Xenornis

The Panama Audubon fieldtrip to Plantation Road made a quick stop at Summit Ponds to beef up the birdlist. The best among the numerous additions was an adult Cocoi Heron seen on the far side of the left pond. This Eastern Panama specialty is only rarely seen in the Canal Area, with a few sightings from the Chagres River/Gamboa Resort area (fide Carlos Bethancourt).

Dr. Neil Smith reports that Raineldo Urriola of STRI called to say that he had an Oilbird sitting for several days in a tree near his house in Las Cumbres down below the tower of Canal 4. Even thought nobody else got to look at this bird, his description apparently sounded good.

Dr. Neil Smith reports that Raineldo Urriola of STRI called to say that he had an Oilbird sitting for several days in a tree near his house in Las Cumbres down below the tower of Canal 4. Even thought nobody else got to look at this bird, his description apparently sounded good.

Michael Gaston Harvey sent in additional information on the El Valle Blue Seedeaters: The Blue Seedeaters have been seen only at the trail up Cerro Gaital from La Mesa. From the main road through El Valle, follow signs to Chorro Macho. Pass Chorro Macho and the Canopy Adventure and continue up the road (now dirt) to La Mesa. Pass the first set of chicken farms and take a right at the fork. Follow this road for a bit until the next major fork just before another group of chicken barns. Take a right at this fork and follow it briefly until you see a small building next to a gated trail and sign for Cerro Gaital Natural Monument. Park here and walk up the trail through the gate. At the top of the grassy portion of trail, ascend a small set of stairs. Here you must decide between the right and left trails. Both have good stands of bamboo which attract the seedeaters and both probably should be covered in a search for that species. The left trail has been more productive for the seedeaters ...

Michael Gaston Harvey sent in the following report: I'm not sure if anyone still recieves these reports, but I thought some sightings from the last few months in El Valle/Altos del Maria would be of interest. I, along with Danilo Rodriguez and various other people, have found several unexpected species to be present and even common in the right habitat in this area. Barred Hawk, Black Guan, Purplish-backed Quail-Dove, White-tipped Sicklebill, Green Thorntail, Rufous-crested Coquette, White-tailed Emerald, Snowcap, Purple-throated Mountain-Gem, Orange-bellied Trogon, Tody Motmot, Blue-throated Toucanet, Red-faced Spinetail, Spotted Barbtail, White-throated Spadebill, White-thighed Swallow, Ochraceous Wren, Pale-vented Thrush, and Blue Seedeater all seem to be present fairly reliably, many of them in numbers. Other species seen on occasion include Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo, Black-crowned Antpitta, and Rufous-browed Tyrannulet. The Mountain-Gem, Snowcap, Spinetail, Barbtail, and Wre...

Delicia and Darién Montañez spent a week looking for Darién lowland specialties in Jaqué. Good forest was a two-hour hike away from town, but there were enough nice orchards and shrubby areas along the way to keep one distracted. The one day we hired a boat to go upriver (to the better forest) we had torrential rain which pretty much ruined any shot at real birding. Still, we scored some nice sightings, the highlight being a pair of Chapman's Swifts seen flying over the airstrip on the morning of July 5th: large, very dark swifts with long tails, shaped like Chimney Swifts. Every now and then one would fly against a dark background, showing the chin and chest to be only slightly paler than the rest of the underparts. The undertail coverts were not noticeably lighter than the breast. We never got a look at their rumps, but feel pretty confident about the ID. Total observation time was about a minute. All the other swifts seen were Band-rumpeds. Noticeably smaller, with the easily-se...

Rosabel Miró and Darién Montañez met a Field Guides group in Cerro Azul; had a high-speed sighting of a Capped Heron perched on the fence near a bridge on the final stretch of Corredor Sur as it approaches Via Tocumen. Up at Rosabel's house we had a male Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker in a mixed flock led by Olive Ttanagers, a flock of about 25 Chestnut-collared Swifts, and the usual Black and Black-and-white Hawk-Eagles and Rufous-crested Coquettes.

Darién Montañez took Patrick Homier's group to Pipeline Road. Had a female Great Jacamar about halfway from the gate to Juan Grande, and a male Hook-billed Kite 500 meters beyond Rio Limbo. When I first saw it fly and perch across the road I expected a plumbeous or Semiplumbeous Hawk, based on overall color, but this bird was light gray below, finely barred with white. The legs and cere were yellow, not orange, and the eye was pale gray. The buffy supraloral mark was very conspicuous, as was the heavy hooked bill. The bird stayed on its perch, about four meters above the ground, right next to the road, for about two minutes. When we approached, it turned its back on us and flew up to a tree about 10 meters high, then flew off into the forest. Even though Ii don't know of any other reports of the species from Pipeline, it's found every now and then at Plantation Road.

Darién Montañez spent five days with Brian Beers and Jim Cone looking for Canal Area Specialties. Highlights are as follows: 1st: Stripe-headed (Black-headed) Brush-Finch about 600 meters down Vistamares Trail in Altos de Cerro Azul. 2nd: A single White-eyed Vireo was in a mixed flock of warblers and euphonias on the trees beside the French Canal, all the way to the end of the Gatun Drop Zone. At dusk we had reasonably good looks at two Gray-breasted Crakes, in tall, thick grass 100 meters beyond the ditch/creek. We had not heard many calling as we drove in, but these two birds at least showed some interest in our tape. 3rd: Crummy looks at a single Yellow-Green Tyrannulet high up a tree above Plantation Road, over a mixed flock of antwrens. 5th: Much better looks at Yellow-Green Tyrannulet on Mono Titi Road, Metropolitan Nature Park.

Darién Montañez and Swedish birding pal Mikael Sellin spent the morning at Ciénaga de las Macanas; saw pretty much the usual: about five Glossy Ibis, a couple thousand Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks but no fulvous, and a Mangrove Cuckoo. That afternoon we had a flock of 13 Stilt Sandpipers in the pond to the left of the street at Playa El Agallito. We also had Cinnamon Becard in the mangroves, which is supposed to be there but i had never recorded.

Northern Parula: An adult male in non-breeding plumage was seen by Darién and Delicia Montañez in Fort Sherman. It was with a flock of tanagers and flycatchers bathing in a ditch on the back part of the fort, near the road where the Lined Seedeater weas seen a couple of years ago. When we first saw the bird we were about five meters away from the flock. After a couple of seconds it flew up to a higher bush, allowing us to get closer, as near as about two meters. Total combined observation time was about thirty seconds. Iit was clearly a warbler, slaty-blue above and mainly whitish below. The throat and chest were pale yellow, and there was a faint smudge of chestnut in the middle of the chest. The bold facial pattern, and incomplete white spectacles were very visible, and it had some olive green on the back of its head. The white wingbars were equally conspicuous. This is the first male northern parula I've seen in panama, but i have seen the species in fall and spring migration in...

Binocular-less Delicia, Pedro, Camilo & Darién Montañez managed to i.d. the two dozen boobies fishing with the pelicans right at the surf at Punta Chame as Blue-footed Boobies. A couple of Brown Boobies were also present, for variety's sake.