Film | Bird’s Eye View of Panama’s Canopy Wildlife



Panama ranks as one of the world’s top birdwatching spots in the world, but you’d be surprised how many rare mammals also thrive in its forests. And there’s nothing quite like seeing everything at eye-level.

CANOPY TOWER

I was invited by the owners of Canopy Tower (https://canopytower.com/) to stay in their remarkable tree-top hotel to see the wildlife that abounds there. Converted from a former military radar tower overlooking the Panama Canal, it is one of the best places from which to enjoy the mesmerising number of species that Panama has to offer.

FOLLOW IN MY FOOTSTEPS

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WILDLIFE AT EYE-LEVEL

You don’t even have to leave the hotel to find a myriad of brightly-coloured species or enjoy the wealth of wildlife this tropical isthmus has to offer. You can watch sloths dangling from the highest branches, soft-eyed mantled howler monkeys, brown-hooded parrots allopreening, and even the stunning squirrel cuckoo!

RARE SIGHTINGS

But a 10-minute walk down hill from the hotel and I was treated to a very rare sight: Sylvia’s leaf frogs. Even my guide Eliecer had only seen these jewel coloured frogs in one other place in Panama! And later, on a drive through the forest, we spot something unique. A erythristic northern tamandua. This pale-coated, arboreal anteater could well be one of a kind and we got to watch it snooze in the treetops, escaped ants from its latest meal still scarpering over its face!

WILDLIFE IN THE TREETOPS

You don’t need to spot rare creatures to feel like you’ve entered a new world in Panama. Here everything seems exotic – check out the chattering Geoffroy’s tamarin – and so much of wildlife lives in the trees. Even the porcupines – Rothschild’s porcupine – can climb.

BIRDS

From double-toothed kites, to masked tityras, broad-billed motmots, yellow fulvous-vented euphonias, golden-hooded tanagers, blue crowned manakins, and black breasted puff birds (even the names are a joy), there’s no surprising that Panama has a reputation as one of the best bird-watching destinations in the world.

MAMMALS

And on the forest floor there is more to spot. The white-nosed coatis walked like cartoon characters and the brilliant coats of green iguana’s glisten. 

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