Xenornis

Guido Berguido sent in the following report of his July 19–20 trip to Cerro Chucantí, together with Olmedo Miró, Ovidio Jaramillo and Michael Castro, among others. Although it wasn't really a birding trip, we had binoculars along and did stop for birds. We recorded some nice species like Crimson-bellied Woodpecker, a pair of very vocal Black-crowned Antpittas, and even a Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo at a large antswarm. We saw most of the target birds for the area like the Varied Solitaire, Violet-throated (Emerald) Toucanet, and Violet-capped Hummingbirds; but our greatest highlight was when Ovidio Jaramillo managed to get some shots of two very desired birds, the Tacarcuna Bush-Tanager, a regional endemic, and the national endemic Beautiful Treerunner.

Guido Berguido sent in the following report about a recent jaunt to Cerro Chucantí, an isolated mountain range in Eastern Panama: I recently came back from our Field Station in Cerro Chucantí, Darién. We had a wonderful trip, the weather cooperated this time and saw tons of birds including most of the specialties (Russet-crowned Quail-dove, Varied Solitaire, Tacarcuna Bush-Tanager, etc) and endemics (Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker and Beautiful Treerunner), and even heard what sounded like a Scytalopus sp. (Tapaculo) calling... It was at aprox. 4,000 ft. near the ridge top. I had been thinking for a while about the possibility of a Tapaculo there, because the altitude is about right.. and if all other highland species are found ...(Solitaire, Bush-tanagers, Treerunners, etc.) why not a Tapaculo. So I finally talked to a friend from Colombia who provided various vocalizations for Chocó and Nariño Tapaculos... so this time I played their vocalizations hoping to get some kind of response.. wel...

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).