Bahía de Panama

The definitive Bay that gives Panama City its boating, its breezes, its views and its birds in one fell swoop of coastline is incontestably crucial to the culture and atmosphere; it takes little more than waking up one morning and looking out over the water to be convinced. Although part of the Gulf of Panama and the Pacific Ocean, it is specifically the Bay which is targeted as a critically important conservation area for water birds in the Americas. Because of the isthmian structure of the land here, a very small stretch of estuary supports high densities of water birds, and migration systems make protection of this area crucial to bird life throughout the hemisphere. Segments are designated as special conservation areas, and literally, thousands of birds sometimes pack into the mud flats east of the city and mangrove swamps nearby.