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...

Location: Altos de Piedra—Guabal Road, second ridge, near the new facilities of Santa Fe National Park, still on the Pacific slope. Around 600–800 meters above sea level. Time: Saturday, july 18. Around 10:30 a.m. Cloudy. Habitat: Montane very humid forest border. Description: During a stop in the road, we detected a mixed flock about 7 to 10 meters away. Most of them were Dusky-faced Tanagers. But also presents were a pair of Flame-colored Tangers and one Crimson-collared Tanager. They were working along some Melastomes when someone noticed a different bird accompanying the flock. It was a little bit smaller and chunkier than the Dusky-faced Tanagers, with a big-eyed appearance. We (with Rosabel Miró) recognized it almost immediately as a Bush-Tanager (and we were aware of the presence of Yellow-throated Bush-Tanagers in the area). I got a view of the bird without obstructions during approximately 10 seconds with my 10x42 Leica Trinovid against a dark background (a mossy ...

Sólo quería compartir algunos avistamientos que Gloriela y yo hemos realizado desde el pasado fin de semana. Antes de encontrarnos con el grupo de participantes de la gira de campo de la SAP a Santa Fe, fuimos en horas de la tarde del viernes 17 de julio a las ciénegas de Las Macanas (Herrera). Sólo a destacar la presencia de al menos tres Aplomado Falcons a lo largo de la carretera nacional y otro (fotografiado) en la vía de acceso en las Macanas. El tiempo en Santa Fe no nos favoreció (mucha lluvia). Aún así pudimos llegar hasta cerca de la divisoria continental. Cerca del sitio de construcción de la nueva sede del PN Santa Fe en la carretera Alto de Piedra - Guabal (apenas en la vertiente pacífica) nos encontramos con una bandada mixta de tangaras conformada principalmente por Dusky-faced Tanagers con las cuales viajaba un sólo individuo de Ashy-throated Bush-Tanager (luego envio la documentación completa). Varios miembros del grupo pudimos observarla (inclutendo a Gloriela y ...

On May 16, Charles Adsett, Fátima Hawthorne and myself found several individuals of Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch —and heard several more—on the grasslands of the upper southern slope of Cerro Tute. They were relatively easy to see since when flushed from their hiding places in the grass, they would often fly to low perches in bushes and elfin forest where they could be well observed. According to Ridgely, Francisco Delgado has reported them from two nearby sites, La Yeguada (surely not in the pine trees!) and Buenos Aires de Cañazas, so their presence on Cerro Tute is not that surprising. Sadly, this is the exact site on which Santa Fe Energy plans to build a wind farm, under a concession to be signed with ANAM. This will cause considerable permanent disturbance to the area. Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch is known from only a few locations in Panama, always in undisturbed natural grasslands. Therefore, its days on Cerro Tute may be numbered, despite the supposedly protected status of its habita...

Ben Lascelles sent in the highlights of his two-month stay in Panama: 10th June - A Colombian race American Kestrel in Parque Metropolitano. 16th June - At El Copé treated to some fine views of Black-crowned Antpitta, with one by the visitors centre being particularly approachable down to just a couple of metres, wished I'd had some meal worms! Also saw female Snowcap and Spotted Barbtail. 19th June - Spectacled Owl with a large chick at Old Gamboa Road, also 2 Capped Herons on Summit Ponds 28th-30th June - Around Birders' View, Cerro Azul. Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker, Black-eared Wood-quail and Violaceous Quail-Dove (both heard only.) The Blue-fronted Parrotlet nest fledged the days we were there, with 2 young seen to leave the nest and at least one more heard inside still. 4th July - Rainforest Discovery Centre, Pipeline Road. Great Black Hawk, and male Tiny Hawk. 12th and 13th July - Haven't seen a report from the Panama Audubon Society trip to Santa Fe, so here are a...

Glenn Sibbald and Kees Groenendijk visited Santa Fe on 25 March. They saw a Sunbittern from the bridge over the Tebario River and, later in the morning, parked at the second brazo del Río Mulabá and continued on foot. About one kilometre up the road, near the entrance to an overgrown citrus plantation, they found a male Snowcap and possibly a female feeding on small red flowers growing along the road.

Seven years after our initial (and lucky) sighting of a pair of Lanceolated Monklets during the yearly PAS fieldtrip to Santa Fe, Veraguas, we did it again. On Saturday, July 14, at around 7:45am we found a pair at pretty much the same spot: the place where the "Primer Brazo del Río Mulabá" crosses the road beyond Alto de Piedra. They were both singing, and very active. One of them flew in and called back at our tapes. Attached is a photo. Along the recently-fixed road to Guabal we found many Inga trees in flower, attended by many Green Thorntails , both male and female.

Bill Porteous reports a pair of Ornate Hawk-Eagles at Santa Fe, seen on the road towards Rio Luis beyond Alto de Piedra. At around 8am on a warm sunny morning they rose from the forest, circled a few times, and disappeared over the next crest. The wings were broad and very rounded and the tail long with at least two bands, which were white on the undersurface. From below, the body was heavily barred and darker than the underwings, while the dorsal surface appeared all dark, apart from the nape and neck sides, which were bright orange-tawny.