Xenornis

On a brief noon-birding trip to Puerto Armuelles I did manage to escape a couple of times to bird. The Rose-throated Becard was at El Manguito on April 5, about 10 km west of Puerto on the way to El Choorogo. This species has been seen on just about every trip to El Chorogo and twice before at almost this exact site. Mangrove Cuckoos are not uncommon on Burica but they are usually rather retiring. According to books, this species has not been found to nest or call in Panama. This individual was unusally active on April 6, flying around in open paddocks with scattered trees just behind the Romero supermarket in downtown Puerto Armuelles (!) More remarkably, it called several times. The underparts were really colourful, not pale at all.

The PAS fieldtrip to El Chorogo found most of the target endemics, like Baird's Trogon, Golden-naped Woodpecker and Tawny-winged Woodcreeper, and a few extra surprises. For the fourth year in a row, the Panama Audubon Society organized, helped by AFFABA, a fieldtrip to El Chorogo, one of the last remaining patches of lowland forest left in western Chiriquí, and the best place to find a handful of species endemic to that region. This year the group was formed by Loyda Sánchez, Bill Adsett, Jon and Itzy Bishop and Darién Montañez. A few miles after passing Santiago we stopped for a few minutes to observe a juvenile White-tailed Hawk that was soaring above the grasslands. Right after getting to Puerto Armuelles we went out to Petroterminales de Panamá, where we started getting the first species in our long target list: a pair of Black-hooded Antshrikes, a White-collared Seedeater and a Riverside Wren. Cherrie's Tanagers, the recently split Chiriqui form of Scarlet-rumped Tanager, ...