The Birds, Wildlife and Natural Wonders of Panama March 27 - April 3, 2004 The Tennessee Aquarium in cooperation with the Philadelphia Zoo is sponsoring an eight day expedition to explore the birds, wildlife and natural wonders of Panama. Our trip leader will be Hernan Arauz who is widely regarded as Panama's best bird guide and I (Kevin Calhoon) will also accompany the trip to be the aquarium liaison and help out with the birding. Hernan Aruaz is a very experienced guide (has a Panama bird list of 750) and one of the pioneers of natural history tours in Panama. He is a veteran of several Darien expeditions, including the first one offered for ecotourists. Hernan is the son of Reina Torresde Arauz, Panama's leading anthropologist and Amado Arauz, a legendary explorer of the Darien. Of course Panama's reputation for its avifauna is unmatched with 940 species in a very small landmass! We will bird lowland and highland rainforests, from Soberania National Park on the famous Pipeline Road (looking for such species as White-bellied Antbird, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Blue-throated Goldentail, and any of five species of trogons present), to the Metropolitan Nature Park within Panama City's limits (Lance-tailed Manakin, Rosy Thrush Tanager etc.), to La Amistad National Park in the Chiriqui Highlands (Silvery-throated Jay, Spangle-cheeked Tanager), to the foothills of the Baru Volcano (Resplendant Quetzal, Three-wattled Bellbird, Volcano Hummingbird). There will be an optional post-trip extension to the Darien (April 3-8) which is on the Colombian border with Panama and is regarded as one of the top-ten birding spot in the world! This remote and secluded area of Panama is the most interesting point of contact for Central and South American avifauna and is famous for Blue and Yellow, Red and Green, Great Green and Chestnut Macaws. As well as gobs of tanagers, hummingbirds, etc.......! The trip price is $2,445 (double occupancy) excluding airfare which should be around $500. The optional post-trip extension to the Darien is $1,485 including the chartered flights. This will be a fantastic trip and the maximum is 18, so don't wait too long if you are interested! For more information and a brochure you can contact me at kac@xxxxxxxxxx or call at 423-785-4070. Kevin Calhoon Tennessee Aquarium =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================