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

Site description (2003 baseline)
Soberanía National Park occupies most of the former U.S.-administered Canal Zone east and north of the central section of the Panama Canal and southern Lake Gatún. It is divided into northern and southern sections by the middle Chagres River. The terrain is mostly broken, with some flatter land in the Frijoles River basin in the northern section. The high point (332 m) is in the headwaters of the Frijoles. The Summit Botanical Garden and Zoo is located within the southern end of the park. Adjacent land along the northern and eastern boundary is devoted to cattle and subsistence agriculture, and the town of Chilibre is located near the southeastern corner. Madden Road crosses the southern sector, and the gravel Pipeline Road runs most of the length of the northern sector.

Key biodiversity
The area from the continental divide south is an important bottleneck site for migratory raptors. In 2004 a total of 281,212 Turkey Vultures, 570,829 Broad-winged Hawks, and 138,805 Swainson's Hawks were counted on autumn migration. A significant proportion of these probably use the park as an overnight roost. The globally near-threatened Great Curassow occurs but is rare, and many nationally threatened species including Crested Guan also are found. Endemic species include Black-crowned Antpitta, Yellow-green Tyrannulet, and Sulphur-rumped Tanager of the Central American Caribbean Slope and/or Darien Lowlands EBAs. In 1999 the Peregrine Fund introduced several captive-bred Harpy Eagles (formerly found in the area but now locally extinct) to the park as part of a pilot program.

Non-bird biodiversity: Mammals include Central American Woolly Opossum, Silky Anteater, Northern Naked-tailed Armadillo, Geoffroy’s Tamarin, Western Night Monkey, Panamanian Spiny Pocket-Mouse, Capybara, Bush Dog, Olingo, Neotropical River Otter, Ocelot, Margay, Jaguarundi, Puma, Jaguar, Baird’s Tapir, and West Indian Manatee. Reptiles and amphibians include the frogs Colosthetus flotator and C. inguinalis, the snakes Dipsas variegata, D. viguieri, and Trimetopon barbouri, and American Crocodile

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Soberanía National Park (Panama). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/soberanía-national-park-iba-panama on 23/11/2024.