Panama: The Land Between the Seas

March 8 - 18, 2026

Panama has been blessed with three of the most important ingredients for high biodiversity – location, location, and location.  In addition to being a physical and ecological link between North and South America, it is biogeographically rich with cool cloud forest, tropical deciduous forest, lowland rainforest, mangroves, beaches, and an abundance of rivers and streams, all of which contribute to a tremendous diversity of flora and fauna.

From the spoiled comfort of some of Panama’s finest accommodations – Gamboa Rainforest Resort and the Canopy Lodge – we’ll explore some of these habitats and their rich wildlife.  We’ll start with a trip to the surprisingly rich Metropolitan Nature Park - white-bellied and dusky antbirds, southern bentbill, slaty-tailed and gartered trogons, cocoa woodcreeper, rufous-breasted and rufous-and-white wrens, orange-chinned parakeet, whooping motmot, and many more.  Although the park is only about 600 acres, it's still home to some interesting "bigger forest" species like northern black-throated trogon, ruddy-tailed flycatcher, brown-throated three-toed sloth, Central american agouti, Geoffrey's tamarin, white-nosed coati, and little tinamou.

We spend four nights at Gamboa which has good birds and wildlife on the grounds, including right off your balcony.  Variegated squirrels and orange-chinned parakeets are often seen at eye-level as they forage for Guacima seeds, and many tanagers, flycatchers, swifts, swallows, and others are common.  A patch of good forest on the property is good for golden-collared manakin, broad-billed motmot, song wren, golden-hooded tanager, and, though rare, maybe pygmy kingfisher.  From Gamboa we'll visit the nearby Panama Rainforest Discovery Center and it's 100-foot tall canopy tower where we'll look for blue cotinga, green shrike-vireo, keel-billed and yellow-throated toucans, mealy parrot, blue dacnis, green shrike-vireo, purple-throated fruitcrow, black-breasted puffbird, raptors such as crane hawk, semiplumbeous hawk, and gray-headed kite, and more.  Their hummingbird feeders attract white-necked jacobin, long-billed hermit, white-vented plumeleteer, violet-bellied hummingbird, and blue-chested hummingbird.  Along two of the most well known birding areas, Pipeline Rd. and Old Gamboa Road, we'll have chances to see antbirds (ocellated, bicolored, spotted, and jet), wrens (rufous-and-white, buff-breasted, black-bellied, and bay), lance-tailed manakin, cinnamon woodpecker, puffbirds (pied, white-necked, and white-whiskered), and several trogons (slaty-tailed, northern black-throated, white-tailed, black-tailed, and gartered).  We'll also enjoy a boat trip along the Chagres River and the canal where we'll have another chance for pygmy kingfisher as well as snail kite, limpkin, purple gallinule, masked duck, and others.

At the Canopy Lodge in El Valle de Anton, the higher and cooler habitats are home to collared (orange-bellied) trogon, black-chested jay, dusky-faced, silver-throated, and tawny-crested tanagers, black guan, tawny-capped euphonia, rufous motmot, white-ruffed manakin, tody motmot, barred hawk, spot-crowned barbet, and northern emerald toucanet.  In addition to the diverse eye-candy at the lodge's incredible fruit feeders, we'll also have good chances to see spectacled, mottled, and tropical screech-owls on their day roosts.  Local hummers include band-tailed barbthroat, white-tipped sicklebill, bronze-tailed plumeleteer, snowy-bellied hummingbird, and stripe-throated hermit.

We'll also explore the general ecology of these areas as we learn about towering wild cashews and figs, many species of palms, colorful heliconias, many butterflies and other insects, and several mammals and reptiles.  On past trips we've encountered white-nosed coatis, four species of monkey (mantled howler, white-throated capuchin, gray-bellied night monkey, and Geoffrey's tamarin), Central American agouti, capybara, three species of squirrel (variegated, red-tailed, and Central American dwarf), and both two and three-toed sloths.  Spectacled caiman, American crocodile, green iguana, common and striped basilisk lizards, geckos, and many anole lizards are also frequently seen.

We conclude our trip with a visit to the new Frank Gehry designed Biomuseo on the waterfront of Panama City.

Panama provides a rich, colorful, comfortable, and memorable introduction to the neotropics and I look forward to returning.

Detailed itinerary and references available upon request.

Ocellated antbird and Hoffman's two-toed sloth by Misty Vaughn  
Black-crowned Antpitta by Mark Pretti

Last updated: April 18, 2024.