Xenornis

Carlos Bethancourt sent in these photos of Agami Heron seen this morning at Summit Ponds. Also seen was a pair of Brown-throated Parakeets , a rare sight in the Canal Area. An Agami Heron was present in the area last dry season, sometimes accompanied by a Capped Heron or two.

Guido Berguido sent in the following reports: Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo: On Saturday Jan 5th, 2008, while doing a nature walk with four Canadian folks along the Pipeline Road we hit a nice Eciton Army Ant Swarm. On it were all the usual suspects: Plain-brown and Northern Barred Woodcreeper, Bicolored, Spotted, and a few Ocellated Antbirds. Also along were a couple of Grey-headed Tanagers, and an opportunistic Black-breasted Puffbird; but the highlight at the swarm was an elusive Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo. The bird was first seen by Wiljem Zitman who was with us. He just said that a large "chicken" had ran along the back of the swarm. At first I thought it was just a Great Tinamou, but then he told me it had a long tail! This was only the third time I've seen this bird so it was exciting. Brown-throated Parakeet: On Monday Jan 7th while visiting relatives in the neighborhood of Parque Lefevre I heard a bunch of parakeets feeding on a blooming Erythrina tree. Amon...

Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann spent their morning checking the status of (and looking for new) sites for the upcoming Pacific Christmas Bird Count, which will be held next Sunday December 17. Interestingly enough, they ran into a small flock of Brown-throated Parakeets near Veracruz, on the west bank of the Canal. This species, formerly regular on the Pacific Count, has been gone for eons, but remains abundant on savannas west of the City. Darién Montañez joined them for an afternoon jaunt to the ever-diminishing mangroves of Diablo, where they found a pair of Brown-throated Parakeets (must have been a good day for them) mixed in with a big flock of Orange-chinneds around the ruins on the far end of the yacht club. At the same spot we also heard what had to be a Rufous-browed Peppershrike singing from a distant tree. Like the Parakeets, this species also used to be frequent on the Pacific Count, but has ben gone from the area immediately surrounding the city since the mid eighties. I once ...