Xenornis

The highlight of the Audubon Panama fieldtrip to Santa Fe, attended this year by Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann, Vivian Díaz, Olmedo Miró and Darién Montañez, was repeated encounters with flocks of Barred Parakeets , approximately 25 individuals each time. The first sighting was on Saturday, July 17 at about noon, as we began walking the 3 Cascadas Trail. The first section of trail now passes through a grove of young melastome trees that were all loaded with ripe berries and parakeets. After a few seconds they grew nervous and flew into a taller tree, and then flew off into the distance. That afternoon we ran into more (perhaps the same flock), again on berried melastomes on the road to the left past the Alto de Piedra school. On Sunday midmorning the parakeets were again at the beginning of 3 Cascadas Trail. Other notable birds seen included a few Crimson-collared Tanagers , a male Snowcap harassing a Double-toothed Kite, male and female Green Thorntails at blooming Inga trees, Black-he...

Alfred Raab and I spent July 6-11 on El Real and Rancho Frío, joined the morning of the 10th by Björn Anderson and Gonzalo Horna (all photos included are Alfred's). The star of the show was a Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper seen by me and Isaac Pizarro (our local guide) on the 8th below Rancho Plástico, as noted in the Birdfinding Guide, and recently rediscovered by Euclides Campos (many thanks to Kilo for sharing this report). The bird vocalized at length (good recordings were captured) and generally put on a show. Isaac tells me that he has known of this bird for at least 3 years, but his previous reports were not believed because he does not have the means to document the sighting. Believe me, the bird is there. It is an extremely difficult climb down to the river, and I would recommend waiting until the dry season to look for this for all but the most fit (which I am not!). Other highlights from Rancho Frio were Crimson-bellied Woodpecker, Gray-cheeked Nunlet, Wing-banded Antbird, ...

As part of its two-month program, the Panama Art Biennial is showing Frederick Wiseman's Canal Zone , a three-hour documentary about normal life in the zone during the U.S. bicentennial. The ornithological highlight of the film is the audio documentation of the presence of Gray-breasted Crake, fide its characteristic three-note twinkling call, during a parachute landing practice that takes place at the Gatún drop zone, which is today probably the best place in the country to at least hear this rare rail. The film being shot in 1976, this is effectively the third record of the species for Panama: there's the Wetmore specimens from 1956 (Coiba) and 1963 (Puerto Obaldía), then comes the Wiseman recording, which is followed by a 1977 sighting from Fort Sherman (about 10 km north of the drop zone) and then the 1983 records from Tocumen Marsh.

During my last trip to Darién on August 4th to 7th, specifically at El Real, I saw the Large-billed Seed-Finch and the Yellow-hooded Blackbird around the airstrip. Both were singing. On the way to the airstrip there are a few patches of heliconia where I saw a female Ruby Topaz for three days in a row. The best fieldmark was its tail, bronzy in the middle tail feathers and rufous on the outer tail feathers with a dark subterminal band and white tips. It was kind of grayish underneath and bronzy on top. I noticed during the third day of observation that she raised her crown feathers and spread her tail and was perched around 3 m above ground. I heard several Gray-breasted Crakes with their peculiar call of 4 notes, te-te-te-te, along the airstrip. Other interesting birds I saw every single day were Spectacled Parrotlet, Agami Heron, immature, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Gray Elaenia, Black Oropendola, Yellow-backed Tanager, Red-billed Scythebill, and a Golden-green Woodpecker was hear...

Here's another batch of Tocumen Neocrex photos taken by Jeremiah Trimble on March 9. Especially intriguing is this last photo, that seems to show a bird with both a buffy undertail and black-and-white barring on the flanks (or sides of the tail). Upon examining it, George Angehr remarked Curiouser and curiouser. The specmen I have, while very extensively barred below, has a very few buffy feathers just below the tail. The top of the crown is definitely slaty, with the brown feathers starting just at the rear end of the top of the head. Paint-billed is supposed to have the center of crown brownish, according to the Rails book. As Dodge has already pointed out, the first photos Rosabel got last week seem to show a Colombian. While th full underparts aren't visible, the area just below the tail, the thighs, and lower flanks appear to be buffy without any clear barring, although there are a few pale flecks. The crown appears to be entirely slaty. From the illustration in the Rails...

As promised, early this morning found a group of intrepid birders (including Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann, George Angehr, Carlos Bethancourt, Jeremiah Trimble, Steve Langer and Darién and Camilo Montañez) at Tocumen Marsh, hoping for the Spotted Rails and Paint-billed Crakes seen in the area since last Friday. And o what a morning it proved to be, with six species of Rallids seen and lifers galore for everyone involved. A juvenile Spotted Rail was spotted almost immediately upon reaching the spot, which is on the road out to the beach, about 100 meters before the end of the section of road with rice fields and ditches on both sides. More interesting was the gray wing and red leg dangling out of the bill of a Great Egret, which flew off a bit but then was convinced by George to give up its booty: the third Panama specimen of Paint-billed Crake. After a few White-throated Crakes (seen by Camilo), lots of Soras and a smaller number of Spotted Rails, Rosabel called the group from a spot fu...

José Carlos García and Billy Sandoval sent in a June 2, 2007 report (with photos!) of the endemic Azuero Parakeet from the boundaries of Cerro Hoya National Park, near the town of Cobachón. They saw 3 different flocks of about 12 individuals that were moving back and forth in the more open hilly areas close to forest. Locally this parakeet is known as “guaquita” (i.e. little macaw), because from distance, when perched, it resembles a miniature version of a Great Green Macaw. Lelis Navarete sent in the following highlights from a birding expedition to Panama from March 24 to April 06 2007: Gray-breasted Crake - Heard at the grass field across the road from the San Lorenzo preserve ranger´s headquarters while waiting to pay the entrance fee to the place. This is a species I know very well from the amazonian range in southamerica where a fairly common bird in the right habitat. Heard on March 26/2007. Dunlin - One single bird was seen at the Costa Este in the Panama bay mud flats. The...

[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.

The Canopy Tower's Carlos Bethancourt swung by Tocumen Marsh looking for the Jabiru. While he didn't find that, he did see a Gray-breasted Crake poke its head out of the grass and this male White-tailed Nightjar. Photo by Dustin Huntington.

Rosabel Miró and I spent seven days (April 13-19) exploring Changuinola and environs thoroughly, scouting locations for the Birding Spots in Panama book and doing a little hunting for lifers on the side. Justo Camargo and Dinora López, two Univeristy of Panama students, tagged along, and Karl Kaufmann joined us for the second half of the trip. Highlighs follow: Green Ibis: Two pairs seen on the 19th, perched on trees at Chiriquí Grande's Two Tank Road, just before the road out to the dump. Crested Caracara: First Bocas record. A raggedy-looking adult seen on the old ricefields on the morning of the 16th. Gray-breasted Crake: Heard only. One on the 14th in a dry grassy field across from the banana plantation on the road to he Camino Ecológico through San San, about 500 m before the end. Another one heard on the old rice fields on the 15th and two heard at the same place on the 16. Rosabel mentioned hearing its characteristic tinkling call two weeks ago on the Ruddy Crake spot near t...

Camilo Montañez saw another Gray-breasted Crake at the Gatún Drop Zone (not fair!), and a pair of Marbled Wood-Quail and an Ovenbird at Skunk Hollow. Two different Northern Parulas: Darién's at the Drop Zone, the Kaufmanns' on Dock 45 Road. The Kaufmanns also had a flock of Lesser Scaup on the Chagres River at Fort San Lorenzo, where Guido Berguido saw a Northern Scrub-Flycatcher. More to come.

Darién Montañez spent five days with Brian Beers and Jim Cone looking for Canal Area Specialties. Highlights are as follows: 1st: Stripe-headed (Black-headed) Brush-Finch about 600 meters down Vistamares Trail in Altos de Cerro Azul. 2nd: A single White-eyed Vireo was in a mixed flock of warblers and euphonias on the trees beside the French Canal, all the way to the end of the Gatun Drop Zone. At dusk we had reasonably good looks at two Gray-breasted Crakes, in tall, thick grass 100 meters beyond the ditch/creek. We had not heard many calling as we drove in, but these two birds at least showed some interest in our tape. 3rd: Crummy looks at a single Yellow-Green Tyrannulet high up a tree above Plantation Road, over a mixed flock of antwrens. 5th: Much better looks at Yellow-Green Tyrannulet on Mono Titi Road, Metropolitan Nature Park.

Northern Parula: An adult male in non-breeding plumage was seen by Darién and Delicia Montañez in Fort Sherman. It was with a flock of tanagers and flycatchers bathing in a ditch on the back part of the fort, near the road where the Lined Seedeater weas seen a couple of years ago. When we first saw the bird we were about five meters away from the flock. After a couple of seconds it flew up to a higher bush, allowing us to get closer, as near as about two meters. Total combined observation time was about thirty seconds. Iit was clearly a warbler, slaty-blue above and mainly whitish below. The throat and chest were pale yellow, and there was a faint smudge of chestnut in the middle of the chest. The bold facial pattern, and incomplete white spectacles were very visible, and it had some olive green on the back of its head. The white wingbars were equally conspicuous. This is the first male northern parula I've seen in panama, but i have seen the species in fall and spring migration in...

Delicia and Darién Montañez spent the morning at the Volcán Lakes, looking for Gray-breasted Crake, Spot-crowned Euphonia and Rose-throated Becard. We heard the Crake, but every Euphonia turned out to be a Thick-billed, and every Becard a White-winged. The only noteworthy sighting was that of two American Coots that were browsing through the vegetation on the shores of the lake (with no chicks swimming nearby, in case you were wondering).

Delicia, Pedro and Darién Montañez saw a female Snail Kite eating a snail on a fencepost by the main entrance to El Rincón de Santa María. An ANAM park ranger said that it has been around for about a month. This is, to my knowledge, the second report from Azuero of the species. The flock of Lesser Scaup was not at the Ciénaga, and neither were the Caspian Terns. The Scaup were still there on wednesday (Feb 16), though. Francisco Delgado reports American Oystercatchers at Isla Iguana, possibly the first time they've been seen there. Also, he found a Gray-breasted Crake dead-on-the-road at Playa Blanca, and a Forster's Tern at El Agallito. On February 20, a brief morning visit to the road that goes into the mangroves at the right from El Agallito produced an even briefer sighting of a female Common Ground-Dove. Also, a White-winged Dove made a fly-by appearance.