Current view: Text account
Site description (2003 baseline):
Site location and context
The Punta Patiño Nature Reserve, located on the southern side of the Gulf of San Miguel, includes the area of Punta Patiño and Punta Alegre and the lower valley of the Mogue River. The eastern border is formed by the Mogocénega River and the western by the Quebrada Metezuana and the Cordillera de Bernal. On its southern border, the reserve is contiguous with the Bagre Biological Corridor (31,175 ha), which forms a connection with Darien National Park. There are small settlements on the Mogue and Mogocénega Rivers and at Punta Alegre, and a road from the town of La Palma reaches Mogocénega.
The globally near-threatened Plumbeous Hawk, Harpy Eagle, Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle and Great Curassow have been recorded. It is likely that several endemics of the Darién Lowlands as well as additional threatened species also occur, since surveys of the avifauna are incomplete. The wetlands are important for migratory shorebirds, with a highest single-day count of 10,117 in February 1998 (Morrison
et al. 1998). It is likely that the site might reach threshold levels for somes species at times, especially Whimbrel, but specific data is lacking.
Non-bird biodiversity: Mammals reported include Silky Anteater, Giant Anteater, Northern Naked-tailed Armadillo, Geoffroy's Tamarin, Western Night Monkey, Central American Spider Monkey, Capybara, Crab-eating Raccoon, Bush Dog, Ocelot, Margay, Jaguarundi, Puma, Jaguar and Baird's Tapir. American Crocodile also occurs (ANCON 1992).
The reserve includes semideciduous lowland forest on the uplands and extensive mangrove forests (2,600 ha) at the mouths of the major estuaries, especially the Mogue. The Punta Patiño Wetlands includes tidal mudflats (1,900 ha) at the mouths of the Mogue, Mogocénega, Quebrada Honda and Patiño estuaries. Approximately one-third of the reserve was formerly devoted to cattle pasture but is now regenerating. The area is inhabited by Embera-Wounaan, afrocolonials (
darienitas) and latinos and devoted to fishing and subsistence agriculture, with some cattle (ANCON 1992).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
In the past there have been some conflicts with local residents regarding use of natural resources in the reserve.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
The conservation organization ANCON maintains the site as a private reserve. There is a small ecotourism facility on the coast.
The area is comprised of two former cattle ranches that were purchased by the conservation group ANCON and declared a private reserve in 1992. The Punta Patiño Wetlands, consisting of the tidal mudflats of the area and a thin fringe of coast, were declared a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar convention in 1994. The reserve overlaps with the Chepigana Forest Reserve (257,219 ha), created in 1984, but there are no park guards assigned to Chepigana.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Punta Patiño Nature Reserve and Wetlands (Panama). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/punta-patiño-nature-reserve-and-wetlands-iba-panama on 23/12/2024.
