Yellow-bellied Tyrannulet in Cuesta de Piedra, a report by Euclides Campos

I visited Cuesta de Piedra with Rick Kirwan on April 19, where I spotted this Yellow-bellied Tyrannulet (photographed by Rick). This is the second time I see this bird in the area.

Lincoln's Sparrow en Guadalupe

Johnathan Hruska and a group of his Cornell friends found this Lincoln's Sparrow whilst spring breaking in Chiriquí. The bird was seen on March 20 just before dusk, on one of the pastures by the main road in the town of Guadalupe, about 250 meters west of Los Quetzales Lodge. Lincoln's Sparrow is a very rare vagrant, with just three previous records, including one from Finca Lérida in 1988.

Then on April 10, Genover Santamaría published another photo of Lincoln's Sparrow, also from Guadalupe. This is most likely the same bird, unless we're talking full-fledged invasion.

Yellow-headed Blackbird near David

On April 5, Craig Bennett photographed this young male Yellow-headed Blackbird amongst a flock of Bronzed Cowbirds on the edge of a dry rice field on the road from David to Playa Barqueta. The site is approximately 15 km SW from David on the road to Las Olas, a Chiriqui beach resort. This would be the third record of the species from Panama, previously recorded from the Canal Area.

Burica Specialties, a report by Bill Adsett

On a brief noon-birding trip to Puerto Armuelles I did manage to escape a couple of times to bird. The Rose-throated Becard was at El Manguito on April 5, about 10 km west of Puerto on the way to El Choorogo. This species has been seen on just about every trip to El Chorogo and twice before at almost this exact site.

Mangrove Cuckoos are not uncommon on Burica but they are usually rather retiring. According to books, this species has not been found to nest or call in Panama. This individual was unusally active on April 6, flying around in open paddocks with scattered trees just behind the Romero supermarket in downtown Puerto Armuelles (!) More remarkably, it called several times. The underparts were really colourful, not pale at all.

Red-throated Caracara in Pipeline Road, a report by Natalia Sarco

El dia de hoy 11 de Abril de 2013 a eso de la 7:00 a.m. estabamos el Sr.  Alciviades Zarco, Sr.Ivan Muñoz (ambos de mantenimiento) y mi persona, Natalia Sarco, preparando todo para la apertura del Centro de Vistiantes del Panama Rainforest Discovery Center cuando de pronto escuchamos un fuerte sonido muy similiar a de una guacamaya (cáao cáao) cuando de pronto vimos un ave pasar a una altura de como 25 metros. Volo tan bajo q se le vio el color fuerte naranja de las patas. Tambien vi la parrte inferior color blanco desde la base  de la cola hasta mas o menos la mitad del ave (pecho) Luego era toda negra. El area inferior o debajo del pico era anaranjada. Lo que me convencio de que estabamos ante una Caracara Avispera fue el canto y la coloracion de la parte inferior. Esta discripcion y su tamaño es diferente a las otras aves que tenemos en el area. No pudimos hacer ningun video, foto o grabacion pues nos tomo por sorpresa la visita. Es la primera vez que veo y escucho esta ave.

Gray-throated Leaftosser in Fortuna

Euclides Campos found Gray-throated Leaftosser at two different sites in Fortuna on April 1. This is the easternmost record of this rarely-reported species, which has been previously found at similar elevations further west. Other notable sightings included Black-banded Woodcreeper, Scaly-throated Foliage-Gleaner, Highland Tinamou, Sooty-capped Finch, Chiriqui Quail-Dove, Barred Parakeet and Ruddy Woodcreeper.

Elegant Euphonia nests in Altos del María

Feb 17 2013: Alfred Raab and Fritz Furrer and observed a male and a female Elegant Euphonia in Altos del Maria. The male was collecting nesting material and building a nest, elevation approx. 1000m. In the picture, the nest opening can be seen in the moss above the branch, top left corner.

Woodstar feeds Starthroat

Terry van Niekerk sent in this photo of a Magenta-throated Woodstar feeding a young Long-billed Starthroat at their Boquete garden. Photo taken February 16.

Slender-billed Kite and more in Darién, a report by Guido Berguido

A rather short but successful birding extension trip into El Real and Rancho Frio, in the Darien National Park by Advantage Tour's Guido Berguido, revealed a couple of interesting sightings.

On March 9, a strategic stop along the Pan-American highway, in the vicinity of the Tierra Nueva property, produced Yellow-breasted Flycatcher. Also noteworthy was a pair of copulating Plumbeous kites way up in a Cuipo tree. Along the Chucunaque river en route to El Real, Black Oropendolas were seen. Late afternoon birding at El Real showcased a small flock of Blue Grosbeaks, as well as a couple of thousand migrating Turkey Vultures with both Broad-winged and Swainson's Hawks. They settled down in the trees near the airstrip for the night.

On March 10, near the Rancho Frio ranger station a Harpy Eagle nest contained a healthy-looking eaglet.
Exploring the trails near the Rancho Frio Ranger station inside the Darien National Park, produced goodies such as Stripe-throated Wren, Lemon-spectacled Tanagers, both Plumbeous and Ruddy pigeons, a pair of Crimson-bellied Woodpeckers, as well as the main target for the trip an adult female Crested Eagle.

Clearings near the ranger station proved productive and the following were recorded: Double-banded Graytails, both male and female Purple Honeycreepers, Yellow-backed Tanager, and Scarlet-browed Tanagers, and Great Green, Red-and-green and Chestnut-fronted Macaws.  Also, both Western Syristes and White-ringed Flycatchers were plentiful.

Departing the Rancho Frio ranger station, walking along the Peresenico River, a couple of hundred meters away from the ranger station, I heard something walking parallel to us along the trail about 6 meters away. At fist glance I just noticed a large gray furry creature, and thought we had a White-lipped Peccary like we've seen in Cana before. But when I looked trough my binoculars, I realized it was a mammal I had never seen before in the wild: Myrmecophaga tridactyla, the extremely rare "Oso Caballo" or Giant Anteater! Around the corner we were able to watch it again as it crossed the river in front of us. What a sight!
Later along the same trail, While searching for a vocalizing Plumbeous Hawk in the middle canopy above us, we stumbled upon a dark raptor. We originally thought to be our Plumbeous Hawk. Fist glances with Swarosvski 10x42 binoculars showed the "hook" on the bird´s bill. Upon more closely examination with a compact 60mm Kowa scope revealed the light-colored eyes, this in addition to the bulky appearence made me realize we were looking at a SLENDER-BILLED KITE.
I immediately advised the birding group that we were looking at a LIFER for me! At the moment I didn't realize how special this sighting was, but still asked our local guide Isaac Pizarro to take some digiscoped photos using Julie Trott's small point-and-shoot Canon PowerShot camera. The photos are not that great but they are diagnostic.

On the way back, a brief visit at the San Francisco Reserve, near Torti produced more Blue Cotingas, a pair of Barred Puffbird, Spot-crowned Barbets (Darien race), both Sooty-headed Tyrannulet and the
endemic Yellow-green Tyrannulet which was missed at Metropolitan Park earlier in the birding trip.
Also recorded were Dusky-faced and Sulphur-rumped tanagers, Thrush-like Schiffornis, both Golden-headed and Red-capped manakins together, Rufous Mourner and Rufous Piha, as well as Rufous-breasted hermit, Sapphire-throated and Scaly-breasted Hummingbird, and Blue-throated Goldentail.

Mixed bag, from Kees Groenendijk

Here are a few observations from the last weeks. I have been travelling a bit, so they are all over the place.

- When returning from a mission in Chanati on 25 January, I saw two Muscovy Ducks on the Cucunati river (South of Santa Fe - Darien Province) about 1 km downstream of Cucunati village.

- On 29 January we found Orange-collared Manakins displaying in the secondary forest on the farm of Juan Velazques at the foot of the Cero Hoya. One of the group also saw three Great Green Macaws fly over. In the afternoon we found Veraguan Mango feeding in the Erythrina lanceolata trees in a fence line near Las Flores.


- On 31 February we had a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeding on porterweed (Stachytarpeta sp) in the garden of Hotel Heliconia (8 km south of Mariato, Veraguas).

- We still see Northern Jacanas and Wattled jacanes feed together on a small catival near the Quebro river.