Xenornis

Celeste Paiva, Donnie Pierpoint, Charlotte Elton, Cora Herrera, Dan Hinckley and Bill Adsett visited the western coast of the Azuero Peninsula from June 20 to June 22. We stayed at Las Heliconias B&B(tanagertourism@gmail.com - highly recommended) just beyond Mariato and its co-owner Kees, a good birder, acted as our guide throughout. Las Heliconias has several hectares of regenerating and replanted forest where Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant and Yellow Tyrannulet are common. Hummingbird feeders are attended by Scaly-breasted, Sapphire-throated and Garden Emeralds among others. On June 21 we went to Juan's farm in Flores (on the edge of the Cerro Hoya National Park) to see the main target of the trip, the endemic Azuero Parakeet . A flock of 15-20 birds showed up as scheduled at 9.00 am and several stayed around for hours feeding on a "higuerón" (fig) tree where they could be approached closely and photographed. They should be in the area for two more weeks, after which they...

From monday 6 December until thursday 9 December, Gwen, Beatriz, Angel, Michael, Joe, David, Juan, Loes and myself were working in the buffer zone of Cerro Hoya National Park near Flores (on the farm of Juan Velazques—he of Azuero Parakeet fame). We were busy placing artificial nes tboxes for Great Green Macaws, a project implemented by Fundación Avifauna. During these four days in the Cerro Hoya buffer zone we saw 15 Great Green Macaws on Monday, two on Wednesday and 16 on Thursday. We also saw a group of about 12 Azuero Parakeets on Wednesday.

Itzel Fong Gadea sent in a link to her gallery of Azuero Parakeet photos taken at Flores on June 20 (I reckon). As noted, some birds show dark irises, while some had pale irises. On Saturday, June 26, Delicia, Pedro & Darién Montañez visited the Velásquez farm at the appointed time (8:30 AM), but the parakeets were not immediately visible. We were forced to walk 25 meters from the house in order to locate a flock of about 30 birds, preening and frolicking in a nance tree. While waiting we had a half dozen Vaux's Swifts fly overhead. Juancho Velásquez, our host, says the parakeets are usually in the area from early June to early July, and favor fruiting figs and nances. This is by far the easiest way to see this Panama endemic, and you should go for it. To get to the Velásquez farm, drive past Atalaya towards Mariato. 100 km of a nice asphalt road later you will arrive at the town of Flores, on the outskirts of the buffer zone for Cerro Hoya National Park. See map on page 182...

Last week I joined three different birding journeys in the western side of the country. We began by returning to the Velasquez farm on two occasions with several members of SAP looking for Azuero Parakeet, and got some more pictures, videos and interesting details about this seldom seen endemic bird. During my visit in April there were hundreds of Brown-throated Parakeets in the forest edge and trees in the pasture, the same area that the Azuero Parakeets are using now, however we could only see a single Brown-throated Parakeet in the area. Itzel Fong pointed that some birds have a white eye ring while other have a browner eye ring. I also noted some birds with brown irises and some few had brilliant orange iris. One of the birds had a tiny blue spot in the forehead right above the bill. There were about 60 birds feeding at the fig tree; 4 times more birds than the previous week. The parakeets were doing a lot of grooming and pair bonding activities which we filmed. I also spotted wh...

Yesterday, June 19th, Björn Anderson, Gonzalo Horna, and I ventured to Coiba Island, where in only a few hours (before heavy rain came) on the Pozos Termales Trail, we were treated to crippling views of both Coiba Spinetail and Brown-backed Dove . Björn obtained excellent photos, and I collected good audio recordings—I will make these available to amy one who asks. We also saw most of the island endemic subspecies, collected many recordings and photos of these, and tried a couple of intriguing playback experiments. As a bonus we observed a Galapagos Shearwater (thanks to Björn) about halfway between the island and the mainland. Today (20/6) we ventured to the Velásquez farm to enjoy Azuero Parakeets , and were not disappointed—the parakeets came in like clockwork around 8:30, and up to 30 birds at a time were enjoyed for several hours. We also were delighted to run into Beny Wilson and an all-star group of Panamanian birders, who were smart enough to sleep in and show up just ...

Last Saturday Gloriela Archbold, Jan Axel Cubilla, Rafael Luck and Venicio Wilson as guide, visited the farm of Juan and Fanny Velasquez in the town of Flores, Veraguas to find the endemic Azuero Parakeet (Pyrrhura eisenmanni). Juan and Fanny informed in my previous trip that the endemic parakeet visited their backyard during the months of May, June and July. According to Mr. Velasquez the Azuero Parakeets normally came to eat fruits from 8:30 to midday. On June 13 at 8:33 a flock of about 16 parakeets come to eat Figs at a tree next to the corn field in the Velasquez backyard. The birds ate figs and nance that were abundant in the gallery forest next to Playita River. They moved from tree to tree and gave us a magnificent show. I saw at least one couple copulating, some grooming and some birds offering food to others. This could be an indication of the beginning of the breeding season? Here are some pictures and videos we managed to take with a point-and-shoot camera and a Kowa te...

The first day included Cattle Tyrant seen after a thorough search of the Amador area. On our second day we birded Bayano Road and the trails described in the book “Where to find Birds in Panama”. We got a Pearl Kite to begin the morning and White-eared Conebill, Black Antshrike and Rufous-winged Antwren. During the afternoon we visited the trail across marker 7 km where we found the Golden-green Woodpecker reported previously . We later stoped at Río Mono bridge, where we got a odd looking bird that I called Cinerous Becard. Later during the trip we got better views and discovered the nest and reidentified the birds as One-colored Becards. 
Next Day we visited Birders' View in Cerro Azul. Nando, who takes care of the place and is an outstanding guide for the area, took us around the new trails and showed us briefly a Tawny-faced Quail . After our picnic lunch we saw an Ornate Hawk-Eagle gliding fast in front of back terrace. During our 5th day, from the veranda of our shelter ...

Complementando el excelente reporte de Jan Axel Cubilla, enviamos pruebas fotográficas de nuestro viaje a Cobachón (Euclides Campos "Kilo" y Rafael Luck, en donde en 24 horas y saliendo desde ciudad de Panama, logramos ver y fotografiar al endemico Perico Pintado siguiendo las instrucciones de Jan Axel y los conocimientos del área de Kilo. También aprovechamos y enviamos fotos adicionales de la visita al Cope ( Ave Sombrilla y Trogones Colirrayado y Ventrinaranja ).

Sólo quería compartir algunos avistamientos que Gloriela y yo hemos realizado desde el pasado fin de semana. Antes de encontrarnos con el grupo de participantes de la gira de campo de la SAP a Santa Fe, fuimos en horas de la tarde del viernes 17 de julio a las ciénegas de Las Macanas (Herrera). Sólo a destacar la presencia de al menos tres Aplomado Falcons a lo largo de la carretera nacional y otro (fotografiado) en la vía de acceso en las Macanas. El tiempo en Santa Fe no nos favoreció (mucha lluvia). Aún así pudimos llegar hasta cerca de la divisoria continental. Cerca del sitio de construcción de la nueva sede del PN Santa Fe en la carretera Alto de Piedra - Guabal (apenas en la vertiente pacífica) nos encontramos con una bandada mixta de tangaras conformada principalmente por Dusky-faced Tanagers con las cuales viajaba un sólo individuo de Ashy-throated Bush-Tanager (luego envio la documentación completa). Varios miembros del grupo pudimos observarla (inclutendo a Gloriela y ...

Euclides Campos sent in this photo of an Azuero Parakeet he saw at the town of Cobachón, Azuero Peninsula, on june 12.

José Carlos García and Billy Sandoval sent in a June 2, 2007 report (with photos!) of the endemic Azuero Parakeet from the boundaries of Cerro Hoya National Park, near the town of Cobachón. They saw 3 different flocks of about 12 individuals that were moving back and forth in the more open hilly areas close to forest. Locally this parakeet is known as “guaquita” (i.e. little macaw), because from distance, when perched, it resembles a miniature version of a Great Green Macaw. Lelis Navarete sent in the following highlights from a birding expedition to Panama from March 24 to April 06 2007: Gray-breasted Crake - Heard at the grass field across the road from the San Lorenzo preserve ranger´s headquarters while waiting to pay the entrance fee to the place. This is a species I know very well from the amazonian range in southamerica where a fairly common bird in the right habitat. Heard on March 26/2007. Dunlin - One single bird was seen at the Costa Este in the Panama bay mud flats. The...