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Panama Audubon Society shows off new books, map
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Panama Audubon Society unveils four new projects

by Eric Jackson

On September 11 at the Hotel Caesar Park, with both Panamanian and US government types participating in the ceremonies, and a crowd of environmentalists and people in the eco-tourism business on hand, the Panama Audubon Society unveiled four new projects that it has been working on. These include two books, a map and an online database.

The book that was available at the event was the Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Panama, by Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) ornithologist George R. Angehr. It lists 972 species, 42 more than Ridgley's comprehensive field guide, and is the serious Panama birder's measure of how well she or he has been doing in the search for this country's varied avian fauna.

Still at the printer is Where to Find Birds in Panama: A Site Guide for Birders. This began as a series of articles by Doctors Dodge and Lorna Engleman, both of them physicians who now live in the United States but who for many years were central characters in the Panama Audubon Society. Dr. Angehr took over where they left off, and the updated compilation includes maps, information on the trails to walk and details about hotels where one might stay on various excursions around this country. It will surely be a major boost to the local birding scene, which along with fishing expeditions to Piñas Bay must be counted as one of the original twin pillars of Panama's ecological tourism industry that generates a lot of income from foreign visitors and local fans alike.

Of the latter book, Angehr said that "anyone who wants to bird in Panama needs this" and it didn't sound a bit like overblown hype. The Audubon Society is hoping to quickly raise the funds to get this work, which ought to have arrived from the printers in Colombia when you read this,  translated into Spanish.

Also available at the presentation was a new birding map of the Panama Canal area, a collaboration between the Audubon Society and US Agency for International Development (USAID). Similar maps of other Panamanian regions are contemplated. "Doing a map is very easy," Panama Audubon Society president Rosabel Miró noted, "but what we wanted to do was much more than that."

Indeed. The artwork alone more or less guarantees that, in addition to well worn folded copies gracing many a birder's pack, a lot of these maps will end up pressed and framed and hanging on people's walls. In addition to graphic designer Darién Montañez, the Audubon membership, people from USAID, a crew of motivated university students and a number of people who live near the canal area's national parks have contributed to this map.

The books and map are on sale at the STRI bookstore in the Tupper Center in Ancon and at the Parque Natural Metropolitano headquarters on Via Juan Pablo II.

Also announced at the presentation was the e-Bird online database about the birds of Panama, which will be included in the STRI Bioinformatics Office's new online collection of databases.

At the event National Environmental Authority lawyer Harley Mitchell Jr. announced government initiatives to update its endangered species list and establish eco-tourism regulations. Environmental tourism, Mitchell said, "is a priority not just for ANAM, but also the whole government." A representative of an administration that's not universally popular with environmentalists, he was politely received.

Speaking for the American Embassy, business attache Luis Arreaga put the Audubon Society's latest initiatives in an economic context. "This is the moment for Panama to become an important tourist destination for the region," he opined, pointing out that bird watching is not only a popular pastime but also an important and growing economic activity here.

The Panama Audubon Society, which has its roots in the former Canal Zone but which is primarily a Spanish-speaking organization now, meets the second Thursday of every month at the Parque Natural Metropolitano headquarters.

Also in this section:
Panama Audubon Society shows off new books, map
Don't forget to appreciate the flower