| Bird
Watching Tours:
Other
Special Interest & Customized Tours
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Lineated
Woodpecker |
Click here for
a List of the Birds spotted on our land [PDF]
Audubon Society
websit
Xenoris
website |
BIRD
WATCHING
Panama is
almost literally the bridge between North and South America and
therefore home to a huge number of animals and plants. Over 900
species of birds have been recorded in Panama, of which 11 are endemic
to Panama and a further 63 are only found in Panama and Costa Rica.
Three of the Panamanian endemics (Brownbacked Dove, Veraguas Mango
and Azuero Painted Parakeet) occur in Cerro Hoya National Park on
the Azuero Peninsula, where we are located. Two others, the Yellow-green
Finch and the Glow-throated Hummingbird occur in the mountains of
Veraguas and Chiriqui province, only about 150 km from our Farm
to Forest site in Palmilla!
The National
Park Cerro Hoya is also home to Great Green Macaws, Keel-billed
Toucans and a host of other bird species. The gulf of Montijo, which
is a RAMSAR wetland, is home to numerous waders, Brown Pelicans
and Magnificent Frigate Birds.
Birding in
our garden is rewarding, we have so far registered over 100 bird
species and expect many more when the forest starts to develop.
We are planning to build some hides that from December 2007 onwards
will offer excellent opportunities to see and photograph birds up
close.
We offer
tours guided by Kees Groenendijk, who has 15 years experience of
birding in Southern Africa, Europe and Central America. He is assisted
by local guides who know the areas we visit like the palm of their
hands. Some of them have been trained in bird watching by R.S. Ridgley,
co-author of the Field Guide to the birds of Panama. We will travel
in a small group (maximum of six) in a comfortable minibus. Accommodation
varies from basic camping (Cerro Hoya) to comfortable lodges geared
specifically for bird watching (Finca Suiza). The tours we offer
are geared towards spotting, identifying and photographing the birds!
To get an
idea of the birds you might see, visit
our image gallery and check the list.
Click on
the links at the left to view details of our tour packages. |
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Blue
crowned Mot Mot |
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AZUERO
BIRD WATCHING TOUR
6 days
All inclusive from Panama city
Main destination: Cerro Hoya
This tour is a six day
bird wathing tour in Central and West Pacific Panama, in search
of three Panama endemics. Hopefully we will see the Brown-backed
Dove, Veraguas Mango and Painted Azuero Parakeet in Cerro Hoya.
On day one we pick people
up from Gamboa and a collecting point in Panama city to drive
in the morning to our farm to forest project in Palmilla where
you will stay the first night of this tour. Along the way we will
stop at the la Macanas marsh near Divisa.
Very early the next morning
we leave to Flores, at the foot of the Cerro Hoya National Park
where we spend the next two days in the Cerro Hoya National Park
to find the endemics while keeping our eyes open for other birds.
Cerro Hoya is also home to the Great Green Macaw, the Scarlet
Macaw (very rare), Black-hooded Antshrike, Crested Eagle and King
Vulture. Our local guide is very good at spotting birds in the
forest. Furthermore, Prof. Delgado collected a hummingbird that
might be a Glowthroated Hummingbird, but could possibly be an
as yet undescribed species.
The fourth day we go back
to stay in Palmilla and will spend time in the Golfo de Montijo
to look for waders, terns and other marine birds. On the fifth
day we drive you back to Gamboa where we stay in the houses formerly
occupied by employees of the Panama Canal dredging division. From
here we will walk the world famous pipeline road. The next morning
of the sixth day, we spend some time in the Metropolitan Park
depending on your departure times.
| 4-6 persons |
$ 799 p.p. |
- All transport,
accommodation, breakfast, lunches, snacks and four dinners
are included.
- Please note that
accommodation in Cerro Hoya is in tents or very rustic.
- Price for smaller
groups on request.
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Now !
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Female
Garden Emerald… |
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CERRO
HOYA BIRD WATCHING TOUR
3 days
All inclusive starting from Our accommodation at Panamagic, in
Palmilla
Main destination: Cerro Hoya.
A three day / two night
hunt for the endemic painted parrot and brown backed dove at Cerro
Hoya, starting and ending at our accommodation in Palmilla. We
will stay in Flores and in the Cerro Hoya park, so accommodation
is very basic. Apart from the painted parrot, there is a good
chance that we see great green macaws, black hooded ant shrikes,
slaty-tailed, violacious and black headed trogons and many other
species.
| 4-6 persons |
$ 199 p.p. |
- All transport from
and to Malena, accommodation and food included.
- Note that accommodation
in Cerro Hoya is in tents or very rustic.
- Price for smaller
groups on request.
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MANGROVE
BIRD WATCHING TOUR BY KAYAK!
1 day
All inclusive from Panamagic
Main destinations: Palo Seco Mangrove area (or Morillo Mangrove,
or Torio river).
On this round trip, starting
at Panamagic, we start walking (depending on the tides of the
day we start at the beach or walk via farmlands) to the mangrove
where our kayaks are waiting. We kayak upstream for a while and
picnic in this forest that was never cut down. We paddle back
and resume our walk back via the other route (not done in the
morning). This trip can be only for bird watching but also adapted
as to be about the various ecosystems.
The tour gives us many
excellent views of the Golfo the Montijo.
| Full day flat fee for
1 or 2 clients only USD 75.00 p.p. |
- This includes or
specialist guide (various languages), transport to and
from the launching site, a packed lunch, the kayak rental,
life jackets and radio communication.
- We have one double
and one single sit kayaks.
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Now !
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