Xenornis

A flock of six Snail Kites was seen flying along the coast at Ft. Sherman, Colón. Also seen was a Savanna Hawk and various migratory warblers. The fields along the airstrip were crawling with shorebirds, including a Buff-breasted Sandpiper.

Charlotte Elton reports 5 Southern Lapwings and 4 Black-necked Stilts from the mouth of the Chagres River, at the recently established San Lorenzo protected area.

Another pair of American Kestrels was reported, this time standing on a light pole on Loma La Pava, near La Locería, right in the middle of Panama City. They were observed carefully through a spotting scope and seemed to be of the isabellinus race of northern South America, as the male had no spots in its underparts. Also, the female showed only a small amount of streaking on the flanks.

The Audubon fieldtrip to Cerro Campana found a pair of American Kestrels close to the mirador by the visitor center.

Just one small flock of Brown-chested Martins was seen today, a few miles beyond the spot where the big flocks were seen last sunday.

Large flocks of Brown-chested Martins were seen on the transmission lines besides the Interamerican Highway beyond Chepo. The Brown-chested Martin is the only austral landbird that migrates to Panama on a regular basis. Therefore, it is a shame that many birdwatchers still need that check on their life lists. But now, and for a limited time only, you can add this tick to your list. This morning, Loyda Sánchez, Judith Anguizola, Karl & Rosabel Kaufmann and Darién and Camilo Montañez went east of Chepo to see if they could find the species and, sure enough, their effort was rewarded with not one or ten, but about a thousand individuals on large flocks. The first one, of about 200 birds, was seen perched on the wires beside the road about halfway between El Llano (just past the turnoff to Nusagandi) and Polin (the next town on the Panamerican Highway). That flock flew off after a short while and joined an even larger flock (maybe 300 birds) on the high voltage transmission lines on th...

Wally Murdoch reports a Capped Heron on a creek by the stables at Howard Air Force Base. On 27 June 1999 at 0640 hours I observed a Capped Heron at Howard Air Force Base. It was feeding in the small stream to the right that crosses under the main road to the base just before the Stables as one travels South. I stopped to observe it better, it saw me and flew into the underbrush upstream. It was about the size of a cattle Egret, entirely white except for the beak which was blue and the top of head which was black.

The Kaufmanns report more than 25 Short-billed Dotwichers on Costa del Este, about four of them were in partial breeding plumage. Also, a Pearl Kite was also seen at the same location.

A Franklin's Gull in full breeding plumage was seen flying along avenida Balboa. The white on the tips of the primaries was especially noticeable.

The PAS fieldtrip to Santa Fe, Veraguas, made some interesting additions to the list of birds known from the area, including Great Potoo and a flock of Black-headed Saltators.

A brief expedition to Cerro Colorado, on the highlands of Eastern Chiriquí, turned up both of the endemics: Glow-throated Hummingbird and Yellow-green Finch, the latter in relatively large numbers. After spending a night in the Anguizola house in Boquete, and getting a fair amount of lifers at Pata 'e Macho we left for the last stop in the trip: a visit to Cerro Colorado to look for the endemic species of the highlands of Eastern Chiriquí. Even though the never-ending road up to Hato Chamí was in great condition, it took a long while to get there. The information on the Finding Birds in Panama section of Ridgely is very accurate, the way it should be, and should be memorized before your visit. Our first real stop was about 9.6 Km beyond Hato Chamí at about 1600 meters, in the spot where the Bishops had seen the Yellow-green Finch the previous year. After a few minutes lucky Loyda saw a male Glow-throated Hummingbird, with gorget and all. After a while lucky Loyda saw the first of m...

Coming down from El Chorogo on Saturday, april 3, 1999 two, but possibly more, Western Kingbirds were detected by Darién Montañez about halfway down the last potrero before getting to the San Bartolo River. What first called attention to them were their calls, which sounded more like those of a Gray-capped Flycatcher: a sharp, whit. When one of the birds took flight, the whitish edges on to the outer tail feathers were noticed. The birds were rather tame, allowing for close approach, as close as about two meters. There were no Tropical Kingbirds nearby, but I've seen enough to have a general impression of their shape and size. The most noticeable difference between these birds and the TK was their tails, which were black with whitish edges and just slightly notched. Their bills were shorter and thinner. The head was pale gray, paler at the throat, and this color extended down to the chest, which is olive in the TK. The yellow underparts turned paler at the undertail coverts. The bi...