Birding in Panama, Information and Logistics

Panama is a birder's paradise! Surprisingly, birding is not being promoted here as a tourist attraction in the same manner as their neighboring country, Costa Rica. Whereas in Costa Rica most, if not all, of the parks and tourist hotels provide feeders to attract birds, Panama, on the other hand, doesn't. It was only at the Rainforest Discovery Center that a few hummingbird feeders were put up. There are a couple of places of places where there were some feeders set up - Canopy Lodge and Canopy Tower - but they are a bit more expensive than our budget would allow. That said, Panama is still a prime destination when it comes to bird-watching. Here are a few pointers to help you plan your travel to this Central American country.

The official language in Panama is Spanish. We observed that only a few can speak English (not even hotel employees). Their currency is also the US Dollar which means that the exchange rate is 1:1 making it a bit more expensive there than in Costa Rica.

Getting there:
We booked a flight from Los Angeles to Panama City via COPA, the national airline of Panama. Our fare was US$590 per person, roundtrip. That, of course, depends on several factors, such as time of year, time of booking, etc. The advantage of COPA wass that it has a direct flight from LAX (about 5 hours flight) whereas the other US based airlines usually have stopovers either in Houston or Miami. The inflight service was also good.

Transporation:
We made arrangements (via Facebook) with Amber Moon Panama Taxi Service to pick us up from the airport and take us to our hotel (about 40 minutes away). The cost was $45. We also used them to take us from our hotel in Gamboa district to the hotel near the airport on our last day in Panama.

Going from our hotel to the Metropolitan Park and back, we used the shuttle provided by the hotel (free but they have strict schedules). Let me clarify that: the hotel provides the free shuttle to Albrook Mall which is about 2-3 blocks away from the Metropolitan Park. We pay an additional $5 for the shuttle to take us to the park. To return to the mall (where the shuttle picks up hotel guests) we take a taxi for a fixed fare of $5.

Accommodations:
We stayed at the Radisson Summit Hotel at the Gamboa district for 5 days/4 nights at $75 per day. This hotel is highly recommended for birders. Behind the hotel are some forest trails that are rife with wild birds. The area near the golf practice range also had quite a number of birds including the Southern Lapwing. Breakfast was free (and was really good). The room we stayed in overlooked the golf practice range/parking area (the front of the hotel). Had we known earlier, we would have the chosen the one that faced the swimming pool and the mini forest (the back of the hotel). A birding couple that we met there told us that they saw the Keel-billed Toucans and Collared Aracaris just outside their window. Service was also good and the staff were very helpful.

Since we would be taking a 7 am flight back to Los Angeles, which meant we had to be at the terminal by 4 am, we decided to stay at the Riande Aeropuerto Hotel because it was just 3 minutes away from the airport. Although the hotel also provides a free shuttle to the airport, our overall experience was a little less than satisfactory especially considering that their rate is $104 per day.

Bird Guides:
We don't normally avail of bird guides when we visit a foreign country, but while we were researching about birding in Panama, we learned that to be able to go to the "hotspots", a guide is a necessity. Further research made us decide to contact Whitehawk Birding Tours. Our guides Angel and Jose were at hotel at the appointed time and took us on an 8-hour exciting and thrilling tour of the Pipeline Road. Both were excellent bird spotters and about 45 more lifers were added to our list. They charged us  $160 per person for a day-tour (that includes transport and snacks). If you plan to go birding in Panama, we highly recommend Whitehawk. By the way, there is an entrance fee of $20 per person at the Rainforest Discovery Center.

Miscellaneous:
Although most of our time was spent birding, we were also able to spend some time at the Albrook Mall. It is the same as any mall in the U.S. (or in the Philippines) with plenty of stores and restaurants. We had lunch at the foodcourt where practically all the fast food restaurants in the U.S. were well represented - McDonalds, Wendys, KFC, - but surprisingly, no Starbucks. Prices were a bit higher than their American counterparts though. It was also at this mall that I was able to get a replacement for my flash card reader which died on the our very first day in Panama. Again, the price was almost twice than that in the U.S.

The Metropolitan Park, as it's name implies, is in an urban setting and is only a few blocks away from the above mentioned mall. Nevertheless, birding is outstanding here, thanks to the forest that they were to able to maintain in an almost pristine condition. There is also a $4 entrance fee - and very well worth it. The park has several trails varying in length and degrees of difficulty.

Overall, Panama gave us the most number of lifers in the short span of time that we spent here. And that is taking into consideration that we availed of a bird guide for only one day.

Birding in Panama, Day 3 - Is it really Tero?

In one of the walls of the Radisson Summit Hotel where we were staying, there is a collage of photographs of wildlife found within its premises. All of the animals shown had English names, except for one - a bird that they labeled as "Tero".  It looked like a Lapwing and skeptical person that I am, I doubted that such species can be found here. Lapwings, because they are related to plovers, I believed were more into habitats that had water in them. Sure, there was a small pond in the area that had Jacanas and a Heron in it, but definitely not big enough (or salty enough?) to host a Lapwing. Perhaps there was one that got here by accident some time ago and would, I am quite certain, be long gone by now.

Our plan for the day was to go birding at the Metropolitan Park a few miles away. However, the hotel shuttle that will take us there doesn't leave until 10:30 am. Since we had a few hours to spare, Cynthia and I decided to explore the area in front of the hotel. You guessed it - that's where the small pond was located. As we were walking near the golf practice range, I noticed a big bird - about the size of a Green Heron (or Striated Heron in Asia). It was standing on the greens (or more accurately - orange brown grass) and greeting the morning. We slowly approached it and I was dumbstruck. After a few moments and recovering from my disbelief, "Tero! I can't believe it's really tero!" I told my wife. This Southern Lapwing was perhaps one of the friendliest birds we had encountered here. Sometimes a guy driving a golf cart would pass by to pick up the balls used by those trying to perfect their golfing strokes and the "tero" would allow the cart to go past it without even blinking an eye. (Note: "Tero" is the Spanish term for the Southern Lapwing, perhaps derived from its call.)

Across the street from the Lapwing, we saw some big birds again. This time whey were perched on some long skinny branches. The Grey-headed Chachalacas were a welcome addition to our lifelist.

As we were returning to the hotel to wait for our ride, we noticed the unmistakeable hovering of a hummingbird. Rufous-tailed was another lifer for us.

From our research we learned that a good birding place in the area is the Metropolitan Park which is quite close to Panama City. Again, skeptic that I am, I wasn't expecting to see much in an "urban" park. Parque Metropolitano, however, still has a lot of pristine forest within. Here we got 16 more lifers, the best being the Gartered Trogon and the Blue-Black Grosbeak.

Gartered Trogon

Blue-black Grosbeak

The starbird of the day, strangely enough, was seen not in the forest but near the parking lot. While Cynthia was negotiating with the taxi driver to take us to the nearby Albrook Mall, I saw a white bird alight on a tree near the gate (and close to the road!) I was curious as to what white bird could be found here. As I ran closer to where the mystery bird was, my mind was going through the list of Panamanian birds that could help me solve this quandary. When I focused my camera on it, then "bingo! Masked Tityra!". And I was thinking: Is this really true? A Tityra right next to a busy road?

That was an awesome icing on an already uber delicious cake.

Birding in Panama, Day 1 - This could be the start of something big.

It was a red-eye flight from Los Angeles. We arrived at Panama airport around 7 am and was at our hotel at almost 8 am. Inasmuch as the check-in time wasn't until 3 pm, we had no choice but to leave our luggage with the concierge and explore the premises of Radisson Summit Hotel. We told the lady at the counter that we are bird watchers so we wanted to look around for birds until the time we would be able to get our room. She told us that there are some forest trails at the back near the pool. That was the beginning of our awesome birding adventures in Panama.

Even while we were being driven to our hotel from the airport, I already noticed birds along the way, the most common of which was the Great-tailed Grackle. This was their "trash bird" so to speak. I even saw what I presumed to be a Black Hawk perched by the roadside. Not knowing the traffic rules, I dared not ask the driver to stop so I can take some photos. We learned much later that Panamanian drivers don't really obey the local traffic laws, so much like in the Philippines.

Going back to the our birding at the hotel grounds - the very first bird we saw was a Tropical Kingbird. Ok, that was not a lifer. It was followed by what turned out to be the most common species in the area - the Plain-colored Tanager and our first official lifer in Panama. 

Next to the swimming pool was a flowering shrub. There a pair of Red-legged Honeycreepers were frolicking.

the more colorful male

For about three hours we birded the tiny patch of forest behind the hotel and we racked up lifer after lifer. By the time we were able to finally check-in to our room at 11:30 in the morning (thanks to the hotel management we didn't have to wait for the 3 pm official check-in) we already had 21 new species in our life list. A short afternoon sortie at the front of the hotel added 7 more.

Here are some of the highlights.

Crimson-backed Tanager

Buff-throated Saltator

Red-crowned Woodpecker

In the afternoon we had these:

Black-striped Sparrow

Variable Seedeater

Wattled Jacana

The star bird for the day. We were surprised to find this beautiful bird so close to the hotel building. Not only that, it was so trusting that it just perched only a few feet away from us.

Whooping Motmot

We didn't expect to encounter this many lifers on our first day. Somehow Panama does not flaunt itself as a birding destination so our initial expectations were a bit on the low side. Who knew that our first day would be such a great start to our birding in this Central American country.