Xenornis

Karla Aparicio sends two noteworthy reports: Bicolored Hawk : Karla Aparicio, Jorge Herrera e Hilda Castañeda, observamos un individuo adulto con una presa en la pata en el sendero Harvard de la Isla de Barro Colorado (Smithsonian) durante el conteo central de aves (23 de diciembre, 2012). Foto: Jorge Herrera. Yellow- Bellied Sapsucker : Karla Aparicio, Katherine Araúz y Norma Ponce, observaron un individuo juvenil en la comunidad de La Tranquilla en el Lago Alajuela (a 20 min en bote del Puerto Corotú) el 20 de diciembre, 2012. Fotos por: Katherine Araúz Ponce.

Last week Moyo Rodriguez and I (Venicio Wilson) guided a couple of dutch birdwatchers, Yvonne and Atze, into eastern Panama. We had and incredible luck finding birds we had not seen yet in the previous months of development of a new Canopy Tower tour to the Darien lowlands. Orange-breasted Falcon was seen near the ‘Mirador’ in Nusagandi, Guna Yala. A pair was spoted by the group and Moyo noticed the large size of the bird. Once we stopped the car we heard clearly the falcons' calling and realized the call was nothing similar to a Bat Falcon, which are much more common. After playing the Orange-breasted Falcon call the female flew some 40-50 meters above us allowing us to see her breast band! Later we saw the same couple perched and I made some crummy pictures that I still like to share with you. Nusagandi produced some great birds such as White-thighed Swallow , Rufous Piha, Crested Guan, Black-and-Yellow, Dusky-faced and Sulphur-rumped Tanagers . During our second day we b...

This weekend Björn Anderson, Euclides Campos and I took a whirlwind trip to Chiriquí to seek out a few target birds. On Saturday we visited Cerro Santiago; Yellow-green Finch [a Panama endemic listed as Vulnerable by IUCN ] was found easily (photo by Björn), almost from the moment we stepped out of our transport, but Glow-throated Hummingbird [another Panama endemic listed as Vulnerable by IUCN ] made us work. For most of the morning we had only female or immature Selasphorus , and one male that only I saw briefly, almost certainly a Scintillant. A male Glow-throated finally appeared just before we were to depart, much to our relief. We carefully studied the tail patterns and underparts of a number of females, and Björn captured some outstanding photos. When he's sorted through we plan to create a webpage, as a Google search of the Glow-throated Hummingbird offers little regarding females of the species, and even Ridgely and HBW offer somewhat confusing information and illustrati...

Guido Berguido spent ten days in the Fortuna/Chiriquí Grande area working on a Smithsonian course. The best sightings he reported were a Chestnut-colored Woodpecker and an adult Bicolored Hawk, both seen on the road to the Chiriquí Grande dump.