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Description
Our tour leader for this exciting trip will again be Susan Foster. A longtime TOS member, Susan is a retired teacher who spends most of her time in the pursuit of all things birds. She spent 30 years as a resident of Laredo, Texas, enjoying the unique avifauna of the Texas/Mexican border. In the past decade or two, she has led bird tours in and around South Texas for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, Laredo Birding Festival, Rockport HummerBird Festival, the Aransas Bird and Nature Club, the Audubon Outdoor Club, The Birdiest Festival, and the Texas Ornithological Society, and has given presentations on eBird for the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies. She was a founding member of the Monte Mucho Audubon Society and is currently a guide for Nature Ninja Birding Tours. Originally from Massachusetts, she spends her time birding in Colorado in the summer and all around Texas and beyond during the remainder of the year. Susan currently lives on the coast in Rockport, Texas.
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Before registering attendees must be sure they are able to ascend and descend three flights of stairs daily, own a U.S. passport that is valid through March 12, 2026, agree to abide by local COVID-19 protocol, and sign a liability waiver form. After the trip is deemed a go, participants must buy travel insurance. We will offer the names of several companies for this requirement.
Full payment may be made immediately, or you may make a $900 deposit ($935 for non-members) by February 1, 2025 that will hold your place on the trip. This deposit is refundable minus a $350 administration fee until January 16, 2025. Your deposit is NON-REFUNDABLE after january 16, 2025. Final trip balance is due on June 19, 2025. Once we make our final payment to vendors, approximately 14 days after June 19, 2025, there will be no refunds of any portion of the trip fee. An advisory email will be sent 18 days prior to this deadline.
The cost of the trip includes group airport transfers, lodging, all meals, bilingual professional guides, all tours mentioned in the itinerary, natural fruit juices, sodas, wine at dinner time, WIFI, entrance fees to national parks as mentioned in the itinerary, snacks and beverages during all outings, and local transportation.
Read on!
Canopy Tower (5 Nights - Sept. 3-8, 2025)
This part of the tour emphasizes the bird-rich lowland tropical forests of the Canal Zone. It features some of the best birding Central America has to offer! Our base of operations will be the world-famous Canopy Tower with unlimited access to our fabulous Observation Deck every morning, afternoon and evening, where you can enjoy “canopy birding” at its best! Excursions to some of Panama’s premier birding locations, including the world famous Pipeline Road, along with Semaphore Hill, Plantation Trail, Summit Ponds, the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center and its remarkable tower, the Chagres River, Gamboa and the marshy Ammo Ponds round out an outstanding 5 days of birding.
Canopy Lodge (4 Nights - Sept. 8-12, 2025)
This part of the tour explores the foothills and cloud forests of El Valle de Anton — the home of motmots, tanagers, hummingbirds, antpittas and the mythical Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo! We enjoy accommodations at the award-winning Canopy Lodge, with exciting bird-filled trips to La Mesa, Cerro Gaital Natural Monument, Cara Iguana, Las Minas, and the beaches of Juan Hombron and Santa Clara — all designed to find as many of the area’s specialties as possible!
CLICK TO VIEW THE COMPLETE ITINERARY.