Rainy Season Birding at Canopy Tower and Gamboa, Panama

We woke to the sound of heavy rain. Not the brief tropical kind that blows through in twenty minutes, but the sort of steady downpour that settles over the rainforest and refuses to leave. Water hammered the roof hard enough that spending the morning in the open-backed birdmobile sounded considerably less adventurous than it had the previous day. Birders are pretty hard core though, so I assumed birding at Canopy Tower was a “rain or shine” type schedule. Instead, the guides adjusted the plan and drove us to Canopy Bed & Breakfast in nearby Gamboa, about forty minutes from the tower.

Honestly, it turned out to be a pretty good backup plan.

Bird Feeders and Rainforest Wildlife in Gamboa

The property has a garden filled with bird feeders, which meant there was constant activity despite the weather. Even better, the viewing area was covered, allowing our small group to stay relatively dry while watching birds dart between the trees.

For photographers, feeders can feel slightly less satisfying than finding birds naturally in the forest, but they do offer one enormous advantage: knowing where to look.

The rain softened the light nicely, and between the feeders and surrounding rainforest there was almost always something happening. The best subject, by far, were the hummingbirds bathing in the rain.

At various points we also spotted agouti and coati wandering through the grounds.

Waiting Out the Rain at the Summit Botanical Garden

By early afternoon the rain eased slightly, enough that we decided to gamble on another outing. We climbed into the birdmobile and headed toward the Summit Botanical Garden hoping the weather might finally cooperate. It did not. Within minutes the rain returned and everyone retreated beneath a covered structure to wait it out.

Seeing a Harpy Eagle in Panama

The rain never really stopped for long, so most of the afternoon involved short bursts of birding between showers. At one point we took shelter at the Harpy Eagle enclosure. The Harpy Eagle is Panama’s national bird and one of the most powerful raptors on Earth. The bird at the enclosure is a rescue that cannot survive in the wild, which allowed us to see the species from surprisingly close range. A harpy eagle stands roughly a metre tall with a wingspan approaching two metres. Its talons rival the claws of a grizzly bear, giving it the ability to capture prey like monkeys and sloths directly from the rainforest canopy. Seeing one up close immediately pushed “see a wild harpy eagle” much higher up my mental wish list.

A Good Day for Birders

From a photography perspective, I would not rank it among our strongest days. Dense rainforest, dark skies, and wet conditions rarely combine into a dream photography setup. But the birders in the group were thrilled. By the end of the day the tally had reached 59 species.