Being the official wildlife fruitcake on board it was announced that I should bring the blog up to date with our sightings of animals and birds.

The sea bird list has grown to over 15 species since leaving St Lucia by the time we hit Galapagos that should double.

Our land bird list for Panama is building well unfortunately I don’t know many proper names of the species, so it a case of the big black raptors or the little yellow and blue finch, the yellow belly flycatcher  type thing, small green parrot, large green parrot and so on.   In general the number of birds per acre is impressive but the colour chart is breathtaking.  Purples greens blues and red  with metallic and fluorescent variations, yellow belly or tails are very popular.

Black Vultures Isla Linton

Wild animals so far - Spider monkeys, Howler monkeys and an Anteater!!!

There seems to be large numbers of Howlers here, I’ve seen at least three different troops in just a few miles radius of Shelter Bay Marina, the collective call builds to a crescendo loud enough to frighten a lion......me anyway.

Howler Monkey Shelter Bay

The Anteater is actually.....”The Northern Tamandua (Tamandua mexicana) a species of tamandua anteater of the Myrmecophagidae family. It is found in Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, subtropical or tropical moist mountain forests, and moist savannah. The northern tamandua is distinguishable from its southern relative by the "V" of black fur on its back. “  .......Impressed?

Anteater Shelter Bay