A visit to Panama provides the perfect introduction to tropical birding and a week at the very comfortable Canopy Tower is almost the best way to start. Our Ventures group of 14 almost filled the accommodations with only 2-3 other birders around and to start the day watching from the roof of the tower is a unique experience. With a cup of coffee in our hands, we started each morning scoping birds on the forest canopy and found both Keel-billed and Chestnut-billed Toucans, the brilliant Blue Cotinga, Semiplumbeous Hawk and great views of Green Shrike-Vireos. Most of the daily birding was done within easy reach of the tower, except for a full day excursion to Achiote Road in the Caribbean lowlands. Here a fruiting fig tree really brought in a great selection of birds including Gray-headed Chachalaca, both Yellow-backed and Yellow-tailed Orioles, and the near endemic White-headed Wren. Perhaps the best site of all was Pipeline Road - a 17 kilometer muddy track through the forest that offers some of the finest birding in the world. We made 2 visits to this wonderful place, the first in the morning and the second all day walking and driving through the wet and muddy conditions. But of course the birds made up for this and some of our best sightings included a very obliging Streak-breasted Antpitta, which treated us to very close views, a small ant swarm with 5 attendant Bicolored Antbirds and a striking Ocellated Antbird along with Ruddy Woodcreeper and a host of others. Our last day was spent looking for shorebirds in Panama City as a change from birding within the forests. Here we sifted through a mass of shorebirds finding Marbled Godwit, Red Knot and Sandwich Tern. While some folks birded, others shopped for local handicrafts followed by a most interesting visit to Miraflores Locks on the Panama Canal. Here a visit to the new museum helped us to understand what a tremendous undertaking it was to build this Canal. This whole week in the Panama Canal Zone was a most rewarding and very comfortable experience.

Savannah Hawk

Red-capped Manikin

Spotted Antbird

                               Ventures Birding Tours

Putting the fun back into Birding!
Bird Watching and Natural History Tours
P.O. Box 1095, Skyland, North Carolina 28776
Phone: 1.866.253.4247 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it