Current view: Text account
Site description (2003 baseline):
Site location and context
This area includes the extensive coastal wetlands extending from the Costa Rican border to Almirante Bay. On the inland side, the area is bordered by large banana plantations (c. 7,000 ha) especially around Changuinola and Guabito, and by areas devoted to cattle and subsistence agriculture. The surrounding area is inhabited primarily by afroantilleans, latinos and Ngöbe. Some Ngöbe live within the reserve. Access within the area is difficult except along water courses.
The globally-threatened Three-wattled Bellbird
Procnias carunculata(common) and Bare-necked Umbrellabird
Cephalopterus glabricollis (very rare) have been recorded, evidently on post-breeding migration from the highlands. However, Bellbirds have been recorded breeding on nearby Isla Colón and could also breed here. Five of 11 Panama species of EBA 019 (45%) occur, as do 15 of 42 (36%) of biome N05. Several endemic species of the Central American Caribbean Slope EBA also occur. It is one of only two sites in Panama for Nicaraguan Seed-Finch
Oryzoborus nuttingi. No nesting colonies of colonial waterbirds are known. The status of rails and other aquatic birds in the area is poorly known. Large flocks of Turkey Vultures and Broad-winged and Swainson's Hawks occur in the area on passage migration, and the site almost certainly exceeds thresholds as a bottleneck site for these species. Although the region in general has been well studied ornithologically, the status of birds in the wetlands themselves is insufficiently known.
Non-bird biodiversity: Mammals known or probable for the area include Water Opossum, Central American Wooly Opossum, White-winged Vampire Bat, Thumbless Bat, Honduran White Bat, Crab-eating Racoon, Olingo, Neotropical River Otter, Ocelot, Margay, Jaguarundi, Puma, Jaguar and Baird's Tapir (Handley 1966, 1980, Valdespino and Santamaría 1997, Martínez pers. com.). The site has the densest population of West Indian Manatee in Panama (Mou and Chan 1990). Changuinola Beach, at the mouth of the Changuinola River, is a regionally important nesting area for Leatherback and Hawksbill Turtles (Meylan et al. 1993). Other reptiles and amphibians include the frogs Dendrobates pumilio, Eleutherodactylus gollmeri* and E. noblei, the caecilian Gymnopis multiplicata, the lizards Diploglossus bilobatus* and Anolis insignis,* the snakes Urotheca pachyura* and Micrurus alleni, the turtle Kinosternon angustipons, and American Crocodile (Valdespino and Santamaría 1997 and literature).
The section northwest of the town of Changuinola includes seasonally-flooded riverine evergreen forest along the San San and Negro Rivers, while the section to the southwest (Pond Sak area) includes seasonally-flooded riverine evergreen forest dominated by orey Campnosperma panamensis(a total of 9,108 ha of riverine evergreen forest in both areas) and palms (5,185 ha), flooded shrubland (2,352 ha), and peat marshes dominated by
Sphagnummoss (1,838 ha). Mangroves (534 ha) occur along the coast and in estuaries (Valdespino and Santamaría 1997). Some subsistence agriculture takes place within the reserve. The wetlands have great potential for ecotourism. At present this is little exploited, but interest is growing.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Large amounts of pesticides and other agricultural chemicals are used in banana cultivation in areas that drain into the San San and Changuinola Rivers, although actual data on contamination levels are lacking. Raw sewage and slaughterhouse and industrial waste from Changuinola enters the Changuinola River (Rodríguez
et al. 1993, Valdespino and Santamaría 1997). Some of the land in the site is privately owned, causing conflict between development and conservation interests. In early 2000 a road was illegally constructed into the area in as part of a proposed tourism development, but the developer was fined by ANAM and it was decided to eliminate the road. A concession for the extraction of peat within the area was been granted to the Changuinola Peat Company by the Panamanian government, but the project was never initiated. More pressure for development is inevitable. The recent completion of a road linking Almirante and Changuinola to the rest of Panama is likely to increase colonization and deforestation pressure throughout the province.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
None known for birds. Some studies of nesting sea turtles have been conducted in the coastal areas.
San San Pond Sak was designated an Internationally Important Wetland under the Ramsar Convention in 1994. However, there are no park guards assigned to the area and hence little effective protection from illegal hunting and fishing, timber extraction, charcoal making, and clearing and burning for subsistence agriculture (although most of the area is unsuitable for farming). San San Pond Sak is contiguous with the Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge in Costa Rica (Franke 1993).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: San San Pond Sak Wetlands (Panama). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/san-san-pond-sak-wetlands-iba-panama on 23/12/2024.
