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.

Forster's Tern in Bocas del Toro, a report by Natalia Decastro

On February 3rd, a Forster's Tern was observed near the mouth of the Changuinola River, resting with a group of Royal Terns on a birding tour organized by Let's go Birding and Wildside Nature Tour, led by Glenn Crawford, based at Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge. Photos by Brooke Miller.

Spot-breasted Woodpecker at Gamboa, a report by Domiciano Alveo

On the afternoon of Friday, October 25, Domiciano Alveo found a Spot-breasted Woodpecker at the Ammo Ponds in Gamboa. The bird was calling and responded well to his whistling.

Jabirú in Chiriquí Grande, a report by Natalia Decastro

On the morning of October 10th, during a birding trip to the Bocas del Toro mainland, with a group based at Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge, we observed a Jabiru (Jabiru mycteria) in the Chiriqui Grande area.

That same day we observed a hawk migration, several thousands of Broad-winged Hawks (Buteo platipterus) and Swainson’s Hawks (Buteo swainsoni) and a few hundred Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura).

Hudsonian Godwits at Finca Bayano, a report by Euclides Campos

Two Hudsonian Godwit were seen at Finca Bayano on Tuesday, October 25.  Other birds of interst: 3 Long-billed Dowitcher, several Pectoral Sandpiper, 1 White-rumped Sandpiper, 1 Kildeer.  Alexis Guevara was also present during this sighting.

First Panama record: Inca Dove in Las Cumbres

Gwen Keller spotted this Inca Dove at her Las Cumbres backyard this morning. It seems today was first record for Panama day.

First Panama Record of Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (?) (!)

Jan Axel Cubilla and Osvaldo Quintero found this weird sandpiper at Finca Bayano today. If it turns out to be a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, it could be the second record in Latin America (there's a 2014 record from Bolivia) of this Asian shorebird.

And what's a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper? Audubon explains:

This Asian shorebird is related to our Pectoral Sandpiper, and like that species is it a long-distance migrant, traveling from Siberia to Australia and New Zealand. A few reach North America every year, mostly fall migrants in Alaska and the Pacific northwest; a casual stray in other areas, rare in spring.

And where was it? Jan Axel explains:

en los campos semi inundados en el camino detrás de las instalaciones de mantenimiento y de la pista de aterrizaje

Their eBird checklist has all the details:

*mega. If accepted, first report for Panama (and Central America). Similar size to nearby Pectoral Sandpiper but more pot-bellied and short-necked. Contrasting chestnut crown and white eyebrow. Buff breast, white throat... just very few and non-contrasting streaks on sides of the breast and a thin necklace under the throat in the upper breast. White belly and vent. The vent with black streaks. Yellow-green legs.

But that was not the only highlight of the day:
2 American Golden-Plovers


6 Stilt Sandpipers


3 White-rumped Sandpipers


1 Buff-breasted Sandpiper