Bocas has a lot to offer everyone, including birders. There are lots of new species to discover, both on the islands and the mainland. On Isla Colon, where we stayed for a few days, my birding was limited to our resort property and the forest behind, which still yielded a few lifers including the Montezuma Oropendola and the Plumbeous Kite. In addition, a boat trip to Isla Pajaros yielded Red-billed Tropicbird and Brown Booby (both nest there, and were lifers for me), as well as many mean Frigatebirds makinig life miserable for the Tropicbirds.
I did do a full day of birding on the mainland. My guide was Max William, whose expertise, patience, and persistence managed to get me about a hundred species including a bunch of lifers. I missed a great target that day (Snowy Cotinga), but fantastic looks at many lifers (such as the Pygmy KF, Pale-billed WP, the lovely White-collared Manakin, the tiny Black-capped Pygmy-Tyrant, and 2-3 new hummer species) more than made up for it.
I did do a full day of birding on the mainland. My guide was Max William, whose expertise, patience, and persistence managed to get me about a hundred species including a bunch of lifers. I missed a great target that day (Snowy Cotinga), but fantastic looks at many lifers (such as the Pygmy KF, Pale-billed WP, the lovely White-collared Manakin, the tiny Black-capped Pygmy-Tyrant, and 2-3 new hummer species) more than made up for it.
