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Site description (2003 baseline)
This site includes the extensive area of mangroves (6,200 ha) and mudflats (3,900 ha) surrounding Chame Bay at the mouth of the Chame River, 50 km west of Panama City. Taborcillo is a low sandy crescent-shaped island in the entrance of Chame Bay, 1.6 km offshore between the mainland and Punta Chame. The bay is sheltered by the long sandspit that forms Punta Chame.

Key biodiversity
Taborcillo Island includes an important heron and wader colony. A total of 358 nests of White Ibis were counted in 2004, resulting in a population estimate of 1,074 individuals (2 parents and 1 young per nest). The colony also is estimated to contain more than 1,000 individuals of Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, or more than 1% of the Central American population, as well as nationally important numbers of Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, and Black-crowned Night-Heron (Angehr and Kushlan MS). Chame Bay is an important site for migratory shorebirds, with a maximum one-day count of 7,846 in January 1993, of which 7,000 were small shorebirds, representing 3.0% of the national total, and 800 were medium shorebirds, representing 6.6% of the national total (Morrison et al. 1998). The site is also an important feeding area for the heron colony nesting on Taborcillo Island. A heron nesting colony of c. 2-3 ha is located in the dry scrub and cactus on the southeast corner of the island. In April 1976 one hundred thirty pairs of Tricolored Heron and one hundred pairs of Yellow-crowned Night-Heron were recorded (Ridgely and Gwynne 1989), making Taborcillo the largest known colony of both these species in Panama at that time. However, only a few young of these species were observed in August 2000 (Angehr, pers. obsn.). Great Egret, Cattle Egret, Black-crowned Night-Heron, and White Ibis also breed.

Non-bird biodiversity: Neotropical River Otter and American Crocodile probably occur, and Hawksbill, Olive Ridley, and Green Turtles nest on Taborcillo Island and probably Punta Chame as well.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Taborcillo Island and Chame Bay (Panama). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/taborcillo-island-and-chame-bay-iba-panama on 23/11/2024.