Panama: Fall at the Canopy Tower

Day 1: The tour begins at 6:00 p.m. with an introductory meeting in the main room at the Canopy Tower. Night at the Canopy Tower.

Day 2: In early dawn light, coffee in hand, we’ll stand on the top deck of the Canopy Tower, enjoying the sunrise over the forested hillsides below us and scanning the skies and the trees for parrots, pigeons, mixed canopy flocks and perhaps the prize of the forest canopy, the stunning Blue Cotinga. After an hour on the deck, we’ll have breakfast and then drive down the hill to the Plantation Road, a nearby forest trail. In this lowland Pacific Slope forest, we’ll hope to encounter flocks containing Dot-winged and White-flanked Antwrens and Checker-throated Stipplethroat, Black-crowned Antshrike, Cocoa Woodcreeper and canopy species such as Yellow and Scarlet-rumped Caciques and Purple-throated Fruitcrow. This trail is often excellent for forest raptors such as Double-toothed and Gray-headed Kites, Black Hawk-Eagle, and sometimes Collared or even Slaty-backed Forest-Falcons. We’ll return to the Canopy Tower for lunch and an early afternoon siesta (in our rooms or in hammocks on the top floor) — or to watch the hummingbird feeders for Violet-bellied, Blue-chested Hummingbirds, White-vented Plumeleteer, White-necked Jacobin and Long-billed and Stripe-throated Hermits. Later we’ll drive north along the Panama Canal to Gamboa and the justly famous but perhaps not-so-enchantingly named Ammo Dump Ponds. Here we’ll find our first waterbirds including numbers of Wattled Jacana and White-throated Crake in the reed beds and there is always the chance of finding a motionless Rufescent Tiger-Heron along the pond margins. Here too large grass beds contain mixed groups of Seedeaters and Thick-billed Seed-Finch while the tangled vegetation around the larger pond holds Buff-breasted and Isthmian Wrens. Large concentrations of Gray-breasted Martin and Mangrove and Southern Rough-winged Swallows often gather along the canal, which also offers a corridor for pelagic species to cross the isthmus — overhead there could be passing Magnificent Frigatebirds, Brown Pelicans, flocks of Orange-chinned Parakeets and Red-lored Parrots, Ospreys or terns. Night at the Canopy Tower.

Day 3: We’ll rise early for an all-day expedition to Pipeline Road, considered by many to be the premier lowland birding location in Central America. We’ll walk Pipeline, followed by our vehicles (with our picnic lunch), and make a particular effort to locate such difficult species as King Vulture, Streak-chested Antpitta, Black-striped Woodcreepers, Moustached Antwren, Forest and Choco Elaenias, Velvety and Red-capped Manakins, Pied, White-necked, Black-breasted and White-whiskered Puffbirds and the unique looking Song Wren. If we’re very fortunate we might encounter a few scarce or hard to locate species, such as Tiny Hawk, Great Tinamou or Rufous Piha, or any number of other true rarities that call this forest home. Generally, we come across one or two ant swarms attended by obligate ant followers such as Bicolored, Spotted and (less commonly) the superlative Ocellated Antbirds, as well as several species of woodcreeper. Watching dozens of birds in attendance on a swarm, seemingly oblivious to our presence, is an experience a naturalist can truly revel in. In addition to the birds the forest here is literally alive with butterflies, dragonflies and a host of frogs. Everywhere we look, there will be things of interest and it is never easy to leave. Night at the Canopy Tower.

Day 4: After an early breakfast we’ll pass over the newly constructed bridge near the Gatun Locks before reaching Achiote Road on the Caribbean coast. Achiote is widely regarded as the best place in the canal area for diurnal raptors, and we’ll keep our eyes upward for Gray-lined, Common Black, Great Black, and Short-tailed Hawks and several species of kites and falcons. Fruiting trees along the road often attract Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Scarlet and Yellow-rumped Caciques, Blue-headed Parrots and a nice assortment of open-country birds. We’ll also look for local species such as White-headed Wren, Montezuma and Crested Oropendolas, Spot-crowned Barbet, Pacific Antwren, Long-tailed Tyrant, and Red-breasted Meadowlark. The region offers an extremely diverse array of birds, and often this day of the tour produces the highest species total of the week. We’ll have a picnic lunch along the banks of the Chagres River just a bit downstream from Lake Gatun, and then in the afternoon head to the coast where we will visit a historic Spanish fort located on a bluff above the Caribbean at the mouth of the Chagres River.  We’ll close the day with a visit to a nearby mangrove forest where we might encounter birds such as Streak-headed Woodcreepers, Mangrove Cuckoo, Black-tailed Trogon or perhaps Muscovy Duck before heading back to the tower in the late afternoon. Night at the Canopy Tower.

Day 5: We’ll again have an early-morning watch from the top of the tower. Canopy flocks containing birds such as Green Shrike-Vireo, Brown-capped Tyrannulet and White-shouldered Tanagers should be visible if we’re not distracted by Red-lored, Mealy, Brown-hooded and/or Blue-headed Parrots wheeling around below us. Keel-billed Toucans and Collared Aracari are often common around the tower early in the morning, often perching up in nearby Cecropias. After breakfast we’ll walk down the mile-long Canopy Tower entrance road, possibly encountering a troupe of White-faced Capuchins or the very attractive Geoffrey’s Tamarin. The forest floor along the roadside is open in many places, greatly improving our chances of actually seeing such ground-dwelling species as Black-faced Antthrush and Great Tinamou. Three species of motmots, Crimson-crested, Black-cheeked, Lineated and Cinnamon Woodpeckers and a host of flycatchers should help make for a very full morning of birding. In the mid-afternoon we’ll drive to the nearby Summit Ponds where edge specialists such as Buff-throated Saltator, Gray-headed Chachalaca, Jet Antbird and Golden-fronted Greenlet are often found along the access road. We should also encounter a few mixed flocks of open-country tanagers and flycatchers including the incredible Crimson-backed Tanager. Around the ponds we could see Boat-billed Heron, Greater and Lesser Kiskadees, and kingfishers including Amazon, Green and possibly even American Pygmy. After dinner we’ll offer an optional night tour back down the road to the ponds. The forest feels like a very different place when it’s dark, with a diverse frog chorus and with Western Night Monkeys, Kinkajou, Tamandua and bats competing with a long potential night bird list that includes Spectacled, Black-and-white and Choco Screech-Owls, Common Pauraque and both Great and Common Potoos. If we reach the ponds there is a good chance we’ll witness the antics of the Greater Bulldog Fishing Bat, a large golden bat that spends its evenings hunting surface fish in ponds close to forests. Night at the Canopy Tower.

Day 6: We’ll leave early this morning for Cerro Azul. Though only about two hours away, these highlands present a whole new world where trees are laden with epiphytes and colorful orchids. Mixed canopy flocks often include a variety of dazzling tanagers such as Emerald, Silver-throated, Bay-headed, Rufous-winged, Speckled and Black-and-yellow. Understory flocks here can include several species not found in the adjacent lowlands, such as Spotted Woodcreeper, Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant and White-ruffed Manakin. Migrant warblers are often common as well, including some of the brighter species like Golden-winged, American Redstart and Blackburnian. We have reasonable expectations of seeing the endemic Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker, the beautiful and range-restricted Violet-capped Hummingbird and possibly even the amazingly colorful Yellow-eared Toucanet. We’ll visit an impressive array of hummingbird feeders at a local house, where we regularly encounter over 10 species and hundreds of individuals over the course of a few hours as well as masses of Shining, Green and Red-legged Honeycreepers. After lunch we’ll drive toward Panama City to investigate the waterfront at Costa de Este. The mangrove linked shores of Panama Bay are a RAMSAR designated site (a wetland of international importance) for waders, supporting a wintering population estimated at almost a million birds. We’ll arrive in the late afternoon, and should encounter thousands of waders of over a dozen species, as well as hundreds of herons including Yellow-crowned Night-Heron and Cocoi Heron. Night near the Panama Canal.

Day 7: The main tour will conclude this morning with a shuttle to Panama City’s International airport for flights home or to the regional airport for our flight to the Caribbean lowlands on the Western Highlands and Bocas del Toro tour. 

2024 Narrative

IN BRIEF: For 2024 we again offered a slightly shortened Canopy Tower week to lead into the Western and Eastern Panama Tours. Over the course of five and a half days around the world-famous Canopy Tower we saw 268 species of birds and 14 species of mammals. Around the tower on the first day, we marveled at the busy hummingbird feeders that were hosting an assortment of eight species including lots of pugnacious Snowy-bellied Hummingbirds and White-necked Jacobins and several Stripe-throated and Long-billed Hermits. Our first full morning provided a whirlwind of new birds, from White-whiskered Puffbirds and Broad-billed Motmot in the understory, tower-top views of Short-tailed Hawk, Keel-billed Toucans, Masked Tityra and Scaled and Pale-vented Pigeons up in the canopy and a rare Speckled Mourner about halfway down the Semaphore Hill Road. The Ammo Dump Ponds that afternoon produced our hoped-for White-throated Crakes as well as a host of open-country and marsh birds, including a wonderful interaction between some frantic Wattled Jacanas and a hunting Rufescent Tiger-Heron.  

Pipeline Road was great this year, with a particularly good assortment of woodcreepers including our first ever Wedge-billed and second ever Piping, excellent views of Spotted and Bicolored Antbirds, a snoozing Mottled Owl and very confiding Great Jacamar. The daytrip out to the Atlantic coast was excellent as usual with a family of striking Pacific Antwrens, an out-of-range pair of Barred Puffbirds, White-tailed and Black-tailed Trogons and well over a hundred species of birds. And our last day out to the highlands of Cerro Azul revealed a host of tanagers including such gems as Bay-headed, Emerald, Speckled and Golden-hooded as we walked around the roads. The feeders at our lunch stop held a bewildering number of honeycreepers and hummingbirds (10 species) all whirling around in an ever-changing kaleidoscope of colour. And up on Cerro Jefe we lucked into a small antswarm that was being attended by a group of gaudy Ocellated Antbirds. We finished the trip on the shores of Panama Bay, with thousands of shorebirds and herons plying the exposed mudflats, with a stately Cocoi Heron likely the standout species. 

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 quick getaway. 

IN FULL: The majority of this year’s participants arrived a day or two early, taking in various tours of the canal and city before transferring to the tower on the late morning of the first day. This allowed a few of the keener folks to independently bird the grounds of our Panama City hotel in the morning, an area which proved an excellent introduction to some of the more common lowland birds of the region. Our transfer skirted the edge of the Panama Canal, passing the main shipping port and lochs on the Pacific side and many neighborhoods that still bore the unmistakable marks of American military architecture. We arrived at the tower just a bit before lunchtime, but as not all of our rooms were ready we spent some time watching the hummingbird feeders at the base of the tower. It was a productive hour or so, with a continual stream of activity buzzing around the four feeders. The most common species were the large and dazzling White-necked Jacobin, sturdy Blue-chested Hummingbird and truly stunning Violet-bellied Hummingbird. Among these species we picked out a couple of Snowy-bellied Hummingbirds, one quite territorial White-vented Plumeleteer and enjoyed the occasional visit from a Long-billed or Stripe-throated Hermit. The largely unsettled weather and steady wind seemed a boon for migrant raptors, and while we sat by the feeders pulses of Turkey Vultures and Swainson’s Hawks passed by overhead bound for South America. At one point two well-organized flocks of Wood Storks and a few passing Barn Swallows glided just over the top of the building, providing a bit of non-raptorial migration as well. Since the tour didn’t officially commence until that evening, and a few participants were still making their way to the tower used the rest of the day for some independent birding around the grounds, or simple relaxation.  

Our introductory meeting was accompanied by the quavering whistles of a Great Tinamou calling near the base of the tower, and was interrupted by the arrival of a procession of mammals at the dining hall windows. Some proffered bananas that had been winched onto a nearby tree by the kitchen staff attracted a pair of Panamanian Night Monkeys who quickly set about devouring the treats. Soon afterwards a Western Lowland Olingo appeared, and just as we were polishing off dessert a Kinkajou walked up and accidentally broke the last banana off the string before spending a few minutes staring at us in the windows, likely hoping for a second helping. The latter two species are both long-tailed tree-dwelling mammals which resemble a cross between a cat and a mustelid, but are in fact, closely related to Raccoons. It was useful to have the two similar species in close succession as the differences in their pelage colour, overall build and tail (prehensile in Kinkajou, and thicker and non-prehensile in Olingo) was more evident. Welcome to Panama indeed! 

We awoke on our first morning at the tower to a wonderful view of the surrounding forest, the Panama Canal (complete with the occasional tall container ships seemingly drifting through the trees), and even the distant hazy Pacific Ocean. Initially the overcast skies and steady breeze seemed to be depressing the bird activity, but as morning progressed and the skies began to brighten, we were treated to a nice array of canopy birds close to eye level. Every morning atop the tower is different, and this particular morning we were treated to close fly-bys from a flock of migrant Chimney Swifts, a lingering perched Short-tailed Hawk sitting on a nearby forested ridge, very cooperative Blue Dacnis and Bay-breasted Warblers foraging on the tower-side trees and one nice mixed flock which contained our first Lesser Greenlets, White-lored Gnatcatchers and White-shouldered Tanagers as well as a fairly cooperative pair of Green Shrike-Vireos (a bulky species which can be devilishly hard to see as they slowly move through thick canopy vegetation). As is typical for the early morning vigils here we also enjoyed scope views of teed up Brown-hooded Parrots, Pale-vented and Scaled Pigeons, Masked Tityra and a few gaudy Keel-billed Toucans, a bird that was surely designed by a committee of 5-year-olds with access to a full pack of Crayola markers. Eventually the rumble in our stomachs and the smell of bacon overpowered our birding initiatives and we headed downstairs for breakfast. 

After breakfast, we spent rest of the morning slowly walking down the nearly road that winds down Semaphore Hill. The road passes through tall forest with light understory, providing an excellent opportunity to look for understory flocks and birds that use the forest floor. Our morning walk provided a great introduction to our first species of antbirds, surely one of the signature groups of birds in the neotropics. Small groups of spritely Dot-winged Antwrens often led the flocks, and we soon were able to confidently identify the striking black males with their bold white wing patterns and beautiful copper and black females with ease. Along with the Dot-winged Antwrens were often pairs of the slightly hunchbacked Checker-throated Antwrens (now rather confusingly known as a Checker-throated Stipplethroat), a species that specializes in foraging in clusters of dead leaves. The larger Black-crowned Antshrike and some largely uncooperative Dusky Antbirds were here too, with both species providing an excellent illustration of the striking sexual dichromatism so often exhibited in the family. As is often the case birding in closed canopy forests in the neotropics flycatchers provide a large segment of the avifauna, and for us this walk proved productive for these often-tricky species as well. A couple of small mixed flocks contained a nice assortment of flycatchers, with our first Yellow-winged and Western Olivaceous Flatbills, single Brown-capped Tyrannulet and Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher, several Forest Elaenias and Eastern Wood-Pewees and wintering Acadian and Great Crested Flycatchers. These same small flocks also yielded a couple of Plain-brown Woodcreepers, a quietly perched White-whiskered Puffbird and both Velvety (a recent split from Blue-crowned) and Red-capped Manakins. Another flock a bit further down the hill held an assortment of larger birds, and we quite enjoyed having simultaneous views of Scarlet-rumped and Yellow-rumped Caciques, Chestnut-headed Oropendolas and a pair of quite striking Cinnamon Woodpeckers. By far our “rarest” bird of the morning was an extremely cooperative Speckled Mourner that came down to near eye level and was busily devouring some impressively large and hairy caterpillars. This large and rufescent bird is an atypical member of the Tityra family. It is scarce throughout its range, and a bird that we encounter on perhaps one in five trips.  

Near the bottom of the hill we spotted our first gaudy Motmot, with a handsome Broad-billed Motmot perched over the small creek just off the road. It sat for a few moments and then swooped down, grabbing a small lizard and crossing the road where it sat and happily enjoyed its breakfast. Perhaps due to the overcast conditions we found mammals to be uncharacteristically active throughout the morning. Likely our most memorable sighting was the group of very vocal Mantled Howler Monkeys that were up in the canopy over the road, regularly bellowing out their astoundingly resonant calls as they climbed around looking for freshly sprouted leaves. A male White-nosed Coati and single Red-tailed Squirrel showed well for us, and we also encountered several sprightly Central American Agoutis feeding along the road edge and a little group of Geoffrey’s Tamarins near the tower.  

A short siesta after lunch suited us perfectly, but by the mid-afternoon we headed downhill and across the Chagres River to visit the feeders at the Canopy Bed and Breakfast in the small nearby town of Gamboa. Here watched a parade of birds coming in to feed on bananas placed on the bird tables. A continual stream of Blue-grey and Palm Tanagers were joined by a few Clay-colored Thrushes, luminous Crimson-backed Tanagers (locally known as Sangre del Toro or the Blood of the Bull), a few Plain-colored Tanagers and a single wintering Summer Tanager, all vying for the best bits of banana. Central American Agoutis were on the ground below the feeders picking up the scraps, while in the trees around the yard we picked out our first female Red-legged and Green Honeycreepers, a pair of Red-crowned Woodpeckers and a few Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds. As the tanager numbers began to drop, we were treated to excellent views of a Whooping Motmot (part of the old Blue-crowned Motmot complex) that seemed intent on grabbing the final bits of food off the table. Despite its best efforts it missed an entire hunk of fruit, but just as we were readying to leave a Keel-billed Toucan came in to grab the final bits. The toucan seemed completely oblivious to our presence and offered a truly amazing show as it sat for several minutes at eye level and in excellent light. From such a close distance it was easy to see the birds’ finer plumage details, such as the crimson breast band and delicate green eye ring. Eventually the bird flew off, so we piled back into the truck and headed over to the margins of the Ammo Dump marsh where we were soon studying a mix of swallows which included our first Grey-breasted Martins, Mangrove Swallows and Southern Rough-wings. Over the course of an hour or so we covered just a few hundred meters around the margins of the marsh, enjoying close views of an array of species more often found in open areas. Wattled Jacanas showed extremely well, flashing their bright yellow wings as they danced around the open patches of marsh. Here too we located a few Purple Gallinule, a beautiful adult Rufescent Tiger Heron that was sitting down in the marsh below the road. With the more open birding conditions we tallied a few passing waterbirds and raptors, with flyover Osprey, perched Gray-lined Hawk, Laughing Falcon and Yellow-headed Caracara and a few Magnificent Frigatebirds, Brown Pelicans and Royal Terns flying over the nearby canal. Along the edge of the pond a thicker stand of young trees kept us entertained for nearly an hour as they were hosting a seemingly inexhaustible array of species. There was something to suit everyone’s individual taste. For those that like more colourful species we found perched up Rusty-margined and Social Flycatchers, Ringed Kingfisher, a stunning male Masked Tityra and a pair of striking Yellow-tailed Orioles, for those who favor seeing more familiar birds in unfamiliar settings we picked out Yellow and Northern Waterthrush, Smooth-billed Anis, Anhinga, and Great Blue Heron and Great Egret, and for those that like a challenge we successfully teased out a pair of White-throated Crakes and a couple of Buff-breasted Wrens out of the thick mash vegetation. We even turned up a couple of impressive non-avian highlights in the form of a small group of Collared Peccaries and a slowly cruising American Crocodile! As we passed back through the town of Gamboa we screeched to a halt when a pair of Bat Falcons shot across the road in front of us. We diverted over to where they seemed to be heading but could unfortunately not relocate them. The diversion gifted us our first Southern Lapwings of the trip though, which proved to be our final bird of the day. We headed back to the tower in the early evening, heads swimming a bit from the number of birds and animals that we had encountered. 

We left the tower the next morning shortly after breakfast so we could spend the day exploring the world-famous Pipeline Road. The Pipeline Road is a cross-country dirt road which passes through an extensive swath of Soberania National Park and provides unparalleled access to high quality forest and over 400 species of birds. The park abuts a large swath of protected forest around the Chagres River and is generally contiguous with the coastal forests that are controlled by various indigenous well east of the canal zone; making for perhaps the largest block of mostly untrammeled tropical forest in the lowlands of North America. Each trip along Pipeline Road is different, and a visiting naturalist soon gets the feeling that they could spend months here and still be picking up new sightings. During the pandemic years the road had been allowed to deteriorate somewhat, with one of the bridges (about 6 miles in) virtually collapsing, and although subsequent repair work has been accomplished the road is still basically impassible to vehicles past that point. Our first stop of the morning was right at the beginning of the road, where we stopped to check out a large woodcreeper that had flown in to a roadside tree. The bird showed well, turning out to be a Northern Barred Woodcreeper, but our stop dragged out as there was a small flock in the area which also contained Cocoa and Black-striped Woodcreepers (undoubtedly the most handsome of the local species), and a very cooperative pair of Black-breasted Puffbirds. This welcoming committee got us well prepared for more mixed-flocks over the course of the morning as we spent the majority of the time slowly driving or walking along the first two and a half kilometers of road which is open to the public, not crossing over to the closed section (the tower trucks are allowed to pass through the gate, which makes birding the more interior stretch of the forest much easier) until late morning.  

This first roughly two-kilometer stretch of road proved quite productive. We stopped at a seemingly random spot to ogle a perched Whooping Motmot and Jorge walked a bit back to check on another area that he had recently seen a roosting Mottled Owl. Luck was with us as the bird was still using the roost, providing us with our first write-in species of the trip! An open gap in the canopy allowed us to see a bit of sky, which was happily blue and full of swifts. Most were Short-tailed Swifts, but we picked out a couple of sleek and striking Lesser Swallow-tailed Swifts as well. A bit further down the road we encountered one excellent mixed flock which contained both understory and canopy birds. Quite a few of the understory species we found here are frequently associated with ant swarms, so it seemed likely that the birds were lingering over an area with an army ant bivouac, perhaps waiting for the ants (which tend to be active only in the heat of the day) to start rampaging around the forest floor. Plain-brown and Northern Barred Woodcreepers, Bicolored and Spotted (quite a snazzy bird) Antbirds, Black-crowned and Fasciated Antshrikes and Grey-headed Tanagers all showed well here. Up in the canopy we teased out a remarkably confiding Green Shrike-Vireo as well as foraging Cinnamon, Crimson-crested and Black-cheeked Woodpeckers, and our first Northern Plain Xenops. A single tiny Moustached Antwren was here too, zipping about in the canopy like a hyperactive yellow ping-pong ball. 

This opening stretch of the road also gave us our first trogons, with a pair of Gartered and several Slaty-tailed sitting up in the midstory. After a mid-morning snack and restroom break, we headed past the gate, pausing to admire a hungry horde of small fish (mostly Panamanian Tetras) that were quite content to demolish some proffered bits of sandwich. Just after the gate we were thrilled by lengthy views of a trio of Squirrel Cuckoos and a pair of White-tailed Trogons that had found a huge conglomeration of caterpillars to dine on for breakfast. The morning stayed sunny, and by ten thirty or so the bird activity had markedly declined. We spent some time driving further in, stopping wherever we detected some signs of birdlife. Before stopping for a picnic lunch we encountered a few noteworthy species including a pair of small woodcreepers that are quite rare along Pipeline Road. The first one, Wedge-billed Woodcreeper, is a species that we normally only see around the higher forests near the canopy lodge, and was another write-in for the trips cumulative list (which stretches back over 15 trips now). The second species was Long-tailed Woodcreeper (recently split and given the new name of Piping Woodcreeper). This species is scarce along Pipeline, and generally occurs further in on the Caribbean side of the continental divide. We were also happy to spot both Broad-billed and Rufous Motmots, a family group of Purple-throated Fruitcrows and a cooperative pair of Song Wren. During our picnic lunch we could hear a distant Great Jacamar calling, and with a bit of playback the bird eventually came in to the road. We hastily put our sandwiches down and were soon drinking in the sights of this handsome emerald-green, bronze and chestnut bird as it glittered in the sun. We declared it to be a most excellent dining companion! From our lunch spot we walked on as far as the Rio Limbo bridge, stopping to admire an array of butterflies and dragonflies that were active in the midday heat as well as a few additional bird species such as a gleaming White Hawk that was perched in the understory with outstretched wings and a pair of diminutive Pied Puffbirds up in the canopy.  

By mid-afternoon we started back towards Gamboa, finding much of the road fairly quiet as we slowly motored along. Back near the gate we paused to admire a family of Yellow-backed Orioles that were bouncing around a tree just over the road. Here too we encountered a half-dozen Greater Anis in somewhat atypical habitat (it’s a species of wetlands and riverine forests rather than closed canopy forest). For the remainder of the afternoon, we visited a small marina along the banks of the Chagres River. Here we teased up a busy flock of more open-country and edge forest birds, picking up our first Chestnut-sided Warbler, Golden-fronted Greenlet, Panama Flycatcher and Thick-billed Euphonia, a pair of Collared Aracaris and some passing Giant Cowbirds. Along the little side channel of the Chagres we spent a bit of time watching Lesser and Greater Kiskadees as they hunted along the grassy edges. An impressively large American Crocodile was here too, putting on a show as it devoured the remains of a foot-long fish. We capped the day off with a views of an immature Snail Kite sitting out in the marshes and a few perched Mangrove Swallows sitting on the boats in the marina.  

Our day-trip to the north coast of the Canal Zone never fails to entertain, and is often the most diverse day of the tour. We rose early and headed north, eventually skirting the rather industrial city of Colon, and spotting a pair of perched Collared Doves and a single House Sparrow up on wires. Our normal bathroom stop was unfortunately closed due to some plumbing issues, but at another nearby station we accomplished our ablutions and were treated to views of a perched Bat Falcon on an adjacent billboard. We then crossed over the canal on the newly finished and quite impressive Atlantic Bridge. This suspension bridge is over two miles long and over 500 meters high and from the top we could see both the old and new lochs in operation. With the completion of the bridge there has been a marked increase in repair and development of roads and facilities on the western side of the canal; with the National Park receiving much of the attention with a new visitors center, lots of new signage and a much improved road.  

The new roads continued past the dam, which allowed us to get to our birding site near the little town of Achiote in good time. We started with a bit of birding in one of the small fincas that has sprung up along the road edge (unfortunately a more and more common sight these days). At least for now the owners had left a lot of the largest trees standing, and we were kept occupied by a nice mixed flock here for several minutes. Most of the birds were migrants, with Tennessee Warbler being particularly abundant. Here we found our first perched Mealy Parrots, a single Canada Warbler and some excellent views of a pair of Fulvous-vented Euphonias, with a couple of Thick-billed nearby for comparison. We then spent a heady two hours slowly walking along the main road, where we found a lot of activity along the forested northern edge of the road. It’s hard to pick out favorites when you encounter so many species at once, but our views of perched White-tailed and Slaty-tailed Trogons, Purple-throated Fruitcrows (with the males claret throat showing perfectly in the morning sun), perched Purple-crowned Fairy and perky Cinnamon Becards were all strong contenders. In the thickets along the road edge we teased out a pair of uncharacteristically cooperative Bay Wrens that actually sat out on some open vies for long enough for a short photo shoot. This boisterous but usually secretive species defies the normal brown tones of most of the family, exchanging them for burnt orange, copper, black and white. A bit further down we heard the slow ringing tones of a Bare-crowned Antbird, and incredibly, within a minute or so had this generally scarce and visually arresting bird in the scope! The male lingered for a minute or two, with its trademark sky-blue crown glowing in the shadows of a Heliconia thicket before bounding off back into the vegetative depths. This marked only the second time we have encountered this species on our fall tower tour! Another small mixed flock a bit later in the morning contained a nice array of flycatchers including Yellow-olive Flatbill, Mistletoe Tyrannulet and Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet, as well as a pair of the dazzlingly bright Golden-hooded Tanagers and a single male Shining Honeycreeper. We found Nearctic migrants and wintering birds to be quite prevalent during the walk as well, with an array of warblers including our first Mourning Warbler, Baltimore and Orchard Oriole, Eastern Wood-Pewees and Summer Tanagers. After a couple of hours on the main road we reached the parked bus to have a mid-morning snack, accompanied by a couple of Southern House Wrens, chattering Orange-chinned Parakeets, a distant soaring White-collared Swift and an imperious pair of Boat-billed Flycatchers.  

After our snack break we spent a further hour or so walking down the dead-end Providencia Road, which meanders along the base of a largely forested ridge, with a few overgrown fields and some houses along the road. It is often a bird-rich walk, and this year we were not at all disappointed. A few months prior to our visit Jorge had located a single Barred Puffbird (the first sighting for the immediate region) and when we tried a bit of playback the bird appeared again on cue, this time with a partner! This large brown and white puffbird is typically found only in the Darien region of the country, with just a handful of reports this far west. It’s a husky bird, armed with an impressively thick bill and baleful yellow eye, and judging by the host of smaller birds that seemed intent on mobbing the pair of puffbirds as they sat out on some bare limbs it would seem that the locals are not terribly happy about their new neighbors. Near the end of the road we found an excellent mixed flock which contained a pair of Pacific Antwrens. The male is striking, a study in white and black and striped all over but it was the female that really got the cameras clicking away, with her apricot-coloured head and lightly streaked body making for a very smart-looking bird. In a dense tangle across the road, we found a pair of Isthmian Wrens (a recent split from the old Plain Wren complex) that uncharacteristically came up into the treetop and then popped out into the open several times. Here too was a good-looking Chestnut-sided Warbler, our first White-winged Becard and an excellent comparison of Golden-headed and Lesser Greenlets. The open field at the end of the road captured our attentions as well, with perched Red-breasted Meadowlark and Northern Tropical Pewee along the fenceline and a distant Fork-tailed Flycatcher out in the field amongst the snoozing cattle. Here too was a handsome Savannah Hawk circling over the road. This large raptor is closely related to the Black-Hawks, but instead of their staid black and gray tones is clad in bright rufous feathers, with a striking black tail band and trailing edge to the wings. Our final stop around Achiote was at a small café in town, where in addition to the use of their bathrooms we were treated to an impromptu feeder stop when the owners put a banana out on a feeding table. Almost immediately a swarm of colour appeared, with a half-dozen Red-legged Honeycreepers, a male White-lined Tanager and a few Clay-coloured Thrushes all vying for the best bits of fruit. Under the feeding table lurked a couple of bare-necked chickens (a breed particular to Panama, and one that usually elicits varying evaluations with regard to beauty) and some large Ameiva lizards.  

Leaving the Achiote Road behind we headed back east, stopping along the top of the earthen dam that forms Gatun Lake to look at a hunting American Kestrel and a nice mix of perched swallows before dropping down below the spillway to have a picnic lunch along the banks of the Chagres River. The riverbank was productive, with lots of foraging Gray-breasted Martin and Mangrove Swallows, Common Black-Hawk and Osprey, our only visible Yellow-throated Toucan of the trip, perched Belted and flyby Green Kingfishers for company as we enjoyed our meal. After lunch we passed by the rest of the canal zone lochs, stopping to look at the huge container ships that were being guided around by tugs, or floating up or down in the multi-chambered loch system. It’s truly an amazing operation, and the lifeblood of the entire economy of the country. In the afternoon we drove out to the picturesque Fort San Lorenzo, perched on a bluff at the mouth of the Chagres River. On the drive out we stopped to look at a White-necked Puffbird (amazingly our fifth species of puffbird for the tour) that was sitting up on a roadside wire. Once at the fort we walked out to take in the atmospheric surroundings. From the top of the old ramparts we scoped a very distant Brown Booby, and spotted foraging Sandwich and Royal Terns and a few Brown Pelicans and Neotropic Cormorants out over the sparkling Caribbean. A couple of flocks of Cattle and Great Egrets were slowly powering along the coast, and at one point we located a little flock of Blue-winged Teal that rather surprisingly put down well off the coast, bobbing around in the ocean like a little raft of tropical eiders. The trees around the fort proved productive as well, with excellent views of a male Sapphire-throated Hummingbird, and quick views of a male Garden Emerald that were feeding in some small tubular orange flowers that were growing on the unimproved sections of the fort walls. By scanning the distant trees along the river we picked up two perched Peregrine Falcons, and an impressively large (and orange) male Green Iguana. Our last stop for the day was along the dense mangroves near the old American army base at Fort Sherman where we initially found the conditions rather quiet, but by walking a bit down the road managed to enjoy lengthy views of a male Black-tailed Trogon, and a wonderfully perched Streaked Flycatcher that was sitting just a foot or two off the ground. We then headed back to the tower, passing through some rather heavy rain bursts along the way. Happily though the rains and subsequent fog tapered off while we were enjoying dinner, which enabled us to get out for a night drive down the Semaphore Hill Road. The drive was productive, with two Great Potoos spotlit as they perched on the forest edge, a single Common Pauraque sitting on the road just a few feet off the back of our vehicle and a cooperative Common Opossum that stared back at us from its chosen viny perch.  

We commenced the next days’ birding again atop the tower, this time enjoying a sunnier morning with excellent visibility over central canal zone. Perhaps due to the generally wet conditions over the prior month none of the usual fruiting trees near the tower were in fruit (as they usually are in November). This meant that we never encountered a close mixed flock busily devouring berries just off the tower roof. Not all was lost though, as with the clear skies we could readily scan the more distant ridges. By doing so we picked up a foraging White-tailed Deer (an odd sighting from a forest canopy tower), two perched Capped Herons, excellent views of Red-lored, Blue-headed and passing Brown-hooded Parrots, both Scaled and Pale-vented Pigeons and several vociferous Keel-billed Toucans. A few new species for our trip popped into view as well, with a single Merlin sitting in a bare tree, a diminutive but quite colourful Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher flitting about the tower trees and a migrant Olive-sided Flycatcher perched up on a tall snag. 

 After breakfast, we set off to the bottom of the hill for a walk down the Plantation Road, a gravel and mud road that heads vaguely north through Soberania National Park over gently rolling terrain and largely paralleling a small and pretty creek with the occasional pool or waterfall. The humid and still conditions kept the beginning part of the trail fairly quiet, but as we walked further in the sun again began to appear, and bird activity quickly picked up. At one particularly open patch of understory we could see across the small creek to the adjacent slope where a nice mix of birds was following a fairly dispersed army ant swarm. From our vantage point we could detect Northern Barred, Cocoa and Plain-brown Woodcreepers as they clambered about on tree limbs just a few feet above the ground. Here too were a few Gray-headed Tanagers, our only Chestnut-backed Antbirds (an attractive species, with a chestnut back, black body and pale blue orbital ring) of the trip and a calmly sitting White-whiskered Puffbird. Nearby we were alerted to the presence of a Scaly-throated Leaftosser when it cried out its piercing descending rattle. It took only a minute or two before we located the bird above the trail in a somewhat open section of the forest floor. It’s an amazingly camouflaged bird, closely mimicking the colour of the adjacent wet leaves and dark brown earth. Unfortunately, it went back upslope before everyone could pick it out from the shadows. The trail was productive for larger and brighter birds too, with Slaty-tailed and Northern Black-throated Trogons (our fifth and final species of possible Trogon in the area), excellent views of male Velvety and Red-capped Manakins, sitting Broad-billed Motmots and a few Cinnamon and Crimson-crested Woodpeckers. Near the end of our walk our attentions were diverted by a vocal group of Black-chested Jays that were foraging along the creek below the trail. We stayed with them for a while, but with the dense undergrowth largely blocking our sight lines only a few people managed excellent views of entire birds, with most seeing their unique wide creamy-white tail band as they moved from tree to tree. The jays were travelling with a small group of Caciques (both Yellow-rumped and Scarlet-rumped), as well as a pair of Masked Tityra and a few Yellow-backed Orioles. Once back at the parking lot we were treated to an especially welcome find when the park guard showed us a Northern Silky Anteater that he had found just a few meters into the woods. These tiny sandy-gold mammals are incredibly hard to come across; spending their days tightly rolled up in a ball and generally well tucked into vine or leaf tangles. We were able to get quite close, seeing the creatures delicate hands, long fuzzy tail and even the tip of its pink snout as it remained snoozing in an eye-level fairly open vine tangle. This marked only the second encounter we have had with this species in 40 tours to Panama! At the small bridge at the bottom of Semaphore Hill we at last determined the status of a large Boa Constrictor that we had initially found on our first morning. Sadly the snake (probably 3 meters long and 20-25 pounds) was dead; it can be remarkably hard to tell with motionless snakes sometimes! The bridge produced its usual Lesser White-lined Bats under the support beams though, and a few participants were also pleased with an iridescent skipper along the road edge which proved to be a Glorious Blue-Skipper, and by a large fishing spider that was sitting out on the mid-stream boulders. 

 For the afternoon we elected to visit the Old Gamboa Road and Summit Ponds which are tucked behind the sprawling border police training facility. This diverse area centers around a pair of small forested lakes, but also includes open grasslands, viny dry forests, and scattered parkland with large emergent trees over a dense grassy understory. The walk from the parking area to the beginning of the trail was productive, with excellent views of Yellow-headed Caracaras, some foraging Northern Waterthrushes dancing along a roadside ditch, perched Southern Rough-winged Swallows displaying their trademark rufous throats, and some almost tame Tropical Kingbirds that followed us along the road. At the small lakes we located some impressively large Meso-American Sliders, two perched Boat-billed Herons that were sitting amongst the vegetation lining the pond. Often, they are quite tucked into the overhanging palms but on this occasion two birds were right out in the open, showing off their curiously wide ridged bills. While scanning the edges of the pond we picked out perched Amazon and American Pygmy Kingfishers, a few Green Herons, a quietly sitting Muscovy Duck and a couple of Prothonotary Warblers. In the tall trees lining the back of the lake we scoped some more cooperative Black-chested Jays that were creeping through a large palm thicket. We were even treated to the rather curious sight of a half-grown Spectacled Caiman that was slowly swimming across the middle of the lake with a large leaf stuck over most of its head. This gave it an odd profile, perhaps evidence of a new camouflage-based hunting strategy?

 Leaving the ponds behind we walked further down the trail, actually the remnants of the original road between Panama City and Gamboa, and after a few hundred meters came out of the woods to a more cleared area with dense grasses and sprawling open canopy trees. Just before reaching the grassy section, we spotted a quietly foraging pair of Dusky Antbird just a little off the trail. Once out in the more open forest we successfully tracked down a pair of calling Jet Antbirds, although they gave us a merry chase before finally settling down in a thick vine tangle. Nearby we had a quick look at a Yellow-billed Cacique as it popped up into some dense shrubs. This all-black species is furtive, and dwells in dense grasses and thickets in the understory or around wetlands, making it a quite different animal to its arboreal and generally showy cousins. A little mixed flock of migrants kept us entertained here as well, with good views of Chestnut-sided Warbler, a brief, locally scarce Blackpoll Warbler, two Mourning Warblers and a couple of residents including more Black-chested Jays, Purple-crowned Fairy, Forest Elaenia and Fasciated Antshrike. By this point in our walk the clouds had closed in and even though it was still mid-afternoon the day felt like it was drawing to a close. We kept going a bit further though, reaching the end of the accessible part of the trail where a strong storm in 2020 had washed out the trailbed, leaving the remnants of a rocky stream and some high banks. Here we enjoyed close views of a couple of Emerald-patched Cattlehearts (a showy species of swallowtail butterfly) and a little party of Dot-winged Antwrens moving overhead. We walked back in very light drizzle, picking up perched Ringed and Green (giving us an incredible 4 Kingfisher afternoon) Kingfishers around the ponds and a single female Red-throated Ant-Tanager lurking in the undergrowth near the gate. 

 Our final full day of the trip we left the tower early on an all-day excursion, heading south and then a bit east, to the delightfully cool mid-elevation sites of Cerro Azul and Cerro Jefe, not too far from the international airport. It’s a bit of a drive around Panama City and then up to the nearly 3000ft heights of the ridgeline, but the change in habitat and wealth of birds definitely makes it worthwhile. Once we reached the controlled access housing development that covers much of the higher reaches of the mountain, we had to make a brief stop at the office to take care of entrance fees and use the facilities. The mountain ridges were bathed in fog, making visibility tough at times, but during our stop we picked up our first Black-and-White Warbler and Yellow-faced Grassquits and a nice mix of by now more familiar species off the back deck. We then headed a bit further uphill, checking out the base of Cerro Jefe, but given the cloud and breeze we decided to save that site for later, opting instead to descend a bit and change slopes in an effort to improve the weather conditions. This worked an absolute treat, and we spent an excellent couple of hours birding down the Romeo and Juliet Road, where we were out of the clouds and orthographic winds. Here we spent the morning walking along the paved road, passing a mix of mansions and dilapidated sheds, undeveloped lots that were still covered in montane forest and the occasional sweeping view of the fully forested ridges below us. As is often the case in montane environments much of the avifauna is concentrated in mixed feeding flocks, where neotropical migrant warblers join tropical tanagers and flycatchers in often noisy little traveling parties. Shortly after starting our walk, we noted a group of Palm and Crimson-backed Tanagers sitting on the roof of one of the houses. While looking at them the homeowner came out and threw a couple of bananas on the lawn. Within seconds a swarm of birds descended to dine on the proffered bounty, sitting about on the bright green grass oblivious to our presence. Among the more common species was a pair of Speckled Tanagers; a truly gaudy study in lime-green, white and yellow and liberally covered with fine black dots. It’s a species that we don’t see here every year, and one that is usually up on the upper ridges, diving in and out of thick fruiting tree canopies. Since we had some bananas of our own, we decided to try ourselves, putting a few open fruits on a large roadside log closer to the forest edge. This was unbelievably effective, and we enjoyed point-blank views of the Speckled Tanagers as well as a host of other birds including Rufous Motmot, Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Thick-billed Euphonia, Summer Tanager, Black-cheeked Woodpecker and Blue-gray, Palm, Crimson-backed and Plain-colored Tanagers. Of particular interest to many were our first Hepatic Tanagers, here of the very distinctive highland subspecies that scarcely resembles the northern birds that reach the US and is surely an excellent candidate for full species status. Here too we were alerted to the presence of a pair of Stripe-cheeked Woodpeckers that called from the tall pines over the road. Incredibly the male came right down to near eye-level, lingering for a half-hour or so and presenting unparalleled photographic opportunities. This is a scarce denizen of Panamanian foothill forests and our first endemic species for the trip. It’s an attractive woodpecker, clad in an olive suit with a nicely patterned front, bronzy wings and mantle and a bright red crown, and one that we see on only about half of our visits to Cerro Azul. Eventually things calmed down a bit, and we headed a bit further down the road, picking up our first (and only) Streaked Saltator, a couple of wintering American Redstarts, a female Golden-collared Manakin grabbing small fruits from a roadside shrub, a foraging Northern Plain Xenops, perky Chestnut-capped Warblers and a few groups of stunning Golden-hooded and Bay-headed Tanagers. Some light rain then began to fall so we headed back to the office and set up a snack break on the deck, staying happily dry and stuffed full of coffee cake while we waited for the brief shower to abate. We then headed over to another dead-end road in the development, slowly walking out to the end and enjoying a few new species such as Mistletoe Tyrannulet, Velvety and White-ruffed Manakins, a very tame male Crowned Woodnymph that was seemingly sampling every flower in a large porterweed shrub in turn, a tiny Violet-headed Hummingbird and some Gray-headed Chachalacas that were bouncing around on the edge of the road. 

 We spent the remainder of the morning and beginning of the afternoon on the back back porch of a house owned by a pair of ex-pat Americans with a long relationship with the Canopy Tower staff. With comfortable seats and a panoramic view of their nearly twenty feeders it made for an ideal respite in the midday. Within just minutes of our arrival, we realized just how many hummingbirds one could fit onto a feeder. We estimated that 50-80 birds were visible at any given time, often zipping in and out right between us as we watched. Apparently, the owners were going through an impressive 4-5 gallons of sugar water daily, a testament to just how many birds were using the feeders! The diversity here was impressive, and in about a ninety-minute vigil (and over a sumptuous lunch) we tallied Crowned Woodnymph, Green and Long-billed Hermits, pugnacious Bronze-tailed and White-vented Plumeleteers, Blue-chested, Rufous-tailed, and nearly uncountable numbers of Snowy-bellied and Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds and White-necked Jacobins! We also were very happy to locate a single female Violet-capped Hummingbird that was perched on a small vine just off the deck. Although not as colourful as the glittering-green males her purplish tail and small size helped to separate her from the masses of more common hummingbirds. This is a generally scarce species that is virtually endemic to a few locations in Panama (with a tiny population in extreme Northwestern Colombia). In addition to the hummingbird species, we had an excellent showing of honeycreepers, with a simply absurd number of Shining, a few Red-legged and Green all crowding in at the feeders and perching on nearby brancges. The owners of the house also put out cooked rice and bananas at separate feeders just off the back deck. At those feeders we studied multicoloured Bay-headed Tanagers, a nice comparison of Thick-billed and Fulvous-vented Euphonias, some pugnacious little Yellow-faced Grassquits, Rufous Motmot, Swainson’s Thrush and both Hepatic and Summer Tanagers. The show was simply amazing, with birds constantly whirling around in a festival of colour and noise in virtually every direction. Here too we were treated to a single Capuchin Monkey that was intent on reaching the feeder arrays as well (though our hosts were equally determined to discourage it due to the monkeys’ propensity for destruction). It was difficult to pull ourselves away from such a birding paradise, but eventually we did; full of some delicious lemon chicken and wild rice, and with little space remaining on our camera cards.  

Our final birding stop up on the mountain was back at the base of Cerro Jefe, where we spent another hour or so birding the four-by-four road that takes off from the end of the pavement. This track starts out several hundred feet higher than much of the housing development, and winds through patches of thick and dwarfed cloudforest as it climbs up to the top of the ridge. It was substantially less foggy, but still somewhat windy here, but our slow and careful pace up the road produced a trio of Carmiol’s Tanagers, a few more Golden-hooded Tanagers and a placidly sitting Acadian Flycatcher. Near the end of the flat section near the beginning of the trail we could hear Bicolored Antbirds calling from a dense thicket just off the road. We managed fairly good views, but within a few minutes of searching realized that the birds were feeding over an active army ant swarm, and that the swarm had also attracted a group of Ocellated Antbirds! The Ocellated is arguably the most attractively patterned species of antbird in the world. It’s a big species, clad in coppery-brown feathers with large dark centers, giving the back a highly patterned mosaic of scales. On top of this gaudy pattern, the bird sports a large and bright blue patch of bare skin around the eyes offsetting a black face and throat, and an almost orange chest. We rarely encounter this species around Cerro Azul, and over the last few years have been seeing them with a lower frequency around the Pipeline Road (likely due to the persistent drought reducing their food base in leaf litter or depressing ant activity). It took some doing to get everyone views, with the best vantage point several feet into the thicket (and space for only one or two people to look at a time), but eventually we succeeded. This was a great species to end our day up on the mountain with, so after a brief stop back at the office we drove back down to the coast, where we arrived at the top of Panama Bay on an ebbing high tide and were able to spend forty minutes or so working through the masses of foraging waders arrayed in front of us. 

Panama Bay is a RAMSAR-designated shorebird site that supports well over a million birds during migration and several hundred thousand throughout the winter months. Although almost all of the species here are familiar to most North American birders, the abundance of birdlife here is often spectacular. We worked our way slowly through the masses of shorebirds, scoping Black-necked Stilt, Willet, Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers, Southern Lapwing, Whimbrel, Short-billed Dowitchers, Spotted Sandpipers and Semipalmated and Western Sandpipers in turn, and picking out a few less numerous birds such as Ruddy Turnstone, Lesser Yellowlegs and Least Sandpiper. Apart from the shorebirds there were many other species to keep us busy, with an incredible seven species of herons including Yellow-crowned Night-Herons and our first Tricoloured and Cocoi Heron. The last is a species that is very similar in size and structure to our more familiar Great Blue, but one that dresses in a much smarter white, black and grey plumage. The central canal zone is about as far west into North America that one can find this species, which effectively replaces Great Blue throughout South America. Some other species of interest here included our first White Ibis, a Wood Stork, migrant Franklin’s Gulls and a small flock of Blue-winged Teal. At one point a young Peregrine Falcon appeared on the scene, scattering thousands of birds in all directions as it made repeated passes in front of us and occasionally tried its luck with a steep dive down towards the mudflats. Rather amusingly the flock of teal tucked underneath a protective blanked of Stilts, slowly swimming through the waders’ spindly legs for cover. We headed back to the tower, with our driver selecting an excellent, if convoluted, route which allowed us to avoid most of the (often unbelievably bad) Panama City traffic and see some of the downtown core and colonial center of the city. We arrived a bit later than we had hoped due to the traffic, but in plenty of time for a relaxed dinner on the banks of the canal. I want thank this year’s wonderful participants and our local leader Jorge, for making this such a rewarding and bird-rich tour. I look forward to many more trips to this dynamic and rich country in the coming years.

-          Gavin Bieber

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