Panama, day 4. Expedition to find the Harpy Eagle

The group set off very early, breakfast at 4h30, to drive to the very end of the TransAmerica highway at Yaviza. From there we took a “lancha”, a motorized boat, travelling upstream on the Chucunaque river to a town called El Real.

After the boat trip, there was a half hour or so in a 4-by-4, then another hour of walking, during which this magnificent Macaw was spotted, we entered the Darién national park, and finally arrived at the ironically named Rancho Frio.

After lunch at Rancho Frio, the last 30 minutes walk took us to a nest of the Harpy Eagle, today’s goal. There was a female on the nest, with a chick of about 10 days of age (the top of whose head we occasionally glimpsed) and as we were watching, the male flew off in search of prey, which are mostly monkeys and sloths.

The Harpy Eagle has little sexual dimorphism, the identification by our guides was based on their activity, usually the female stays on the nest with the chick, while the male is out hunting.

On the trip back there were very heavy showers; we were still able to see the Great Green Macaw, a real rarity, a Wood Stork (not rare at all), and a small flock of Brown-hooded Parrots. Despite arriving back soaked through, the day was a great success.