Miami, Florida

This has been a very long travel day.  It started at 4am when I was picked up by a driver at the Tower.  The Tocumen Airport in Panama City was surprising alive at 5am when we arrived and I was able to get coffee and a pastry.  I walked the length of the terminal a couple of times to work off some of breakfast and many shops were opening by 6am.  One thing I found interesting, in an annoying kind of way, is that for flights to the US there is a second (and far more thorough) security screening at the gate.  Once you’ve gone through the gate security check, you sit in a roped off area and are not allowed to leave, not even to get food or use the restroom.  Since I had already experienced that on Saturday before our flight was cancelled, I was better prepared and waited until the last minute to go to the gate.

The flight to Miami was quick - only 3 hours - and I breezed through immigration since we have Global Entry.  Sad thing was it took 45 to get my luggage so I could walk through a door with it (agents smiled and waved me through) and I handed it back in on the other side.  Had I taken my suitcase as a carry-on I could’ve saved that 45 minutes.  My layover was 8 hours, so I rented a car and headed out to find some birds.  Mid-day birding is never the best - generally the sun is blinding, the temperatures are at the highest, and birds aren’t singing or out in the open. Still, it was much better than sitting in the airport.

I finally got home at 12:30am Seattle time - 22 1/2 hours after I left the Canopy Tower.  What a journey.

Palm Warbler

Prairie Warbler

A very different looking version of a White Ibis

Just a few Red-faced Parakeets 

Red-shouldered Hawk that was mobbed by
a flock of Blue Jays and Northern Mockingbirds.  
I got to put my new knowledge of bird alarm calls
to use to find the hawk.

I must’ve happened on some Iguana population explosion, because they were EVERYWHERE.  I stopped counting at 20.  They were all ages and sizes.