Xenornis

Rosabel Miró, Bill Porteous and Darién Montañez spent the afternoon at Costa del Este hoping the 17 feet tide brought some interesting species. The pond by the Escuela Interamericana (A) had two each of Wilson's Phalarope and Stilt Sandpiper mixed in with a few hundred Dowitchers and Willets. One of the Stilt Sandpipers was still moulting into its winter plumage, as its undertail coverts had traces of black and white barring. Then we went to the other pond on the plot of land between the main road and the ditch by the mangroves (B), which was full of gulls and sandpipers. The Gray-hooded Gull was here, with its hard-to-miss red bill and legs. Its back is also lighter than that of the average Laughing Gull, turning lighter gray on the nape and off-white on the crown. All of this gives the bird a very pale appearance. The same flock had two Ring-billed Gulls and an Elegant Tern. The tern had black on the nape extending up to its crown, and just the forehead was white, and its thin cu...

Rosabel Miró, Chris Rhodes and Darién Montañez visited Costa del Este at 7:00 A.M. to look for interesting gulls on the puddles in the mud. The first stop was on a large, shallow pond to the left as you descend from the bridge across the Corredor Sur from Chanis, on a large plot of land between the new Colegio San Agustín and the houses. The most interesting bird there was what seemed to be an all-dark Green Heron. Ridgely mentions a melanistic phase found in the lowlands of Bocas del Toro, but Costa del Este is quite a long way from Bocas. We thought this bird was clearly a Green/Striated Heron after comparing it with the real Striated Herons that were all around the same pond. Its plumage was almost black, though, dark brown on the sides of the neck. After that we stopped to watch a flock of gulls standing next to a large puddle next to the mouth of the canal that separates Costa del Este from the mangroves to the east. There was a Franklin's Gull, but the highlight was a possibl...

Calle Maipo was really jumping with mixed flocks yesterday due to the abundance of fruiting trees. The usual tanagers, honeycreepers and dacnis were there. Of note were Rufous-winged Tangers, usually more infrequent than the other tangers, but this time easily seen at several places; and Sulphur-rumped Tanager - always infrequent on Cerro Azul (however, the Grey-and-gold Tanager seen there in the dry season seems to have disappeared). Tawny-faced Quail responded to whistles, but as usual held back and were not seen. Long-Tailed and Spotted Woodcreepers were also present. A good flock of Brown-hooded Parrots added color and their curious whistles to the scene. The first part of the río Mono trail was equally active, and added Great Curassow and Stripe-cheeked Woodpeckers to the list, as well as Northern Barred-Woodcreepers. If the trees remain in fruit until next Saturday, and the weather is good, these two trails should provide a lot of enjoyment for the field trip. A note on the ident...

José Tejada, Karl & Rosabel Kaufmann, Chris Rhodes and Darién Montañez stopped over at la Ciénaga de Las Macanas to look for the Fulvous Whistling-Ducks, but there were only a few Black-bellieds around. Two Masked Ducks were glimpsed briefly as they dove into the floating vegetation, though.

On the first official day of the PAS fieldtrip to Santa Fe, Satuday, July 15th, 2000, we were joined by the rest of the group: Amalia Herrera, Cora Herrera and José Tejada. Early in the morning we saw a female Bare-necked Umbrellabird on one of the small trails that enter the forest from the road to the left after the Alto de Piedra school. It perched on a stick right next to the trail allowing for close inspection by the group. It was black overall, with a short bushy crest that gave its head a flat-topped appearance. It did not utter a sound, or do much apart from changing perches twice before disappearing into the foliage. Following the same trail we had a mixed flock with both Three-striped and Golden-crowned Warblers, and further in Rosabel saw a female Black-and-white Becard on another flock. On Satuday, July 15th, 2000, the PAS group on Santa Fe walked down the main road towards the continental divide in search of a Harpy Eagle [sic] nest. Apparently the road was cut in the dry ...

Karl & Rosabel Kaufmann, Chris Rhodes and Darién Montañez visited la ciénaga de Las Macanas to look for Aplomado Falcon. An immature Snail Kite was seen perched on a low fence post right by the main road out to Chitré, about 300 meters before the entrance to Rincón de Santa María. The first Aplomado was seen on a field that was being plowed in front of the entrance to the observation tower. The field was full of. It was standing on the ground, surrounded by Cattle Egrets and Caracaras, with a recently caught morsel in its talons. A second bird was seen diving at a male Snail Kite over the ciénaga. Then a third bird was seen perched on the wires next to the interamerican highway a few kilometers past Divisa. At the marsh itself we found a flock of at least 33 Fulvous Whistling-Ducks seen together with a similar number of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. The ducks were standing on the shallow ponds near the edge of the ciénaga about 100 meters before the observation tower. They were bu...

On Friday, july 14th, Karl & Rosabel Kaufmann, Chris Rhodes and Darién Montañez stopped over at the Aguadulce Salinas not really expecting to see much, but found a surprising variety of shorebirds: Wilson's, Semipalmated and Collared Plovers; Western, Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers, Short-billed Dowitcher and both yellowlegs. Closer to the beach were a few Wood Storks and one Common and a few Least Terns. The Black-necked Stilts were everywhere, and some of them had downy chicks following them closely. One seemed to be sitting on its nest, and a few young birds were also seen.

Bill Porteous reports seeing at least 500 Brown-chested Martins perched on the transmission lines around El Llano, on the road out to the Darién. Last year large numbers were seen on the same area. Here is the report.

Bill Porteous had great views of a Blue-and-gold Tanager on a mixed flock on Cerro Vistamares Trail, beyond Altos de Cerro Azul.

José Tejada spent the morning scouting the trails beyond the former Gamboa stables (now part of the Rainforest Resort). He said there is good habitat in there, but the trail is not in good condition and it's easy to lose your way. The best part of his report is his sighting of a male Great Curassow, a species that is very rare even in Pipeline Road.

Delicia, Pedro, Camio and Darién Montañez made a short visit to Summit Ponds and found a nest of Boat-billed Herons with a downy chick in it, on the fallen trees on the left pond. As an added bonus, a Bran-colored Flycatcher was heard, but not seen, singing from the shrubs to the right of the road about 100 meters before the ponds.

The Cattle Tyrants at the ARI Building in Amador are still around. One, or maybe two, birds were seen by Rosabel Miró, Guido Berguido and Darién Montañez on the back of the building, and a few minutes later on the grass beyond the parking lot, next to the old golf course.