Xenornis

From 8 to 10 Feb we, Howard Laidlaw, Margot, Jaap and Roanna Kalkman and Kees Groenendijk went to the cloud forest of the Cerro Hoya NP, more or less due south of the finca of Juan Velázques. Here we found Selasphorus hummingbirds on three different sites on two diffrent days (8 and 9 Feb). Sites were 1175-1266 m altitude and the hummingbirds were feeding in flowering Inga species and in an unidentified treelet known locally as arriján. We saw at least 5 individuals of which at least one was male.  Based on the color of the gorget of the male, closer to purple than to red, we assume that these are Glow-throated Hummingbirds , which would be consistent with an earlier observation by Francisco Delgado. To our knowledge, this is the first time since the reports by Delgado that this hummingbird has been seen in the Cerro Hoya. [There have been other records by University of Panama/STRI expeditions to the area; manuscript submitted for publication —DM]. Photos are courtesy of Jaa...

Charles Davies, Jan Axel Cubilla, Dan Wade and I made a trip to the Cerro Santiago and Cerro Colorado area from August 8 to 11. The road is now asphalted all the way to Entrada de Hacha (correct name for "Acha" in Where to Find Birds in Panamá) on the Continental Divide, ie beyond the area on the flanks of Cerro Santiago commonly—but erroneously—referred to as Cerro Colorado, where sightings have been made in previous years of the two endemics, Yellow-green Finch and Glow-throated Hummingbird.  We continued beyond Entrada de Hacha on the rough track that after a kilometer or so goes over the real Cerro Colorado and thence to the village of Ratón, where it ends. We stayed right on the Continental Divide at a basic cabin we have dubbed the Yellow-green Finch Ecolodge, about 4 km beyond Entrada de Hacha. Accommodation here costs $5.00 per night—great views and great birds! At and near the cabin we had good sightings every day of the finch and other good birds su...

This weekend Björn Anderson, Euclides Campos and I took a whirlwind trip to Chiriquí to seek out a few target birds. On Saturday we visited Cerro Santiago; Yellow-green Finch [a Panama endemic listed as Vulnerable by IUCN ] was found easily (photo by Björn), almost from the moment we stepped out of our transport, but Glow-throated Hummingbird [another Panama endemic listed as Vulnerable by IUCN ] made us work. For most of the morning we had only female or immature Selasphorus , and one male that only I saw briefly, almost certainly a Scintillant. A male Glow-throated finally appeared just before we were to depart, much to our relief. We carefully studied the tail patterns and underparts of a number of females, and Björn captured some outstanding photos. When he's sorted through we plan to create a webpage, as a Google search of the Glow-throated Hummingbird offers little regarding females of the species, and even Ridgely and HBW offer somewhat confusing information and illustrati...

Bill Adsett sent in a report of a scouting trip to Cerro Santiago he and Dave Klauber did on April 3–4. We saw a number of Glow-throated Hummingbirds. There were several on the Continental Divide in bright sunlight at 1618 m altitude UTM 0414657 - 0939884, 39.4 km from the San Felix turn-off on the Panamericana, about 1.5 km beyond the transmission tower. There were female(s), immature(s) and one very beautiful mature male. Terrible things to photograph though. They were feeding at pink and red flowers on small plants and shrubs in open areas along the road. There was another individual (female or immature) in forest close to Ratón UTM 0412085 - 0942967. I got a tape recording of the Yellow-green Finch call which I shall share in due course. The Bare-shanked Screech-Owl in the photo was near Ratón, while the Veraguan Mango was in San Félix. The road from San Félix (Chiriquí) is in good condition, easily passable in dry and wet conditions, as far as Cerro Flores, just above Hato Cha...

Matt Denton, birding guide at the Rancho Naturalista in Costa Rica sent the following Report: On January 25th, 2001 using the directions in Ridgely's book, I drove out to Cerro Colorado arriving at night and camped about 8km above Hato Chami. The road going up was very rough but still possible in a 4wd. The indigenous people are still taking up all types of trucks. That night there were very high winds and rain which continued all of the following day. I did most of my birding between 8 and 9.5 km above Hato Chami. Early in the morning I easily found 4 Yellow-green Finches moving in the open vegetation of the roadcuts. I also had 4 calling Barred Parakeets fly over. Seeing the Glow-throated Hummingbird took a little more effort. I kept a close watch on the pink Ericaceous shrubs in flower. These were guarded closely by the Fiery-throated Hummingbirds and also were visited by Green-fronted Lancebill, Purple-throated Mountain-Gem, and Stripe-tailed Hummingbird. Finally by about midda...

A brief expedition to Cerro Colorado, on the highlands of Eastern Chiriquí, turned up both of the endemics: Glow-throated Hummingbird and Yellow-green Finch, the latter in relatively large numbers. After spending a night in the Anguizola house in Boquete, and getting a fair amount of lifers at Pata 'e Macho we left for the last stop in the trip: a visit to Cerro Colorado to look for the endemic species of the highlands of Eastern Chiriquí. Even though the never-ending road up to Hato Chamí was in great condition, it took a long while to get there. The information on the Finding Birds in Panama section of Ridgely is very accurate, the way it should be, and should be memorized before your visit. Our first real stop was about 9.6 Km beyond Hato Chamí at about 1600 meters, in the spot where the Bishops had seen the Yellow-green Finch the previous year. After a few minutes lucky Loyda saw a male Glow-throated Hummingbird, with gorget and all. After a while lucky Loyda saw the first of m...