Gavin Bieber on his just-concluded tour to Panama.

I’ve just returned from a fantastic 12-day tour to Panama's central canal-zone based for a week in the famous Canopy Tower and four nights in the Canopy Lodge.  As always this November tour was packed with birds (this year 382 species) and several charismatic mammal species.

Night Monkeys peering at us from their daytime roost

From atop the Canopy tower we found a very close female Blue Cotinga (as well as several stunning males), and a cooperative Brown-hooded Parrot parrot that flew in and spent some time preening in the early morning sun.

An accommodating female Blue Cotinga

Pipeline Road produced wonderful views of Ocellated Antbirds attending a large antswarm, and in the forests just around the tower we located perched White-whiskered Puffbirds and even a hunting American Pygmy-Kingfisher. 

White-whiskered Puffbird

A forest sprite, the American Pygmy Kingfisher

The lodge provided a great contrast to the tower, with about 100 additional species of birds including both Blue-throated and Yellow-eared Toucanets, and two of the truly snazzy birds in Panama – Tody Motmot and Black-crowned Antpitta.

Blue-throated Toucanet

Yellow-eard Toucanet

This tour continues to impress me; the diversity and richness of the region, paired with ease of access and the comforts of the lodges, make for a truly wonderful experience.