Luna and her coconut

Starfish Coffee

Thanks to Mathilde and her staff for allowing us to park our boat at Starfish Coffee each time we go to Bocas Town. Earlier this week we ran into a little problem with one of our motors. We called Jon at Bocas Water Sports to try to get a boat to come help ours in front of Solarte. He found a botero who came to get the crew and tow the boat over to Starfish. Then that botero brought our group back to TB. We called Mathilde and she and her staff found someone to watch our boat for the night. We are blessed to have friends who look out for us. We are truly grateful for this!

Reserva de Guagera in the Public Registry

Tranquilo Bay worked with the Salt Creek indigenous community to request a municipal reserve from the Municipal Consejo. The consejo approved the reserve over a year ago; however it was not "legal" until it made it into the Panama Public Registry. The documents from the consejo making the reserve were published in the Public Registry on May 12. The Reserva de Guagera is adjacent to Bastimentos National Marine Park. This reserve will protect the trees, which provide roofing to this indigenous community and keep the area from ever being developed. There is a management plan which covers the reserve. It is to be managed by the Salt Creek community.

Bird Week: Tanager: Blue Gray Tanager

Blue gray tanager / tangara azuleja
(Thraupis episcopus)


Photo by Ramon Fernandez Frances

This bird is one of the most common birds in Panama, found in clear areas with bushes, gardens and secondary forest. This is not a reason to lose interest in observation of this bird, as they are very active and noisy birds. Blue gray tanagers are often found in groups of either the same specie or other species. Both sexes have the same color, light bluish head and under parts, with darker blue upper parts.

Es una de las aves más comunes de Panamá, que se puede encontrar en claros arbustivos, jardines y bosques secundarios. No por eso deja de ser un ave que da gusto observar, son muy activas y bulliciosas y con frecuencia se mueven en grupos, de su misma especie o de otras especies de este grupo. Ambos sexos tienen la misma coloración, sus partes dorsales son azules oscuras y la zona ventral y la cabeza de un azul más pálido.

Bird Week: Tanager: Blue Dacnis

Blue Dacnis / Dacnis azul
Dacnis cayana

Photo by Ramon Fernandez Frances.

Blue Dacnis frequent the sunny canopy areas of the forest, from where they descend to the open areas with a few bushes and trees, near to the forest. Some authors report altitudinal migrations, while other authors report the species as an uncommon specie. We do not know yet if it is resident or migratory at Tranquilo Bay, because it is an elusive and scarce bird.

It feeds on fruits, seeds and insects. You should look in the foliage, like the bananquits to find them. This specie make couples or small family size groups. Some times are observed with other tanager flocks, banaquits and honeycreepers.

Frecuenta los niveles superiores soleados del bosque, de donde desciende a los claros adyacentes con árboles y arbustos dispersos. Algunos autores reportan migraciones altitudinales, mientras que otros autores la reportan como residente poco común, aun no sabemos si esta reside o migra en Tranquilo, pues es un ave esquiva y poco abundante.

Se alimenta de frutos, semillas e insectos, que buscan entre el follaje, como las reinitas. Forman parejas o grupos pequeños de tamaño familiar. En ocasiones acompañan a las bandadas de tangaras, reinitas y otros mieleros.

Photos by Ramon Fernandez Frances.

This post is in our Bird Week series focusing on the Tanagers.

Bird Week: Tanager: Green Honeycreeper

Green honeycreeper / mielero verde
Chlorophanes spiza

Photo by Ramon Fernandez Frances.

Green honeycreepers live in the canopy of dense forest, although they often descend to along the borders, clearings with a few trees and/or bushes and gardens.

They feed on nectar, fruts, seeds and little insects. The make couples and generaly stay close to other species in trees with fruit. Often they travel through the canopy with other tanagers, banaquits and other small birds. Green honeycreepers are residents of the Caribbean slope, from the sea leavel up to 1000m.

Habita en el dosel de los bosques densos, aunque con frecuencia desciende a lo largo de los márgenes, claros con árboles, arbustos esparcidos y jardines.
Se alimentan de néctar, frutos, semillas y pequeños insectos. Forman parejas y por lo general se juntan con aves de otras especies en árboles con frutos. Es frecuente que viajen por el dosel con tangaras, reinitas y otras aves pequeñas. Es una especie residente en la vertiente del Caribe, desde el nivel del mar hasta los 1000 m.

Photo by Ramon Fernandez Frances.

This post is in our Bird Week series focusing on the Tanagers.

Bird Week: Tanager: Red-legged Honeycreeper

Red-legged Honeycreeper / Mielero patirojo
Cyanerpes cyaneus

Male and Female - Photo by Ramon Fernandez Francis

During the mating season the male has a bright turquoise crown, that he loses after the reproductive season. After the mating season, he head has the same blue color as the rest of his body. The internal part of the male's wings are bright yellow.

This species travel through the top of the trees and semi-open areas, at the forest edges, gardens and platations.

Durante la época de reproducción el macho adulto tiene una corona brillante de color turquesa pálido, que al terminar la temporada reproductiva pierde, y tiene un color azul similar al del resto del cuerpo. La parte interna de las alas del macho es de color amarillo brillante.

Viajan a través de las copas de los árboles del bosque y de áreas semiabiertas, en bordes de bosques, jardines y plantaciones.

Male - Photos by Ramon Fernandez Frances


Female - Photo by Ramon Fernandez Frances

This post is in our Bird Week series focusing on the Tanagers.

Bird Week: Tanager: Shining Honeycreeper

Shining Honeycreeper / Mielero luciente /
Cyanerpes lucidus

Male - Photo by Ramon Fernandez Frances

Shining Honeycreeper are solitary birds that are sometimes found in couples or family groups, but never in flocks of their own species. They are often observed in the company of mixed flocks of bananaquits or other tanagers. In some locations they hang from skinny branches to reach their food, which allows one to watch their bright yellow legs.

Son solitarios o forman parejas, o grupos familiares, no forman bandadas de su misma especie, pero se le observa con frecuencia en compañía de bandadas mixtas de reinitas u otras tangaras. En ocasiones se cuelgan de ramas finas, para alcanzar su alimento, permitiendo al observador ver sus brillantes patas amarillas.

Male - Photo by Ramon Fernandez Frances


Female - Photo by Ramon Fernandez Frances

This post is in our Bird Week series focusing on the Tanagers.

Bird Week: Tanager / Tangaras Introduction

We have been working hard to develop an inventory of the birds that we can see here in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Ramon, Natalia and Jim have been compiling this information for some time now. As a result, we are going to have individual weeks that focus on different aspects important to birding. This week we are focusing on the Tanagers.

Not to long ago we observed for the first time at Tranquilo Bay several species, that are a part of the Tanager family (Thraupinae). These birds are really nice to watch, because they have amazing and vibrant colors, especially if they are observed with the right light. Ramon has taken some really beautiful shots, that we want to share with all of you. Watch for the information on the individual species this week.


Hace relativamente poco tiempo hemos observado por primera vez en Tranquilo, varios individuos de la familia de las tangaras (Thraupinae), estas son aves con las que se puede disfrutar mucho, pues tienen unos colores increíbles, especialmente si se observan con la luz correcta. Ramón ha logrado unas fotos preciosas en las últimas semanas, que queremos compartir con ustedes.

Farewell to Nuri (& Leo)

Nuri has been a blessing to us. She has been at Tranquilo Bay since January 2006. She is an amazing woman. Many of you that have visited us here have heard her story. She brought her daughter here with her when she first came to work for us. Several months later she used all of her salary to purchase a plane ticket for her brother to join her in Bocas. We were not sure we would have work for him, but we told her he could stay with her until he found work. Leo joined us our here in April 2006. He and Nuri were our kitchen for a long time. The two of them have since continued to do wonderful things for their family. They have paid for two sisters, a brother in law and two nieces to move to Bocas. They have opened a restaurant in Bocas: Sabor Caribeno. Leo left us in February to go work the family restaurant. Nuri is leaving today.

We have a new chef, Eric Troya, who joined us at the beginning of April taking over the kitchen. Eric has an immense amount of experience and is a great chef. He and Nuri worked the kitchen together for the past month in order to have a smooth transition.

This blog post has a photo of both Nuri and Leo with some of the Athleta crew. It was extremely unusual for them to come out of the kitchen to take a photo as they are both shy.

We have been extremely fortunate to have a great kitchen staff and we know with Eric we will continue to have many a great meal come out of our kitchen. Thanks to you all for your time and energy. We will miss those of you who are leaving or have left, yet we will stay in touch. Good luck with the new restaurant!

Blue land crab (Cardisoma guanhumi)

Right now at Tranquilo Bay we are having the reproductive migration of this curious animal. We have crabs all over the place, which is great, because this specie in some areas of the Caribbean has seen drastically reduced numbers . These crabs are intensively exploited as a food resource in some areas, however, in the areas where the animal it is not exploited as food the destruction of the habitat is the reason for the reduced population.

Photos by Natalia Decastro

Some data about them:

Young individuals are often very colourful, and as they grow older the colours tend to fade, females may be duller than males. This crab reaches sexual maturity in approximately 4 years, it is not uncommon for adult crabs to measure 10-11 cm and weigh up to 500 g.

This crab is a slow growing species compared to most other crabs, which makes it difficult for it to increase its population. While most crabs may require approximately 20 molts to reach maximum size, Cardisoma requires more than 60 molts.

One claw is usually considerably larger than the other. They feed throughout the day in shaded areas; however, if exposed to direct sunlight for prolonged periods, they prefer to feed at night. They are omnivores, but primarily feed on plant material, collected near the vicinity of its burrow.

The reproductive cycle is closely linked to seasonal weather patterns and lunar phase. Heavy rains in the spring initiate migrations. During this time they gain weight rapidly as foraging intensity is increased for the first few weeks of the migratory period. Males actively court ripe females during this period.

Fertilization is internal, and females carry external egg masses. Eggs are carried for approximately 2 weeks prior to hatching, and must be released into salt water for larvae to survive. The eggs hatch into free swimming larvae.

Gracias!

Rachel, Beth and Jed. Thank you and all of your different teams for choosing Tranquilo Bay and Bocas del Toro for your 2010 Summer catalogs. We appreciate the opportunity and look forward to doing it again. xoxoxo from all of us at TB.



This post is in our Behind the Scenes series for the Athleta Photo Shoot for their Summer 2010 catalogs shot here in Bocas del Toro in January 2010. It was both an honor and a lot of fun to be a part of this process.

Boards

Poloroid boards are an important part of a photo shoot we have learned. It helps the team to see which shots they have captured and how the book is coming together.

We gave beth two supersize boards. she filled both of them with photos before they left.

It was fun to watch the boards come together over the two weeks.

This set of photos is not what would have made it to athleta’s boards, but does show how many people and parts of the process are necessary to get to the finished result.

In all my days buying things from catalogs and over the internet I had no idea the effort it took to make it easy for me to confidently buy.





This post is in our Behind the Scenes series for the Athleta Photo Shoot for their Summer 2010 catalogs shot here in Bocas del Toro in January 2010. It was both an honor and a lot of fun to be a part of this process.