TOCUMEN MARSH
PANAMA
TOCUMEN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (near) (Compass)
Lat:00o00´S/00o00´W ha topography msl
Protected/registered status
Best Time for visit (18th, 20-21st March, 2005)
Birding Site Guide
This was a frustrating place to visit but with forward planning and a little knowledge it is very easy to get there by public transport and quite rewarding. Take any bus headig to Tocumen from Calle 50 in Panama city. These go past the airport and to a terminal near the town of Tocumen. Just before the last stop, you'll pass a Texaco gas station on a raised bank on the left. Get off here and turn left and walk down the hill on the paved road. This passes a supermarket very soon on the left hand side and there is a right turn. This gravel road leads to the 'Finca'. I had trouble with the petty guy on the gate. Basically, if you go Mon-Sat after 6am you'll be fine. He'll let you past and you go to a small office where you pay $5 and get given a receipt. You can then walk around the rice farm. As you go down the hill there is a pond on your left where I saw Southern Lapwing. Further down on the right is a small stream lined with a few trees with Striated Heron. The best area though is when you follow the long, straight road through the rice fields (dry when I was there). Here is a wooded area. Turning right leads to the side of a big lake with many interesting birds. I failed to see Colombian Crakes which have been seen here before. I saw 74 species including 8 lifers.
Species seen
- Neotropic Cormorant Phalacrocorax brasilianus
- Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias
- Cocoi Heron Ardea cocoi
- Great Egret Ardea alba
- Tricolored Heron Egretta tricolor
- Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea
- Snowy Egret Egretta thula
- Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis
- Striated Heron Butorides striata
- Green Heron Butorides virescens
- Black-crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
- Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Nyctanassa violacea
- Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
- Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
- Osprey Pandion haliaetus
- White-tailed Kite Elanus leucurus
- Savanna Hawk Buteogallus meridionalis
- Roadside Hawk Buteo magnirostris
- Swainson's Hawk Buteo swainsoni
- Crested Caracara Caracara cheriway
- Yellow-headed Caracara Milvago chimachima
- Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus
- Gray-headed Chachalaca Ortalis cinereiceps
- White-throated Crake h Laterallus albigularis
- Purple Gallinule Porphyrio martinica
- Wattled Jacana Jacana jacana
- Black-necked Stilt Himantopus mexicanus
- Southern Lapwing Vanellus chilensis
- Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca
- Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes
- Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria
- Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularia
- Rock Dove Columba livia Introduced
- Ruddy Ground-Dove Columbina talpacoti
- Orange-chinned Parakeet Brotogeris jugularis
- Yellow-crowned Parrot Amazona ochrocephala
- Greater Ani Crotophaga major
- Garden Emerald ? Chlorostilbon assimilis
- Ringed Kingfisher Ceryle torquata
- Amazon Kingfisher Chloroceryle amazona
- American Pygmy Kingfisher Chloroceryle aenea
- Red-crowned Woodpecker Melanerpes rubricapillus
- Buff-throated Woodcreeper Xiphorhynchus guttatus
- Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet Camptostoma obsoletum
- Common Tody-Flycatcher Todirostrum cinereum
- Pied Water-Tyrant Fluvicola pica
- Panama Flycatcher Myiarchus panamensis
- Lesser Kiskadee Philohydor lictor
- Great Kiskadee Pitangus sulphuratus
- Rusty-margined Flycatcher Myiozetetes cayanensis
- Tropical Kingbird Tyrannus melancholicus
- Fork-tailed Flycatcher Tyrannus savana
- Gray-breasted Martin Progne chalybea
- Southern Rough-winged Swallow Stelgidopteryx ruficollis
- Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica
- Plain Wren Thryothorus modestus
- Tropical Mockingbird Mimus gilvus Introduced
- Clay-colored Robin Turdus grayi
- Yellow Warbler Dendroica petechia
- Northern Waterthrush Seiurus noveboracensis
- Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas Rare/Accidental
- Crimson-backed Tanager Ramphocelus dimidiatus
- Blue-gray Tanager Thraupis episcopus
- Blue-black Grassquit Volatinia jacarina
- Variable Seedeater Sporophila corvina
- Ruddy-breasted Seedeater Sporophila minuta
- Thick-billed Seed-Finch Oryzoborus funereus
- Black-striped Sparrow Arremonops conirostris
- Streaked Saltator Saltator striatipectus
- Red-breasted Blackbird Sturnella militaris
- Eastern Meadowlark Sturnella magna
- Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus
- Yellow-billed Cacique Amblycercus holosericeus
- Lesser Goldfinch Carduelis psaltria
Other Fauna
A total of -- species of mammals.
There are -- recorded species of amphibians and reptiles.
Flora
Author: Charles Hesse
www.birdingsiteguide.com