Xenornis

Between January 6-9 a party consisting of Bill Adsett, George Angehr, Charlotte Elton. Dave Klauber, and Les and Cindy Lieurance visited Darien, birding mostly around Canglon, and Yaviza. The following are some of the highlights (with photos by Bill Adsett). Pale-bellied Hermit . A few individuals seen on the El Salto Road and north of Yaviza on Jan 7. The hummingbird feeders at the Avicar Restaurant in Meteti on Jan 6 and 9 featured Scaly-breasted Hummingbird , Sapphire-throated Hummingbird , Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Snowy-bellied Hummingbird, Black-throated Mango, and Long-billed Starthroat. Spot-breasted Woodpecker . Two seen near Rio Iglesias on the afternoon of Jan 6. Barred Puffbird . Several pairs seen a few km north of Yaviza on Jan 8. Blue-and-yellow Macaw . A flyover by three individuals on Jan 6 about 7 km east of Rio Iglesias, on the south side of the Filo de Tallo, in a mostly deforested area. It's good to see the species still persists here. Spectacl...

El fin de semana del 23 de abril estuvimos explorando las cercanias del Darién, Jan Axel Cubilla y Gloriela Archbold, José Carlos García y Mahelis Rodríguez, y Rafael Luck. Nuestro destino final era el poblado de Nuevo Vigía, pero desafortunadamente SENAFRONT no nos autorizo visitar esa zona por razones de seguridad. Una verdadera lástima, ya que personas del pueblo invirtieron tiempo y fondos para transportarnos y alimentarnos sin poder obterner los frutos de nuestra visita. De todas formas hicimos nuestro acostumbrado paseo con algunos de los resultados fotograficos: El Salto : Black-capped Donacobius en abundancia y Spectacled Parrolet Filo del Tallo : Black Antshrike , Cinnamon Woodpecker, Golden-headed Manakin (muchos hermits: long-billed, stripe-throated, pale-bellied , rufous-breasted) Puente del Río Mono : Rufous-winged Antwren, Barred Puffbird, Red-rumped Woodpecker, One-colored Becard .

Hoy domingo 5 de septiembre, junto a Euclides Campos y Rafael Luck, fui a Nusagandi y Bayano. En Nusagandi vimos Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle sobre la carretera principal después del Mirador y varias bandadas mixtas con Sulphur-rumped y Rufous-winged Tanagers a lo largo de la carretera. En Igar Nusagandi escuchamos Black-eared Wood-Quail, Stripe-throated Wren y vimos Russet Antshrike y una pareja de Speckled Antshrikes . En Bayano encontramos una hembra de Golden-green Woodpecker con una bandada mixta que también incluía Cinnamon y One-colored Becards, Orange-crowned Oriole y Black Antshrikes . En el puente sólo escuchamos Rufous-winged Antwren y vimos dos Barred Puffbirds .

In a recent visit to the Emberá community of Nuevo Vigía in Río Tuquesa, Darién, I got some interesting birds: Little Cuckoo, Barred Puffbird, Bare-crowned Antbird, Green-and-rufous Kingfisher, Saffron-headed Parrots, Black Oropendola and Brown-chested Martin . Here are some few photos I managed to take. Though this was not a birding trip, the place is full of good birds and worth a more in depth visit.

During a recent visit to Coclesito, in the province of Colon, I found a Barred Puffbird singing in the gardens of the Rural House of Fundacion Alternativa. The bird was being mobbed and bombarded by other small birds like tanagers, flycatchers and hummingbirds. It responded to tape but was very shy which made it difficult to get a better picture. I also found some birds that we normally associates to the Pacific slope savanna: White-tailed Kite, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture and Southern Lapwings . There was also this Empidonax flycatcher with a interesting longer bill. Any ideas as to its identity?

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 ...

Canopy Tower's Carlos Bethancourt forwards this photo of one of the four Barred Puffbirds seen by Canopy Lodge's Moyo Rodríguez at Río Indio, Coclé on December 2. He returned to the site with Danilo Rodríguez two days later and saw another one.

On Dec 28, 2008, I took my friends Debi Shearwater, Don, David, Helen, Cindy and Les, birding to the Bayano Lake, where we got some Darien specialties. Seen that morning were White-eared Conebill (a lifer for me, woooo!), Gray-cheeked Nunlet, Barred Puffbird, White-headed Wren, Red-rumped Woodpecker, Black Antshrike, Crane Hawks and Bare-crowned Antbird, just to mention a few!.... We all had a great time in Bayano plus a lifer for me, not bad... Then on Dec 28th (With Debi Shearwate, Don, Les, Cindy, David and Helen) 2008 and Jan 9, 2009 (with the VENT group, Lifer for my friend Jery Langham) I went up to Cerro Azul and both days I got great views of the endemic Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker.

El sábado 17 de enero de 2009, Osvaldo Quintero, Rafael Luck y mi persona fuimos al Bayano para observar aves. Sobre el puente del río Mono localizamos un Barred Puffbird, primero notado por su característica llamada, que nos deleitó respondiendo a nuestras imitaciones. Aparte de un registro en Capira y otro en Cerro Azul, me parece que para la vertiente del Pacífico sólo se conoce en el Darién. Además, observamos al vuelo (y escuchamos) un Laughing Falcon, el cual se posó muy distante en un cuipo... aunque aún se puede reconocer en mi distante foto. Luego de despedirme de Rafael y Osvaldo entrada la tarde, fui hacia Pipeline road por un tip de Julia Sarco (de Avifauna) quien nos comentó que había pasado la mañana viendo un Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo en el camino principal, antes de la desviación hacia el centro de visitantes. Me tocó adentrarme un poco en la maleza y, con todo y lluvia, pude observar por unos 15 min un Ground-Cuckoo mientras se alimentaba en un enjambre de hor...