category were there, such as Yellow-green Vireos nest-building, and Piratic Flycatchers constantly calling.

And so it was that there were birds of various sorts, from or going to various places, as we birded about in the canal basin. During our walks during one day, we saw about 115 species, as we were only on foot, never that day in a vehicle.

Some of the birds were nice to see, bright and colorful, ranging from the big toucans to the small Red-legged Honeycreepers and Golden-collared Manakins. The latter, seen at a few places, performing at their leks, were absolutely tremendous to watch! Some birds were nice to hear, such as the Song Wren and the Clay-colored Thrush, the latter with its varied repertoire.

An aside, regarding the Red-legged Honeycreeper: It's truly attractive (a bright purplish blue, with a turquoise crown and those very red legs), and the bird "must know it". In a residential area, one was on a mirror of a car in a driveway, simply staring at its reflection in the window. A British couple, who recently moved to Panama, asked us what the "beautiful bird" was on their car!

As noted a bit ago, some of the birds during our tour were big, while some were small. And that leads us to the birds so dubbed "greater" and "lesser".

One of the "Greaters" that we saw was the Ani. It's nearly 20 inches long, with a glossy bluish sheen and yellow eyes. The Greater Ani notwithstanding, there is no "Lesser Ani", but nearby there were the more-common Smooth-billed Anis, just over 12 inches long, and black (even their eyes).

By the edge of a nearby lake, we watched some Lesser Kiskadees flying about, close to us along the shore, catching insects. Even with the name "lesser", they're actually rather nice flycatchers, yellow-bellied with long slender bills. Yes, there is a more well-known Great Kiskadee, a larger, similar-looking bird, that's widespread from southern Texas south to Argentina. Actually, there are a number of such yellow-bellied flycatchers that are look-alikes to the Kiskadees. (The widespread Social Flycatcher could well be a "lesser kiskadee".) But, again, when looking at the tame flycatchers by us along the lake shore, one can think, that no matter what, the bird will be known as "lesser". (In Spanish also, it's Bienteveo Menor, meaing "lesser". The Great Kiskadee is Bienteveo Grande.)

Now, really, with the Yellowlegs, "Greater" and "Lesser" makes some sense. Greaters usually appear larger, and Lessers usually smaller. And there are both the Greater and the Lesser.

Yellowlegs were among the thousands of shorebirds in an area of coastal mudflats in Panama City. Most were Semipalmated and Western Sandpipers, but there were also hundreds and hundreds of Whimbrels and Willets, and Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers, Spotted Sandpipers and dowitchers, along with numerous pelicans, egrets, herons, cormorants, gulls, terns, frigatebirds, Osprey, and Peregrine Falcon.
The falcon, of course, was drawn into the scenario by the thousands of shorebirds.
Nice to see among the shorebirds was another species of the tribe, the Red Knot. It could be known as the "Lesser Knot" as the only other knot in the world is the Great Knot (of Asia). But the "Lesser Knot" it's not. (In various places in the world, however, particularly Europe, it is simply "Knot".)

A bird that is "Lesser", and probably as much as one could be is a Greenlet. (At least, it's not a "Least" - reference to a couple of them will follow.)
But those Lesser Greenlets that we saw in Panama really were, even though there is no such thing as a "Greater Greenlet" (if you could imagine such a thing!).
The suffix "let" in greenlet (a small vireo) already connotes the diminutive. Greenlets are dull, with not much to them in terms of color or features. So, simply put, how much "lesser" can a bird be? And, lesser than what?

Shortly before we left Panama, as we awaited a flight, late in the day, from a small, remote airport, some Lesser Nighthawks were foraging. We saw them well, flying not just high in the sky but nearby close to the ground. But, again, there's no "Greater Nighthawk".
Although, the following evening in Panama City, the local race of the Common Nighthawk was seen, flying about and calling above the city's buildings. That species had just arrived from where it winters somewhere in South America. The scientific name for that subspecies is "Chordeiles minor panamensis". The "panamensis" part is all right, but the nomenclature with "minor" seems a bit confused, as one could say it could be better with the Lesser Nighthawk. After all, "Lesser" than "minor" must not be much.

Lesser yet must be the birds named "Least". On a small pond, near the Chiriqui Pacific coast, we saw a family of Least Grebes, with the two small adults accompanied by even smaller young, the "least of the least" you might say.
Among the many shorebirds in the area of Panama City the last day, was the last new bird recorded during our tour, the Least Sandpiper, last and least.

The smallest bird of our tour did not have the names "least", "lesser", or "minor". It was a Hummingbird called Scintillant, and only 2 and three-quarters inches long. A normal writing of the bird's name is just about as long as the bird. We enjoyed watching some Scintillant Hummingbirds feeding on flowers in the Chiriqui hills. We actually saw quite a number of hummingbirds in that area. Nice among them was a perched Violet Sabrewing at the edge of a coffee plantation. It's a big one, nearly 6 inches long. If there were to be "lesser" and "greater" hummingbirds, the Scintillant and the Sabrewing, respectively, would qualify.

In the jungle of the canal basin, there's a bird that used to be called the Brownish Flycatcher (not much of a name), now called the Brownish Twistwing (much better). It has the habit of frequently lifting its wings above its body, one at a time. In the trees of that same forest, there we also saw a smaller flycatcher, the Yellow-green Tyrannulet, which also has a habit of flicking its wings straight up over its back, one at a time. I couldn't help but refer to these two as the "greater" and "lesser" "wing-flickers".

But the greatest bird sighting for most of us on the tour was in another type of Panamanian forest, in the mountains. It was of a bird in an "enchanted" forest of tall trees with bromeliads, mosses, and ferns. In a beautiful place, the bird more than beautiful, was in fact the Resplendent Quetzal. We saw it perched, irridescently plumed and crested, emerald and scarlet. Its name, "quetzal" meant "precious plume" in the language of the native people known as the Nahuatl.

As we beheld the Quetzal, we heard, in that gorgeous forest, the flute-like notes of Black-faced Solitaires, and the lovely song (rather like that of Hermit Thrush) of the Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush. In the background, there was the boisterous bong of the Bellbird. We were fortunate to a have a wonderful view of that Three-wattled Bellbird.
One of our tour participants told me, as we viewed it, that it was one of her "target birds". The previous evening, at dinner, she had told of how where she lives in far-northern Vermont, with her rifle she shoots above the heads of bears to keep them from her porch. So, when she later said "target", the word had meaning to me.
As we watched the Bellbird, the sun shone through the trees on its chestnut-rufous body and white head. As it called, its three worm-like wattles shook.

Getting to that forest with the Quetzal and Bellbird was, to put it aptly, an adventure. On a very bad (virtually impassable) dirt road, we rode in a large 4-wheel drive truck. And then we walked. But It was all well worth it. Some of the other wonderful birds for us, that day in the Chiriqui highlands, included Collared Redstart, Prong-billed Barbets, and Spangled-cheeked Tanager.

Another day, in the Chiriqui lowlands, near the Pacific, was good as well. As we approached the ocean, along a small road by a cultivated field, suddenly the late-morning clear sky was filled with birds. Above a large machine moving on the dirt of the field there were apparently many insects, as in flight there were hundreds of Barn Swallows, dozens of Swainson's Hawks, while circling and floating above, for good measure, there were numerous Wood Storks and Turkey Vultures. The Swainson's Hawks were mostly the light-morph, but some were dark. Some landed on the field. Most were in the sky. With them, was one Peregrine Falcon flying about. Most Swainson's Hawks winter in southern South America, in Argentina, but some stay during that season in Panama. Our birds, on and over the field, were apparently Panamanian winterers.
By the way, that large machine moving on the dirt, I was told, by one of our tour participants, Rita, who grew up in North Dakota, was a combine. Not a tractor, not a plow, but a combine as someone from the Dakotas would know.

The area of the field, just referred to, was dry. More dry, we were told, than usual in the area. In a ditch, not far away, there were more Wood Storks along with swarms of concentrated egrets (and tiger-herons), Purple Gallinules, and Northern Jacanas. There were, together, at least 50 each of the gallinules and jacanas. As we watched them, in the wet ditch, all of a sudden there was commotion. An animal, a Tayra, a large weasel, entered the scene, and birds scattered in all directions. When the animal saw us, it also made a quick exit.

The Tayra was just one of the animals seen during our tour. As we walked in a tropical forest of the canal basin, we encountered a family of Collared Peccaries. 
Elsewhere we saw troops of Mantled Howler Monkeys and a few Geoffrey's Tamarins. Agoutis were easy to see. As was a Three-toed Sloth. It certainly didn't run away.

When we were along the waterfront of Panama City, at Viejo Panama (or "Old Panama"), with its historic stone structures, after watching thousands of birds, as the day ended, there were streams of small fast-flying bats in the evening sky.

The last evening of the tour was really one "for the sky". On the roof of the hotel in Panama City, there was quite a nice observation area above the city. Those Common Nighthawks, already referred to, (C.m. panamensis) flew and called. Bats of various sorts zipped about.
In the clear sky above, there were, in a row, 5 planets. All of them were seen in a telescope. Starting from the west, in the twlight sky, there was Mercury. Above it, and very, very bright, was Venus. Then, there was the red planet of Mars. (Not as bright as it was the previous year, but still bright enough). Then, there was Saturn. Its rings were angled nicely to be seen well in the scope. And lastly, there was Jupiter, quite bright. In the telescope, its visible moons shone well. Such a lining of five planets, nicely in view in the evening sky, is unusual. It won't happen again, like that, until 2036.

But we'll certainly be going to Panama again, to partake in the wonderful bird-life and other nature, before that.
Whenever we go to Panama, it's a great place to be.

A complete list of the 516 species of birds that have been cumulatively found during FONT tours in central & western Panama elsewhere in this  web-site.

Links:

The Resplendent Quetzal was among the birds enjoyed during our just-completed FONT birding tour in Panama. Voted the "top bird" by the participants following the tour, it was the bird most enjoyed.

Said by many to be about the most beautiful of birds, the quetzal was seen (and heard) in a forest that's beautiful itself, in the Chiriqui highlands of western Panama. Mostly a glittering bright green, but with a golden hue, and a bright red belly, the bird is about 15 inches in length.
Add to it another 15 to 30 inches of plumes, on the male - an extraordinary train of long bright green feathers. Those feathers were hanging, like a palm frond, out of a treehole in which there was a nest. We watched as the quetzal turned around, so that its head protruded from the hole. It then left the cavity, and perched (facing us) on a nearby horizontal branch. The most beautiful of birds was in clear view.
As we walked away along the forest trail, more than one quetzal could be heard calling. They flew about, in the canopy, from tree to tree. Before we left we had good looks at 7 of the spectacular birds.

The quetzal was only one of a number of fine birds we encountered that day in the Panamanian highlands. Others included a calling Three-wattled Bellbird in a treetop, just above us. Its long wattles were blowing in the gentle breeze as it gave its far-reaching call.
Closer to the ground, there were the flute-like notes of the Black-faced Solitaire.
Around us, dapper Slate-throated Redstarts (or more appropriately Whitestarts) flitted about. Also colorful were Blue-hooded Euphonias (particularly numerous) and tanagers such as the Flame-colored, Silver-throated, and Bay-headed.
Small, but nice, were Yellow-bellied Siskins tamely by us.
Also in the realm of small birds were the hummingbirds that ranged from the shiny Green Violetear and the Snowy-bellied, to the tiny Scintillant, the latter just over 2 inches long, sometimes floating in the air in the forest.

Wonderful birding in Panama continued when we went to the lowlands in the basin of the Panama Canal.

We went to the Canopy Tower, from which we saw Blue Cotinga and Green Shrike-Vireo. Along the Pipeline Road, we met upon another Sunbittern. We had a Three-Motmot Morning and a number of looks at trogons and other birds of the tropical forest.

At Gamboa, as we lunched in an outside restaurant by the edge of a lake, there were both Green and Striated Herons, together with Purple Gallinules and Wattled Jacanas. Nearby, there was a conspicuous pair of Southern Lapwings and vocal White-throated Crakes. After dark, along the shoreline, there was the Gray (formerly called the Common) Potoo.

Not too far way, in an area of dry forest, we were with Lance-tailed Manakins and Rosy Thrush-Tanager. A Song Wren sang its beautiful long song. In the late-morning we came upon a Rufous Nightjar, that stayed, ever so still, on the ground, nearly at our feet.

As good as it was to be eye-to-eye with birds in the canopy, such as the Green Shrike-Vireo, and Scarlet Tanagers and Philadelphia Vireos on their way north, it was on the ground where he had some of our best finds, particularly where there were ants - marching ants, on the soil, leaves, branches, vines, and twigs. These ants were accompanied by birds. As we stood still, we watched a number of Bicolored Antbirds, Spotted Antbird, Dusky Antbird, Ocellated Antbird, Gray-headed Tanagers (mostly yellow), Plain-brown Woodcreeper (yes, mostly brown), and even a Blue-crowned Motmot on the ground. As the ants stayed, so did the birds. A Black-faced Antthrush walked through the foray. Nearby, a Spectacled Antpitta was seen on the ground, and Pygmy Antwren and White-flanked Antwren were in the tangles.

With another ant swarm, at a place with dense brush, there were again a number of the antbirds, just-mentioned, but with them the seemingly "huge" and glossy iridescent-blue Greater Ani, also drawn to the ants, and making an assortment of strange sounds long hisses sounding like something electronic or, as it has been written, like a boiler.

So it was that during our week in Panama, we had some wonderfully good experiences with birds.

The "Top Birds" as voted by participants after the tour were:

1 - Resplendent Quetzal
2 - Three-wattled Bellbird
3 - Slaty-tailed Trogon
4 - Blue Cotinga
5 - Ocellated Antbird
6 - Keel-billed Toucan
7 - Lance-tailed Manakin
8 - Blue-hooded Euphonia
9 - Bay-headed Tanager
10 - Fasciated Antshrike

Additionally, 37 other species of birds received votes.