PANAMA'S CANOPY
TOWER:
A WONDER OF THE BIRDING WORLD
by Victor Emanuel
Please note that all information is
current only until the date of the newsletter.
Even though I had seen Jeff Gordon's videotape and heard glowing reports
about Panama's Canopy Tower, I was not prepared for the moment when I
climbed the steps from the dining room that first night and emerged onto the
roof of this remodeled radar station. I felt as if I were coming up from the
confines of a ship. Instead of an expanse of ocean, what stretched away in the
darkness was tropical rainforest. The tops of 100-foot-high forest trees reached
just to our height. It was thrilling to finally be at the Canopy Tower, and to
look out over forest where I knew we would see many wonderful tropical birds in
the days ahead.
My first trip to Panama was in 1979. I quickly developed a tremendous
affection for this tiny country. I had never been to a place as birdy as Panama.
It was so lush, so tropical, and yet because of the extensive American presence,
good roads, safe food and water, and proximity to the U.S., it felt like home.
Over the next 10 years I spent many happy days in Panama and saw a marvelous
array of birds. Many of them were species I had never seen before. It was a joy
to bird Panama using my friend Bob Ridgely's superb book, A Guide to the
Birds of Panama.
Now, after an absence of almost 10 years, I was excited to be back,
co-leading our Panama tour with Barry Zimmer. Our tour was scheduled to spend
seven nights at the famous Canopy Tower Lodge.
Our first morning we were up on the roof at dawn. As we watched the light
come, we listened to the calls of three species of forest falcons. The staff
brought coffee and tea. Then we watched the show begin. A dazzling male Green
Honeycreeper perched in nearby cecropia. Soon it was replaced by a pair of Palm
Tanagers. Then, in rapid succession, a Bay-breasted Warbler, two Collared
Aracaris, a Keel-billed Toucan, and a Masked Tityra appeared. A Bright-rumped
Attila greeted the dawn with its loud calls while Broad-billed and Rufous
motmots called from inside the forest. Then someone spotted a small black bird
with an electric blue crown just 15 feet below us. Soon we were all looking down
at a Blue-crowned Manakin, a true gem of a bird. A little later Barry spotted a
tiny flycatcher in a nearby tree – a Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher. This is a
bird of the treetops that you are ordinarily looking up to see. Now we were
eye-level with this cute, colorful flycatcher. At 7:30 we reluctantly went down
for breakfast, but kept our binoculars handy since while eating we could look
out into the trees. Back on the roof we watched as hawks got up – a pair of
White Hawks, a Short-tailed Hawk, a few Broad-wings, a Great Black Hawk, a
Mississippi Kite, and a King Vulture. Then we walked slowly down the road
through the forest. It was a wonderful first morning, but it was only the
beginning.
In the days ahead we birded other areas near the Tower including the famous
Pipeline Road. Most of these areas were no more than 30 minutes from the Canopy
Tower. A few of our highlights were:
A pair of Green Shrike-Vireos sitting at eye-level in full sunlight.
A male Rosy Thrush-Tanager almost literally at our feet. We all felt the
color of its breast was unique in nature.
A pair of Spectacled Owls roosting in the forest.
Watching a Streak-chested Antpitta sing only 20 feet away.
Two army antswarms with attendant antbirds and woodcreepers.
Great views of toucans, puffbirds, motmots, and trogons.
An incredible never-to-be-forgotten sight – 20,000 Swainson's Hawks in the
air at once in five huge kettles that rose on thermals and then streamed away
toward the east and their wintering grounds in Argentina!
Marvelous looks at a pair of Great Jacamars just below our lodge.
A superb assortment of mammals including three and two-toed sloths, Central
American Mantled Howler Monkeys, Geoffroy's Tamarin, White-faced Capuchin,
Central American Woolly Opossum, Capybara, Agoutis, and Kinkajous.
I could go on and on describing the sights and sounds of this wonderful week,
but I want to conclude by telling you a little about Raúl Arias de Para,
the Panamanian businessman who created this unique lodge. Raúl is a wonderful
person who loves birds and nature. A bird course taught by the Panama Audubon
Society got him hooked on birds. As a member of the Panamanian Congress, he
was one of the leaders in the fight against the dictator, Noriega. He comes from
one of the oldest and most respected families in Panama. His grandfather was one
of the leaders of the movement to break away from Colombia in 1901.
The Canopy Tower is the fulfillment of Raúl's lifelong dream to work
in a field that would bring him into contact with nature and with people who
share his passion for the natural world. He is living his dream and in the
process is enabling many people to enjoy some of the best birding experiences of
their lives. Raúl brings the same dedication to his work as a lodge owner and
manager that he brought to his other careers in banking, real estate, and
politics. Every detail is attended to superbly, from super-clean hummingbird
feeders that attract seven species including the dazzling Violet-bellied and
Purple-crowned Fairy to spotlessly clean rooms and true gourmet meals using
recipes from his sister's cookbook.
If I were giving out ecotourism awards, the hands-down winner for 2000 would
be Raúl Arias and Panama's Canopy Tower. Of all the places I've visited
in Central and South America in the past 20 years, only Chan Chich Lodge in
Belize is as outstanding as the Canopy Tower. I'm proud that the first birding
group to stay at Panama's Canopy Tower was a VENT group.
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