Soberanía National Park (Parque Nacional Soberanía) is a national park in Panama located near the Panama Canal in the provinces of Panamá and Colón, about 25 kilometers (16 miles) from Panama City. The Chagres River flows through the park. Created as a national park in 1980, the park spans 55,000 acres (220 square kilometers).

Visitors to Soberanía National Park can walk the Las Cruces Trail (Camino de Cruces). This trail has been around since the 16th century and was used by Spanish people to move gold. Some parts of the trail still have old stones that marked its original path.

The area now known as Parque Municipal Summit was once part of this park but was given to Panama City in 1985.

Birdwatching and fauna

The park is a favorite place for birdwatchers because it has many different types of birds. More than 525 bird species live in the park. Pipeline Road runs for 17.5 kilometers from north to south through the park and goes through old-growth and younger forests. Pipeline Road, also called Camineo del Oleoducto, is one of the best places in the Americas to see tropical birds. More than 400 bird species have been recorded there. The park has been named an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.

Birds that people often see along Pipeline Road include the double-toothed kite, slaty-backed forest-falcon, orange-chinned parakeet, brown-hooded parrot, blue-headed parrot, red-lored parrot, squirrel cuckoo, white-necked jacobin, violet-bellied hummingbird, crowned woodnymph, blue-chested hummingbird, white-tailed trogon, gartered trogon, Amazonian black-throated trogon, black-tailed trogon, slaty-tailed trogon, black-mandibled toucan, keel-billed toucan, collared aracari, black-cheeked woodpecker, cinnamon woodpecker, crimson-crested woodpecker, white-whiskered puffbird, broad-billed motmot, rufous motmot, northern barred woodcreeper, cocoa woodcreeper, black-striped woodcreeper, fasciated antshrike, black-crowned antshrike, checker-throated stipplethroat, dot-winged antwren, white-flanked antwren, spotted antbird, bicolored antbird, ocellated antbird, chestnut-backed antbird, black-faced antthrush, southern bentbill, brownish twistwing, olivaceous flatbill, ruddy-tailed flycatcher, bright-rumped attila, purple-throated fruitcrow, red-capped manakin, blue-crowned manakin, golden-collared manakin, bay wren, song wren, gray-headed tanager, white-shouldered tanager, red-throated ant-tanager, blue-black grosbeak, scarlet-rumped cacique, and yellow-rumped cacique.

The park is home to more than 100 species of mammals, including some hard-to-see predators like the jaguarundi, jaguar, margay, ocelot, oncilla, and puma. Other mammals found in the park include the agouti, brocket deer, bush dog, capybara, coyote, crab-eating fox, crab-eating raccoon, four-eyed opossum, Geoffroy's tamarin, gray fox, grison, hognosed skunk, kinkajou, long-tailed weasel, mantled howler monkey, neotropical river otter, nine-banded armadillo, olingo, paca, Panamanian night monkeys, peccary (both white-lipped and collared), three types of prehensile-tailed porcupines, several kinds of two-toed and three-toed sloths, raccoon, rice rats, silky anteater, southern and northern tamandua, spiny rats, Geoffroy's spider monkey, tapir, tayra, Virginia opossum, water opossum, Panamanian white-faced capuchin, white-nosed coatimundi, white-tailed deer, woolly opossum, and at least 50 species of bat.

The park also has many reptiles and amphibians. Poison dart frogs from the genera Dendrobates, Colostethus, and Oophaga live in the forests. Golden toads used to be more common but were greatly harmed by a fungus that affects frogs. Other reptiles and amphibians in the area include green iguanas, red-eyed tree frogs, cane toads, coral snakes, boa constrictors, cat-eyed snakes, slugeater snakes, and bushmasters.

Gallery

• A young male white-tailed trogon observed near Panama Pipeline Road in Soberania National Park, Panama
• Panamanian night monkeys (scientific name: Aotus zonalis) found in Soberania National Park, Panama