Yes- It was a cat, but more about that in a minute!
A while back I wrote about a one day trek that I took in September 2021 to search for Harpy Eagle in the Darien Province in eastern Panama. I thought that today we would spend some time checking out some other areas in the Darien and in other parts of Panama that I visited in September of 2021 and April 2022.
The Central American isthmus has attracted attention at least since the days of the conquistadors. The imperialist Spanish saw the narrow land/ water crossing as the ideal point to transport gold and supplies between the Caribbean and the Pacific. It didn’t take long for human predators to exploit this passageway, with perhaps the most famous being the Welsh privateer (don’t call me pirate!) Henry Morgan. The oldest part of the city which was founded in 1519, was pretty well destroyed during Morgan’s attacks in the mid 1600s, and is now known as Panama Viejo, a World Heritage site. The current “Old City” is Casco Antiguo, a more touristy old town, which dates merely to the 1670s.
Later on “other” imperial powers injected themselves into Panama’s history, and not so long ago it was Manuel Noriega who got caught without a chair when the music stopped. He spent his last years in this prison- El Renacer, in Gamboa.
Panama City itself does have some attractions where a nature loving visitor can spend a few hours or an overnight. The airport is outside of the city and some of the nearby hotels have nicely planted grounds where you can get a bit of an introduction to local wildlife. In fact, within an hour of my first visit I had a brief but excellent look at a wild cat- a jaguarundi (this would be the “cat” in my torturously palindromic title)! Few people ever get to see this animal- but one crossed right in front of our van giving the three of us an incredible sighting.
OK- now that you’re back- Within the city limits is the Metropolitan National Park, generally considered to be one of the best urban parks in the world. Over 250 species of birds have been seen here, including iconic species like toucans, parrots and motmots, and there are several species of monkeys, sloths, and anteater among the animals that can be found.
The top birding areas in Panama are well known and a lot of information is available on-line and in the birding literature. Upon my arrival, I drove north and west from Panama City (PC) along the canal to the towns of Summit and Gamboa. These are small towns closely connected to the construction and maintenance of the canal. In Gamboa in particular, there are banks of dormitory types houses, originally built by US American personnel, but now largely used by local canal workers.
The area around the towns is not wilderness by any stretch, but still provides a great sampling of the kinds of bird species who can coexist with humans anywhere we leave a footprint.
On my first visit I was floored by how easy it was to see things like Wattled Jacana, Southern Lapwing and Rufescent Tiger Heron.
There were quite few little birds working along the grassy edges of the pond (actually a pretty overgrown marsh), the few that popped up into view were various small finches- grassquits and seedeaters- like this Blue-black Grassquit.
Tropical Kingbirds are everywhere here, and birders quickly shorten their name down to “TK”.
Just down the road are the Summit Ponds, another well-known birding location. This one is tucked inside a police training area, but just mention to the guard that you’re there for birding and he’ll direct you to the parking area and let you know where you can walk. On this day there was a Yellow-headed Caracara walking around right outside the guard house. I asked the guard if he brought his chicken to work every day- he laughed and said this was the first time the bird ever came to visit!
On the walk to the ponds, I saw Yellow-tailed Orioles in the distance while Boat-billed Herons and Ringed Kingfishers roamed the edges of the water.
Beyond the town of Gamboa is the entrance to Pipeline Road, one of the most famous birding destinations in the world. For 19 years Pipeline Rd held the world record for the annual Christmas Bird Count with a one-day total of 357 species! The road and the pipeline were built by US Americans during World War II- a conduit for oil intended as a backup plan in case the canal was attacked by Japanese forces.
A few miles along the road is the Discovery Center, a private park with a visitor’s center, trails, and a tower. 15 species of hummingbirds are possible at the visitor’s center feeders.
Just beyond the Discovery Center entrance, the Pipeline Road is gated. From that point on it’s all on foot. This section gets into some really nice rainforest habitat, and there are species in there that reflect the wild places. Collared and Slaty Forest- Falcons hunt along the trail, manikins perform their moonwalking breeding displays and Great Jacamars sit silently, waiting to ambush unsuspecting insects and lizards.
Along the road, my attention was drawn to some loud snapping sounds. Scouring the little clearings in the branches I found displaying Manakins- Red-capped, Golden-collared and Blue-crowned. These displays are really worth seeing, so here’s a link to a YouTube video. Jump ahead to about 25 seconds. The birds moonwalk and hop over each other at lightning speed. All of this is interspersed with !LOUD! wing snapping and popping. Several males perform for a female. This behavior, called “lekking” is similar to that performed by Birds of Paradise, Ruffs and others who you may have seen on a David Attenborough special.
Before leaving the area around the Panama Canal, there is one other location that deserves a mention. This would be the Canopy Tower. On both of my visits, I arranged to spend the bulk of my time at properties owned by the “Canopy family”- actually Raul Aria de Para. Raul has several birding properties and one or two other recreational facilities in Panama, and is generally recognized as a pioneer for ecotourism in his country. He was a leader of the opposition party during Noriega’s reign and his grandfather was one of the founders of the Republic of Panama. A couple of friends introduced him to birding, and in 1996 he bought an abandoned radar tower that had been built by the US military in the early 1960s. He renovated the tower- 3 stories and an observation deck- into a world class ecolodge. He later built lodges in the hills west of Panama City and in Darien Province- the latter opening one of the most remote areas in the Americas to adventurous nature trekkers.
The staff keep fruit feeders filled just outside the dining room windows. One night while I was in bed listening to the frogs and insects, I heard people down below calling out “Kinkajou!” I raced up to the dining room and found that instead of kinkajous, the animals were actually Panamanian Night Monkeys! These are very tough to find, and I was lucky to be able to watch them at leisure.
The facilities and the guides at the Canopy properties are top notch as far as eco-traveling go. As long as you aren’t expecting 5-star accommodations, they are world class!
The tropics not only have species that we never see up north, there are whole families that are unfamiliar to many of us. The Manakins, Cotingas, Puffbirds and Jacamars above are just a few. Trogons barely make it into the southern United States, but in Panama there are ten species. Except for the two that are called quetzals, they are basically variations on a similar theme- greenish or blackish on top, red or orange or yellow bellies and long tails, some with intricate patterns on the undersides. Identifying them is tough- tail pattern, color of the belly and eye-ring and bill color all are important to note. Here’s a trogon sampler.
Moving east towards the Darien and the Colombian border, the network of roadways eventually simplifies down to one road- the Pan American Highway. The highway is basically the spine of a fishbone- all other locations veer off to the right or left. Cerro Azul is one of several higher mountains to the north of the highway, and while there are some specialty birds there, access to the best locations is within a private community and I didn’t have permission to enter. I birded the roadside and an antenna field instead, and still racked up some new birds.
Further on, the highway crosses Lake Bayano, a dammed reservoir and the 2nd largest lake in Panama. Bayano was a Yoruba slave who led a rebellion in 1552.
A stop at the lake turned up more wading birds, and a few more new species.
Further along the PanAm Highway we made a pit stop in the area governed by the Kuna indigenous people. Large sections of Panama are set aside as self-governing “comarcas”- run by indigenous people, including the Kuna, Wounan and Embera.
Later on we did some birding at the San Francisco Reserve, a privately owned property with pristine habitat. San Francisco had some of the nicest forests and birds of any that I visited in Panama. The highlight was a very tough-to-see Black-crowned Antpitta, quite a local and rare bird, but we also had much better looks at things like this Ocellated Antbird.
On the way out to the Darien, we stopped for lunch at a nice little roadside restaurant near the Rio Torti, the Avicar in Ipeti. The restaurant and hotel here are owned by the same fellow who owns the San Francisco Preserve, and he attracts some wildlife to the restaurant with the addition of hummingbird feeders and flowery plants.
About five hours after leaving Panama City, we make our way into the Darien Province, the easternmost section of Panama and home to one of the most remote jungles left in the Americas.
Fortunately, our base of operations is another Canopy property, the Canopy Camp, basic but very comfortable.
Birding around the camp is excellent, and the location in Darien Province gives access to a nice variety of other habitats- agricultural fields, steamy jungles and muddy rivers and more. A huge rice farm nearby has hundreds of acres of flooded fields, attracting birds like Yellow-hooded (not -headed) Blackbird, Black-capped Donacobius and Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture.
The PanAm highway ends at the town of Yaviza- at this point the road takes a 60-mile break at the Darien National Park and picks up again in Colombia. Yaviza is a bustling river port and the jumping off point for those who head into the deeper wilderness of the Pirre and Tacarcuna Mountain ranges.
I caught a motorized dugout and headed down the Chucunaque River, up into the Tuira and finally into the Pirre River. Lots of wading birds use the muddy river banks and hawks, including Common Black Hawk, Crane Hawk and this Black-collared Hawk hunt the edges.
Near the Chucunaque, we came across a small group of Blue and Yellow Macaws- definitely lending a tropical flavor to the place.
Further north along the Chucunaque, we arranged to visit the Embera-Wounan indigenous village of Alto Playona. The people in this village located the nest of a Harpy Eagle last year, and I was lucky enough to visit the nest site in September. I returned in April and saw the fledgling. This trip involved a dugout up the river, arranging horses at Alto Playona, then hiking the last section in to the nest site. I wrote up a Dawn Chorus about that here, if you missed it the first time around. This time I was able to photograph the (rather large) baby.
I had one last target bird that I really wanted to see in Panama- in fact it is the main reason that I returned for the second time in six months. Just after I got home in September, guides from the Canopy group found the nest of a Crested Eagle. Crested are a bit smaller than Harpies, but are quite a bit rarer, and there are few opportunities to see one at a reliable site. Luckily, this one was within about a half hour drive of the camp and only required a similar half hour hike off the road. The chick at this nest was still small- its head barely peaked over the top of the stick structure. But our guide, Oscar, managed to find the adult female perched up nearby, and after cutting enough of a trail for us to stumble through, we had great looks at her. On top of being a rare Crested Eagle, she was an even rarer “dark morph” individual. What a stunner.
As you can probably tell, I have enough photos and locations to do another whole Chorus. Panama is a great birding and general wildlife destination- a little more difficult to arrange than, say, Costa Rica with it’s plethora of top notch lodges and guides. Panama is still a bit more “raw” and in a lot of ways, that makes it more fun- more unscripted maybe.
Well, this is getting kind of long and photo heavy, so we better call it a wrap and I’ll see you in the comments. Thank you for reading and let’s hear about some of your recent adventures- near or far.