Panama February 2024

Panama and The Chiriqui Highlands

Hello Fellow Travelers!

Today, I fly home from Taipei. I have spent the last 3-weeks traveling in Taiwan and it was awesome! We had tons of fun and saw 174 different species of birds. For many countries like Panama and Colombia, this would be a low count, but in Taiwan it is a lot of species. Taiwan now has 32 endemic species, and maybe as many as 50 or so endemic subspecies, and we see most of them on my tours. The next Taiwan tour will occur in March 2024 and there are 4-spots left. Click here for more info on Taiwan: Birding Taiwan

This past November, I spent a month in Panama. On October 30th, we witness over 68,000 raptors migrating over Panama City. This was the count from the Hawkwatch station on Ancon Hill. The raptors migrate over the city because of the excellent thermals rising from the urban area. It was 1-week earlier that we witness the massive migration over El Salvador and based on the estimated mileage that the birds cover each day, it was probably the same mass of birds coming through. Click here for more info about El Salvador: Birding El Salvador

I will be heading back to Panama in February. Below you will find info for 2024 dates.

Click here to view the webpages:

Gamboa

Chiriquí

The Darien

My local guide in Panama is "Nando" and he is what I call a birding savant. His ability to hear and find birds is astonishing. On this past trip, we had time to go birding on our own and did some exploring of new places. At one location, Nando said, "There's a bird from your country". I looked and it was an Ovenbird. I live in the western United States, and I have seen Ovenbirds only a few times in my life because they are an eastern species. This bird was a "Lifer" for Nando, it was such a cool experience to identify a bird for him. The main reason I knew the species was because when I was in El Salvador I saw an Ovenbird. I said to Nando, "Do you think it is the same bird?" and he said "probably" and we both laughed.

Upcoming Panama Dates for February 2024:

Gamboa Rainforest (10 days) February 4 - 13th spots left = 0
Darien Raptors (9 days) February 14 - 22nd spots left = 0
Chiriquí Cloudforest (9 days) February 23 - March 2nd spots left = 2

Dates for January and February 2025 will be posted soon!

Details for all tours:

Group Size: 6 travelers, plus guides
Price range from: $3,650 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

Gamboa Rainforest tour, birds we have seen: Gamboa Bird List

Darien Raptors tour, birds we have seen: Darien Bird List

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

More Photos below: Sometimes the newsletter is longer than what will appear in the email, and you will need to click on the "view entire message" icon to see all the photos.