Xenornis

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 .

Just to back up Benicio's report , Alred Raab, Mark and Joanie Hubsinger and I were at Bayano the day before (12/4), and found a female-plumaged Cinereous Becard at the Río Mono, which also responded to playback. Another interesting sighting was a female-plumaged Yellow-rumped Warbler , and late in the day on our return trip we also found a pair of Streaked Xenops , identified by voice as well as plumage. They appeared a bit distinctly-streaked for the race incomptus I would expect at Bayano- I wonder if any judgement as to subspecies was reached on the bird digiscoped by Kilo Campos at this same locale.

Today, while birding in Bayano Forest, in company of Karalee Patel, Ebrahim Patel and Ariel Tenorio, we found a pair of Golden-green Woodpeckers . I believe is the same pair I found about 5 years ago since there where only 100 meters from the old spot. Both of them where foraging high in the canopy of a Ficus tree next to the first creek. We took these pictures with a Kowa TSN-771 and a little point and shoot Canon camera. Birding was great but the sound of bulldozers and other heavy equipment in the area was not a good sign for the survival of this forest. In the way back to “Bayano Adventure” we stoped at the Río Mono bridge to find a very unusual becard. We belive was a Cinereous Becard since it looked very much like a Rose-throated Becard which I am more familiar with [ later identified as One-colored Becard ]. It had a slaty gray top with pale buff underparts, rufous tail, light brown back with some darker fethers in the nape and neck, like an immature male molting to adult plum...

Stop the presses! Sometime in June 2007, José Carlos García photographed this cuckoo near Río Mono on the Bayano. It was originally reported as a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, which would have no business in Panama during the boreal summer, but as it clearly was neither Dwarf, Dark-billed or Gray-capped Cuckoo, the three species of South-American vagrants previously recorded in Panama, the local consensus was that it was safer to call it a Mangrove Cuckoo and move on. Two years later, Pat O'Donnell chimes in with an alternate ID: Pearly-breasted Cuckoo. Quoth Pat: Pearly-breasted Cuckoo (Coccyzus euleri) may be a better candidate for this bird. Pearly-breasted Cuckoo is an austral migrant that looks more or less like a Yellow-billed Cuckoo but with no rufous in the wings and gray eye ring instead of yellow. Although the eye ring is hard to see, there is no indication of yellow in this image. The bird in the image also shows light gray on the throat lacking the buff tones of Mangrove. U...

Sunday's PAS fieldtrip to the Bayano was an utter success by all counts. The crowd amounted to thirty participants, yet we didn't have any casualties. And if that weren't miracle enough, we saw many a good bird, and lifers for everyone. A first stop at the Bayano bridge produced the first of maaaany Cocoi Herons, a Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Pied Water-Tyrant and great looks at a pair of Jet Antbirds. But the fun really started at the Río Mono bridge. Not five minutes after our horde arrived, Rosabel Miró spotted a raptor with a bright rufous back perched looking the other way in a distant tree. The head was buffy, whiter on the crown, and if you squinted you could even imagine some black in the chest. The back had sparse black streaking, and there was a slight dark eyeline, reminiscent of Yellow-headed Caracara. Even though the bird flew away before everybody saw it, we had no doubt we had a Black-collared Hawk (especially after seeing the better plate in Garrigues). Lu...

March 3 : White-crested Coquette at her nest in Cuesta de Piedra. March 6: Golden-naped Woodpecker at Santa Clara. Also Gray-crowned Yellowthroat and White-throated Flycatcher at Volcán Lakes. March 29: Strong-billed Woodcreeper at La Rana Trail in El Copé, with Kereen Álvarez. April 30: Streaked Xenops at Lake Bayano, with Laura Reyes. I used playback and the bird came in right away.

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...

This morning's Panama Audubon Society fieldtrip to the Bayano was a complete success. Top target Golden-green Woodpecker was seen within the first half hour of walking the trail. Other exciting eastern Panama specialties seen were One-colored Becard (a pair at a nest), a pair of White-eared Conebills, a few Rufous-winged Antwrens, and a male Black Antshrike (all around the bridge over Río Mono.)

The PAS fieldtrip to The Road to Darién (i.e. the Bayano area) was a complete success (i.e. they found and photographed a bird I have never seen). The following images of a male Golden-green Woodpecker were taken by Olmedo Miró. Bonus female Black Antshrike , also by Olmedo Miró.

This photo was taken by José Carlos García near the Río Mono bridge in Bayano, sometime in June. The bird was identified as a Mangrove Cuckoo , which, though rare during the boreal summer, has been reported in Central Panama in June. As fas as I know, there are no records of over-summering Yellow-billeds in Panama, and the yellow bill seems to rule out all those southern vagrants, but if you have any better guesses do chime in.

On February 27 Mark Letzer and I did some birding beyond the Bayano bridge and on the lake. Amongst the birds seen were One-colored Becard (pair), White-eared Conebill, Black Antshrike and Red-billed Scythebill. The most birdy places were at and around the bridge 3-4 kms beyond the Bayano bridge, and in dried out stream beds which can be entered from the lake (Mateo, who hangs out on the boat ramp next to the Bayano bridge can take you around the lake). On the lake, Anhingas were everywhere. A Rufous-breasted Hermit was nesting in the most precarious circumstances, in a nest suspended from a split heliconia leaf over a trail which was being violently blown around by the wind. There were two white eggs. Contrary to the nesting habits mentioned in the book, this nest appeared to be on its own and not guarded by a male; nor was the nest over a stream. We also saw a group of Variable Seedeaters among which was one individual with a large white spot on the cheek. We are not going to claim i...