Xenornis

Delicia and Darién Montañez found small flock of terns at the water's edge at Playa El Agallito, Chitré, with two Elegant Terns, one in breeding plumage, and about two dozen Common Terns in various plumages. On another spot there was a smaller flock of a dozen Least Terns, one of which was in breeding plumage.

Bill Porteous sent in the following report: At about 11.00am on 7th June 2001, on the Podocarpus trail in Altos de Campana National Park, at an altitude of about 950m, I was attracted by a call that I did not recognise. I taped it and played it back, and the bird started to move round me in circles, but I had got the impression, from the call, that it was a biggish bird, and I was searching too far away. It therefore took me some time to see it, and I was almost ready to give up when it flew in and sang above my head. It stayed above eye-level, and I was able to note, on tape, that it was dark below, with prominent white streaking on the throat and breast, that it had a long bill, and that its tail was shortish and rounded. I also recorded the comment that I had no idea what it was (!) and this puzzled me, because I thought I knew, more or less, which species were likely to be present. Finally, when I was about to give up and move on, the bird dropped below eye-level, displaying a long...

Carlos Betancourt, a guide for the Canopy Tower, and Josh and Lisa Bohls saw a Rufous-vented Ground-Cukoo while birding at the Pipeline Road, Gamboa. They even videotaped it as it crossed the road.

The effort of sharing one scope to scan the huge flock of gulls and terns at the Panamá Viejo beach on high tide was rewarded with the discovery of a Forster's Tern in winter plumage. The Junior Audubon group (Rosabel Miro, Darién Montañez and Junior Auduboner Rogney Quibilán) got great looks at the much smaller bird, that was standing in front of the other gulls and sometimes opening its wings to make sure we saw its wing pattern. It had an all-black bill, and its head was white from the forehead to the crown, turning slightly grayer around the nape. The black ear-patches were quite striking, reaching the eyes but not extending into the lores of the bird. The back was pearly gray, with just a hint of a dark carpal bar (much paler than the ones on the few Common Terns standing nearby). We were treated to brief looks at its open wings, and the pattern of the upperwing was also paler than that of the average Common Tern, especially first few primaries. The flock was a big one, somewh...

José Tejada spent the weekend at Fortuna. The best place he visited was Cable Car Road, a short trail near the STRI cabin. He had a male Bare-necked Umbrellabird, as well as a few Three-wattled Bellbirds, Chiriquí Quail-Dove, White-bellied Mountain-Gem and White-crowned Manakin. He also saw a female Selasphorus hummingbird that might have been a Glow-throated, or maybe something else, around Finca La Suiza.

The PAS fieldtrip to Las Macanas and environs got a few good birds, even though we dipped on most of the local specialities. Rosabel Miró had brief looks at a probable Yellow-breasted Crake at a small marsh in the town of Correa, where Darién Montañez had even briefer looks at a probable Least Bittern. Big numbers of Glossy Ibis were seen on both sides of the marsh, and also at Correa. Six Roseate Spoonbills were at the water's edge next to the observation tower at Las Macanas, quite close to a thightly-packed group of about four roosting Fulvous Whistling-Ducks. At the same place, a single Tree Swallow was seen among the Sand Martins flying overhead. At Playa el Agallito, some 25 Stilt Sandpipers were seen at the pond on the left side of the road, next to a female Wilson's Phalarope in breeding plumage.

The best sighting on the PAS fieldtrip to Summit Ponds was Capped Heron. At first, it was seen flying towards the ponds, and the lucky few that got to the left pond fast enough got a clear view of it before it got spooked and flew into the foliage. We tried to find it by walking the trail around the pond but a mass attack by chiggers spooked us away. Other good birds seen were a bunch of male Scarlet Tanagers, Panama Flycatcher and a Giant Cowbird.

Matt Denton, birding guide at the Rancho Naturalista in Costa Rica sent the following Report: On January 25th, 2001 using the directions in Ridgely's book, I drove out to Cerro Colorado arriving at night and camped about 8km above Hato Chami. The road going up was very rough but still possible in a 4wd. The indigenous people are still taking up all types of trucks. That night there were very high winds and rain which continued all of the following day. I did most of my birding between 8 and 9.5 km above Hato Chami. Early in the morning I easily found 4 Yellow-green Finches moving in the open vegetation of the roadcuts. I also had 4 calling Barred Parakeets fly over. Seeing the Glow-throated Hummingbird took a little more effort. I kept a close watch on the pink Ericaceous shrubs in flower. These were guarded closely by the Fiery-throated Hummingbirds and also were visited by Green-fronted Lancebill, Purple-throated Mountain-Gem, and Stripe-tailed Hummingbird. Finally by about midda...

Bill Porteous sent in this report: On Thursday 25th January 2001 I was birding the north slope of Filo Riscó, which is reached on a road that leaves the new Punta Peña -Almirante road at Km 61, when a single Olive-throated Parakeet flew into roadside vegetation. It was a small parakeet, about the size of Brown-throated. The entire head, including the sides, was green. The very prominent white eye-ring was slightly broader in front of the eye than behind it, and the bill was creamy white, with a grey horizontal band on the culmen just below the nostrils. The mantle, back, rump, upperwing coverts and tail were green, the tail with some subterminal blue shading. The flight feathers were blue, the secondaries with prominent green margins. The underparts, from throat to belly, were uniform yellowish olive. The bird was watched for about 15 minutes at down to about 5m range with 7x42 binoculars as it climbed about in the vegetation and fed on 'balso' flowers.

aúl Arias also forwarded the following report by Allen Chartier. This would be the second Panama sighting of Long-winged Harrier: While waiting for an airplane to arrive from La Palma to take us on a much-delayed flight to Panama City, a largish dark raptor flew low over the canegrass at the north (?) end of the runway about 30 yards away. As viewed through Zeiss 10 x 42 binoculars, the bird had an all-black head and underparts. The upper and under-wing coverts were all black as was the back. The face showed faintly, but clearly, a suggestion of facial disks (characteristic of harriers). The bill was dark and the color of the cere was not determined as it wasn’t particularly conspicuous. The remiges were checkered (or barred) with black and medium gray both above and below. The tail had 5-7 black bars with the same medium gray between. The rump and upper tail coverts were black except for a very narrow white edge on the distal upper tail coverts. The bird was shaped very much like a No...

Raúl Arias forwarded this report by Allen Chartier: While birding from the top of The Canopy Tower, a small bird appeared in the top of a small Cecropia tree below eye level about 30-40 feet away. The bird was viewed in Zeiss 10 x 42 binoculars. I recognized it immediately as a Blackpoll Warbler as it had the characteristic bill shape of a North American Wood Warbler. The head was olive-green with a distinct dull whitish line over the eye, and a whitish throat. The back was olive-green with 4-5 distinct, bold streaks. As the bird moved, I was able to see that it had two white wing bars, and white tails spots (seen only from above when the bird briefly flicked its tail). There were narrow, but distinct streaks on the sides of the breast and flanks. I called the bird out so that others could see it (Nancy my wife, and 3 other birders from California who were only slightly familiar with the species). I also checked the rear flanks and under tail coverts to be sure they weren’t buffy or ye...

The following report from Dodge Engleman was also received deviously: Karl and Rosabel took Lorna and I to Las Macanas 19th and 20th. We picked up the ANAM girl, Marina Gómez, and went out to the lake. The north end, where the tower is, yielded +/- 100 Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, with at least 5 Fulvous Whistling-Ducks being seen at one time. Seemed like more, but most seen at once was the 5. The thick-leaved shallow water vegetation was pretty obscurring and most good sights were of flying birds: all fulvous with black wings and white rump patch. a couple seen standing revealed the white scalloping on the sides. Bills and feet dark gray, but with all the immature Black-bellieds around, this wasn't a good field mark. In the south branch there was a strung out raft of 250-300 ducks viewed from less than 100 yds with the light at a 90 degree angle. I say less than 100 yds because I could have flown a wedge into them. All were Lesser Scaup with females out-numbering males about 6-1...