Photograph of Chestnut-mandibled Toucans

Chestnut-mandibled Toucans by David Sewell.

PANAMA


Best Wildlife in Panama

Mammals
Hoffmann's Two-toed and (Brown-throated) Three-toed Sloths, Geoffroy’s Tamarin, Mantled Howler, Central American (Brown-headed) Spider and White-faced Capuchin Monkeys, White-nosed Coati and Central American Agouti. Also a chance of Baird’s Tapir, Humpback Whale (mostly May-Nov, Coiba NP), Bottlenose Dolphin, Kinkajou and Greater Bulldog (Fishing) Bat. The endemic Pygmy Three-toed Sloth occurs only on Isla Escudo de Veraguas, east of Bocas del Toro off the north coast.

Birds
Resplendent and Golden-headed Quetzals, Blue-and-yellow, Red-and-green and Great Green Macaws, Chestnut-mandibled and Keel-billed Toucans, hummingbirds including Purple-crowned Fairy, Snowcap and Violet Sabrewing, trogons including Orange-bellied, motmots including Blue-crowned, Broad-billed and Rufous, manakins including Golden-collared, Golden-headed, Lance-tailed, Red-capped and White-ruffed, Blue and Turquoise Cotingas, Three-wattled Bellbird, (Broad-billed) Sapayoa, Magnificent Frigatebird and (American) Swallow-tailed Kite, about ten endemics including Veraguan Mango and Beautiful Treerunner, 65 or so species shared with Costa Rica including Black Guan, Prong-billed Barbet, Fiery-billed Aracari, Black-faced Solitaire, Black-cheeked and Flame-throated Warblers, Collared Redstart, Zeledonia, and Black-and-yellow and Long-tailed Silky Flycatchers, and 15 or so species shared with Colombia including Dusky-backed Jacamar, Varied Solitaire, Viridian Dacnis and Green-naped Tanager, as well as Grey-headed Chachalaca, Crested Guan, Brown Pelican, Anhinga, Rufescent Tiger Heron, Boat-billed and Cocoi Herons, Wood Stork, King Vulture, Pearl Kite, hawks including White, Ornate Hawk Eagle, Red-throated Caracara, White-throated Crake, shorebirds including Black-necked Stilt, Northern and Wattled Jacanas, Black Skimmer, pigeons and doves, Chestnut-fronted Macaw, parakeets, parrots, Squirrel Cuckoo, hummingbirds including Tooth-billed, Amazon, Green and Ringed Kingfishers, puffbirds, Grey-cheeked Nunlet, White-fronted Nunbird, Great Jacamar, Red-headed and Spot-crowned Barbets, Blue-throated (Emerald), Violet-throated (Emerald) and Yellow-eared Toucanets, Collared Aracari, woodpeckers, Double-banded Greytail, Buffy Tuftedcheek, foliage-gleaners, woodcreepers, antshrikes, antwrens, antbirds including Bare-crowned, Bicoloured, Ocellated and Spotted, antthrushes, Fulvous-bellied and Spectacled Antpittas, tyrant flycatchers including Fork-tailed, Black-capped Pygmy Tyrant (the smallest passerine bird in the world along with Short-tailed Pygmy Tyrant), Sharpbill, Rufous Piha, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, becards, Black-crowned and Masked Tityras, Green and Yellow-browed Shrike Vireos, Black-chested Jay, wrens, Long-billed Gnatwren, Tropical Gnatcatcher, American Dipper, nightingale thrushes, wintering warblers including Golden-winged and Blackburnian, Blue and Scarlet-thighed Dacnises, honeycreepers, tanagers including Blue-and-gold and Swallow, orioles, caciques, oropendolas, Golden-browed and Yellow-collared Chlorophonias, and euphonias. Also a chance of Harpy Eagle, Sunbittern, Rufous-vented Ground Cuckoo, Sungrebe, tinamous, wood quails, owls including Crested and Spectacled, Great Potoo, Rufous-crested Coquette, Tody Motmot, Northern Royal Flycatcher, Black-tipped Cotinga, Black-crowned Antpitta, Grey-and-gold Tanager and Rosy Thrush Tanager.

Reptiles, Amphibians and Fish
Excellent scuba-diving and snorkeling, at places such as Bocas del Toro/Isla Bastimentos Marine National Park and Coiba National Park where there are Manta Ray and turtle cleaning stations. On the mainland lizards include Striped Basilisk.

Best Sites for Wildlife in Panama

Best Times for Wildlife in Panama

The wettest season usually lasts from mid-April to December hence the best time to visit is between January and March, although any time between October and March is good for birds.

Recommended Books etc. for Panama

The Birds of Panama: A Field Guide by G R Angehr and R Dean. CUP, 2010.

Guide to the Birds of Panama by R A Ridgely and J A Gwynne. PUP, 1992 (Second Edition).

Where to Find Birds in Panama by G R Angehr, and D and L Engleman. Sociedad Audubon de Panama, 2006.

An Illustrated Field Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica by V Esquivel Soto. Incafo, 2008 (Second Edition).

A Field Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica by R Garrigues. Helm, 2007.

A Field Guide to the Mammals of Central America and Southeast Mexico by F A Reid. OUP, 2009 (Second Edition).

A Swift Guide to the Butterflies of Mexico and Central America by J Glassberg. Sunstreak Books, 2007.

National Audubon Society Field Guide to Tropical Marine Fishes by C L Smith. Alfred A Knopf, 1997.

Trip Reports for Panama

Many trip reports, some for Panama, are posted on the websites listed here. On some of these websites some reports are independent and some are posted by tour companies who organize tours to Panama. These tour companies and others also post their own reports on their websites, which are listed under 'Some Organized Tours to Panama' below.

Local Guides and Tours in Panama

The costs of organized tours partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ. If you are travelling independently, employing such local guides will greatly increase your chances of seeing the wildlife you wish to see.

Accommodation in Panama


Some Organized Tours to Panama

There are many tour companies who organize tours to see mammals, birds, other wildlife and other natural wonders. The cost of these tours vary considerably according to such variables as the airlines used, the number of days the tours last, the number of sites visited, the number of people in the group (an important consideration if you wish to see such wildlife as rainforest mammals and birds), the number of tour leaders, the standard of accommodation and transport, and the percentage profit the company hopes to make. Generally, where the number of days tours last and the number of sites visited are similar, the cheapest tours are those that use the cheapest airlines, accommodation and local transport, that have the largest groups with the least number of leaders, and that make the least amount of profit. The most expensive tours tend to be those which are exceptionally long, use the most expensive accommodation (ridiculously lavish in some cases, even for single nights) and which make the most profit. Some tour costs partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ.

While tour companies organize tours with set itineraries many also organize custom tours for individuals and private groups who instead of taking a tour with a set itinerary want to follow their own itinerary to suit their own personal tastes, whether it be mammals, birds, other wildlife, other natural wonders or even man-made attractions, or a mixture of them all. Many organized tours with set itineraries are also fast-paced and target as many species as possible, whether they are mammals, birds or other wildlife or everything, which usually leaves little time to enjoy the best sites and individual species, but on a custom tour those taking part can specify the pace and the sites and species they wish to concentrate on. Custom tours also suit people who like to travel with people they already know, rather than with a group of strangers, and people with partners with different interests. Individuals and small groups will almost certainly have to pay more than the price of an organized tour with a set itinerary but a large group of friends may be able to travel for less than the price quoted for a set tour.

Tour companies who are running organized tours to Panama in the next couple of years include the following. Many of these also offer custom tours.