Xenornis

El 25 de julio, Katy Sicilia fotografió un  Tirano Jinete (Cattle Tyrant) en playa La Barqueta, el primer reporte para la provincia de Chiriquí y una expansión de 230 km en el rango conocido de esta especie de herbazales que se está expandiendo rumbo a Centroamérica. Llegando a Playa la Barqueta, a eso de las 10:30 a.m se observó un ave con un patrón de coloración un poco similar a un Tirano Tropical ( Tyrannus melancholicus ), sin embargo, se mantenía en el suelo caminando rápidamente cazando insectos y haciendo paradas repentinas, lo cual llamo mi atención, por lo que decidí seguirle la pista, y tratar de lograrle unas fotografías. Afortunadamente me permitió acercarme a cierta distancia mientras se mantenía a ras del suelo, capturando insectos. Revisando los datos de distribución de la especie veo que la especie mantenía reportes hasta la provincia de Penonomé, y un registro en el área de Changuinola, por lo que esta observación confirma que la especie está ampliando su ra...

Matias Díaz found a pair of Cattle Tyrants this morning at the pastures near Río Alejandro, the same place that produced Northern Jacana a few weeks back. 

They're baaaaack! After a few months of absence, the Cattle Tyrants are back at the Biomuseo. A pair has been seen regularly around the lawns south of the building and the palm trees along the pedestrian walkway along the Canal. These photos were taken by Camilo Montañez on July 16.

The pair of Cattle Tyrants that have taken up residence in the Biomuseo parking lot spent all day yesterday happily confronting their reflections on every windshield in the area, and we have videographic evidence. Pareja de Cattle Tyrants se toma el Biomuseo A video posted by Darien Montanez (@darien) on Jun 19, 2015 at 7:12am PDT Pareja de Tiranos Jinete aterrorizan el estacionamiento del Biomuseo. #cattletyrant. A video posted by Darien Montanez (@darien) on Jun 19, 2015 at 3:07pm PDT

The pair of Cattle Tyrants that showed up at the South side of the Biomuseo lawn are still around. They have been seen every day, vocalizing profusely and seem to have taken residence on the palm trees (coconut and otherwise) around the parking lot and old officers' club.

A pair of Cattle Tyrants have spent all afternoon on the lawns at the southern side of the Biomuseo, at the very tip of the Amador Peninsula. Here is one admiring Frank Gehry's architectural masterpiece.

When I was doing birding with Arie Gilbert and Ian Resnick at Lake Bayano on July 12 on one of the many side trails after Rio Mono Bridge, a Grey-bellied Hawk (inmature), perched close where we were. I think this bird was 9 feets above the ground staying for a while in the area. This is the third record of this extremely rare raptor in Central America [and the second one from Panama]. We did some birding at Gorgona (july 15th) close to Malibu gated community. We headed there because one of my client was requesting a Masked Duck. I have seen female two years in a row there. We checked the small pond and found a male Masked Duck among a group of Least Grebes. We drove down road, pass the pond and you find a orange house to the right side. Both Whistling Herons flew in front of the car and landed on top of a tree. The sighting was around 6:00 p.m. Just adding a range expansion, a Cattle Tyrant was seen at Juan Hombron on July 16th. On July 20th, we saw a Sapayoa at ...

Last Friday, Venicio Wilson found a Cattle Tyrant on the lawns at Cinta Costera, across from the Rivage building at calle 32.

Following a tip from my friends at the Cerro Ancón Raptor Count, Ovidio  Jaramillo, Euclides Campos & Juan Pablo Rios, I found a Cattle Tyrant yesterday on the lawn of the Areas Revertidas Administration Building at Amador. It's a big building on the left as you head out towards the islands. Big sign across the front. Can't miss it. The parking area across the street was also full of birds, including Saffron Finch and many Fork-tailed Flycatchers.

On their way back from Cerro Azul on the afternoon of November 29, Rosabel Miró and Juan Pablo Ríos swung by Tocumen Airport to look for Cattle Tyrants, and they found a group of three on one of the palm trees on the front lawn, on the left side as you approach the terminal. A fourth bird was seen on the chain link fence around the parking lot.

Following the previous report of The Montañez and Kaufmann, and with the objective of getting some nice photos, Dr. Osvaldo Quintero, Euclides Campos and Rafael Luck visited the Nusagandi area last saturday. We found lots of Brown-hooded Parrots, like 7 Syristes , 5 or 6 Slate-throated Gnatcatcher , Plumbeous Kite, White Hawk, Crested Guan and an unidentified (and unphotographed) large raptor that could have been a Crested Eagle. On the way back, we stopped at Tocumen Airport to look for the Cattle Tyrant and fortunately we found the bird right away [on the front lawn of the main terminal, between the parking lot and the access road].

The first day included Cattle Tyrant seen after a thorough search of the Amador area. On our second day we birded Bayano Road and the trails described in the book “Where to find Birds in Panama”. We got a Pearl Kite to begin the morning and White-eared Conebill, Black Antshrike and Rufous-winged Antwren. During the afternoon we visited the trail across marker 7 km where we found the Golden-green Woodpecker reported previously . We later stoped at Río Mono bridge, where we got a odd looking bird that I called Cinerous Becard. Later during the trip we got better views and discovered the nest and reidentified the birds as One-colored Becards. 
Next Day we visited Birders' View in Cerro Azul. Nando, who takes care of the place and is an outstanding guide for the area, took us around the new trails and showed us briefly a Tawny-faced Quail . After our picnic lunch we saw an Ornate Hawk-Eagle gliding fast in front of back terrace. During our 5th day, from the veranda of our shelter ...

On Friday 8th of January Michaela Schmidt, Christian Gernez and myself (Venicio Wilson) found a Hudsonian Godwit at Playa Veracruz. The bird was the only shorebird in the beach. It was standing alone in the shallow water directly in front of the restaurants at the beginning of the beach. My first guess when I saw it with my binoculars was of a “larger” Willet. I had my scope with me and when I saw it with the scope I noticed two things: the mask in the face of the bird and the pinkish-bone color of the base of the bill. I knew I had something different but the humidity and the heat of the beach convinced us three of not staying too long. The bird was standing still in the shallow water. It seemed a bit nervous or alert. I described the bird to myself as been larger than a Willet, bluish-gray, white underneath, upturn bill with pink-bone color at base, contrasting mask. As we drove back to Panama City, I reached my copy of the Sibley Guide to Birds and checked the shorebirds when I n...

[A very preliminary report] A lot of people went out at ungodly hours of the morning and managed to count a lot of birds. Highlights, compiled from my hazy memory of a hot midday roll-call, follow: Plantation Road: Speckled Mourner. Old Gamboa Road: Blackpoll Warbler, Slate-headed Tody-Flycatcher, Plain-breasted Ground-Dove. Metropolitan Nature Park: Worm-eating Warbler, Streak-headed Woodcreeper, American Coot. Panamá Viejo: Long-billed Curlew, Cocoi Heron, Elegant Tern, Franklin's Gull. Amador: Cattle Tyrant, a couple Brown Boobies and a single Blue-footed. Rodman Spoil Ponds: The first record (voice only, as usual) of Gray-breasted Crake from the Pacific Canal Area (that I know of). Four American Coots, a couple Glossy Ibis, and the only Masked Duck to grace our records in recent memory (that i know of. also the first one from the Pacific Side, that i know of.) Photo by Rosabel Miró.

Whilst checking mileages and directions for the upcoming Panama Audubon Panama Bird-finding Guide, Darién Montañez et al. saw the ever-elusive Cattle Tyrant on the front lawn of the former ARI building in Amador.

Marshall Iliff sent in reports for his three consecutive VENT tours to Panama. Highlights below: 2 Feb. Altos del María: 1 White-tipped Sicklebill, 12 Snowcaps, 4 Orange-bellied Trogons, 2 Spotted Barbtails, 3 Spotted Woodcreepers, 2 Plain Antvireos, 2 Black-crowned Antpittas, 2 White-ruffed Manakins, 1 Rufous-browed Tyrannulet, 15 Tufted Flycatchers, 12 Ochraceous Wrens, 5 Tawny-capped Euphonias, and two Black-and-yellow Tanagers, among more expected foothill species. Our one new sighting for the area was a single Brown Violet-ear singing from a high perch. We did not see this bird well, but I recognized it as a Violet-ear from its persistent single chip note that it delivered from a high perch. When we found the bird it was easily identifiable as Brown Violet-ear by its short bill and its brownish coloration with pale underparts without darker pattern or iridescence. Green Thorntail – We had three females and one adult male at El Valle 3 Feb. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – We had two bi...

The Cattle Tyrants at the ARI Building in Amador are still around. One, or maybe two, birds were seen by Rosabel Miró, Guido Berguido and Darién Montañez on the back of the building, and a few minutes later on the grass beyond the parking lot, next to the old golf course.

The Cattle Tyrants at Amador were seen again. This time the pair was accompanied by what looked like a juvenile bird. On Monday, November 8th, 1999, Rosabel Miró and Delicia, Darién and Camilo Montañez went to amador to look for Cattle Tyrants. The gate to the ARI building was closed and the guard didn't let us in, so we drove along the road slowly. Then in the lawn just before the gate to the main building rosabel spotted one, running after bugs in the grass like they do. After parking the car further along, a second bird was found, in the same lawn. And then a third. We think this third bird was a juvenile, because its plumage was not evenly colored: the contrast between the tail and the back was even more evident, and the underparts were splotched with yellow and grayish, with whitish tufts under the wings. This bird was away from the other two, foraging by itself, and after a while flew up to the eaves of the building where it kept on foraging.

Danny George reports three Cattle Tyrants from the area behind the old navy building at Amador. Just in time for the Christmas Bird Counts!

Five American Wigeon were found in the morning at Rodman Ponds. The Cattle Tyrant was seen on its usual haunts behind the ARI building at Amador. The Herring Gull was there, too. This morning (dec 25) Karla Aparicio, Ruby Zambrano and Darién and Camilo Montañez went to Rodman Ponds to look for the Pintail, but instead found at least five American Wigeon, including a male in breeding plumage. They were first seen in fligh, their size and wing pattern distinguished them from the Blue-winged Teal they were flying with. Once they "landed" the head pattern of the male was seen clearly, the white forehead being very conspicuous. The cinnamon flanks and the contrasting white belly and undertail coverts could also be seen clearly. Later, the group visited the ARI building at Amador where Ruby found a Cattle Tyrant and, minutes later, the Herring Gull. There was only one Blue-footed Boobie in the concrete blocks at Punta Culebra. What better Christmas present than a lifer? Go get...