Upon arrival you will meet our representative at the Tocumen International Airport and transfer you to our first location – The Canopy Tower, located at the top of Semaphore Hill in the rainforest of Soberanía National Park. As your luggage is being ferried to your room, you may visit the dining/bar area and enjoy a refreshing drink.  We highly recommend that you spend some time on the Observation Deck. The view from the platform provides some incredible Panama birding opportunities! Here, you get a unique eye-level perspective of the rainforest canopy. Many birds in the rainforest, including toucans, parrots, tanagers of various species, hawks, and dozens of others, as well as monkeys, two species of sloth, and other mammals are commonly seen. From this vantage point you can also see ships transiting the Panama Canal, the majestic Centennial Bridge, and miles of rainforest!  You may also want to watch the hummingbird feeders at the base of the Tower for Long-billed Hermit, White-necked Jacobin, Violet-bellied & Blue-chested Hummingbirds and White-vented Plumeleteer.  Occasionally, a Snowy-bellied Hummingbird is spotted! After all this Panama birding, dinner will be served at the CANOPY TOWER.

• Overnight at the eco-lodge, dinner included.
• Elevation: 900 feet.

Your guide will be waiting for you at the Observation Deck for early morning birding. This morning after breakfast we go on a motorboat for a spectacular tour on the Panama Canal. Most of the Panama Canal is actually an artificial lake, Gatun Lake. This wildlife adventure will depart from Gamboa, just 15 minutes from the Canopy Tower. We start in the Chagres River, enjoying the abundance of water birds and keeping an eye out for Lesser Capybara. We will look for primates including Mantled Howlers, White-faced Capuchins and the tiny Geoffroy’s Tamarins. There is also a chance to see some interesting reptiles on this wildlife adventure, including American Crocodile (some reach 14 or more feet in length) and its smaller relative, the Spectacled Caiman, plus Basilisks and Black River Turtles. A little scarcer, but not impossible, are the Neotropical River Otter and, if we are really lucky, the West Indian Manatee. We will return to the tower for lunch.

After lunch and a rest, at mid-afternoon, we will start exploring Soberanía National Park by taking a pleasant walk down Semaphore Hill Road. There are some incredible photo opportunities here, including birds like the Olivaceous Flatbill, Plain Xenops, Lesser Greenlet, Black-breasted & White-whiskered Puffbirds, Fasciated & Black-crowned (formerly Western Slaty) Antshrikes, Slate-colored Grosbeak, Bay-headed & White-shouldered Tanagers, Black-throated Trogon, Broad-billed & Rufous Motmots and even Great Jacamar may be found.  Great Tinamou is often heard, but harder to see.  This road is also great for raptors, such as White, Tiny & Great Black Hawks, and during migration it’s easy to see more than 10 species of warbler and other migratory songbirds in one morning.

• Overnight at the eco-lodge, B-L-D
• Elevation: 900 feet

After breakfast, we continue our guided photo tour at the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center, an ecotourism and environmental education facility created and administered by Fundacion Avifauna Eugene Eisenmann. It is located off Pipeline Road adjacent to Soberanía National Park. The center contains several attractions, the best of which is a 100-foot-tall observation tower, with 4 rest platforms—each stopping at a different layer of the rainforest. The view from the top is incredible! Here, we scan for raptors such as Double-toothed Kite and Semiplumbeous Hawk. We will also take a quick birding tour through the 1.1-kilometer circuit of well-maintained forest trails, one ending at a pond, which is excellent for birds! Snail Kite, Wattled Jacana, Little Blue Heron and Sungrebe are often resident at the pond, and along the trails we look for White-necked Puffbird, motmots, trogons, manakins, antbirds, wrens, tanagers, flycatchers and many others. The covered Visitor Center has several hummingbird feeders (attracting species that may be photographed easily), bathrooms, lunch tables and a small gift shop with drinks and snacks. We return to the lodge for lunch.

In the afternoon, we search for the area’s most sought-after specialties, from the Great Jacamar and the Pheasant Cuckoo to the Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo and the Harpy Eagle, both recorded here. Eight species of wren, 5 trogons, 4 puffbirds, 3 motmots, and many tanagers and flycatchers, including the unusual Brownish Twistwing, are often found.  Also, the calls of Streak-chested Antpitta and Black-faced Ant thrush will lure us in!  Army ant swarms are found occasionally, attended by a host of birds including Bicolored, Ocellated & Spotted Antbirds.  Plus, we will hunt for Golden-collared, Red-capped & Blue-crowned Manakins, always high on a photographer’s list of favorites!  Raptors include 3 forest-falcons, Tiny & Semiplumbeous Hawks, Ornate & Black Hawk-eagles (soaring overhead). Other residents include Carmiol’s & Sulphur-rumped Tanagers, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Black-crowned & Masked Tityras, Cinnamon & Crimson-crested Woodpeckers, Scarlet-rumped Cacique, Red-lored & Brown-hooded Parrots, Collared Araçari, Speckled Mourner, Buff-throated Foliage-Gleaner, Yellow-throated & Keel-billed Toucans, and Black-striped, Northern Barred and Plain-brown Woodcreepers!  As we cross several rivers, we search for Sunbittern and Green-and-rufous Kingfisher.   This is our last night at the tower.

• Overnight at the eco-lodge, B-L-D
• Elevation: 900 feet.

After breakfast, we will proceed to our next location to the south.

The journey to the destination of our Panama Photography tour is approximately 5 hours, but we will make stops along the way in exciting birding areas. As we drive east along the Pan-American Highway, we will scan for roadside birds and open-field raptors including Savanna Hawk and Crested Caracara. Our first scheduled stop will be at the bridge at Bayano Lake, a great opportunity to stretch our legs and see what we can see along the lakeside. This reservoir supports large numbers of water birds, including a colony of Neotropic Cormorants, as well as Anhinga, Cocoi Heron and the rare Bare-throated Tiger-Heron. We will scan the water’s edge for Purple Gallinule, Pied Water-Tyrant, Smooth-billed Ani and Ruddy-breasted Seedeater. A short trail leading from the water’s edge is a great place to search for Black Antshrike, Bare-crowned Antbird, Rufous-winged Antwren and Golden-collared Manakin. At another great stop along the way, Río Mono Bridge, the surrounding forest is home to One-colored Becard, Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher, Blue Cotinga, Pied Puffbird, Orange-crowned Oriole, Blue Ground-Dove and more. We will also scan the river below for Green-and-rufous Kingfisher and the elusive Fasciated Tiger-Heron. While enjoying a lovely Panamanian lunch, the hummingbirds at the feeders will no doubt capture our attention, as Long-billed Star throat, Sapphire-throated Hummingbird, Scaly-breasted Hummingbird, Black-throated Mango and more take their lunch as well—great hummingbird photo opportunities here! Lunch in TORTI. After a delicious lunch, we will head back to the Pan-American Highway and continue east. We will carry on from here to our lodge and arrive before daylight fades so we can settle into our tents and get acquainted with the setting. After a delicious dinner of fresh American and Panamanian fare, we will gather to have a meeting about the days to come and settle into our tents for the night.

• Overnight at the eco-lodge, B-L-D
• Elevation: 974 feet.

After breakfast we will go for a morning hike up the hill in Filo del Tallo. Reserve to where two giant Cuipo trees stand side by side, surrounded by beautiful forest. The majestic “Cuipo,” also known as “Quipo,” “Bongo” & “Hamati” in Panamá, is an impressive tree, no doubt!  Standing as much as 40 m tall, Cavanillesia platanifolia (Malvaceae) is deciduous, dropping its leaves at the onset of the dry season, usually in December. Flowering begins in March. The trunk can get to 1.5 m in diameter and often bulges about 2-3 m above the base. Larger trees are the favorite nest trees of the Harpy & Crested Eagle—two highly sought-after—and rare—raptors.  Several trees can be seen on the hills around the Canopy Camp.  Cuipo trees elicit thoughts of “wild Panama” and make impressive specimens to photograph.

At the Camp post lunch we take a walk around the area trails to see and photograph Yellow-throated and Keel-billed Toucans call from the towering Cuipo trees; Red-lored and Mealy Parrots fly overhead; and White-bellied Antbird, Bright-rumped Attila, White-headed Wren and Golden-headed Manakin sing from the surrounding forests. Rufous-tailed Jacamar and Barred Puffbird are also seen frequently around the grounds. We will work our way into the forest on “Nando’s Trail,” in hopes of finding Tiny Hawk, Black & Great Antshrikes, Olive-backed Quail-Dove, Cinnamon Becard, Black-tailed Trogon, Double-banded Graytail, Gray-cheeked Nunlet, Yellow-breasted Flycatcher & Royal Flycatchers and Russet-winged Schiffornis. We will also be looking for groups of Red-throated Caracara, King Vulture and Short-tailed Hawk overhead in the clearings. Ornate Hawk-Eagle and Plumbeus and Zone-tailed Hawks are also possible. In the open areas, the verbenas are full of hummingbird and butterfly activity, where we hope to see Violet-bellied Hummingbird, Pale-bellied Hermit, Long-billed Star throat, Blue-throated Goldentail and if lucky, the stunning Ruby-Topaz Hummingbird feeding. Spot-crowned Barbet, Olivaceous Piculet, Red-rumped Woodpecker and Streak-headed Woodcreeper are other birds we may encounter.

There will also be an opportunity to explore the grounds of the Canopy Camp at night in search of nocturnal birds and mammals, including Black-and-white & Mottled Owls, Great & Common Potoos, Kinkajou, Central American Woolly Opossum and more

• Overnight at the eco-lodge, B-L-D
• Elevation: 974 feet.

The iconic Harpy Eagle is our target for the day! Usually the local guides are aware of a Harpy Eagle nest site, often in or near Darién National Park, which gives us a prized opportunity to photograph this rare species. Depending on the availability and exact location of a nest site, we will start early, long before sunrise, and drive to Yaviza, at the end of the Pan-American Highway. Arriving at dawn in Yaviza, we will board a “piragua”—a dugout canoe—and traverse the still waters of the Chucunaque and Tuira rivers. There are plenty of birds to see along the riverside: Anhinga, Neotropic Cormorant, Great Blue, Cocoi, Little Blue, Tricolored, Striated and Capped Herons, Snowy Egret, White and Green Ibises, Pied Water-Tyrant, Yellow-hooded Blackbird, and Crested and Black Oropendolas. White-tailed Kite and Black-collared Hawk may be found cruising overhead.

Upon arrival in El Real, we can scan the open areas for Spot-breasted Woodpecker and Great Potoo. Again, depending on the location of a Harpy Eagle nest site, we will meet a local truck and head south out of town past the airstrip, to the trailhead toward the border of Darien National Park! This trail is wide, traversing through lowland rainforest and alongside a river. We will hope to spend some time observing and photographing Harpy Eagles at or around their nest. Hopefully with some success this morning, we can rest and have a picnic lunch in the field and continue to bird along the trail. Other large forest raptors, including Ornate Hawk-Eagle and even Crested Eagle, may also be found in the area, as well as Gray-cheeked Nunlet, White-fronted Nunbird, Green-and-rufous Kingfisher, Agami Heron, Red-throated Caracara, Chestnut-backed Antbird (the eastern Panama race shows white dots on the wings), Chestnut-fronted and Great Green Macaws, Scarlet-browed Tanager and more. After lunch and a break, we will retrace our steps and start our way back to El Real, then head back to Yaviza by river. Along the Pan-American Highway, we can scan for bird activity as the sun sets in the horizon. Picnic lunch in on the way, dinner at the lodge.

• Overnight at the eco-lodge, B-L-D
• Elevation: 974 feet.

Today we will hope to photograph the sought-after Crested Eagle at its nest site! Like its larger cousin the Harpy Eagle, the Crested Eagle is an exceedingly rare raptor that exists at a low population density in the rainforests of Central and South America. In fact, it is usually even harder to see than the Harpy Eagle, because its nests are even more infrequently discovered. However, in the last few years the Canopy Family has built a strong track record of success at locating Crested Eagle nests in the forests of Darién, which both contributes to the conservation of the species and gives us some of the best chances in the world to see and photograph this magnificent bird! Depending on the location of a known nest site, the trip to the site will involve driving or hiking and should give us chances to spot some other Darién specialties. We will also try to time our visit to the site for optimal light and photographic conditions.

• Overnight at the eco-lodge, B-L-D
• Elevation: 974 feet

This morning we return to the Panama City for same day or next day international departures.

• Overnight at the capital city hotel, B-L-Dinner not included
• Elevation: 974 feet