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Go Birdwatching with Wounaan! Join the Wounaan Bird Count Conservation Tour

January 1-7, 2025


WhiteHawk Birding invites you on a 7-day conservation tour in benefit of Native Future and the Wounaan Bird Count program.  It features the Wounaan-led Christmas Bird Count and focuses on the fantastic birdlife of the Indigenous Wounaan territories of eastern Panama. Participants will observe birds, and other wildlife, alongside Wounaan guides and with a bilingual, expert bird guide in three Wounaan territories. 



Panama is a biodiversity hotspot, home to the largest number of birds of any country in Central America. Smaller than South Carolina, it has over a thousand recorded species of birds, and hundreds of Neotropical mammals, reptiles and other wildlife. This astonishing diversity is easily accessible, making it possible to attain a long list of birds in a short period of time. For these reasons, Panama is one of the top birding & wildlife destinations in the world. 



Sixty-two percent of Panama is forested. Over fifty percent of that forest is in Indigenous territory and protected areas. The Wounaan are one of the seven groups of Indigenous peoples of the Republic of Panama, and their traditional lands comprise some of the most intact ecosystems in Panama and the Americas. Moreover, Wounaan depend on these forests, streams, and mangroves for their livelihood and culture. Wounaan live in east Panama and the Darien, Panama’s largest and wildest province.



The Darien, bordering Colombia, is known as a home for many avian regional specialties and as a stronghold for rare Neotropical birds. Darien is home to Harpy and Crested eagles, Blue Cotingas, Red-throated Caracaras, Capped Herons, Great Jacamars, and King Vultures. Other species, such as Golden-headed Manakin, Black Oropendola, Spot-crowned Barbet, Gray-cheeked Nunlet, Rusty-winged Antwren, White-headed Wren and so much more await you in Panama. This is a unique opportunity to watch and enjoy birds and other wildlife with Indigenous Wounaan guides.


The Wounaan Bird Count program has three objectives: to train locals in bird identification and count techniques, develop ecotourism capacity in the communities and create educational materials documenting their cultural connections to biodiversity. 


(Learn more about Wounaan cultural revitalization at our free online event Chibau, K'õsi and Many Birds - Indigenous Land Rights in Panama on December 3, 2024.) 


Your participation in this tour helps Wounaan communities to protect 350,000+ acres of bird habitat in eastern Panama. A portion of the tour fee will support Native Future’s work on land rights and conservation with the Wounaan people of Panama.



Whitehawk Birding


Founded and run by wildlife biologists with decades of collective experience working around the globe, Whitehawk was created with the goal of making every birding tour and wildlife encounter an extraordinary journey into the world of birds, nature, and conservation. We specialize in custom birding tours and nature experiences in Latin America, the Caribbean, and destinations worldwide.


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