We have so many birds! I have heard it said that we have more birds in this little country than in the whole of north America. Maybe this is true. Yesterday morning I identified 13 birds just while I was having breakfast.
My Son-in-law introduced me to a great app, Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Labs. It will listen to bird songs and tell you what bird it is, or you can take a picture of a bird and it will identify it for you. We live next to a woods and I have wondered for years who has been singing a couple songs I especially like. I have a couple bird books that I use a lot but I think the app has allowed me to identify birds I didn’t know or make more accurate identifications of other birds.
I’ve taken screen shots of the birds, as identified in the app. I’ve heard this mournful call for ages, but I’ve never seen the bird. Who would have thought it is this one! What an odd little bird.
I’ve also heard another beautiful song in the woods. It makes me happy every time but again, I had no idea who was singing. It turned out to be a thrush! These birds are in my yard all the time. But apparently, they only do the beautiful song when they are down in the woods.
There are many other birds that have been identified by the app. Many of them I already knew. There are others I didn’t know, or I wasn’t sure if I had identified them correctly. Rather than write an epic length post, I’ll just post all the screen shots here with some captions.
Of course we can’t forget the toucans! (aracari, the official name)
Whew! That’s a lot of birds, and all of these ID’s have been done right here in my yard. This isn’t counting other birds that live near the water, in the mountains, or in other areas of the country. It’s no wonder that a lot of bird watchers like to come to Panama.
The Panama Adventure 
How wonderful to have so many beautiful birds to watch and enjoy!
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Yes indeed! Thanks for stopping by
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Wow!! Fantastic post, Kris!! Thank you for all of the info AND all of your time and energy to identify all of those birds! Very exciting. And I am going to try that app! Thanks again,
Marilyn Flinn
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Thank you so much! That app makes it very easy. Happy birding
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Hi Kris, my husband I live in Boquete and are bird lovers as well. We also use the Merlin app and have identified many birds in our area! We put fruit out every morning and love to see the different birds come in to enjoy it! I love reading your posts—they are always so positive and enjoyable!
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You have awesome birds up there too! Thanks so much for your kind words 😊
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Thank you Kris for the app reference! Can’t wait to start using it!
When we lived on Isla Taboga we seemed to have a much greater variety of birds than here in Chorcha Abajo. That said there is absolutely no shortage here. Our first few years here Lin and I were constantly calling each other to come see some exotic specimen. As we became used to such, we gradually stopped that. Then after we’d been here about a decade I heard Lin very excitedly yelling for me to come quick, I rushed outside and excitedly ooh’d and aww’d with her – as we watched a common crow🤣 (which neither of us could recall seeing here)
Never thought I’d be excited about seeing a crow until we moved here…🤣
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LOL about the crow. I wonder if he got too cold up north and came down for our weather. Chorcha Abajo, in Chiriqui, near the water? It’s beautiful there.
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Indeed! Panamá boasts more birds than anywhere else due to its rich biodiversity, despite smaller geographic size.
We have homes in central mountains of Panamá and the jungle mountains of Darien where the former is teaming with deer, coyote, and a range of unidentified birds.
Darien is the king of diversity and includes the Panamá Eagle and national bird that makes the American Bald Eagle look like a pigeon.
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It’s so awesome! The biodiversity is one of the many things I love about Panama. I’ve seen the Harpy Eagle in the zoo in Gamboa. It must be something to see one in the wild, but I don’t think they want to live anywhere near people so it’s unlikely.
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