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

Site description (2003 baseline)
Portobelo National Park extends from the coast between Buenaventura and San Cristobal Bays inland to the mountains forming the northern rim of the Chagres River watershed. It includes the headwaters of the Boquerón, Gatún, and Piedras Rivers on its southern side and the Cascajal on the north. The highest pont is Cerro Bruja (979 m). The park is contiguous with Chagres National Park on its inland side. The coastal area is easily accessible by road, but higher elevations are more difficult to reach and poorly known ornithologically. The impressive Spanish colonial forts and other ruins surrounding Portobelo town are a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Key biodiversity
The globally threatened endemic Speckled Antshrike occurs on Cerro Bruja, and the globally near-threatened Great Curassow, Harpy Eagle and Blue-and-gold Tanager are also found. The globally near threatened Plumbeous Hawk and Crested Eagle also certainly occur although specific records are lacking. The site contains 6 of 15 species (40%) of the Darién Lowlands EBA, plus a few species of the Darién Highlands EBA and several nationally threatened species.

Non-bird biodiversity: Mammals recorded or probably present include Central American Wooly Opossum, Giant Anteater, Silky Anteater, Northern Naked-tailed Armadillo, Geoffroy's Tamarin, Western Night Monkey, Central American Spider Monkey, Capybara, Crab-eating Raccoon, Bush Dog, Olingo, Neotropical River Otter, Ocelot, Margay, Jaguarundi, Jaguar and Baird's Tapir. Slaty Mouse Opossum is likely to occur. Reptiles and amphibians include the frogs Atelopus limosus, Colosthetus flotator, Minyobates minutus, Eleutherodactylus raniformis and E. puntariolus, the salamander Bolitoglossa schizodactyla, the lizards Sphaerodactylus lineolatus, Leposoma southi and Anolis poecilopus, and the snake Rhadinaea sargenti (Ibáñez 1997).

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Portobelo National Park (Panama). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/portobelo-national-park-iba-panama on 23/12/2024.