We smashed the 2000 species milestone with some of the best birding of the year so far!  Early omens weren`t good as torrential rain poured down all night and was still going strong as we got up at 5am. As we ventured out, luckily the rain had eased to a steady drizzle and we immediately began seeing great birds just in the hotel grounds. A Blue-crowned Motmot hopped around on the lawn, White-crowned Parrots fed in the trees, a male Rose-breasted Grossbeak and Philadelphia Vireo fed overhead and Clay-coloured Robins were everywhere.  Tearing ourselves away from this amazing doorstep birding we headed up into the highlands and birded the border of the Baru National Park.  It was here that we soon had what was certainly bird of the day, and perhaps even bird of the year so far, a pair of Resplendent Quetzals. The male defies belief with its beauty, a bird that we have dreamed of seeing for so long and it certainly didn´t disappoint.  We were spellbound by this fantastic creature for what seemed like an age.  At one point the male was joined by another totally stunning bird, a Flame-throated Warbler in the same small isolated tree.  It doesn´t get much better than this!  Moving further up the slope we connected with a pair of Golden-browed Chlorophonia, a riot of lemon yellow and lime green.  If it wasn´t for the Quetzals, this could easily have been bird of the day, how spoiled were we?!A short distance away at even higher elevation we came across a Black Guan complete with pale blue bill.  A feeding flock here contained such great birds as Buffy Tuftedcheek, Slaty Flowerpiercer, and Yellow-thighed Finch.  On the way back down we continued to encounter amazing birds with such delights as Large-footed Finch, Black-cheeked Warblers, Yellow-throated Brush-Finch and Ruddy Treerunner, Blue-throated Toucanet.  The rain returned so we grabbed a quick lunch, which gave us the chance to total up our new birds for the morning.  Amazingly we had already cracked the 2000 mark, with the hummingbird White-throated Mountain Gem being Bird Number 2000.  Fantastic, and amazing to think it´s only 18th April!We then moved on to Volcan Lakes where we saw our only waders of the day, Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers.  The forest around the lakes proved superb; Little Tinamou, Ruddy Quail-Dove, Golden-winged Warbler and Olivaceous Piculet were all added to our Panama list.  Our last major stop of the day was at Santa Clara, where we birded the edges of a shade-grown coffee plantation. Target bird here was Turquoise Cotinga and it surely lived up to its name and gave amazing prolonged views sitting out in the open.  Continuing the colour theme were Fiery-billed Aracari and Speckled and Silvery-throated Tanagers.  We thought that was it but Kilo had one more gem up his sleeve.  A brief roadside stop gave us White-ruffed Manakin, what a stunning bird to finish our day:  blue-black with a white fluffy throat.   We finished our day having recorded 125 species, incredible considering we´d only travelled a few miles from our hotel and only visited a handful of different habitats.  This must rank as one of our best birding days of the year, and again a huge thank-you to Kilo of Advantage Tours Panama (www.advantagepanama.com) for giving us such a totally mindblowing birding experience.Bird species total: 2027Posted 9pm 18th April, Volcan, Panama