Highlights from Finca Bayano, a report by Cindy Lieurance

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On 5 September 2016, Les Lieurance, Bill Adsett and I birded Finca Bayano. The highlights included 3 Buff-breasted Sandpipers, 10 Pectoral Sandpipers, 7 Wilson’s Phalaropes, 8 Solitary Sandpipers, 11 Greater Yellowlegs, 7 Lesser Yellowlegs, 1 Northern Shoveler, 35 Blue-winged Teal, 1 Laughing Falcon, 7 Pied Water-Tyrants (including 1 feeding a recently-fledged chick), a migrating flock of 350 Dickcissels, along with the usual herons, egrets, ibis and gallinules.
The attached photos of the Buff-breasted Sandpipers were taken by Bill Adsett.​

Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle in Tortí, a report by Cedric Kinschots

Bill Adsett, Mark Letzer and the undersigned visited the San Francisco Reserve in Tortí on Saturday, September 3, in search of Wing-banded Antbird (which we whiffed on). Around 8 a.m., while we were birding around the pond just before the entrance to the forest, we observed a mature Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle soaring over the forested ridge. The striking white head, white underparts of wings, black upperparts of wings, tail pattern, feathers on legs, orange cere and black around eye were all observed. I attach some pictures taken by Bill. Our bird was briefly molested by a pair of dark raptors, which we could not definitively identify. From my very vague shots (also attached), I would guess dark-morph Short-tailed Hawk because of the smaller size, yellow feet and pale primaries near the end of the wings.

More on the Garachiné Hook-billed Kites

Seems the Hook-billed Kite Jorge Herrera photographed last week was not the first Darién record after all, as they've been seeing it since 2014.

Debo agregar que esta especie la hemos visto desde el 2014 junto a Karla Aparicio, Carol Gantes, Kenneth Contreras y guías locales de este lado de Garachiné, coordenadas (17P 0783655 UTM089019; 30msnm) en el orden cronológico:

09 agosto 2014 09:03am.
18 marzo 2015 03:09 pm.
11 agosto 2016 08:30 am. 

Cattle Tyrants at Portobelo

Matias Díaz found a pair of Cattle Tyrants this morning at the pastures near Río Alejandro, the same place that produced Northern Jacana a few weeks back. 

Arctic Tern at Coiba

On September 3, the Panama Audubon trip to Coiba ran into an Arctic Tern on a floating log on the open seas beyond Isla Gobernadora. Notice the short legs, slight bill and mostly pale underwings with dark tips on the primaries. The photos, the first photographic evidence of the species in Panama, were taken by Rolando Jordán.

Hook-billed Kite in Darién, a report by Jorge Herrera

Adjunto una imagen del Elanio Piquiganchudo (Chondrohierax uncinatus), tomada el 11 de agosto en los limites del Parque Nacional Darién, Punta Santa Barbara, Garachiné (17P 0785542/UTM 0895027...30msnm). Estamos monitoreando aves para conocer la conectividad entre parches de bosques caducifolios y semicaducifolios junto al proyecto de Fondo Darién y el Grupo para la educación y el Manejo ambiental sostenible (GEMAS).

Nos parece importante reportarlo ya que sería un nuevo registros de ampliación de distribución para el área de Santa Bárbara, Garachiné, es decir, para el suroeste de la provincia de Darién, ya que no se registran en la guía más reciente de las aves de Panamá de Angehr y Dean (2010). 

In development: White Tern at Ciudad Hospitalaria

These photos of an injured White Tern were taken at Ciudad Hospitalaria by Nurys Palacios, who sent them to the Asociación de Estudiantes de la Escuela de Biología Facebook Page.
The bird was found looking weak on the ground next to the guard post at the Ciudad Hospitalaria project on September 2. José Castillo, a security guard, caught it and handed it to Sandra Pinto, but it died overnight.
This would be the first documented record of the species, previously known from a sighting of two birds during the 1983 El Niño event.

Jacana Norteña en Portobelo, un reporte por Matias Díaz

El pasado sábado 13 de agosto, Matias Díaz y Gina Nuñez, jóvenes apasionados por la observación de aves, se dirigían a observar aves en Colón, en las zonas cercanas al Parque Nacional Portobelo. Mientras iban de camino al lugar, notaron un grupo de jacanas en una zona de potreros pasando el puente de la barriada de Río Alejandro. Gina notó que una de las jacanas tenía un color extraño que no había visto antes, luego Matias la observó y se dió cuenta que se trataba de una Jacana Norteña, sin embargo ambos se encontraban en un vehículo en marcha y no pudieron ver a detalle si se trataba de la especie que suponían que fuese. Conversaron entre ellos por unos minutos y decidieron bajarse en la siguiente parada y tomar un autobús de regreso para verificar si se trataba de la especie (después de todo no todos los días se te presenta una especie rara en tu camino). Al regresar al lugar donde habían observado la buscaron por varios minutos hasta encontrarla y confirmar que en efecto se trataba de la Jacana Norteña, especie que se distribuye para el oeste de Panamá, sin embargo en esta ocasión se encontraba bastante alejada de su distribución regular.

 

Lattice-tailed Trogon at El Copé

Jean Sinasac, Domiciano Alveo and José Pérez swung by Omar Torrijos Herrera National Park on their way back from Chiriquí on August 10. The best record was a pair of Lattice-tailed Trogon, a bird of the western Caribbean foothills that is seldom recorded this far east. They were very close to the park entrance, about 200 m beyond the ranger station.

Cattle Tyrants at the Biomuseo

They're baaaaack! After a few months of absence, the Cattle Tyrants are back at the Biomuseo. A pair has been seen regularly around the lawns south of the building and the palm trees along the pedestrian walkway along the Canal. These photos were taken by Camilo Montañez on July 16.