Note: The order in which sites are visited may vary depending on conditions on the ground.

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Day 1: Arrival in Panama City

After arrival in Panama’s conspicuous capital, the tour will begin with an evening meeting for dinner and to plot plans for the next day. There is no birding planned on this day, so feel free to arrive at any time before dinner. A single night will be spent in Panama City. For those joining the pre-tour extension to the Chiriqui Highlands, this is the final day of the Extension.

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Day 2: Parque Natural Metropolitano to the Canal Zone

We will start our birding adventure right in Panama City, at the wonderful wildlife refuge of Metropolitan Park. Here, we will start to familiarize ourselves with Panama’s abundant tropical species, like Squirrel Cuckoo, Slaty-tailed Trogon, Orange-chinned Parakeet, Whooping Motmot, and Crimson-backed Tanager. We will also seek out one of the scarcer birds there, such as the striking Lance-tailed Manakin, near endemic Yellow-green Tyrannulet, and retiring Rosy Thrush-Tanager. During the boreal winter (i.e. November-March) these beautiful tropical residents are supplemented by a considerable number of boreal breeding birds that spend the winter in Panama, like Yellow-throated Vireo, Baltimore Oriole, Summer Tanager, and Golden-winged, Bay-breasted, Chestnut-sided, Black-and-white, Tennessee and Yellow Warblers. After a morning there, we will drive to our resort in the Canal Zone, our comfortable base for the next four nights.

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Day 3: Rainforest Discovery Center and Summit Ponds

Our first site inside Soberania National Park will be the canopy observation tower at the Rainforest Discovery Center. A short time after dawn we will make our way up the stairs to this 100ft-high platform above the rainforest canopy. This will give us a chance to soak in a dramatic view, but also birds that frequent the treetops, such as Keel-billed and Yellow-throated Toucans, Collared Aracari, Brown-hooded, Red-lored and Blue-headed Parrots, Scaled Pigeon, Green Shrike-Vireo, and Scarlet-rumped Cacique. We will also be on the lookout for the many raptors that roam above the forest here, like Gray-headed and Double-toothed Kites, King Vulture or Short-tailed Hawk. One of the regular scarcer birds up there is the dazzling Blue Cotinga, a stunning shade of electric blue that words cannot adequately describe. After lunch back at our resort, we shall visit somewhere very different in the afternoon, the local Summit Ponds, that hold Boat-billed Heron and Green and Amazon Kingfishers on the ponds themselves, while Jet and White-bellied Antbirds lurks in the scrubby parts of the forest, as does Yellow-billed Cacique. Golden-fronted Greenlet, Yellow-backed Oriole and the gorgeous Golden-collared Manakin are all also regulars on site.

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Days 4-5: Soberania National Park (Pipeline Road, Ammo Dump Ponds) and the Panama Canal

On the way into Soberania National Park, and Pipeline Road, lies the Ammo Dump Ponds, one of Panama’s most popular birding sites, where Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Wattled Jacanas, Rufescent Tiger-Herons, Purple Gallinules, Greater Anis, and Snail Kites are all regular around the wetland. The scattered trees that border its edges are home to Gray-headed Chachalacas, Barred Antshrikes, Panama Flycatchers and Scrub Greenlets. In the grassy areas finch-like birds gather, like Ruddy-breasted and Yellow-bellied Seedeaters. After the Ammo Dump Ponds, we enter one of Central America’s most lauded birding sites, Pipeline Road. There, an easy walking, flat road passes through rich rainforest which hosts a glut of trogons, with 5 species present, and possible in a single morning (Slaty-tailed, Black-throated, Black-tailed, Gartered, and White-tailed Trogons), Rufous and Broad-billed Motmots are regularly encountered, as is Streak-chested Antpitta, Fasciated and Black-crowned Antshrikes, Checker-throated Stipplethroat, Keel-billed Toucan, White-whiskered, Black-breasted and Pied Puffbirds, Red-capped and Golden-collared Manakins, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Southern Bentbill, Long-billed Gnatwren, Black-bellied and White-breasted Wood-Wrens, and Red-throated Ant-Tanager. With any luck, we will locate a swarm of army ants, which can attract predatory birds like Bicolored, Spotted and Ocellated Antbirds, which prey on the other insects fleeing the ants. The area is also rich in mammals, and sloths are regularly found, along with agoutis, howler monkeys and capuchins. Occasionally too, the cute Panamanian Night-Monkey may be found sleeping in a hollow. With two full days in this area, we will get more than an introductory feel of this fantastic site. One one afternoon we shall visit the observation deck at Miraflores Locks, to get a birdseye view of the Panama Canal

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Day 6: Gamboa to Panama City

On our final morning in the area around Gamboa, we shall choose which of the myriad local birding sites to visit, based on what we have not seen, at the time. After lunch in Gamboa, we will move back to Panama City for the final two nights, spending some time visiting the coast. The shores of the Upper Panama Bay hold vast numbers (10,000s) of shorebirds during the boreal winter, where Wilson’s, Semipalmated and Black-bellied Plovers, Western, Semipalmated, and Least Sandspipers, Marbled Godwits, Red Knots, and Short-billed Dowitchers all winter in good numbers, and Black Skimmers, Gull-billed, Royal, Sandwich, and Elegant Terns are all regularly found too, along with Tricolored Herons, Common Black-Hawks, Straight-billed Woodcreepers and Saffron Finches.

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Day 7: Los Altos de Cerro Azul

On this day a cooler, higher site will be visited in the foothills of the mountains, east of the city. The rise in altitude, even to only 800m/2620ft, brings a vastly different bird list into play, with hummingbirds and tanagers the outstanding groups at this site. One of the highlights will be a visit to a set of private feeders, where the owners keep their hummingbird feeders well-stocked, and put out food for other birds too, such as Rufous Motmot, Bay-headed Tanager, and Red-legged, Green and Shining Honeycreepers. Note: visiting these feeders is contingent on the owners being home. The regular hummingbirds that amass at the feeders include Snowy-bellied Hummingbird, the ubiquitous White-necked Jacobin, Crowned Woodnymph and the occasional Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer. Flowers in the area often also attract the resplendent Rufous-crested Coquette. Along with the birds, monkeys might take advantage of this garden feast, Geoffroy’s Tamarin also being a regular yard animal there. Away from the feeders, we will be on the lookout for mixed feeding flocks for species like Black-and-yellow, Rufous-winged, Emerald and Speckled Tanagers. Some of the rarer species in the area include the endemic Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker and striking Yellow-eared Toucanet. After a full day in this extremely different area from the rest of the tour, we shall arrive back in our hotel near the airport for a final farewell dinner.​

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Day 8: Departure from Panama City

There is no birding planned for this day, with a hotel shuttle provided for international transfers out.