This bird will knock your socks off when you come across one as you are wandering around in the high altitude rain forests that we have here in Chiriqui.
Here is the pitch:
Experience the explosion of biodiversity that arrives in Panama during the Green Season. Discover Panama’s unrivaled birding alongside a rich variety of mammals, amphibians, insects, and plants. Traverse unique habitats from volcanic craters to thick rainforest and canal-side jungle.
Naturalist Journeys, a top birding and nature tour company, announces the new Panama Green: Birds and Biodiversity Tour from July 13 – 22, 2015.
During the tour, travelers will experience the explosion of biodiversity that accompanies Panama’s Green Season which is initiated by summer rains.
Despite its small size, as a bridge linking North and South America, Panama is one of the most bio-diverse locations on Earth, hosting 970 bird species and 255 mammals in a small land area. Tour participants will discover Panama from two of Latin America’s top-rated eco-lodges.
At the Canopy Tower, teeming rainforest surrounds the observation deck of a re-purposed radar station. By climbing through a hatch similar to what one would find at sea on a ship, atop the tower views can stretch to Panama City in the distance, while viewing ships passing through the canal at fairly close range. Visitors report seeing tropical favorites including Three-toed Sloth, Keel-Billed Toucan, Mantled Howler Monkey, Great Jacamar, Tamandua, and Green Shrike-Vireo.
From Canopy Tower, travelers can readily access Pipeline Road, rated as one of the greatest birding hotspots in Latin America, hosting 5 trogons, four puffbirds, and three motmots. This area is also home to abundant amphibians, Lesser Anteater, Coatimundi, and Mantler Howler Monkeys.
On a voyage on small boats in Gatun Lake of the Panama Canal, travelers will take in great jungle views and spot Snail Kite, Giant Green Iguana, White-faced Capuchin Monkey, and Basilisk lizards.
Participants on this educational tour experience 3 nights at the Canopy Lodge, a quiet eco-lodge nestled in a valley once the crater of a long-dormant volcano. The lodge sits adjacent to Gaital National Monument, where over 300 bird species flourish.
At a local zoo, biologists share their work to save the endemic and critically endangered Panamanian Golden Toad. The zoo also hosts tropical birds and mammals, as well as two Tapirs rescued from Manuel Noriega’s palace.
“Panama is one of the prime birding destinations in the world. Through the work of Raul Arias de Para and his suite unique and dynamic lodgings it also is one of the most comfortable places to travel to see avian riches. Our clients are comfortable, happy, and throughout their days, intrigued. In such a small country, you find amazing variety. Just the views from the Canopy Tower really push this tour over the top for us,” says Naturalist Journeys CEO Peg Abbott.
The Panama Green: Birds and Biodiversity Tour is led by Panamanian expert guides.
More about Naturalist Journeys’ July 13 – 22 Panama Green: Birds & Biodiversity Tour
This tour begins and ends in Panama City and is open to a maximum of 12 participants.
About Naturalist Journeys
Naturalist Journeys is a nature-travel company based in Portal, Arizona. They strive to support eco-tourism throughout the U.S. and beyond, through small-group guided journeys, often in co-operation with local non-profit groups and communities.