Xenornis

This morning 3/3, Euclides Campos, Ovidio Jaramillo and Laura Reyes came up for a bird watching visit to Altos de Cerro Azul. Mid-morning (10-ish) we saw a much looked for adult male Rufous-crested Coquette . There is still one that has the look of a young male as well. Also seen by the group were Blackpoll Warbler , female Black-throated Blue Warbler , male Bay-breasted Warbler and not to be left out a male Blackburnian Warbler.

Today I found a female-plumaged Black-throated Blue Warbler working over a recently fallen tree in the forest adjoining our house at Altos de Cerro Azul. I believe it is an adult female rather than a juvenile; the whitish face markings and the white spot in the primaries were prominent (in fact the latter was somewhat larger than that illustrated in Curson's “New World Warblers”). Remarkably this individual has turned up at the exact spot where we found a striking adult male of this very rare (for Panama) species many years ago (Dodge and Lorna Engleman will remember that). Also of note at the same place today was a group of 5 or 6 Black-eared Wood-Quail ; they have been calling on and off around our house for at least a week.

I've been in the Volcan area for the last few days with my family, and have managed to sneak some birding in between the family fun (sometimes the two things go hand-in-hand!). I came here with a few particular target birds among the residents, but North American migrants have stolen the show—a revelation for me, as this is the first time I have spent time in Chiriqui at this time of year. Yesterday, 22/10, we visited Finca Dracula, where I found my number one target, a male Maroon-chested Ground-Dove that revealed itself briefly near the bamboo stands along the entry road. This was topped by a Blue-headed Vireo I found later in the morning in the gardens. I saw the bird well, at eye level and not 3 meters away. I identified it without thinking, as I saw thousands of these in my time in New York. When I thought about it for a minute in the context of Panama I chased the bird, and confirmed my i.d. Also noteworthy was the presence of dozens of Slaty Finches at their seed feed...

Advantage Tours' Guido Berguido reports the highlights of a 9-day birding trip (Sept 14-22): At the top of the list are two Lanceolated Monklets we saw at Willie-mazu, Bocas del Toro. We were walking around the grounds of the lodge searching for Lattice-tailed Trogons. Since I had heard that the monklet had been seen not too long ago, I went ahead and played the call twice. After a little silence, a tiny bird flew right in front of us, some 4 meters above the ground. When I first saw the small bird fly in I thought it was just a flycatcher, but I promptly put my Swavoski binos on it, and was happily surprised to see this long-desired bird: a Lanceolated Monklet. Some seconds later, a second one flew in next to the first, and both started calling. Robin, the manager of the lodge, said that he had only seen it once before some weeks ago, so we felt pretty lucky. Secondly we were all very happy to watch great many migrants during the trip. The same Monklet day, while birding along...

A bunch of Palm Warblers were seen at Ft. Sherman (Gilles Seutin, Bill Porteous), and a female Black-throated Blue Warbler on the road to the Brazos Golf Course (Delicia and Darién Montañez).