About urban birding
Panama City is full of birds. On this tour we explore the city's parks, forest patches, ruins, marshes, channels, seashore, mudflats and mangroves, all homes to a wide variety of birds: herons and egrets, gulls and shorebirds, songbirds, toucans, parrots, owls and hawks.
Among the birds we often find are Cocoi Heron, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Straight-billed Woodcreeper, Cattle Tyrant, Red-breasted Meadowlark, Mangrove Warbler, Crested Caracara, Barred Antshrike and Southern Lapwing.
- Easy walks and short drives between sites
- Great photo opportunities
- For beginners and experienced birders, whatever your age
- A good way to add birds to your list on a short stay or a layover
What to expect
Easy, comfortable birding with plenty of birds and photo opportunities. Your bird list for the day is shared at the end.
Short on time? This tour fits around a business trip, a layover or a cruise. Tell us when you're free and where you're staying.
Birds to look for
This list comes from our own tours, plus sightings shared by friends and clients. It changes all the time, so send us your sightings at info@guidedbirdtours.com. For everything else, see the Central Panama bird list.
Herons and egrets, shorebirds on the mudflats, parrots, toucans, raptors and songbirds of the parks and mangroves. Ask us for the list, or see our recent sightings on eBird.
What have we seen lately? Our guides log their sightings on eBird, the bird-checklist database run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. See our recent checklists from Panama City and the rest of Panama.
Practical information
Weather
Hot and sunny on the coast and in the open, cooler in the shade of the parks. A hat, sunscreen and light clothes make it comfortable.
What to wear
Light, casual clothes, comfortable shoes or sneakers, a hat and sunscreen.
What to bring
Binoculars, a notebook and a camera if you like. Your guide carries a spotting scope and a field guide, and we bring drinking water.
Staying nearby
Any Panama City hotel works; we pick you up there.
Food
Panama City has restaurants of every kind. Each traveler pays for their own meal.
Field guides we recommend
The Birds of Panama: A Field Guide by George Angehr and Robert Dean (2010), the main reference for Panama. An Illustrated Field Guide to the Birds of Panama by Ernesto Ponce and Giselle Muschett (2006), handy for quick checks.
