Xenornis

On June 30, Alfred Raab and I visited El Chirú, Coclé Province, and found at least a pair of Grassland Yellow-Finches . There have a been a few reports of this species recently buried in larger reports of flashier birds, including sightings by Venicio Wilson, Jan Axel Cubilla, and Bill and Claudia Ahrens (who noted a female with nesting material last week). This is good news regarding a bird generally considered to be on the decline in Panama, even in its historic strongholds in Cocle. El Chirú is about 3k west of Río Hato—turn north just west of the big "Ahora le Toca al Pueblo" sign (there is a small "Bienvenidos al Hogar El Chirú" sign just in front of this), then turn east (right) at the next intersection, just before a stand of planted trees (eucalyptus, I think?). A couple hundred meters ahead on the right is a small cemetery; the birds have been seen several times in this area. The grass is high and the birds are hunkered down and not vocalizing, but wit...

On January 30 We went to El Chirú, where we had a brilliant day of birding! First we all got excellent views of Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl and Tropical Screech-Owl... In the same area we have close views of the endemic Veraguan Mango, as well as Crested Bobwhite, Saphire-throated Hummingbird, Red-breasted Blackbird, Rufous-browed Peppershrike... After a great morning we went to Juan Hombrón where we had perfect views of Straight-billed Woodcreeper, Mouse-colored Tyrannulet, Northern Scrub-Flycatcher.... The most amazing thing for us during the day was a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, which is a rare migrant for Panama especially in the Coclé Province. We saw this bird, a juvenile, at El Chirú. Tino Sanchez (Canopy Lodge Top Guide) and I got great views of it. I had the close telescope views so I could see the bright red gorget. We could not take a picture there, but every one in the group got to see it. Once in Juan Hombrón I found another Ruby-throated but this one has less red on the gorg...