Alexander Wetmore Conducts Field Work on Coiba Island in Panama

Alexander Wetmore, sixth Smithsonian Secretary and ornithologist, conducts field work on and near Coiba Island, Panama on January 6, 1956. Wetmore traveled to Panama for many years and wrote the seminal book on the birds of Panama. Coiba Island, then a penal colony, provided Wetmore with a largely undeveloped area where birds flourished. Many of the local Panamanians and some of the convicts assisted Wetmore with his field work.