Current view: Text account
Site description (2003 baseline):
Site location and context
This site consists of the remaining forest fragments of the Burica Peninsula south of Puerto Armuelles. Charco Azul, on the coast 4 km south of Puerto Armuelles, consists of three adjacent fragments of mostly young secondary lowland evergreen forest (121 ha total) around the Quebrada Merida. The forest is within the operating area of the facilities of Petroterminales de Panamá (PTP), the Pacific terminal of the oil pipeline from Puerto Armuelles to Chiriquí Grande. It is easily accessible by road. The Quebrada Mellicita area, 7-11 km south of Puerto Armuelles, contains five large and several smaller fragments of more mature forest (2 to 56 ha, about 224 ha in all). The remaining forest is in the Quebradas Manzanillo, Melliza, and Mellicita within 3.5 km of the coast.
The globally near-threatened, and nationally critically endangered, Baird's Trogon persists at the site. The threatened Yellow-billed Cotinga was recorded once in 1982, but it is unlikely that it now occurs regularly. The area contains 12 of 16 species (75%) of South Central American Pacific Slope EBA, and 14 of 42 species (33%) of biome N05. Several nationally endangered species also occur. Red-throated Caracara was present in 1982 but is now probably gone.
Non-bird biodiversity: The globally endangered Red-backed Squirrel Monkey* occurs, as well as Central American Wooly Opossum, Central American Spider Monkey, Neotropical River Otter, Ocelot and Jaguarundi (Rodríguez 2000, A. Rodríguez pers. com.). Reptiles and amphibians that have been recorded from the Puerto Armuelles area include the frog Eleutherodactylus taurus, the salamander Bolitoglossa lignicolor, the lizards Sphaerodactylus graptolaemus, Bachia blairi, Sphenomorphus cherriei and Leposoma southi, and the snake Micrurus clarki.
The site contains fragments of mature and secondary lowland evergreen forest, together with young scrub, cattle pasture, and agricultural areas. Part of the area is devoted to the terminal for a transisthmian oil pipeline.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
In 1982 the area contained a large tract of continuous forest, but this has since been almost entirely cleared for cattle pasture, as has virtually all other forest on the southern Burica Peninsula including the Costa Rican side, and clearing continues. Although Charco Azul is not formally protected, PTP has prevented clearing on its property for security reasons, allowing the forest to begin regenerating. The conservation value of the remaining fragments would be enhanced if they could be linked by allowing some of the intervening pasture to revert to second growth.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
None known.
The area is privately owned.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Quebrada Mellicita-Charco Azul (Panama). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/quebrada-mellicita-charco-azul-iba-panama on 23/12/2024.
