SURROUNDED ON PIPELINE ROAD

March 2013. It was a misty morning in Gamboa, along the Panama Canal. The sun had yet to rise, but I stumbled out of bed to the tune of Palm Tanagers and Clay-colored Thrushes. Red-legged Honeycreepers hopped around frenetically in a tangle of vines in the backyard, while a couple of White-necked Jacobins took turns drinking their breakfast from a hummingbird feeder hung outside the kitchen window. Water bottles and field guides packed, and binoculars and cameras in hand, we excitedly piled in the car and headed down the road.

I was on a spring break birding trip with a few college friends. Jack, whose house served as our base of operations for the endeavor, ate a quick breakfast while flipping through the Birds of Panama field guide. Ben fiddled with his iPhone, quizzing Brendan and Benjamin on tropical bird calls. Graham inspected an interesting moth that had spent the night with the porch light.

We had just under two weeks to put a