No need to wake-up early today. After a leisurely breakfast and a last look at the birds from the observation deck of the Canopy Tower, we'll board a comfortable a/c bus for the 2 hour ride to El Valle de Antón, also known as Crater Valley. We will spend three nights in this lovely village, nestled in the crater of an extinct volcano that exploded 5 million years ago. The resultant scenery is quite unique- a steep valley surrounded by jagged peaks and filled with flowers, streams and verdant forests. No wonder it is one of Panama's most popular getaways. If today is a Sunday, we will arrive in time to visit the "Sunday Market" when artisans come down from the surrounding mountains to sell their goods. The El Valle Sunday Market is considered one of the best supplied in the region. This will be an excellent opportunity to buy local handicraft directly from the "manufacturer." Prices are usually negotiable. There are ceramics, bateas (wooden trays), weaved baskets, hats, carved and painted totumas (cups made from squash) and trinkets made from acorn, as well as vegetables, fruits, ornamental plants, flowers and orchids. Our home for the next three days will be Canopy Lodge, sister company of the Canopy Tower, a charming small hotel built next to a lovely mountain stream and adjacent to the protected area of Cerro Gaital Natural Monument. In the gardens surrounding the lodge we can easily see species like the Crimson-backed, Blue-gray, Dusky-faced and Plain-colored Tanagers, Social Flycatcher, Ruddy-ground Dove, Barred Antshrike, Yellow-faced Grassquit, Rufous-tailed, Violet-capped Hummingbirds and Clay Colored Robin. After lunch, we will start birding the foothills by visiting the nearby Cariguana trail where we can expect to see some of the specialties of this rich avian region, for example: Lesser Elenia, Yellow-olive Flycatcher, Rosy Thrush Tanager, Rufous and White Wren and the Lance-tailed Manakin. Canopy Tower (B), Canopy Lodge (LD)

Today we will wake up early and go birding around the mountain trails surroun ding the crater where it is possible to find one of the most sought after species in neo-tropical birding: the Rufous-vented Ground Cuckoo. This area also offers frequent sightings of Emerald Toucanets, Orange-bellied Trogon, Spotted Barbtail, Common Bush Tanager, Black-faced Grosbeak, Rufous-capped Warbler, Gray-headed Kite, Tawny-capped Euphonia, White-tailed Emerald, Violet-headed Hummingbird and if we are lucky we might see a Scaled Antpitta and a Black-headed Antthrush.

After lunch, those who wish will also have the opportunity to experience The Canopy Adventure. A series of zip lines high in the canopy by which travelers can explore the rain forest using safe and modern climbing techniques. After an invigorating short climb to the top of the ridge through bird-rich forest, you strap in and soar through the treetops, where you see a wealth of unexpected natural beauty and activity. Swooping from platform to platform high among the sturdy cloud forest trees, you pass over the stream and waterfall not once, but twice.

The Canopy Adventure is located in a private refuge in the foothills above El Valle. The main attraction of this refuge is a beautiful 150 feet high waterfall called Chorro Macho; the birdlife and the flora are especially rich and diverse because the area has been a wildlife refuge for several years. The principle purpose of this refuge, apart from the obvious task of keeping the area free from poachers and loggers, has been to provide sustainable, nature-based employment to 10 young men who would otherwise be cutting down the forest through slash and burn agricultural methods in order to survive and raise their families. The refuge is a way to keep the forest ecosystem whole while providing much needed employment. Those who prefer not to do the Canopy Adventure can explore the trail around the waterfall where it is possible to see the Dull-mantled Antbird, Tawny-crested and Dusky-faced tanagers, Bananaquits, Green and Little Hermits as well as trogons and mot mots. Canopy Lodge (BLD)

Another day of birding in the foothills will take us early in the morning to the northern rim of the crater to explore the trails of the Chorro Macho private reserve. Some very special birds have been sighted here: the majestic White Hawk, the tiny Tody Motmot, the melodious Stripped Cuckoo and the elegant Sunbittern will be high in our list of target species as well as some colorful tanagers and honeycreepers like the Silver-throated, Golden-hooded and Bay-headed Tanagers, Blue Dacnis and Scarlet-thighed Dacnis. This trail will also offer good possibilities of seeing Brown-hooded and Blue-headed Parrots, Squirrel Cuckoo, Wedge-billed Woodcreeper, Black-chested Jay and Crimson-crested Woodpecker.

In the afternoon we will visit the private gardens of a local birder who maintains well-attended feeders attracting certain foothill specialties difficult to see otherwise; like the striking Flame-rumped Tanager and the rare White-lined Tanager. Other foothill species coming to the feeders are: Buff-throated Saltator, Black-striped Sparrow, Blue-crowned Motmot and Red-crowned Woodpecker. Perhaps the biggest highlight of this amazing birding spot is the huge colony of Chestnut-headed Oropendolas located in a group of Eucaliptus trees right next to the feeders. These magnificent birds come down to the feeders and dwarf the other participants of the feast. This is a great opportunity to take close-up pictures of a bird normally seen high in the trees. It is also fascinating to see the parasitic Giant Cowbirds sneaking in the long nests of the oropendolas to lay their eggs. Canopy Lodge (BLD)

Today we will have an early breakfast and travel outside El Valle to visit a patch of dry forest just one hour away near the small village of El Chiru. The contrast with the lush and wet foothi lls o f El Valle is dramatic. This habitat consists of relatively permanent growth of low and often straggly bushes and small trees with grass interspersed. It is a distinctive habitat of the Pacific lowlands and there is little of it left because most of the population in Panama has settled in the Pacific Coast. We will search for Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant, Crested Bobwhite, Rufous-browed Pepper Shrike, Brown-throated Parakeet, Blue Ground Dove, Fork-tailed Flycatcher and Pearl Kite among other feathered residents of this scarce scrubby area. Bird activity is high during the first few hours then it gets hot and it will be time to return to the much cooler foothills. We will have lunch back in the Canopy Lodge and afterwards we will bird the La Zamia Trail at the base of the Cerro Gaital Natural Monument. This is an easy, level trail in which the rare Rufous-vented Ground Cuckoo has been seen occasionally. We will also look for the Blue-crowned Mot Mot, Common Potoo, Sepia-capped Flycatcher, Little Tinamou and Gray-headed Chachalaca.

For those interested in Botany, it is worth noting that La Zamia trail is named after the rare and primitive genus of palm-like plants called Zamia of the order Cycadales. Some of these unusual and ancient fern-like dioecious plants with aerial or subterranean stems are found in this trail. Canopy Lodge (BLD)

After a leisurely breakfast and some last-minute-birding in the gardens surrounding the lodge, we will drive back to Panama City and catch our return flights home. Canopy Lodge (B)