Wildlife watching tours - bird watching holidays -
culture tours for independent travellers and groups
Spot-breasted Woodpecker © Canopy Family
Grey-cheeked Nunlet © Canopy FamilyHarpy Eagle © Canopy FamilyRuby-topaz Hummingbird © Rafael LauRufous-tailed Jacamar © Rafael LauGolden-headed Manakin © Rafael LauCrested Eagle © Jenn SinasacBirding at Canopy Camp © Canopy FamilyBlack Oropendola © Canopy Family

Canopy Camp, Darien, Birdwatching Tour (8 days) P126

Tour ref. no. P126
Duration: 7 nights (8 days taking into account flights which are payable directly)
Panama City – Canopy Camp, Darien – Panama City
  • Harpy and Crested Eagles – Darién canopy’s superb predators
  • Rufous-tailed Jacamar – a real beauty and often seen
  • Red-billed Scythebill and many woodcreepers 
  • Ruby-topaz Hummingbird – found most years during the dry season
  • Wetlands for Black-capped Donocobius and Capped Herons
  • Nunlets and Nunbirds are very likely here!
Locations:
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Introduction

Awaken to the songs of eastern Panama’s birds:  Barred Puffbirds, Rufous-tailed Jacamars, White-headed Wrens and many more that make up a distinct dawn chorus like no other in Panama.   Located in Central America’s most diverse and least-explored region, the Darién province of Panama is a birder’s paradise.   At Canopy Camp situated in the humid lowlands of far eastern Panama, near the end of the Pan-American Highway, you can feel the wilderness around you just a step outside your tent.   Towering Cuipo trees provide a panorama of Darién and are in clear view above the forest canopy.   It is in these enormous rainforest giants that Harpy and Crested Eagles place their nests and raise their young.  Both species occur but you will need some luck to see them unless there is an active nest nearby which increases the chance.  As you sip your morning coffee listen for the buzzy trills of Golden-headed Manakins lekking in the forests beside the camp.   A walk with your knowledgeable guide will be thoroughly awe-inspiring and entertaining.   From tiny, colourful poison dart frogs on the forest floor to Red-throated Caracaras in the canopy above, these forests are full of life.  Camp in comfort in custom-designed African safari-style tents with all the amenities offered at other eco-lodges run by the Canopy Family.   At the end of a day’s exploration settle into your tent and doze off as you listen to the calls of owls, potoos, nightjars and a symphony of frogs.

The province of Darién is revered for its incredible wildlife and blessed with an immense expanse of protected rainforest in Darién National Park.  However, most of the province has suffered greatly from extensive deforestation as agriculture and cattle are the major sources of income for the people.   Canopy Camp has been established in this sensitive area to raise awareness of the potential that ecotourism has for Darién—creating a source of direct and indirect jobs and income for the local people, offering educational opportunities in communities and promoting environmental conservation.  The presence of Canopy Camp next to the protected forest of Filo del Tallo Hydrological Reserve (65,000 acres) acts as a deterrent to poachers and loggers and will also contribute to the conservation of this important area.  This reserve also provides us with ready access to a mature forest and its wildlife.

Darién, as this entire eastern-most region of Panama is called, is perhaps the most diverse and species-rich region of Central America.   Long coveted by avid birders as an impenetrable haven for rare species, it is now readily accessible by a highway extending through the spine of Panama right into the heart of this bird-rich land.   During this exciting, highly recommended 7-night adventure we visit the Bayano Reservoir en route to Canopy Camp to look for such specialties as the starkly beautiful Black Antshrike, Rufous-winged Antwren and stunning Orange-crowned Oriole.   We also visit the swampy meadows along the Pan-American Highway, haunt of the magnificent Spot-breasted Woodpecker.  We will enjoy great birding through mature secondary forests, tranquil lagoons, scrubby open fields, roadsides and riversides where we hope to get excellent views of Stripe-throated Wren, Black-collared Hawk, Black-capped Donacobius, Yellow-hooded Blackbird, Large-billed Seed-Finch and others.   We will spend our nights at Canopy Camp Darién, enjoying comfortable, large, safari-style tent accommodations, each with full-size beds, private bathroom facilities with refreshing showers, flush toilets, electricity from solar panels, and fans.   Surrounded by the protected forests of the Filo del Tallo Hydrological Reserve, the camp itself has such regional specialties as Gray-cheeked Nunlet, White-headed Wren, Rufous-tailed Jacamar and Pale-bellied Hermit right in the gardens! This tour offers other surprises such as Spectacled Parrotlet, Golden-green Woodpecker, Double-banded Graytail, King Vulture and the spectacular Great Curassow!

Explore Darién with us; we are sure you will have the birding adventure of your life.

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