Xenornis

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...

All week we will be on location in Cerro Punta an environs investigating the reports of seeding bamboo and hoping to run into those pesky seeding bamboo followers: Peg-billed Finch, Barred Parakeet, and Maroon-chested Ground-Dove. Since blogger's iPhone interface sucks (i.e. It doesn't have one), we will be posting mostly on Twitter. @xenornis. Go ahead, follow us. But here's what we have so far: yesterday morning I walked up to the grounds of Los Quetzales cabins and found two big patches of bamboo. The first one was completely devoid of birds, but the second had a flock of at least four Peg-billed Finches, foraging and calling. No adult males were seen, just female-plumaged birds. Also seen were Green-fronted Lancebill and Scaly-throated Foliage-Gleaner (shamebird no more). Today I went with Jan Axel Cubilla and Gloriela Archbold to PILA Las Nubes, where we found lots of bamboo but no bamboo followers. After lunch, and after Jan Axel and Gloriela had headed back to ci...

Euclides Campos spent a couple of days birding La Amistad International Park. The highlight for October 7 was a pair of Green-fronted Lancebills seen at El Retoño trail. Things turned for the best on October 8, with Ochraceous Pewee, a male Peg-billed Finch (feeding on the seeding bamboo two meters overhead), and a few Slaty Finches. Also recorded were Ornate Hawk-Eagle and a few Purple-throated Mountain-Gems and Barred Parakeets.

We are getting some nice weather here in the montañas. Kay and I went up above Boquete yesterday, to the Culebra Trail, and FINALLY got some good pics of the Green-fronted Lancebill. We've seen this hummer a number of times on the river there for the past 2 yrs or so. And though we almost got some pics on 2 different occasions, had never gotten any good ones. As always, luck played a big part yesterday. Of course, digiscoping and hummers are not exactly a winning combo. BUT........I got even luckier. After our cooperative Lancebill flew downriver, I left Kay by the rio for a coupl'a hrs. She wanted to see if the Lancebill returned, hoping for more/ better digiscope pics. (It never returned). I walked up the trail. Since I had my mud boots on, I decided to walk up some of the little quebradas that spill out of the steep forest, crossing the trail. On one of them I saw a little crab in about 4" of water. Since I was standing in the shallow water, I knew that the least am...