December 27, 2025-January 4, 2026 with John Coons & Eliecer Rodriguez
Our group enjoyed a great week of birding in eastern Panama, one of the most specialty-rich areas for birds in all of Central America. Before the Canopy Camp opened there were very few places to stay in Darien province, and birding here was in its infancy. Only a few decades ago, travel in Darien was mostly by boats and the multitude of rivers. Now the “tent camping” is pretty luxurious and gives relatively easy access to birding sites. We got together at the airport hotel just east of Panama City and went over our plans. The following morning, we headed off with Eliecer, driving east on the Pan-American Highway. We paused for a couple of birds along the way before making our initial birding stop at Lake Bayano. Among the widespread and common species we found in the second growth habitat, we had nice views of Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher, Red-rumped Woodpecker, a singing Rusty-winged Antwren, a fly-by Limpkin, a distant Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, and the first time I had seen Northern Yellow Warbler since the split. We carried on to Tortí for lunch, where we ate with one eye on the hummingbird feeders and bananas. Scaly-breasted and Snowy-bellied hummingbirds were here, along with many Black-throated Mangos and a few others we would also encounter at the Canopy Camp. After lunch we checked out the nearby river. Both Amazon and Green kingfishers were scoped as was a perched Pearl Kite. A local specialty, a female Black Antshrike, made its first appearance for us, and we had views of the tiny Pacific Antwren, Yellow Tyrannulet, Streak-headed Woodcreeper, Masked Tityra, the colorful Red-breasted Meadowlark, and the always popular Fork-tailed Flycatcher. We carried on to the Canopy Camp, located a couple of kilometers off the highway, arriving in the late-afternoon. The hummingbird feeders and flowers at the camp were busy. Here we had nice views of several Black-throated Mangos, White-naped Jacobins, Long-billed Starthroat, White-vented Plumeleteer, Sapphire-throated Hummingbird, and Blue-chested Hummingbird. We got settled in our “tents” before enjoying the first of several wonderful dinners at the Camp.
The following morning we met before breakfast and walked to the new feeding station, where a pair of normally quite shy Great Curassows eventually came in to pick at some rice and fruit. It was a spectacular view of these beautiful birds. After breakfast, we birded the grounds and trails at the Camp, with a great close view of Double-banded Graytail, a roosting Great Potoo, Pied Puffbird, Black-tailed Flycatcher, Sooty-headed Tyrannulet, Common Potoo, Great Jacamar, Russet-winged Schiffornis, and Golden-headed Manakin. That afternoon we made stops along the Pan-American Highway and ended up at the Yaviza Wetlands. The afternoon was highlighted by Striped Cuckoo, Spot-breasted Woodpecker, a perched Laughing Falcon, Crane Hawk, Black-capped Donacobius, Blue-and-yellow Macaw, White-headed Wren, and five singing Willow Flycatchers.
With New Years Eve and New Years Day looming, we decided to make the trip to visit a Harpy Eagle nest the following day (30 December) to avoid issues with celebrations. We drove to Yaviza at the end of the Pan American Highway, boarded a panga for a 30 minute run to El Real on the Rio Chucunaque and Rio Tuira, got in the backs of trucks and drove 20 minutes to a farm. From there it was 1.2 km walk through forest to a large cuipo tree, where we saw a three month old Harpy Eagle chick sitting high in the nest. The guys soon found the adult female nearby, and we enjoyed fantastic views of this massive bird for about an hour as it checked on the chick and stood guard. We had a great male Bare-crowned Antbird sit still for awhile, and a few Red-throated Caracaras on the way back, along with the very local Black Oropendola and Gray-cheeked Nunlet. We got back to the farm for a much appreciated lunch then and reversed our way to Yaviza.
We stayed closer to the Camp the next day, birding the El Salto Road which has pretty good forest for 7 kms with plantations of teak trees along the way. One of the highlights here was a perched Collared Forest-Falcon that we scoped as it was perched back in the forest. We walked sections of the road and caught up with many species that we had previously only heard. After lunch at the Camp, we visited the vulture feeding area where there were at least five King Vultures, including one adult, a few quite young birds, and an unusually plumaged individual that was nearly an adult but still had black flecking on the wings and back. Later in the afternoon we visited the La Peñita Road, where we had nice views of a few Chestnut-fronted Macaws, White-necked Puffbird, Black-bellied Wren, and White-eared Conebill. The staff decorated the dining area for New Years Eve and prepared a great dinner.
On the first day of 2026 we headed back east, checking a site where we called in a pair of tiny Spectacled Parrotlets. We hit the Yaviza Wetlands again, hoping for something good. We had a nice visit with some Wood Storks, had soaring Short-tailed and Zone-tailed hawks, a few Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures, but only heard some distant Great Green Macaws way back behind trees. A couple of wintering Mourning Warblers put on a nice show. An after dinner owling trip yielded a handful of Pauraques, good views of Tropical Screech-Owl, Mottled Owl, and both Common and Great potoos.
On our last full day at the Camp, we drove the road to the village of La Peñita where we met our boatmen and took long dugouts up the Rio Chucunaque for a ways before turning up the Rio Tuquesa. Along the way we passed Ringed and Amazon kingfishers, Anhinga, Cocoi Herons, Mangrove Swallows, and perched aracaris and toucans. We went ashore at a nondescript landing and followed a trail where we found a Dusky-backed Jacamar, one of the Darien specialties, just before a rain dump caught us along the trail where we had to stand under trees for 45 minutes. When the rain abated we took our dugouts to the village of Nuevo Vigia. We did lunch in the thatched-roofed “visitor’s center” where the local Embera set up tables with their nicely made baskets, masks, and plates for sale. We walked through town and onto a trail heading to a lagoon in a light rain, seeing Great Antshrike and our first Lesser Kiskadee along the way. Just after seeing Boat-billed Heron, the rain got heavy again and we hightailed it back to the thatch-roofed eating and market area in town. We waited out the remainder of the rain before heading back by dugouts to La Peñita. Back at camp we dried out and learned it had hardly rained at all there.
We packed up and got away at dawn on our final morning to bird San Francisco Reserve, about half way back to Panama City. The forest here is taller than anything else we visited and it is a shame it is so far from the Camp. There were a number of new birds here, with nice views of Graceful Black-throated Trogon, Scaly-breasted Wren, Bay Wren, White-breasted Wood-Wren, male Blue Cotinga, and Northern Tropical Pewee, but the highlight was getting a Black-crowned Antpitta going and finally getting a terrific look at it across a small ravine. We headed back to Tortí for lunch and the hummingbirds again before making the drive to Panama City. A perched Gray-headed Kite on the drive back was our last new bird of the trip. Eliecer had to head off but the rest of us gathered for dinner and our final bird list.
It was great birding with all of you in a remote area of Panama. I hope to see you again soon.
Mammals encountered on our forays:
Geoffroy's Tamarin (Saguinus geoffroyi)
Mantled Howler Monkey (Alouatta palliata)
White-faced Capuchin (Cebus capucinus)
Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni)
Red-tailed Squirrel (Sciurus granatensis)
White-nosed Coati (Nasua narica)
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/456050
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/pcc25TRIPLIST.pdf
-- John Coons