We were birding in an area known as La Mesa during the morning of December 24, 2009. It was a partly cloudy morning with temperatures in the low 80's. We were walking along a country road when we began to encounter foothill birds not found in the forests below or in the Canal Zone. This Wedge-billed Woodcreeper was one of the birds we photographed. This is Panama's smallest woodcreeper. The species is identified by its short wedge-shaped bill and buffy-whitish superciliary. It forages as it inches up a tree's trunk or branches. Note the protruding central shafts on its stiffened tail. The bird uses these to help support itself (similar to a woodpecker).