Xenornis

On Friday, March 26th, on our way to Bocas del Toro, we made a one-day birding stop at Cerro Redondo, a community located near the entrance of La Mesa in Veraguas, and saw the Rufous Nightjar which is common in the area. We arrived at Changuinola the following day. On Sunday the 28th we headed to Bongik, located close to Wekso. That afternoon we spotted a Snowy Cotinga and plenty of White-collared Manakins . Next day, we started hiking up the Bongik River and saw a Barred Hawk , three Snowy Cotingas and a Solitary Eagle . This was seen very well against a dark background close to the Rancho Quemado community. It had a very short tail with one tail band and, of course, its slaty gray color. We had a clear sky that day. Further at Rancho Quemado we reached a spectacular forest that yielded Rufous-winged Tanager , Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush , Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner ( hypophaeus subspecies), a pair of Cerulean Warblers , and a heard Thicket Antpitta . On Monday...

[It has been noted that the tail looks way too long for Solitary Eagle, projecting well beyond the wing tips. We'll have to wait for the recording of its call to confirm the ID] [UPDATE: After hearing the recordings, we're calling these birds Great Black Hawks.] On March 9, 2010 Alfred Raab and Dave Milsom observed 2 Solitary Eagles [sic] at Altos del Maria (close to the same area as my last report from January ). We first heard the bird calling and then saw one flying away and the other landed on a tree top. We observed the bird on the tree top for about 5 min, during this time it was calling continuously. I have attached photos which are of poor quality due to the distance, but are for documentation purposes only. Also I was able to make a sound recording.

Friday, January 22, 2010 - Altos del Maria At mid day (12:00 am) Alfred Raab, my friends Fritz Furrer and Rene Appenzeller were watching for hawks from the most westerly tower above Rioca in Altos del Maria. We then hear a hawk calling like a 'kie kie kie kie kie'. We found the Hawk at or little below eye level circling about 200 to 300m from us in clear view. We noticed its large size with medium to light gray on the upper wings and back. Tail: A very wide, pure white tail band followed with black was very clearly visible, also the white scaling on the tail covers was visible. Bill was yellow, easily noticeable. We watched the bird for about one minute, he then dove straight down into the woods below us. We identified this Hawk as a Solitary Eagle . About 10 minutes later the same hawk was circling again about 300m in front of us at eye level. We clearly saw the gray back and tail pattern again. As it circled higher we saw the undersides which was dark. It then flew away from...