Description

Black-breasted Puffbird. Photo by Carlos Bethancourt

Panama is uniquely situated to host the spectacular birding for which it has become renowned. The country is located on the isthmus, or ‘land bridge’ that joins North and Central America in the north/west, and South America in the south/east.

This birding and nature tour to Panama is designed to cover the best birding possible in a relatively short period of time. Our two locations are situated to take advantage of birds from both the northern and southern continents. Both lodges offer excellent opportunities to enjoy many of the 950 species that have been recorded in the country.

Our first stop with be the famed Canopy Tower. The Canopy Tower is located on top of Semaphore Hill, in a well-preserved, semi-deciduous tall forest in the heart of Soberanía National Park. The lodge is at an altitude of 900 feet above sea level, and from its roofyou can see the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal and the skyline of Panama City, just 30 minutes away. From here we will visit other renowned sites such as Semaphore Hill Road, Ammo Dump Pond, Pipeline, Achioto and Old Gamboa roads, as well as the Panama Canal. Some of the birds we will be looking for include Blue Cotinga, Olivaceous Flatbill, Great Jacamar, Marbled Wood-Quail, Black-breasted Puffbird and Cinnamon Woodpecker.

Our second stop of the tour, the beautiful Canopy Lodge, is located in El Valle de Anton in the western foothills. The scenery is quite unique -- a steep valley surrounded by jagged peaks and filled with flowers, streams and verdant forests. This ‘crater valley’ is the remains of a volcano that exploded 5 million years ago. From our very comfortable lodge we will explore various habitats including the very ‘bird-rich’ gardens, foothills, mountains, dry forest and cloud forest.

Some of the birds we will be looking for include Rufous-vented Ground Cuckoo, the endemic Veraguan Mango, Scaled Antpitta, Crimson-backed Tanager and Rosy Thrush Tanager.