BIRDWATCHING

The Panama Rainforest Discovery Center is located on the famous Pipeline road, one of the most renowned places in the world for bird watching. In fact, here was established a record number for a bird count organized in 1985 by the Audubon Society, when 385 species were identified in 24 hours.

Start your tour in our visitor center, observing up to 13 species of hummingbirds that we have recorded in our feeders. Continue on our trails observing birds of the undergrowth such as manakins, anteaters and trogons. Go up our 40-meter tower to contemplate birds in the canopy such as the famous blue cotinga and toucans, and visit the viewing platform by the lake to see aquatic birds like wattled jacanas, least grebes, herons and snail kites. As well as birds you will be able to observe other animals like monkeys, crocodiles, coatis , and butterflies.

We have guides in the visitor center and at the tower, who will point out the sightings. If you have no binoculars, you can rent them in our shop.

Check out and print our bird list:

* PDF Bird List

HIKING

The Panama Rainforest Discovery Center has 1.2 Kilometers worth of trails through the forest, conditioned for easy mobility with stone and wooden platforms. Our trails lead you to the observation tower, Lake Calamito and to small viewing platforms with benches for resting. Also, if you would like to expand your hike, you can walk 2 kilometers from the entrance of the Pipeline Road to our visitor center (2,2 km), or you can continue on the 4km Pipeline Road public trail of the Soberania National Park.

*Soon! Map of trails to download

SCHOOL PROGRAM

The Fundación Avifauna Eugene Eisenmann offers a free environmental education program to school groups of 12 to 18 years of age, under a system of early booking. The groups can have a maximum of 50 students and should have their won transportation arrangements.

For information on dates, visiting hours and transportation requirements contact the Fundación Avifauna.

SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS

The scientific projects currently taking place in the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center with funds from the Fundación Avifauna are the following:

1. Panamá: a canal for migratory raptors. The observation tower is one of the key points where the Raptors Ocean to Ocean Count, organized annually by the Panama Audubon Society, takes place. From the 1st of October to the 15th of November, our guides and volunteers are recording hawks, vultures and other raptors daily from 7am to 5pm.
2. Migratory bird monitoring (MOSI): In the Panama Rainforest Discovery we do MOSI (Monitoring of Winter Survival) with fog nets between November and March. Our station belongs to a network of stations in all of Mesoamerica that study the transit of birds that migrate south from the United States.
3. Weather station and measuring of carbon capture with the Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá: 4 weather stations are located in different points and heights in the forest that measure data like temperature, humidity and rainfall. Also, there is a periodic measurement of the amount of carbon that the soil and leaves on trees capture, and the oxygen they produce. This investigation is lead by the Department of Hydrometeorology of the Universidad Tecnológica, with professors and students.
4. Bird monitoring with the Universidad de Panamá: The Museo de Vertebrados of the School of Biology monitors weekly the birds that live in the forest of the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center and its surroundings.
5. Studies on the state of conservation of the green macaw in Panama: there are records of the 1970s of the existence of green macaws in Pipeline Road. Our scientists are studying the feasibility of a possible reintroduction, while studying green macaws in Cerro Hoya and other places in Panama such as Darien and Bocas del Toro.