Let’s go to Panama!

Where is

Panama?

Panama is in Central

America. It connects

North and South America.

Panama is an “isthmus”. An isthmus is a narrow strip of land that connects two larger land areas.

Panama is about 2,000 miles away from

Washington, D.C. An airplane flight from D.C.

to Panama takes about 4.5 hours.

Birds must stop to

rest and eat along

the way, so it usually

takes us a few

weeks to cover that

distance.

Did you know that some of the birds

that live in your area in the summer

travel to Panama for the winter?

These birds are called “Neotropical

migratory birds”.

The Summer Tanager is one kind of

migratory bird that lives in the

Washington, D.C area during the

summer and migrates to Panama

for the winter.

We love to

eat bees and

wasps!

Summer Tanagers must have insects

to eat all year, but they will also

eat fruit, like these mulberries.

Female Summer Tanagers are

yellow, and the males are red.

Bees, wasps, and fruit are hard to find during our

winter. So in the fall, Summer Tanagers and many

other insect-eating birds leave their summer homes

(such as this forest in Virginia) …

…and fly to tropical countries, such as Panama. There

they will find plenty of insects and fruits to eat.

This is what a Summer

Tanager’s path from D.C to

Panama might look like. It’s

a long way to Panama, and

it isn’t an easy journey.

Birds face many challenges

and dangers along the way.

Songbirds such as the Summer Tanager

migrate at night, using the stars to

guide their way. During the day, they

rest and eat to build up energy for the

next part of their journey.

Lights shining from cities at night can confuse birds that use the

stars to guide their way. They are attracted to the lights on tall

buildings. They can become trapped in a maze of lit buildings

and end up colliding with windows or walls.

Where am I? I can’t

help but follow this

light beam!

Yikes!

That’s a lot

of lights!

People in some large

cities are helping

migratory birds by

turning off lights in

tall buildings at night

during migration.

During the daytime, migratory birds need to take a break

and eat some food. It’s dawn, and this male tanager is

passing through a city…

Birds are fooled by reflections in

glass windows, and often fly

right into them. In the United

States alone, millions of birds are

killed this way every year.

Maybe there’s

a resting spot

up ahead?

…oh no! He doesn’t realize

that’s a window.

Let’s hope the Summer Tanager feels better soon. If a bird

survives after crashing into a window, it will likely be dizzy

and weak, and need time to recover.

You can keep birds from

crashing into windows

by decorating the glass.

That breaks up the

reflection and makes the

windows more visible.

Ouch, that hurt! I

don’t think I can fly

right now…

Outdoor cats are a huge threat to

birds and other wildlife. You can

help keep birds safe from cats by

keeping your cat indoors. Your cat

will live a longer, healthier life too!

Our tanager is weak, but he can’t rest for long…

here comes a cat!

I could

really use

a break!

Another challenge migratory birds face is finding

safe places to rest and look for food along the way.

Fortunately, this bird is not too far away from Panama!

What happened? Last year

I stopped here to rest and

eat. Now I have to find a

different place!

¡Bienvenidos a Panamá!

Pictured above is Panama City,

the capital of Panama.

I made it! Now I just

need to find something

to eat, and then I’ll

take a nap!

This is Panama’s

national flag.

Panama is bordered by Costa

Rica to the west, Colombia

to the east, the Caribbean

Sea to the north, and the

Pacific Ocean to the south.

Panama has a tropical climate.

Temperatures do not change much throughout the

year. During the day, the temperature in most places

stays between 70 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

Temperatures are cooler higher up in the mountains.

banana plants

bromeliad

Like other tropical locations,

Panama has two seasons

instead of four. There is a dry

season from December through

April, followed by a wet season

from May through November.

Yum,

bananas!

Panama’s national bird is the Harpy Eagle.

The Harpy Eagle is the largest

and strongest eagle in the

world! They are found only in

the tropics of Latin America.

The Harpy Eagle is

featured on Panama’s

coat of arms (a coat

of arms is a group of

symbols representing

a person or place).

A Harpy Eagle’s

body is about 3

to 3.5 feet long.

Panama has many

different types of

landscapes.

Archipelagos*

Rainforests

Mountains

Beaches

Mangroves

*An archipelago

is a group of islands.

Tropical dry forests

Panama’s diverse landscapes offer

homes for many different kinds of

plants and animals.

The birds pictured here live in different

types of habitats, including tropical

forests, beaches, and mangroves.

These are all

“resident” birds, which

means they live in

Panama all year long.

Panama has about 995 bird species.

About 170 of them are Neotropical

migratory birds that either spend our

winter there, or pass through while

migrating to or from South America.

South Carolina, which is

about the same size as

Panama, has only 427

bird species.

427

985

There are more bird species in

Panama than in all of the United

States and Canada combined!

Here are some of the other migratory birds that nest

in Maryland, Washington, DC and /or Virginia and

winter in Panama.

Great crested flycatcher American redstart Osprey

Blue grosbeak Black-and-white warbler Wood thrush

Like Summer Tanagers, Broad-

winged Hawks migrate from

the eastern United States

to countries such as Panama

for the winter.

Those specks in the sky

over Panama City are

Broad-winged Hawks!

Unlike songbirds, hawks migrate

during the day using “thermals”.

Thermals are rising columns of warm air that

form over land as the sun heats up the earth.

Hawks soar upward in circles until they reach

the top of one thermal, and then they glide

through the air to the next one.

There are at least 250 hawks in this

one patch of sky over Panama City!

This is a common sight over Panama during migration. Because hawks migrate using

thermals which only form over land, hawks are funneled over the narrow land

bridge that Panama forms between North and South America.

Willets are another kind of bird that migrates from the eastern

United States to Panama in the fall. Willets are a kind of

shorebird. Shorebirds are a group of birds that have pointed bills

and wade in mud or shallow water to search for food.

You can tell Willets apart

from other shorebirds by

their large size and the

black and white pattern

on their wings.

Mudflats, like this one next to Panama

City, are important habitats for shorebirds.

Where are those Summer Tanagers? They are probably

looking for bees and a home for the winter.

Look! They are

hunting for bees right

by the Panama Canal!

What is the Panama Canal?

The Panama Canal is a man-made channel

that cuts through the middle of Panama.

It is used by ships to travel between the

Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

A company from France began building a

canal across Panama in 1880, but after 20

years was unable to complete it. In 1904, the

United States took over the project. After 10

years and millions of pounds of dynamite,

the canal was finished.

Before the canal was built, a trip

from New York City to San

Francisco by ship used to take at

least 3 months! The only option

was to go around South America.

These are students from

one of Panama’s rural

areas. You can see what

one of their houses might

look like below…

Like here in the U.S., some people in Panama live in

cities while others live in rural areas.

This is what a family might serve for

a nice weekend dinner: rice, fried

plantains, and fresh fish.

Students in Panama City typically

go to school wearing a uniform.

These students might live in an

apartment building, such as these

in the Marbella neighborhood.

These kids probably take advantage

of all the street food Panama City has

to offer! After school, students often

stop by kioskos to buy antichuchos,

which are skewered beef hearts.

These students live and go

to school in the city.

People who live in Panama City do not have

to travel far to experience nature. The

rainforest of Metropolitan Park is close-by.

During a field trip to the park, these

kids are learning how to identify

birds using a field guide.

Did you know that

the male Summer

Tanager is the only

all red bird in the

U.S.? Can you

find the male

Summer Tanager in

this field guide?

In Panama, some kids are helping to

study and protect wildlife.

Shown below are kids creating a mural that

highlights Panama’s biodiversity. Their goal

is to inspire adults to make decisions that

will protect wildlife.

These Panamanian girls

won a scholarship to work

with scientists studying

birds. Here they are

holding a resident bird

called a Rufous Motmot.

Panama’s indigenous cultures are an important part of the nation’s

identity. Indigenous refers to the people whose ancestors lived in

Panama before people from Europe arrived.

• Kuna culture and reservationThere are three indigenous

groups in Panama that still

follow the traditional ways of

life of their ancestors: the Guna,

the Guaymí (also known as the

Ngöbe-Buglé), and the Emberá-

Wounaan (also known as the

Chocó).

One of the Guna’s best known traditions is the mola, or cloth artwork. This photo

shows a Guna woman holding one of the molas she created. Inspiration for molas

often comes from nature. Let’s see one up close…

This mola is inspired by the Guna’s tradition of fishing and

the environment of the San Blas Islands where they live.

Hopefully you have enjoyed this introduction to Panama and to the migratory birds that connect us with that country. The Summer Tanagers have settled into their winter home in this Panama City garden. Looks like a nice place to stay until its time to return to the United States in the spring. ¡Hasta luego!

This presentation was created with help from

Johanna Dunlap, Education Program Intern

with the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.

This project received Federal support from the

Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the

Smithsonian Latino Center.