Xenornis

We went back over to Birder's View this morning... We'd gone over there on Thursday late afternoon to walk your trail and hopefully get one more bird for the 3rd quarter of 2010. On Thursday we thought we'd possible seen the Speckled Antshrike but it had gotten late and was too dark to make a good ID. There is a pretty large ant swarm in the woods and yes we did see, today, the female Speckled Antshrike (twice). Nando was there working and he said he'd heard what he thought was the Ground-Cuckoo early this morning. We also got Black-crowned Antpitta , the normal contingent of Antbirds (Spotted, Bicolored and Ocellated) and many Woodcreepers (Plain-brown, Ruddy , Northern Barred and Cocoa). The antswarm was on the lower trail before you get to Nando's new trail.

Hoy domingo 5 de septiembre, junto a Euclides Campos y Rafael Luck, fui a Nusagandi y Bayano. En Nusagandi vimos Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle sobre la carretera principal después del Mirador y varias bandadas mixtas con Sulphur-rumped y Rufous-winged Tanagers a lo largo de la carretera. En Igar Nusagandi escuchamos Black-eared Wood-Quail, Stripe-throated Wren y vimos Russet Antshrike y una pareja de Speckled Antshrikes . En Bayano encontramos una hembra de Golden-green Woodpecker con una bandada mixta que también incluía Cinnamon y One-colored Becards, Orange-crowned Oriole y Black Antshrikes . En el puente sólo escuchamos Rufous-winged Antwren y vimos dos Barred Puffbirds .

Björn Anderson photographed a pair of Speckled Antshrikes at Nusagandi today.

For two days in Cerro Azul, we hired Ismael Hernando "Nando" Quiroz as a guide, who is the Birder's View lodge caretaker. On march 29th, in the trail system below Birders' View, Nando discovered a female Speckled Antshrike . We observed the bird without too much difficulty for around 10 minutes. I was able to take some (pretty bad) photos of it using a point-and-shoot digital camera, and maybe more importantly I was also able to record both it's song and calls using a digital voice recorded. Nando was delighted that these proofs of the presence of the Xenornis were obtained. He told us that he had a male Speckled Anthshrike in the same place 2 years ago, but without anything to substantiate his record, and that this would be maybe the first documented record for the Birders' View surroundings.

Swedish birder Håkan Thorstensson sent in a report of a Panama trip earlier this year. Highlights included Dull-mantled Antbird , Speckled Antshrike and Blue-throated Goldentail at Burbayar on March 25, and a single Elegant Tern photographed at Veracruz on April 10th.

Bill Adsett, Gilles Seutin, Darién and Camilo Montañez and Jan Axel Cubilla visited Xenornis Trail in the morning. Things were rather slow, but we had some interesting species: Green-crowned Brilliant, Slaty Antwren, male and female Speckled Antshrike (seen separately), Slaty-winged Foliage-Gleaner, Tacarcuna Bush-Tanager, Black-crowned Antpitta (heard), and Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker (also heard).

Bill Adsett, Maria Allen, and Norma and Tatiana Ponce found a male Xenornis and a Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo on Vistamares Trail, Cerro Jefe.

A great day for the PAS group at Nusagandi's Ibe Igar Trail. They had a pair of  Xenornis on the ridge between the first and second stream crossings. Then they had crippling views of a female (or immature)  Black-eared Wood-Quail in a small flock right after the second stream crossing. A pair of  Dull-mantled Antbirds were found at the last stream crossing before the waterfall.