San Lorenzo Protected Forest

🇵🇦 Panama

🐦 Keel-billed Toucans in the Coastal Forest
Canal Zone, Panama 1048 spp. recorded

San Lorenzo Protected Forest guards 9,653 hectares of Caribbean lowland rainforest at the mouth of the Chagres River where it meets the Panama Canal. Each October, the skies above the forest fill with millions of migrating raptors — one of the greatest raptor migration spectacles on Earth.

9.239° N   79.976° W

Wildlife

SIGHTING PROBABILITY Share of citizen-science records from the park that report this species
<5%
Rare
5–15%
With luck
15–40%
Possible
40–70%
Likely
>70%
Very likely
ACTIVITY PATTERN
☀️ Diurnal 🌙 Nocturnal 🌅 Crepuscular ☀️🌙 Day & Night

Animal Events

🐒

Howler Monkey Breeding Season

JanFebMarApr

During the dry-season breeding peak, Mantled Howler troops become impossible to miss, their thunderous dawn choruses rolling through the canopy for over a kilometer. Females carry clinging infants as tight-knit family groups move through the trees.

🦅

Autumn Raptor Migration Spectacle

OctNov

Rivers of Turkey Vultures and Broad-winged Hawks pour along the Caribbean side of the canal, spiraling into vast swirling kettles that darken the sky, with slender Plumbeous Kites cutting through the stream. It is one of the planet's greatest raptor migrations, funneled right overhead.

🐦

Neotropical Migrant Songbird Season

NovDecJanFebMar

Warblers and tanagers that nested far to the north flood into the Canal-zone forests to overwinter, with jewel-toned Chestnut-sided and Bay-breasted Warblers and flame-red Summer Tanagers foraging alongside resident species. Their arrival swells the park's already exceptional bird diversity.

Sighting Calendar

Chance of spotting each species, month by month

Months
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Species Total
40–50
50–60
50–60
50–60
40–50
50–60
50–60
50–60
50–60
60–70
50–60
50–60
60–70
70–80
80–90
80–90
60–70
70–80
80–90
70–80
70–80
80–90
80–90
70–80
20–30
30–40
30–40
40–50
20–30
20–30
20–30
10–20
40–50
40–50
20–30
30–40
10–20
10–20
10–20
10–20
10–20
10–20
10–20
10–20
10–20
60–70
0–10
10–20
10–20
30–40
30–40
30–40
<5
20–30
20–30
10–20
0–10
10–20
20–30
10–20
60–70
70–80
70–80
80–90
70–80
80–90
70–80
60–70
70–80
70–80
70–80
60–70
70–80
70–80
70–80
70–80
60–70
70–80
60–70
70–80
70–80
60–70
80–90
60–70
50–60
70–80
60–70
70–80
60–70
70–80
60–70
70–80
70–80
60–70
70–80
70–80
40–50
60–70
70–80
70–80
60–70
80–90
70–80
70–80
70–80
70–80
30–40
60–70
60–70
60–70
50–60
60–70
40–50
50–60
60–70
60–70
60–70
60–70
70–80
50–60
40–50
30–40
60–70
60–70
50–60
50–60
50–60
50–60
50–60
50–60
60–70
50–60
30–40
40–50
60–70
40–50
60–70
50–60
50–60
50–60
50–60
50–60
70–80
50–60
40–50
60–70
60–70
60–70
50–60
30–40
50–60
50–60
50–60
40–50
70–80
30–40
40–50
70–80
30–40
30–40
30–40
30–40
40–50
40–50
40–50
90–100
20–30
60–70
50–60
50–60
40–50
60–70
40–50
50–60
50–60
50–60
50–60
50–60
70–80
50–60
40–50
30–40
70–80
50–60
40–50
50–60
50–60
40–50
40–50
50–60
60–70
50–60
40–50
30–40
50–60
50–60
50–60
50–60
40–50
50–60
60–70
40–50
60–70
50–60
Animal Events
🦅 Autumn Raptor Migration Spectacle
🐒 Howler Monkey Breeding Season
🐦 Neotropical Migrant Songbird Season

Sighting Zones

Warm areas are where all species together are recorded most, so they track where people go as much as where animals are. For one species, see the map on its own page.

0.0 ★★★★★ ★★★★★ Excellent
🐦 Keel-billed Toucans in the Coastal Forest

Where Wildlife Score

How good is this park for seeing wildlife?
🦜

Biodiversity

Very good

How rich is the wildlife?

4.3 Global avg
4.3 ★★★★★ ★★★★★
Species by taxon
🦅 Birds
615
🐒 Mammals
224
🦎 Reptiles
144
🐸 Amphibians
65
1048 Total Species
841 Global average across 280 parks
30 Threatened 51 Endemic
🔭

Sighting

Excellent

How likely to see animals?

3.6 Global avg
4.3 ★★★★★ ★★★★★
🎯
Top-12 Avg Probability
62% Global avg
62%
📊
Coverage (246 species at ≥5% of 1048 in the inventory)
24% Global avg
23%
🔀
Taxon variety in top 12 (11 bird, 1 amphibian)
47% Global avg
20%
🔭
Species per 10 outings (distinct species a visitor would meet over 10 outings — effort held equal across parks)
132 Global avg
205
🌟
Iconic-group species (≥15%) (every species from the 19 iconic groups — monkeys, cats, toucans, macaws, sloths, crocodilians… — not just the 4 highlighted above)
14 Global avg
22
High-prob species (>40%)
26 Global avg
40
⚖️

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