Xenornis

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.

Not to be outdone, Natalia Sarco photographed this Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle  from the tower at Panama Rainforest Discovery Center tower this morning.

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 .

La semana pasada un pequeño grupo de observadores de aves de Panamá hizo una gira a Cana, Darién (Bill y Claudia Ahrens, Rafael Luck acompañados del guía Roberto Medina). Entre otras fotos estamos incluyendo el Green-naped Tanager, Pirre Warbler, Orange-bellied Euphonia, White-headed Wren, Red-throated Cara Cara, Sharpbill, Little Cuckoo . Se vieron muchas rapaces incluyendo al Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle , que curiosamente nos estaba observando, el White Hawk, Black Hawk-Eagle, King Vulture, y como una gran sorpresa desde el mismo campamento principal, se pudo observar un Águila Harpía desde lejos. Estamos enviando fotos de tres guacamayas (Blue-and-yellow, Red-and-green and Chestnut-fronted Macaw). Vimos el Great Green Macaw, pero desafortunadamente no se dejó retratar.

Durante los días patrios decidí ir con unos amigos a visitar el Real y Rancho Frío. El jueves 5 de noviembre, fui al airstrip en la mañana donde me tropecé con este harrier. Este individuo era bien oscuro con algunas rayas blancas por debajo. De acuerdo a la literatura, el juvenil dark morph Long-winged Harrier es todo dark brown y poseen rufous thighs. En una de las fotos se puede ver algo los rufous thighs. Los juveniles northern harrier son oscuros en el chest y luego twany el resto. En rancho frío vimos Double-banded Graytail, Wing-banded Antbird, Yellow-backed Tanager, Scarlet-browed Tanager, Sapayoa, Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle, Ornate Hawk-Eagle, Plumbeous Hawk y Tawny-faced Quail.

The Kaufmann Cerro Azul villa was once again graced by the visit of a Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle. This time Guido Berguido heard it fly in and then perch on the tall dead trees left of the garden, where it stayed long enough for Karl & Rosabel to get crippling scope views and a series of digital photos.

Loyda Sánchez went with the Kaufmanns to their Cerro Azul villa. At around noon they saw an adult Ornate Hawk-Eagle soaring at eye level over the valley beyond their back yard. It then soared up and flew off towards Cerro Jefe. The black, slicked-back crest and the rufous sides of the face were pretty evident, as was the black-and-white barring on the underwings and belly. Another addition to their yard list was a Tawny-crowned Greenlet heard and then seen by Rosabel near the caretaker's quarters.

José Tejada Spent the day birding around Cerro Azul. The best part of his morning at Calle Maipo was meeting a flock of about 15 Blue-fronted Parrotlets feeding at a fruiting tree. They were very hard to see, as they were perched on the top branches, but once located he got good scope views of this seldom (well-)seen species. Then he went to the Kaufmann Villa to look for the Hawk-Eagles, but he decided to check the garden trail first and found it was full of birds. Many trees were fruiting, and they were attended by flocks of the usual fruit-eating species. There were also lots of hummingbirds, including a pair of Garden Emerald, a Green-crowned Brilliant and a bunch of Bronze-tailed Plumeleteers. It was while waiting for hummingbirds, sitting down at the spot where the trail loops back, that he noticed a Barred Puffbird quietly perched in the undergrowth just beyond the trail. The heavy, greenish bill, yellow eyes and white throat were very evident, it was rufous above, buffy below a...

If you still haven’t seen a Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle it must mean you haven’t been to the Kaufmann Cerro Azul Villa lately, as the species has become a regular (The horror! The horror!) up there. As you certainly must remember, Bill Porteous et al. found one there on November 10th, 2000, perched on a tree in the backyard. Well, on Sunday, August 12th, at around 3 P.M. Camilo Montañez, Tim Mitzen and Katie Svihlik saw one fly up from the valley and perch on the same tree. After they had great scope views the bird flew off and started soaring in circles above the yard, as a second individual perched in the same tree, where it was joined by the first one. The pair stayed in place, preening, for about 15 minutes, after which one darted off into the valley, not to be seen again. The second bird stayed for another 15 minutes, until a bunch of Swallow-tailed Kites chased it off. Then on Wednesday, August 15th, Rosabel, José Tejada and Joseph and Susan Bartell stopped to check the backyard a...

Bill Porteous, Indra Candanedo, Henry Stockwell, Marianne Akers and Karl Kaufmann spent about 5 minutes observing a Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle from the patio of the Kaufmann residence in Cerro Azul. The bird was perched sideways to the viewers in a tree about 15 m away and was partially obscured by branches. The bird was the size of a large hawk, had a white head with a small black crest. It had very prominent black lores, the black extending back round the eye. The bill was black with an orange cere. The underparts were all white, and the back was black. The legs were feathered white to the toes, which were bright yellow. There was no barring present, which distinguishes it from a juvenile Ornate Hawk-Eagle as does the orange cere and black mask. The cere and mask also distinguish it from the light morph juvenile Grey-headed Kite.