Arrival at Tocumen International Airport (PTY)

ARRIVAL, ORIENTATION, DINNER

Upon arrival at the airport, we will take a shuttle to the Riande Airport Hotel, where you can explore the grounds & gardens to start your Panama birding adventure, or relax poolside.

Dinner & Night at Riande Airport Hotel.

Sleep in, or get up early to bird the hotel grounds before breakfast.

After breakfast, we will be met by our driver who will bring us to Canopy Tower.

PM: ARRIVAL, ORIENTATION & CANOPY TOWER OBSERVATION DECK.

Located at the top of Semaphore Hill in the rainforest of Soberanía National Park, the tower has stunning views and wildlife.  A member of the staff will greet us as we arrive at the Tower, and we will be provided with an orientation on the use of the facilities. As your luggage is being ferried to your room, we will have lunch at the Tower.  We will also spend some time on the stunning Observation Deck. The view from the platform provides some incredible Panamanian birding opportunities! Here, you get a unique eye-level perspective of the rainforest canopy. Many birds in the rainforest, including toucans, parrots, tanagers of various species, hawks, and dozens of others, as well as monkeys, two species of sloth, and other mammals are commonly seen. From this vantage point you can also see ships transiting the Panama Canal, the majestic Centennial Bridge, and miles of rainforest!  You may also want to watch the hummingbird feeders at the base of the Tower for Long-billed Hermit, White-necked Jacobin, Violet-bellied & Blue-chested Hummingbirds and White-vented Plumeleteer.  Occasionally, a Snowy-bellied Hummingbird is spotted! 

After lunch we may start exploring Soberanía National Park by taking a pleasant walk down Semaphore Hill Road.  This winding, shady paved road, festooned on its shoulders by wildflowers of many types, is a little more than a mile long and crosses a large creek about half-way down. There are some incredible Panama birding opportunities here, including birds from the forest interior as well as edge-dwellers. Olivaceous Flatbill, Plain Xenops, Black-breasted & White-whiskered Puffbirds, Fasciated & Black-crowned Antshrikes, Slate-colored Grosbeak, Bay-headed & White-shouldered Tanagers, Black-throated & Slaty-tailed Trogons, Broad-billed & Rufous Motmots and even Great Jacamar may be found. Great Tinamou is often heard but harder to see.  This road is also great for raptors, such as White, Tiny & Great Black Hawks. During migration it’s easy to see more than 10 species of warbler in one morning. Afterwards we will return to enjoy a delicious dinner and night at the CANOPY TOWER.

AM: CANOPY TOWER DECK & GROUNDS

PM: AMMO DUMP PONDS & ENVIRONS (15 MIN. FROM CANOPY TOWER)

After lunch we head to the Ammo Dump Ponds; they are located just past Gamboa on the way to the Pipeline Road. It is the best place to see the elusive White-throated Crake, as well as a host of other waterbirds. Rufescent Tiger-Heron, Wattled Jacana, and Purple Gallinule are common, and Least Grebe and American Pygmy-Kingfisher are also resident. In this area we also may find Greater Ani, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Whooping Motmot (recent split from Blue-crowned), Southern Lapwing, Anhinga, Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet, Scrub Greenlet, Lesser Kiskadee, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Panama, Social & Rusty-margined Flycatchers, and even Olivaceous Piculet! Panama birding is excellent here, and you’ll definitely add to your impressive list of birds!

Dinner and night at CANOPY TOWER.

After breakfast we board the ‘Birdmobile’ or ‘El Tinamu’, both open-air safari-style vehicles, that take you to the Pipeline Road, the best place in Central Panama to find forest birds and one of the premier birding spots in the world! This morning we will concentrate our efforts at the beginning of Pipeline, where we will look for Greater Ani, Gray-cowled Wood-Rail, Yellow-tailed Oriole, Masked Tityra, Rosy Thrush-Tanager, Isthmian (formerly Plain) Wren, Streaked Flycatcher, Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Squirrel Cuckoo, Gray-headed Chachalaca, Southern Bentbill, Forest Elaenia, Panama Flycatcher, Blue Ground Dove and Little Tinamou. Other birds recorded here are Black-bellied & Buff-breasted Wrens, Golden-collared Manakin, White-necked Puffbird, Gartered, Slaty-tailed, Black-throated, White-tailed & Black-tailed Trogons, Purple-crowned Fairy, Yellow Tyrannulet, White-bellied & Dusky Antbirds, Fasciated & Black-crowned Antshrikes, and many more.  During migration this entrance road is excellent for migrant warblers, flycatchers, grosbeaks and tanagers.

Lunch at CANOPY TOWER.

PM: SUMMIT PONDS /OLD GAMBOA ROAD (10 MIN. FROM CANOPY TOWER)

Old Gamboa Road and the associated ponds at Summit are great places to find Canal Zone birds. At Summit Ponds we will scan for Green, Striated, Capped & Boat-billed Herons as well as Green, Ringed, Amazon, Green-and-rufous (rare) & American Pygmy Kingfishers, which are all resident here!  We also seek out Rusty-margined & Streaked Flycatchers, Mangrove Swallow, Bat Falcon, Cocoa Woodcreeper and Lineated & Crimson-crested Woodpeckers.  Going straight past the two ponds you’ll be on Old Gamboa Road, one of the birdiest spots around. This road passes through a variety of habitats and has plenty of specialties, including Blue Ground Dove, Great Antshrike, Jet Antbird, Black-tailed & Royal Flycatchers, Lance-tailed & Golden-collared Manakins and the delightful Rosy Thrush-Tanager! We also will find species like White-bellied Antbird, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Yellow-backed Oriole, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Yellow-headed Caracara and more.  Also resident are Gray-headed Chachalaca, with Spectacled Owl a real possibility too, as the guides know where they often roost.  

Night & dinner at CANOPY TOWER.

March 16:

DEPARTURE

If time permits, after breakfast we  may have one last look from the Observation Deck. Then our shuttle will take us to the airport (less than an hour from the Canopy Tower) for return flights home, with awesome memories of birds, mammals, wildflowers, butterflies and everything else we experienced while birding in Panama!

Please note that this itinerary may change without prior notice due to weather, alterations in habitat or other conditions.