Panama's national bird

There are two birds I just had to see during my time living in Panama - the resplendant quetzal, which I saw earlier this year (and I just realised that I never wrote about that, this year is so busy that a lot of things are not getting recorded here), and the national bird of Panama, the harpy eagle.  & last week I got my chance to see a harpy eagle.

We (me, the guide from the camp, and a local guide who knew how to get us to the nest) set off at 4:30am, driving to the little port of Puerto Quimba to get seats on one of the motor launches taking passengers along the river and across the bay to the capital of the province, La Palma.  After a week of clouds and rain, it was a beautiful morning - and above the river were little blue herons, white ibises and even a roseate spoonbill flying in from their overnight roosts.

La Palma was a pretty place, with little wooden houses painted in bright colours tumbling down the hillside and extending on stilts over the water.  But we were soon into another vehicle, for another 45 minutes of travel further into this remote part of the country.

We arrived a a small village and I was faced with the next mode of transport - a horse!!  When they'd told me the day before that part of the journey would have to be done on horseback, I'd warned them that I have no idea how to ride a horse, but they said it wouldn't be a problem. But now I found out that this part of the trip was going to take at least three hours (in fact it took four) - and as we set off it became clear that this was not going to be easy at all.  At first they said my horse could lead, as it knew which way to go.  Not only was I not really comfortable with that, but it meant I was the one going first through all the cobwebs - of which there were many!  Twice I ended up with a large spider on me from the web, in one case on my face... not good news for someone who is scared of spiders.

However they soon decided that my horse was not going quickly enough so someone else went ahead and took the rope attached to my horse's bridle, so as to drag it along more quickly.  The path started to get steeper, and muddier.  & steeper, and muddier.  The horses were slipping and sliding in the gloopy mud, at times up to their knees in it, as I clung on for dear life.  There were tree roots in the path too, and rocks, and it was very tough going for the horses - but clearly we wouldn't have made it up on foot.  For large parts of the route the path also had an almost vertical drop on one side, and my heart was in my mouth every time I felt my horse slip.  Eventually we got to the highest part of the path - and then had to go down the other side of the mountain, which was equally steep, muddy and slippery.  The local guide told me to hold the back of the saddle (behind me) with one hand, to help prevent me from falling head first over the horse as we slipped and slid down the mountain.  I hadn't been told what to do should my horse decide to jump over a stream rather than wade through it - I managed not to fall off but the landing was painful.

But finally we got down, and arrived in a small community, and I relaxed at the thought of being able to get off the horse.  But no!  We were only passing through this community, and there was another hour to go to get to the harpy nest.

When we arrived near the nest site, they explained to me that the bird was no longer in the nest, but that they should be able to find it somewhere nearby, perched on a tree branch as it waited for the parents to come back every couple of days with food.  I didn't dare think about them not finding the bird ... but they did find it, and quite quickly.

What a magnificent bird it was!  Worth all the stress and pain of getting there!  One of the three largest eagles in the world (depends whether you measure by length, or weight), and incredibly strong (they can catch prey - mostly sloths or monkeys - equal to their own body weight), but above all with this amazing stare.  At one point those big black eyes appeared to be looking straight at me and it was not a comfortable feeling!