We left from DCA and headed south to Panama for a Christmas break from the cold, grey skies of Virginia. In four short hours our flight landed in sunny Panama City and we took our first breaths of tropical smelling 880 F air. We spent the first night at a nice hotel in Tocumen just 10 minutes from the airport. We lingered the next morning to enjoy the free buffet breakfast and pool before hiring a cab for the 1 hr. 30 min. drive to Gamboa where we checked into the Gamboa Rainforest Resort (GRR) for four nights. We were greeted warmly with cool drinks. The resort lobby, library, and balcony dinning area are architecturally beautiful with detailed wood work, brass and glass fixtures, and three story windows overlooking undeveloped reaches of tropical lowland forest along Lake Gutan and Soberania National Park. Although access to forested hiking trails around the resort are limited to a single short trail (Lagoon Trail), access to nearby sites can be obtained for the price of a guide or a 10 minute cab ride will take you to the start of the famous Pipeline Road (no guide necessary). Our last day was spent exploring the historic architecture and churches of Old Town Panama City (Casco Viejo) which also provides vast vistas of the mud flats and beaches along the coast.
Mammals that were commonly observed around the GRR were Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth, White-throated capuchin, mantled howler monkey, white-nosed coati, capybara, and the Central American agouti. Below is a list of 84 bird species found with little effort during this far too brief trip to central Panama. The only birds seen in Tocumen (TO in the list below) were observed from the poolside or hotel window. Species found at Gamboa were found on the Lagoon Trail (LT) or in the open areas dotted with large trees around the resort (GR). Most birding was done from 6:30 to 8:30 each morning and from around 5:00 to 6:00 each evening. A 10 minute boat ride to an Embera Indian village (EV) added a few additional species. On the morning of the 19th I spent an enchanting four hours (6:10 to 10:00) hiking Pipeline Road (PR). The shoreline of Old Town Panama City (OT) added a number of shorebirds not seen elsewhere during the trip.
1) Yellow-crowned Night Heron – OT (6, rosting in tree at Plaza de Francia)
2) Great Egret – EV, GR, OT, TO, common
3) Little Blue Heron – OT, 2
4) Wood Stork – OT, 2
5) Purple Gallinule – EV, 1
6) Common Moorhen – EV, 1
7) Magnificent Frigatebird – OT, 2
8) Brown Pelican – OT, common
9) Neotropic Cormorant – OT, 2
10) Black Vulture - GR, PR, OT, TO, common
11) Turkey Vulture - GR, OT, TO, common
12) Bat Falcon – GR, 2
13) White-tailed Kite – TO, 1
14) Hook-billed Kite – LT, 1 (black morph)
14) Common Black Hawk – PR, 1
15) Crested Caracara – TO, 1
16) Yellow-throated Caracara – GR, common
17) Gray-necked Wood-rail – LT, 2
18) Rock Pigeon – OT, common
19) Pale-vented Pigeon – GR, 6
20) Ruddy Ground Dove – EV, GR, TO, common
21) White-tipped Dove – GR, 4
22) Gray-chested Dove – LT, 1
23) Orange-chinned Parakeet – EV, GR, TO, common
24) Mealy Parrot – GR, TO, common
25) Common Pauraque – GR, 1
26) White-collared Swift – GR, 1
27) Short-tailed Swift – GR, 4
28) Black-throated Mango – GR, 2
29) Garden Emerald – GR, 1
30) Violet-bellied Hummingbird – GR, PR, 4
31) Snowy-bellied Hummingbird – GR, 1
32) Rufous-tailed Hummingbird – GR, 2
33) Slaty-tailed Trogon – GR, PR, 5
34) Lesson’s Motmot – GR, LT, 2
35) Rufous Motmot – EV, PR, 2
36) Belted Kingfisher – GR, 1
37) Keel-billed Toucan – GR, 3
38) Chestnut-mandibled Toucan – GR, 2
39) Red-crowned Woodpecker – GR, 8
40) Crimson-crested Woodpecker – PR, 1
41) Plain Xenops – LT, 1
42) Black-crowned Antshrike – PR, 2
43) Dot-winged Antwren – PR, 4
44) White-bellied Antbird – LT, 1
45) Chestnut-backed Antbird – PR, 1
46) Black-faced Antthush – LT, 1
47) Common Tody-flycatcher – GR, 1
48) Bright-rumped Attila – GR, 1
49) Great Kiskadee – GR, 9
50) Social Flycatcher – GR, common
51) Rusty-margined Flycatcher – GR, 1
52) Streaked Flycatcher – GR, 2
53) Tropical Kingbird – EV, GR, TO, common
54) Masked Tittra – GR, 2
55) Purple-throated Fruitcrow – PR, 4
56) Blue-crowned Manakin – PR, 1
57) Red-eyed Vireo – GR, 1
58) Southern Rough-winged Swallow – GR, TO, common
59) Blue and White Swallow – TO, 6
60) Buff-breasted Wren – LT, 4
61) House Wren – GR, 1
62) Song Wren – LT, PR, 2
63) Clay-colored Robin - EV, GR, LT, TO, common
64) Tropical Mockingbird – GR, common
65) Yellow Warbler – GR, 2
66) Black-throated Green Warbler – GR, 2
67) Northern Waterthrush – LT, 2
68) White-shouldered Tanager – PR, 1
69) Red-throated Ant-tanager – LT, 1
70) Summer Tanager – GR, 3
71) Crimson-backed Tanager – EV, GR, 7
72) Flame-rumped Tanager – GR, 1
73) Blue-gray Tanager – EV, GR, common
74) Palm Tanager – EV, GR, common
75) Plain-colored Tanager – GR, 5
76) Blue Dacnis – PR, 1
77) Green Honeycreeper – GR, 1 female
78) Variable Seedeater – GR, 6
79) Great-tailed Grackle – EV, GR, OT, TO, common
80) Baltimore Oriole – GR, 1
81) Yellow-billed Cacique – PR, 2
82) Scarlet-rumped Cacique – PR, 3
83) Thick-billed Euphonia – GR, 1
84) House Sparrow – OT, common