2013 Panama Butterfly Trip



From August 24 to September 4, 2013, my butterflying friend Rebecca and I went on a trip to the Canopy Tower and Canopy Lodge in Panama to focus primarily on seeing butterflies. This was my third trip to those ecolodges in Panama, going for birds in 2005 and last year on a biodiversity trip on which we got excited about the variety of butterflies we'd seen there. While we shared our day trips at the Tower with others more interested in the birds, at the Lodge, their resident butterfly expert, Tino Sanchez, dedicated his time with us taking us to good butterfly spots and helping us see and identify more than 220 species overall during our visit.

Again visiting during the "Green Season", this trip seemed to involve a bit more rain than previous trips, but that was good in bringing out some great amphibians and didn't keep the butterflies from flying. My pictures were taken with a Nikon 7100, usually with a 70-300 mm zoom lens with a few taken with a 100 mm macro lens. Photography can be a bit challenging in the dark rainforest, so I used a flash on a number of the pictures and found myself working with the ISO and other settings trying to get good exposures. Once again, I made it home with a ridiculous number of more than 2000 images, which I've so far managed to whittle down to about 300, and figured out the identity of most of the butterflies with the help of Rebecca, Tino, Kim Garwood and others.

This first page shows a few pictures of some of the other critters and things we saw on the trip, with the butterflies on the next few pages. Page 2 has the Papilonidae (Swallowtails), Pieridae (Whites and Sulphurs), Lycaenidae (Blues and Hairstreaks), and Riodinidae (Metalmarks); page 3 the Nymphalidae (Brushfoots); and page 4 the Hesperiidae (Skippers).

While I'm fairly certain on most of the butterfly identifications, certainly some are incorrect. Any corrections or suggestions for changes to any of them would be appreciated.


<BACK

Click on any of the thumbnails below to see a larger image of any of the pictures in a new window.

NEXT>
Page: [1] [2] [3] [4]


Morning View from Canopy Tower

Spider Web

Wine-glass Fungus
(Cookeina sulcipes)

Blackberries

Fungus

Poisonous Fruit

Shussh! maybe?

Cerro Pichacho, El Valle

Mammals


Mantled Howler

Mantled Howler

Geoffroy's Tamarin

Geoffroy's Tamarin

Central American Agouti

Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth

Red-tailed Squirrel

Northern Tamandua

White-nosed Coati

Birds


White-necked Jacobin

Blue-chested Hummingbird

Violet-bellied Hummingbird

Stripe-throated Hermit

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Hummingbird

Collared Aracari

Collared Aracari

Keel-billed Toucan

Keel-billed Toucan

Red-capped Manakin

Red-capped Manakin (f)

Red-capped Manakin

Slaty-tailed Trogon

Gartered Trogon

Broad-billed Motmot

Broad-billed Motmot

Lineated Woodpecker

Lineated Woodpecker

White-whiskered Puffbird

Palm Tanager

Green Honeycreeper

Squirrel Cuckoo

Squirrel Cuckoo

Slaty-backed Forest Falcon

Yellow-faced Grassquit

Fasciated Antshrike

Brown-headed Parrot

Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant

Green Kingfisher

Swallow-tailed Kite

American Pygmy Kingfisher

Reptiles


Lizard

Boa Constrictor

Lizard

Basilisk Lizard

Green Iguana

Amphibians


Glass Frog
(Cochranella euknemos)

Frog

Frog

Frog

Frog (in the room)

Toad

Toad

Snail

Spiders






Grasshoppers and Katydids
(My thanks to Bob Behrstock and Hugh Rowell for the grasshopper id's.)


Grasshopper
(Agriacris tricristata)

Grasshopper
(Coscineuta coxalis)

Grasshopper
(Agriacris tricristata)

Grasshopper
(Abracris flavolineata)

Grasshopper (f)
(Piezops ensicornis)

Grasshopper (m)
(Piezops ensicornis)

Grasshopper (m)
(Lithoscirtus viceitas)

Phasmid

Katydid (in the room)

Katydid

Walking Stick

Odonates


Gold-tipped Darner
(Gynacantha tibiata)

Giant Helicopter Damselfly
(Megaloprepus caerulatus)

Pin-tailed Pondhawk
(Erythemis plebeja)

Other Cool Bugs


Caterpillar

Mantis (laying eggs)

Mantis (guarding eggs)

Caterpillar






Orchid Bee







Click for Page:   [2] [3] [4]

(Return to My Travel Page.)