Photo Gallery
Photos by Gavin Bieber
We’ll start off the trip in Nusagandi looking for Sapayoa.
As we drive east we’ll stop at Lake Bayano, where Cocoi Heron…
…the hulking and subtly beautiful Greater Ani…
…and active Lesser Kiskadees should be visible.
Our base for this tour is the newly constructed Canopy Camp…
…where we’ll settle into our comfortable hard-floored tents…
…each with a private deck overlooking the adjacent park.
A central open-aired dining and sitting room provides a friendly atmosphere.
The camp grounds are birch-rich with Streaked Flycatcher…
…tiny Black-headed Today-Flycatchers…
…Rufous-tailed Jacamars…
…and Spot-crowned Barbet are all possible.
Perhaps we’ll find a surprise too, like this stunning Ruby-Topaz…
…or share our tent decks with some colorful companions.
The camp trails hold lekking Golden-headed…
and Golden-collared Manakins…
…and it’s always a good idea to watch the forest floor.
Nearby camp we’ll explore the lowland forests by walking along small roads…
…where we’ll look for range-restricted birds like Black Antshrike…
…the beautiful Black Oropendola…
…as well as more widespread ones like Black-tailed Trogon…
…Gray-cheeked Nunlet…
…and raucous Red-throated Caracaras.
At Yaviza, the southern terminus of the Pan-American highway in North America…
…we’ll be surrounded by tiny Embera villages…
…where we should find Barred Puffbird…
…the cute Spectacled Parrotlet…
…and understory birds like Rufous-winged Schiffornis.
On at least one day we’ll take a picnic lunch enroute to…
…a full day in the forest, looking for Olivaceous Piculet…
…the beautiful Spot-breasted Woodpecker…
…woodcreepers such as this impressive Northern Barred…
…Geoffrey’s Tamarins…
…and perhaps even the cherubic Great Potoo.
We’ll take boat trips away from the road system…
…where striking American Pygmy Kingfishers…
…and their larger cousins like this Amazon Kingfisher line the banks…
And where, with luck we’ll visit with the national bird of Panama, the incomparable Harpy Eagle.
…perhaps with a Spectacled Caiman or two as well.