Xenornis

The Pipeline Trail is on the edge of Volcan Baru National Park just a few miles above Boquete. Yesterday (May 21) I had an unmistakable Highland Tinamou walk across the trail about 25 feet in front of me. Elevation where observed is approximately 6000 feet. In addition I viewed my first Silvery-fronted Tapaculo near the end of the trail just below the waterfall in bamboo habitat along the creek. This bird had an interesting marking—the white superciliary didn't begin at the lores but just behind the eye, flaring slightly toward the back of head. Other uncommon observations included Golden-crowned Warbler and Stripe-tailed Hummingbird .

A Rose-throated Becard nest was discovered by Peter Sterling and Lloyd Cripe while birding in the Caldera area along the Chiriquí River April 27th. Lloyd photographed the pair that day. Subsequent to this sighting several Boquete Birders have visited the nest site. The nest is being constructed in the same tree and directly under approximately 9 hanging Crested Oropendola nests. Yesterday, May 13th, several BB’s watched the Becard pair carrying nesting material, some of which came from an abandoned nest in the immediate vicinity. The Brown Violetear currently visiting our terrace here in Boquete appears to be an immature. The bird originally showed up here May 6th and is still visiting regularly.

The ongoing Audubon Panama/Boquete Birders fieldtrip to Boquete has been very productive so far. Yesterday we got 2 Quetzals, 2 Costa Rican Pygmy-Owls (one rufous, one brown), one Black-billed Cuckoo (very good sighting, they are VERY rare...) and several Elegant Euphonias , among other birds. We had a very nice weather, with some migrants (lots of Swainson's Thrushes, many Wilson's Warblers). We also had two sightings of Maroon-chested Ground-Dove . All these on the road up Volcan Barú. 

A bright male Cape May Warbler was seen yesterday in our backyard in Los Naranjos, a small town just north of Boquete at about 3700 ft.  It was seen very well, and repeatedly, from our terrace, with binoculars, as it moved around in the trees and shrubs.  Though I haven't seen this bird previously in Panama, I have seen it while birding in Florida on spring migration.

On November 25, Joe Lanenga and Michael Peters (two birders from Chicago) and Terry van Niekerk (birding guide from Boquete) photographed this Blue-and-gold Tanager  at 1600 meters on the Culebra trail in Boquete. It was spotted again by Terry on the Bajo Mono, near Culebra trail, on December 8. Picture was taken on the 25th of November by Michael Peters.

A few of us Boquete Birders saw both a Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl and a Maroon-chested Ground-Dove during a recent bird outing [August 10]. Our elevation was about 2100 meters where the pair (male and female) of ground doves were spotted. The area has thick stands of bamboo growing alongside the road. The ground doves “calling” is what drew our attention to them. Unfortunately I was unable to catch a photo of the ground doves as they moved about. We spotted the owl perched and at a slightly lower elevation along the road. We were viewing a Scintillant Hummingbird when the owl was noticed directly behind and a few feet away. About the ground-dove, Craig Bennett says: As for the ground-doves we were watching, I can only come to the same conclusion we had in the field - Maroon-chested Ground-Dove. In the poor light conditions of the first bird we observed the clearest characteristic I noted was the two solid wing bars. The Costa Rica book says "the only CR dove with wing bars; a...

This Brown Violetear was photographed today at the barranca in Alto Boquete. Quoth J, the photographer: Finally got a photo (took it a few minutes ago) of the Brown Violetear. The last time this guy was here was July 2007 when he hung out for about a week. Anyway it's nice to finally prove this bird gets to this area.

We are getting some nice weather here in the montañas. Kay and I went up above Boquete yesterday, to the Culebra Trail, and FINALLY got some good pics of the Green-fronted Lancebill. We've seen this hummer a number of times on the river there for the past 2 yrs or so. And though we almost got some pics on 2 different occasions, had never gotten any good ones. As always, luck played a big part yesterday. Of course, digiscoping and hummers are not exactly a winning combo. BUT........I got even luckier. After our cooperative Lancebill flew downriver, I left Kay by the rio for a coupl'a hrs. She wanted to see if the Lancebill returned, hoping for more/ better digiscope pics. (It never returned). I walked up the trail. Since I had my mud boots on, I decided to walk up some of the little quebradas that spill out of the steep forest, crossing the trail. On one of them I saw a little crab in about 4" of water. Since I was standing in the shallow water, I knew that the least am...

The best find in August was a Grayish Saltator found on the grounds of Villa Marita in Boquete on 8/13. I was hanging out waiting for a ride when I spotted this bird (there may have been two on the grounds) - I was quite surprised, and chased it for well over an hour before I finally collected a little evidence; a still from video is attached. I believe this is a first record for Chiriquí; given the location, I suspect this bird(s) came from the Pacific slope of Costa Rica, rather than crossing the Continental Divide from Bocas. Another highlight of the day was a Pearl Kite seen quite well from the bus on the way in. On 8/9, on the grounds of the Canopy Lodge in El Valle, I found Black-throated Mango (unexpected at the elevation), Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo, Sepia-capped Flycatcher, and Eye-ringed Flatbill. On 8/14 I found Yellow-margined Flycatcher and Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch on private property north of La Estrella, east of Boquete. On 8/16, at Finca Lérida above Boquete, h...