• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Map
• Reference and further resources

Site description (2003 baseline)
Omar Torrijos National Park, above the town of El Copé, includes the easternmost part of the main cordillera of western Panama. It is contiguous with Santa Fé National Park and the Golfo de los Mosquitos Forests. The height of the main divide in the park decreases from a 1,710 m peak (unnamed on maps) near the western boundary to Cerro Peña Blanca (710 m) in the east. The park contains the upper watersheds of the Río Grande on the Pacific slope and the Belén and Coclé del Norte Rivers on the Caribbean, with the low point (80 m) on the Belén. A four-wheel-drive road reaches the park from El Copé, rising to 910 m before descending on the Caribbean slope, and a gravel road to Coclesito passes near the eastern end of the park. The road above El Copé is a popular birding destination, but the higher peaks in the west and the Caribbean lowlands have never been ornithologically surveyed.

Key biodiversity
The globally threatened Red-fronted Parrotlet, Three-wattled Bellbird and Bare-necked Umbrellabird occur, as well as the near-threatened Black Guan and Blue-and-gold Tanager. The near-threatened Resplendent Quetzal and Great Curassow almost certainly occur. The park contains 5 of 11 species (45%) of South Central American Caribbean Slope EBA, and EBA 019. Contains 21 of 54 species (39%) of the Costa Rica and Panama Highlands EBA. The park also contains many nationally threatened species. A breeding site of Orange-breasted Falcon, for which there have been only five previous records from Panama, has recently been located (A. Palleroni pers. com.).

Non-bird biodiversity: Mammals probably include Water Opossum, Central American Wooly Opossum, Silky Anteater, Northern Naked-tailed Armadillo, Geoffroy's Tamarin, Central American Spider Monkey, Panamanian Spiny Pocket Mouse, Olingo, Neotropical River Otter, Ocelot, Margay, Jaguarundi, Puma, Jaguar and Baird's Tapir. Amphibians include the frogs and toads Atelopus varius, A. zeteki, Colosthetus flotator, C. inguinalis, Dendrobates vicentei, Eleutherodactylus museosus and E. pardalis,* and the salamander Bolitoglossa schizodactyla.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: General de División Omar Torrijos Herrera National Park (Panama). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/general-de-división-omar-torrijos-herrera-national-park-iba-panama on 23/12/2024.