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Cleveland or Panama? Migratory birds reveal all
Panama City is home to one of the world's largest rain forests inside city limits. It's beautiful. Great city and Pacific Ocean views on one side (like my picture the other day, taken from the park) and unbroken jungle-like views on the other side.
What's strange about the Panama National Metropolitan Park is that it is a sister park to the Cleveland (Ohio) Metroparks system. USAID and the U.S. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation give some assistance to the park in Panama.
Why? It turns out that a few of Cleveland's home-town birds winter every year right here in Panama City. Birds like the Baltimore Oriole (pictured), the Yellow Warbler, and the Barn Swallow all hang out from May to September in Ohio, then head to Panama for the winter.
Signs throughout the park tell of the parallels between the cities. Both are major cities. Both home to over a million inhabitants. Both are a terminus of an important canal (the Erie and the Panama). Unlike Cleveland, Panama's park is home to 950 species of birds (227 of which can be found in the park), forty-six of which are migratory birds. Like Clevelend, Panama hasn't had a winning sports team in approximately 342 years.
Filed under: Panama, United States
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
toureg Nov 29th 2007 8:36PM
Cleveland isn't the capital of anything, and it doesn't even have half a million inhabitants.
Iva: Thanks, toureg, but check your stats: the greater Cleveland metro area had 2.3 million people, as of the last census. Not many US cities have most inhabitants actually living within city limits. The US is a country of urbs and suburbs and exurbs.
Mike Nov 29th 2007 10:24PM
SORRY Iva,
Only winning teams make it to the World series or the NBA finals. The Browns were undefeated champions in the AFC and at one time had the most wins in NFL history.
Stick to the birds.