A new set of filters has been installed for eBird Panama. A filter is a list of the maximum number of birds of each species expected to be seen in different parts of Panama. These are used to identify unusual sightings so that details on the observation can be requested. Originally there were 8 filters covering lowland, foothills and highlands in Western, Central, and Eastern Panama. Birders would often cross one of these boundaries during a day’s birding, the wrong filter would then be applied to their observations, and a message would pop up asking for confirmation. To avoid this, the number of filters has been reduced to 3 covering Western, Central, and Eastern Panama. The Central (or Canal Area) filter covers both the Atlantic and Pacific side from Cerro Campana and Punta Chame to Tocumen Marsh, Cerro Azul and Cerro Jefe. The other two filters cover from lowlands to highlands to the west and east of the canal area.
