Xenornis

A spontaneous visit to the Cerro Punta area in late April yielded the following notable observations in Parque Internacional La Amistad. On 29 April, near the lowest point on Sendero El Retoño, at about 2170m I had an extended intermittent sighting through tangled foliage of a Streaked Xenops , behaving very similarly to the familiar Plain Xenops, including hanging upside down. I noted the obvious streaking, supercillary and malar stripes of the same colour compared with those of different colour of the Plain Xenops and with the supercillary only of the larger Ruddy Treerunner seen the previous day, also hanging upside down. I had another brief sighting of Streaked Xenops (maybe the same one) the following day in tangled foliage just below the park entrance, at about 2100m. These altitudes are higher than the range quoted by Angehr. At the spectacular cascade which is the destination of Sendero La Cascada, at about 2400m, on 30 April, I saw an Ochraceous Pewee , on an exposed perch ...

During my last trip to Cana that started from December 28th to January 4th with Andrew Valleley and Dale Dyer, we had an excellent adventure where most of the Cana specialties were seen. Frank Rheind saw a Striped Woodhaunter on January 2th, and we saw it the next day at El Paletón trail. Next day we got an Orange-crowned Oriole close to the lodge. According to the book Where to Find Birds in Panama , both birds have not been recorded for Cana. On January 4th we returned from Cana to do birding at the Metropolitan Nature Park to chase the Pheasant Cuckoo, Yellow-green Tyrannule t and Slate-colored Seedeater . All of them were seen. Next day we headed to the west doing some grassland birding around Herrera province where we found a Striped Owl at Las Macanas Marsh. The following day produced the Coiba Spinetail and Brown-backed Dove [at Coiba Island, of course]. On January 7th we had a White-throated shrike Tanager in a big mixed flock, and both wood wrens were seen forag...

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.

John Rowlett and Mitch Lysinger, with a group of 10 Field Guides participants, saw and tape-recorded a singing Russet-crowned Quail-Dove (Geotrygon goldmani) on Cerro Jefe, 3100 feet, on March 22, 2003, precisely the same date 92 years later that E. A. Goldman reached the summit of Cerro Jefe/Azul. Quite fittingly, the group also saw a beautiful male Violet-capped Hummingbird (Goldmania violiceps) on Jefe the same day. Goldman’s effort was roundly celebrated. On the 17th of March the same group of birders found, tape-recorded, and obtained lovely digital photos of an Ochraceous Pewee above Guadalupe in the mountains of Chiriquí.

Just like last year, Delicia & Darién Montañez found an Ochraceous Pewee at the Parque Internacional La Amistad at Las Nubes, Cerro Punta. The bird was calling and flitting around high in a tree above the trail up to the waterfall, but would sometimes come lower allowing for reasonably good looks. A Tufted Flycatcher was seen and heard further up the trail, and in comparison with the pewee was much smaller and lacked the conspicuous buffy wingbars.

Two Peg-billed Finches were seen by Delicia and Darién Montañez on the trail to the waterfall at Parque Internacional La Amistad in Las Nubes, Cerro Punta. The first one, a male, responded to pishing at the first platform (about 100 meters before 'La Nevera'). At first it was assumed to be yet another Slaty Flowerpiercer, but its straight, conical bill with a horn-colored mandible indicated otherwise. It was slate-gray all over, slightly darker on the head and paler below, and there was definitely some yellow on the legs and (especially) around the toes, like the legs of a male Blackpoll Warbler in winter plumage. As we scrambled down the muddy trail we found a second bird, this time a female. Same bill, olive-brown above, buffier below with noticeable dusky streaks in the chest and two clear buffy wingbars. The female was also quite responsive to pishing and was (thus) observed at close range (a meter at most) as it called from a tangle on the left bank of the trail. Further d...