Holiday homes Las Plumas Rentals, Volcan, Panama is offering you useful links to prepare yourselves for birdwatching in the Chiriqui Highlands and a pleasant stay. Appealing alternative to Boquete. Excellent bird-watching and hiking activities around Paso Ancho and long-stay holiday.

Local Birding Destinations:

•   Sendero los Quetzales: trail linking Cerro Punta and Boquete, excellent hike for spotting quetzales and other birds and is much easier to walk from Cerro Punta to Boquete since it is heading downhill most of the trail. (30 minutes by car from our holiday home rentals)

•   Parque International la Amistad: 407,000 ha of cloud forest, plant and animal life, more than 600 bird types, excellent bird-watching and hiking through the forests, there are several well maintained trails all starting from the Cerro Punta area (Las Nubes) like Sendero Cascada leading to 55 m / 180 ft waterfall; Sendero El Retono; etc. (30 minutes by car from our holiday home rentals). Link

•   Parque National Volcan Baru: 14,300 ha good place for long hikes and bird-watching. One of the summit trails to the Volcan Baru (3,475 m / 11,400 ft) is starting in Paso Ancho. The other summit is starting at Finca Fernandez. (20 minutes by car from our holiday home rentals)

•   Finca Hartmann: coffee farm with bird-watching facilities, near to Rio Sereno. More than 280 bird species have been identified. (50 minutes by car from our holiday home rentals). Link

•   Buena Vista: excellent bird-watching area due to different altitudes on the trail. (25 minutes by car from our holiday home rentals)

•   Lagunas de Volcan: 2 picturesque lakes and very famous with Audubon Society for good bird-watching and hiking. The lakes are located inside the Janson Coffee farm. (25 minutes by car from our holiday home rentals)

•   Finca Fernandez: located at the beginning of the Sendero Quetzales famous as prime place to see the quetzals. (25 minutes by car from our holiday home rentals)

Some testimonials

•   "We saw the other popular tourist accommodations in the area, and they didn't hold a candle to Las Plumas. Our holiday home was quiet, private, spacious, beautiful, and had every amenity. We saw over 50 species of birds right on the property in just a few days. Our only hesitation in recommending Las Plumas is that it will be harder for us to get a reservation!"
Darrin O'Brien and Julie Craves (USA)

• Hi Ann-Marie and Dirk,
Can you imagine a more perfect holiday retreat for a family or small group of birders? We woke up each morning to a pair of Tropical Kingbirds and a Bue-gray Tanangers, who roosted in the tree right outside our cabin, and two species of hummingbirds foraging for nectar amongst tropical flowers. An early morning walk by the river that borders the property yields dozens of species both on the grounds and just across the river. Whether you use Las Plumas as a base for more ambitious birding in the area or take advantage of the "local" habitat of Las Plumas, you are sure to have a rewarding birding experience. We'll be back. Our month-long stay in "Tanager" left us eager to return!
Gary Markowski, Director - Cuba Bird Study Program

Local Birding Resources:

•   Panama Hotspots: website with description of Panama´s National Parks, varios articles related to bearding and nature. Checklists, tours and guids, etc. Link

• Exoticbirding: Panama Canal Zone & Chiriqui birding tour Link

• Birding resources by the Fat Birder: Local contacts, guides, bird clubs and birding organisations Link

• Independent, well-known guides in the Volcan and Chiriqui Highland area. Please contact us.

Panama Bird Checklist:

• Audubon Panama: Information on birds in 4 regions; South Central American Caribbean Slope Lowland, Pacific Lowlands, Western Highlands and Darien Lowlands, publications, projects and activities, etc. Link

• Printable checklist of the birds of Panama prepared by the Panama Audibon Society Link

• Panama bird checklist. checklist covers entire country Link

• Checklist of Hummingbirds of Panama, 59 species of hummingbirds have been reported. Link

• Xenornis, the latest sightings of rare birds in Panama. Also, information on the endemic bird species found in Panama and a checklist of the birds of Panama. Link

Birdwatching in Panama
The Republic of Panama, a tropical country with a large variety of easily accessible habitats, is a great place for an introduction to the birds of the American tropics. The total number of bird species found in Panama, about 950, is surprisingly large, especially when you consider the relatively small surface of the country. Some 150 of these are neotropical migrants that only occur in the country from September till April. It is not rare to see more than twenty different migrant warblers and vireos on a good morning on spring or fall migration, and that added to fifty or sixty resident species.
This variety is partly explained by the fact that Panama is a land bridge between North and South America. Therefore, our resident avifauna is composed of a mix of birds from both North and South. (source:Birdwatching in Panama,Darién Montañez ,Director of Publications, Panama Audubon Society)