Pipeline Road

Photo by Jose Garcia
Photo taken in Gamboa Digiscoping

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Description

This road offers great birding opportunities, it goes 17 km north at the east bank of the Panama Canal. During World War II a pipeline was built to transfer fuel from one ocean to the other, and today the road built for this purpose is one of the best birding locations in central america. Located at the Soberanía National Park, only 40 minutes drive from Panama city the diversity of pipeline road can be attributed to the habitat heterogenity in the park;secondary, old growth forest, swamps, streams and uplands.

Birding

Several professional ant-followers can be seen; Spotted Antbird, Bicolored Antbird, Ocellated Antbird, Chestnut- Back Antbird and the prized Rufous-Vented Ground-Cuckoo, if you are very lucky!. Manakins include the Golden-Collared Mankin, Blue-Crowned Manakin and Red-Capped Manakin. Pipeline is well known for its Trogons, five of them can be seen in a very lucky day: Slaty-Tailed Trogon , Violaceous Trogon and Black- Throated Trogon been the more commons. The long never ending whistle of the Great Jacamar reveals the presence of this spectacular bird too.

It is easy to see fruit eaters on fig trees like Purple-Throated Fruit crows, Scarlet- Rumped Caciques, and several species of Toucans. Red-Lored amazons are always present, and in the more wetter areas Brown-Hooded Parrots.

Cinnamon Woodpeckers are commons in the first part of the road as well as Black- Cheeked, Crimson-Crested and Lineated Woodpeckers. This road is particularly good for Woodcreepers, been the communest of all the Cocoa Woodcreeper.

At pipeline there is always the possibility to find rare raptors like;Collared Forest-Falcon, Semiplumbeous Hawk, or a Black-Hawk Eagle.

The wetland areas before pipeline should be scanned for Rufescent Tiger-Herons, elusive White-Throated Crake, Jacanas, Snail Kites and maybe a Limpkin.

Local Birdguides

Jose Garcia

www.panamabirds.net info