Xenornis

After my family hopped the bus back to El Valle early last week, I spent a few long days chasing some target birds from the Burica Peninsula through Fortuna to lowland Bocas del Toro. The first major highlight was a male Yellow-billed Cotinga found at the end of the road at Chorcha Abajo on 24-10; the bird was present but distant even for a scope view when I arrived, but I waited almost two hours for it to come in closely enough for a clear i.d. Thank you to Kilo Campos for his reports for this area, which gave me the faith to keep waiting! On the 25th I visited the Burica Peninsula, but bad weather early in the day, combined with confusion as my Charco Azul access, served to limit my success. Nonetheless, the road leading uphill just before the Petroterminales access yielded a male Common Yellowthroat and a female-plumaged Ruby-throated Hummingbird. The water level on the Quebrada Mellicita was very high, so I could walk in for 100 yards or so (even with good boots), but still a...

March 3 : White-crested Coquette at her nest in Cuesta de Piedra. March 6: Golden-naped Woodpecker at Santa Clara. Also Gray-crowned Yellowthroat and White-throated Flycatcher at Volcán Lakes. March 29: Strong-billed Woodcreeper at La Rana Trail in El Copé, with Kereen Álvarez. April 30: Streaked Xenops at Lake Bayano, with Laura Reyes. I used playback and the bird came in right away.

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, ...

Dennis Rogers and David Klauber foound a female Golden-naped Woodpecker at the patch of forest off west of Volcan, Chiriquí.