News

Panama’s unprecedented variety of exotic and unusual birds is turning into a tourist draw, attracting bird lovers from around the world.

The Panama Audubon Society’s annual study of the country’s feathered population found 1,002 species in Panama, up from 997 identified in 2015. Panama has more identified species than the United States and Canada combined, according to the Audubon Society.

The array of birds represents a major tourism opportunity, Rosabel Miró, executive director of the Panama chapter of the Audubon Society, recently told Panama News.

“For such a small country as Panama with such a significant number of birds represents an opportunity that official authorities should take into account when marketing the country,” Miró said. Bird watching around the world is “increasingly in demand among tourists, especially in central and northern Europe,” she noted.

The Panama Audubon Society conducts a wide variety of field trips throughout Panama, and is active in efforts to preserve habitats. Miro was named a “Disney Conservation Hero” last year for her work in helping convince the government to protect the wetlands in the Bay of Panama.

“The Bay of Panama—a vast expanse of estuaries, mangrove forests, swamp forests, freshwater pools, and broad intertidal mudflats on the western coast of Panama—attracts millions of migrating shorebirds every year, providing shelter for 30 percent of the global population of Western Sandpiper, up to 20 percent of the global population of Semipalmated Plover, and 34 other North American migratory bird species,” the Society explained in giving her the award.

The Society’s annual list is compiled through lengthy study and debate, following “the taxonomy of the American Ornithologists’ Union Check-list of North American Birds and its most recent supplements,” the Society says. Panama attracts an unusual mix of birds, due to its location as the intersection of North and South America.

“As a bridge between the continents, Panama also serves as a route of passage for many migrants, and seabirds of both the Atlantic and the Pacific reach its shores,” the Audubon Society reports.

There are 12 species unique to Panama and 107 that can only be found in the immediate region.

The new members of the local catalog are the Pinnated Bittern, White-faced Ibis, Red Phalarope, Eurasian Collared-Dove, and Plain-capped Starthroat, the Society has announced. Plus, the Society has split references to the “Blue-crowned Motmot into the (western) Blue-diademed Motmot and (eastern) .”

In this year’s list, “there are numerous changes in scientific names and families, especially in the passerines,” the group reports.

A downloadable copy of the full list of Panama birds can be found here.