The Birders Show, Panama
Taking our passion project, The Birders Show, on the road for the first time to Tranquilo Bay Ecolodge in Bocas del Toro.
The Birders Show aims to make birding accessible to everyone and share the joy of birds and the natural world with people across the globe.
For the first time, our Birders Show team ventured into the field to film in-person episodes at Tranquilo Bay Ecolodge in Bocas del Toro, Panama.
Location: Why Tranquilo Bay?
We decided to shoot our first ‘In The Field’ episodes at Tranquilo Bay for one standout reason: diversity. This eco-lodge is located on Bastimentos Island in Bocas del Toro and is a short journey away from a remarkably diverse and exciting range of habitats. For our five-day shoot, we were able to film in cloud forest highlands, mangroves, lowland jungle, coastal freshwater marshes, canals and rivers, rocky coastal islands, and tranquil coral reefs. And all of this within a couple of hours - by boat and occasionally by car - of our base.
Bocas del Toro and the Caribbean seen from the Talamanca Mountains.
It wasn’t just the diverse habitat that drew us to Tranquilo Bay but the exceptional bird and wildlife diversity on offer. From range-restricted species like Spangle-cheeked Tanager and Talamanca Hummingbird to superstar species such as Three-wattled Umbrellabird, Tranquilo Bay, and Bocas del Toro are home to a multitude of mouthwatering birds. Then, there was the bonus of two species of sloth, night monkeys, spiny rats, rare opossums, colorful poison arrow frogs, and a staggering array of underwater treasures.
Finally, the passion and enthusiasm of owner Jim Kimball convinced us that we were heading to the right place to film The Birders Show. Jim and his partners Renee and Jay built the lodge themselves over twenty years ago. Their dedication to conservation and ecotourism in Bocas del Toro is unparalleled. Jim also wanted The Birders Show to film at Tranquilo Bay to help shift Bocas del Toro’s image away from parties and beaches and towards nature and biodiversity. Since our mission is to make birding more accessible to everyone, this goal made sense to us as a team.
Filming In The Field With The Birders Show
Over five days of filming in Bocas del Toro, we were able to capture a remarkable range of birds, landscapes, and wildlife on camera. Our film crew in the field consisted of WhereNext’s Head of Video, Julian Manrique, and Producer, Camilla French. Julian has extensive experience filming birds and wildlife for The Birders documentary, among other projects, so his role was to film every bird that sang, flew, or showed itself! Camilla took on the role of the secondary camera operator, filming b-roll of our protagonists as they explored the natural wonders of Panama. WhereNext founder Gregg Bleakney was also with us as director.
Show hosts, Diego and Chris near the aptly named Tranquilo Bay.
Day One
On the first full day of filming, we set off early by boat to the mainland. Then, we took a car up into the lower reaches of the Talamanca Mountains, where we filmed regional specialties like Sulphur-winged Parakeet and Spangle-cheeked Tanager. Although the early morning was slow for bird activity, we persisted and eventually obtained beautiful footage of a series of large mixed flocks at about 800 masl.
Day Two
Day two was dedicated to the coastal zone of Bocas del Toro. We took a boat along the Snyder Canal to the mouth of the Changuinola River before heading out to sea to film the seabird colonies at Swan Cay, or Bird Island as it is known locally. Rain stopped play for a few hours, as we were forced to take shelter in a canalside house, but this became part of the shoot as we chatted about birds and played some classic WhereNext pranks on our host, Jim.
Diego, producer Camilla, and videographer Julian with Bird Island fast approaching.
Filming on one of Bocas del Toro’s many stunning Caribbean islands.
A spectacular desert island in the Bocas del Toro archipelago near Tranquilo Bay Ecolodge.
Days Three and Four
We spent our third and fourth full days filming all around the various islands surrounding Tranquilo Bay and exploring the trails around the lodge itself. One of our main target birds was the surreal and strange Three-wattled Bellbird. Up until the final day, this species had remained elusive, but we finally heard two individuals calling deep in the jungle. The birds led us on a merry dance through the dense undergrowth, but after two hours of bushwhacking and with plenty of cuts and bug bites to show for it, we finally located a singing male bellbird and obtained spectacular 4K footage! The Birders Show team is nothing if not persistent!
Day Five
The morning of day five was dedicated to filming b-roll around the beautiful lodge facilities before packing up and heading back to the airport.
A singing male Three-wattled Bellbird (Procnias tricarunculatus) photographed for The Birders Show by our host, Chris Bell.
The sun rising over the Caribbean from the dock at Tranquilo Bay.
The Advantages of Our ‘In the Field’ Studio Setup
This was our first time taking The Birders Show in the field, so we discussed the best way to present our episodes in Panama. From the beginning of The Birders Show journey, we had decided not to film our hosts out birding for entire episodes. Our show’s strength is its ability to communicate the joy and passion of birding while also discussing ornithology, biology, and science in an informative and accessible manner. That’s why our episodes are built around our studio interviews. We also wanted to replicate this format for our ‘in the field’ shoots.
The logical solution was to take our studio setup ‘in the field’ along with our hosts, so that’s exactly what we did. After each day’s birding, we set up our lights and cameras on the Tranquilo Bay terrace and filmed Chris and Diego dissecting their experiences in our familiar studio setup.
This format gave the final Panama episodes the same personal feel as our previous chapters. It also allowed us to be flexible in the field and respond to the inevitable challenges of filming wild animals. On a five-day wildlife shoot, you can never guarantee that you will film some species successfully. With this mobile studio format, we could film our hosts reacting to the day’s events and breaking down their sightings and the science behind them.
Our team’s experience operating in a studio format translated quickly into the mobile studio setup, and shooting at night allowed us to minimize potential lighting issues. In addition, our hosts used their downtime between the field productions and the studio shoots to create a script for the episode and plan the topics they wanted to discuss.
Chris and Julian toast to a beautiful day in the field.
The Episodes
“The Birders Show: Panama” will be released as three full-length episodes, starting on Friday, November 19, and continuing on the third Fridays of December and January. Each episode will take its central theme from the various landscapes and ecosystems we explored during the shoot. You can see a preview of Episode 1 below: