Gray-capped Cuckoo and Large-billed Terns at Finca Bayano, a report by Les Lieurance

Had a nice day trip to the finca today with Cindy and Bill Adsett. Cloud cover made the heat somewhat bearable and the roads were passable. eBird list here.

I taped two Large-billed Terns.



Also found a Gray-capped Cuckoo:

Cuckoo with a long tail, shaped like Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Short black bill, dark eye, dark gray slightly bushy cap and dark gray face and nape, gray extending below the eye. Throat rich rufous, breast slightly lighter rufous. Back and wings rufous. Tail, seen only from below, appeared to be black with white spots, placed similarly to spots on Yellow-billed Cuckoo's tail. Bird was in the mangroves. Mangroves suffering a massive infestation of tent caterpillars - perhaps the cuckoo was there for a feast. Bird was very skulky, often perching deep in the foliage. 

Nazca Booby in Golfo de Chiriquí

Margaret Thompson reports a juvenile Nazca Booby seen flying right by her boat in Golfo de Chiriquí, near Isla Bolaños and bocas pajaros, today. She also reports the continuing presence of the American White Pelican at Panamá Viejo, seen yesterday morning with two Wood Storks.

Jabirú en Chanis, un reporte por Mauricio Hoyos

Vi un Jabiru volando más o menos a 8 metros de altura sobre la Calle Alhambra, urbanización Casablanca, Chanis. Iba en direccion este.
Fecha: 12/08/17
Hora: 16:00
No pude tomar foto pero el tamaño, y los colores blanco, rojo y negro eran indiscutibles.

Vermillion Flycatcher in the Western Azuero Peninsula, a report by Philip and Julie Pearce

On August 2, 2017, a female Vermillion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus) was seen in Mata Oscura, a small community between Torio and Quebro. The location is approximately 200 feet above sea level, but virtually at the rocky coast between Playa Morrillo and Playa Mata Oscura. The Morrillo estuary is very close to this location. The area was formerly cleared for cattle, but has been reforested within the past 8 years with trees and shrubs in an attempt to attract birds and other wildlife. Philip and Julie Pearce saw and photographed the bird.
The bird was acting typically for a tyrant flycatcher. She was perching at the tops of the small trees and shrubs and darting up to catch insects, then returning to the same perch. She did not vocalize. This was at approximately 11:30 a.m., at the edge of a relatively clear area in relation to the surrounding heavier forest.
 

White-rumped Sandpipers in Panamá Viejo

Rosabel Miró and WHSRN's Rob Clay were at Panama Viejo for this morning's high tide and they found a total of 7 White-rumped Sandpipers mixed in with the Western Sandpipers and Short-billed Dowitchers. 

Saffron Finch in Pacora

While counting for the Global Big Day on May 13, Jorge Herrera found a small group of Saffron Finch in Pacora. Although this is not the easternmost record on eBird, it shows that the species is slowly but seedily making its way in that general direction.

Brown Noddy in Panamá Viejo

Dr. Osvaldo Quintero photographed this Brown Noddy on the mudflats at Panamá Viejo on the afternoon of Saturday May 13.

Gleanings from eBird: Dwarf Cuckoo in Tortí, a report by Angela and Colin Dillingham

Dwarf Cuckoo (Coccycua pumila)
- Reported Mar 28, 2017 13:25 by Angela Dillingham
- Rio Torti, Panamá
- Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35506340

© Colin Dillingham

Photo by Colin Dillingham. Bird identified by Colin and Angela Dillingham immediately after Colin spotted it, he showed it to Angela, and then later Jose Carlos Garcia, Francisco Denhaale, Euclides Campos, Shailesh Pinto and two other members of our tour group (Larry and Bonnie).

It landed in the trees on the south side of the access road. Then it worked its way east down the fence row of trees. A fork-tailed flycatcher was chasing it for a while. It was a small cuckoo, with a dark bill with a decurved tip. It had a gray face and crown, with rufous throat and neck. There was a strong contrast between the rufous chest and cream colored belly. Legs were gray and eyes were red. Tail was gray with outer retrices shorter than central retrices. The tail feathers had thick dark subterminal tail band and a narrower white terminal tail band. Gray wings had no wing bars and gray back.

Hermit Warbler in Boquete with a bonus Northern Parula, a report by Dave Klauber

[Firstly, the editor apologizes profusely for sitting on this record, which sat forgotten in my inbox for two months. Now back to our programming.]

I managed to do a little birding while in Boquete for New Year's. We stayed for 2 nights in a cabin by the waterfall trails above Boquete. Next to the cabin was a Hermit Warbler seen both the evening of Jan 3, and the morning of Jan 4. 

I believe it was an adult male.

The bird had a black throat, which I believe indicates a male, white underparts with no streaks, a yellow face with a slight indistinct dusky postocular mark. When first seen the evening of Jan 3 I could not note the back color. The next morning it popped up in the hillside scrub, later moving to a nearby pine, where better views were obtained.The back was gray with some dark streaking, and there was some black spotting on the crown. There were 2 white wing bars, and the in flight there were notable white flashes in the tail. 

The vent did not have the yellow wash typical of Black-throated Green Warbler. Both Black-throated Green and Townsend's warblers were ruled out based on face pattern - yellow mostly unmarked face - and lack of streaking on the underparts. Golden-cheeked was ruled out by the lack of a black eyeline and again the unstreaked underparts.

The morning of Jan 4 the bird was observed for about 5-10 minutes both at eye level in hillside scrub, and in lower branches of a nearby pine, and for about 5 minutes the evening of Jan 3, when it stayed in the pines.

George's book lists this as a vagrant, so thought it might be noteworthy. Also had a Purpish-backed Quail-Dove on the trails there yesterday morning. I heard only - couldn't see it - a Northern Parula warbler in a stream by the Scott's place near Palera el banco, between Boquete & Volcan on Jan 2,2017. This is off the road that cuts between Volcan & Boquete.

Craig Bennett and I were along a stream on their property when I heard the distinctive song of Northern Parula warbler in the treetops.  It was the song that is ascending, ending with an abrupt note. There is an alternate Parula song with several repeated "rolling" ascending trills, but that song was not heard. The bird was heard singing for about 5 minutes. I had the Sibley call on my smartphone and played it, and it was an exact match. After about 5 minutes it stopped singing. I played Tropical Parula and the song was very different. I am not very familiar with Tropical Parula vocalizations, although I've seen many in many countries, but the recordings on the Panama bird app were quite distinct from Northern Parula.

Selasphorus in Cerro Hoya, a report by Kees Groenendijk

From 8 to 10 Feb we, Howard Laidlaw, Margot, Jaap and Roanna Kalkman and Kees Groenendijk went to the cloud forest of the Cerro Hoya NP, more or less due south of the finca of Juan Velázques. Here we found Selasphorus hummingbirds on three different sites on two diffrent days (8 and 9 Feb). Sites were 1175-1266 m altitude and the hummingbirds were feeding in flowering Inga species and in an unidentified treelet known locally as arriján. We saw at least 5 individuals of which at least one was male. 

Based on the color of the gorget of the male, closer to purple than to red, we assume that these are Glow-throated Hummingbirds, which would be consistent with an earlier observation by Francisco Delgado. To our knowledge, this is the first time since the reports by Delgado that this hummingbird has been seen in the Cerro Hoya. [There have been other records by University of Panama/STRI expeditions to the area; manuscript submitted for publication —DM].

Photos are courtesy of Jaap Kalkman.