Western Panama Recap

Our Western Panama tour in 2025 started around the Caribbean coast and Bocas Archipelago.  

Around the archipelago we accomplish most of our daily commutes by boat, and on one day spend the entire birding day on a custom built birdwatching raft  

Our lodge was supremely comfortable, nestled on the southern end of Isla Bastimentos, and is a popular spot for birders and birds from more northern climes.  The lowlands and islands of Bocas del Toro are biodiverse, and we’ll had a few days to explore finding several hundred species of birds and an array of other wildlife. 

We then moved into the cool highlands, where we were greeted by a completely new avifauna, with many regional endemics like COLLARED WHITESTART, BLACK-AND-YELLOW SILKY-FLYCATCHER, RUDDY TREERUNNER, BLACK-CAPPED FLYCATCHER, GOLDEN-BROWED CHLOROPHONIA, PRONG-BILLED BARBET, YELLOW-THIGHED BRUSHFINCH, YELLOW-WINGED VIREO, VIOLET SABREWING, WHITE-THROATED MOUNTAINGEM and FIERY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD that are restricted to the Talamanca Highlands of Costa Rica and Panama joining more widespread gems like Silver-throated Tanager.

This year we were also treated to unparalleled views of the nomadic and stunning MAROON-CHESTED GROUND-DOVE coming into a newly established feeding station, and a nocturnal visit from the rarely encountered CACOMISTLE as well as a nice array of non-birds like this stunning COSMOSOMA GIGANTEA, a beautiful RED-TAILED CORAL SNAKE and the scarce highland endemic VOLCAN BARBA TREEFROG.

We capped the trip off with a day in the Pacific lowlands, with yet another suite of new species such as these comical FIERY-BILLED ARACARIS.