After a three hour drive on December 23, 2009, we arrived in El Valle de Antón which lies sixty miles west of Panama City. El Valle's Canopy Lodge is located in an extinct volcanic crater and is surrounded by stark ridges and forested hills. At an elevation of approximately 2,000 feet, the climate here is cooler and less humid than in the area around the Canal Zone. El Valle's Canopy Lodge was our base for the next four days. A Southern Rough-winged Swallow is shown in the photograph. This southern cousin of the Northern Rough-winged Swallow is smaller in size with a contrasting pale rump and a beautiful cinnamon throat. The swallow could usually be found perched in the branches of this small shrub which was growing adjacent to a stream that flowed through the property. Temperatures were in the upper 70's on this partly cloudy afternoon.