Gavin Bieber on the completion of his tour to Panama: Fall at the Canopy Tower

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 4 nights in the Canopy Lodge.  As always this November tour was packed with birds and several charismatic mammals.  From atop the Canopy tower we found a very close Cinnamon Woodpecker that cooperatively foraged in a nearby Cecropia tree on several of our morning vigils. 

Cinnamon Woodpecker

A great afternoon spell from the tower top revealed two soaring King Vultures, a screaming White Hawk, countless migrant Turkey Vultures and a nice array of swifts, not to mention a loafing Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth basking in the afternoon sun.

 
Three-toed Sloth

Pipeline Road produced wonderful views of Ocellated and Bicolored Antbirds attending a large antswarm, and in the forests around the tower we located a stunning male Rosy Thrush-Tanager which remained in full view for a lengthy encounter. 

Rosy-thrush Tanager

Our day-trip out to Cerro Azul brought us a wealth of tanagers and hummingbirds, with really close views of gaudy Shining Honeycreepers and the scarce Violet-capped Hummingbird.

Shining Honeycreeper

Violet-capped Hummingbird

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 Lance-tailed Manakin. We were even treated to a wonderful Panamanian-style Thanksgiving feast! 

 
Thanksgiving - Canopy Lodge style

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