Panama, Panama, Panama

Panama: Gamboa, Chiriquí and The Darien

Greetings Everyone!

I have just return from Panama where I spent 2-weeks birding and traveling in Gamboa and the Darien. It was awesome and we had a great group of fun birders! The trip list was 299 bird species. We saw 29 different species of raptors and 20 different species of hummingbirds.

Fall Raptor Migration Tours: On the last trip in November 2022, we saw 269 different species of birds in 8-days. This tour was during peak fall migration for raptors. We spent a couple of days at the Hawkwatch station atop Ancon Hill in Panama City. It was amazing to watch thousands of raptors fly by on their way to South America. This year at Ancon Hill, 1.4 million raptors were counted, seriously, so don't miss fall 2023 migration! Raptors for fall 2022 that were seen and counted include: Turkey Vultures, Swainson's Hawks, Broad-winged Hawks, Osprey, Mississippi Kites, and Peregrine Falcons, (1.4 million of just those species), and these numbers are low compared to previous years. In past years, they have counted as many as 2 million raptors migrating through Panama.

I have added more Panama dates for 2023 and 2024. You can check out the details of those trips by clicking here: Panama Birding and Wildlife Tours. These trips are all back to back, which will enabled you to sign up for multiple trips together to see more of Panama and more birds! There is a discounted price for signing up for multiple trips.

Click here to view the webpages:

Gamboa

Chiriquí

The Darien

Upcoming Panama Dates for 2023:

Gamboa and the Darien (10 days) March 22 - 31st
Gamboa (8 days) October 28 - November 4th, (Peak Raptor Migration)
The Darien (7 days) November 4 - 10th (Raptor Tour)
Chiriquí Cloudforest (9 days) November 10 - 18th
Gamboa (8 days) November 18 - 25th
Chiriquí (9 days) November 25 - December 3rd

Upcoming Panama Dates for 2024:

The Darien and Gamboa (16 days) January 25 - February 9th
Chiriquí Cloudforest (9 days) February 9 - 17th
Gamboa (8 days) February 17 - 24th

Group Size: 7 travelers, plus guides
Price range from: $3,650 - $5,350 per person double occupancy
Rates include: Domestic transfers, lodging, breakfast, lunch, dinner, scheduled group tours, park entrance fees and basic travel insurance.
Not included: International airfare, customs & immigration fees and visas, alcohol, trip cancellation insurance.
Adventure level: Easy for the Gamboa, moderate for the Darien (due to heat and humidity), and moderate for Chiriquí (due to higher elevations), please check the “Welcome” page for definitions.

Special offer: Included with your trip (one per room) is a copy of the field guide “The Birds of Panama” by George Angehr and Robert Dean. You will receive this when you reserve your trip so you will have time to study and know the beautiful birds of Panama.

Recommended Reading: The complete history of the Panama Canal, written by David McCullough and titled "The Paths Between the Sea". It is excellent, and everything you ever wanted to know about the 400 hundred year history of people who dreamed, attempted, and built the Panama Canal. The book was published in 1977 and so ends just before the time that President Jimmy Carter negotiated the Torrijos-Carter Treaty, which was ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1978 and gave the Panamanian government control of the canal. The book weighs about 3 pounds, seriously, it doesn't travel well, so read it before you travel to Panama.

Below is a video from 2022 that I took with my cell phone through the scope.

This male Harpy Eagle was sitting above the nest, overlooking a young chick. The eagle was there for about an hour, and then flew away. Check out the neck rotation of this bird!

Kaiyote Tours Harpy Eagle The Darien Panama

Printable Bird List

(This is a checklist of the birds that we have seen on this trip)

Animals we have seen: Four species of monkeys (Golden-mantled Howler, Geoffroy's Tamarin, Panamanian Night Monkey, Spider Monkey), Anteaters (Northern Tamandua and Giant Anteater), both 2-toed and 3-toad sloths, Coati, Crab-eating Raccoon, Agouti, Panama slender opossum, Rufous soft-furred spiny-rat, Red-tailed squirrel, Variegated squirrel, and Capybara. Many of the mammals will have babies. We see many reptiles and amphibians including the Spectacled Caiman and the American Crocodile.

If you would like to see photos from a photographer who was on a previous trip,

please click here:

Ersten Imaoka's Photo Album