Xenornis

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...

His formerfieldeditorshipness himself Dodge Engleman (kinda) sent us the following report: Lorna and I went to El Valle as a guest of Raúl [Arias] on December 3d --4th. Rain prevented much birding but during a spell in the weather on the AM of the 4th, we did get the Tody Motmot and Eye-ringed Flatbill. Raúl and his birding manager, Danilo, say the Motmot is fairly regular along the trail below the Chorro Macho falls. On the AM in question, while I was awaiting Lorna and Raúl at the trail head, Danilo went in and heard it calling. He came to fetch us and we heard and saw it against the banks of the creek side ravine. Of interest to me, while it perched quietly on an arching horizontal branch about three feet above the ground, it would twitch its tail slowly back and forth as is the wont of its larger relatives that have a raquet-tail! I managed a shitty recording and it showed little interest in playback. Perhaps because the recording was shitty. Eye-ringed Flatbill. I report this beca...

Raúl Arias de Para reports that a Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo was seen by Danilo in the woods around Chorro El Macho, El Valle.

Rosabel Miró and Darién Montañez had brief views of a female Green Thorntail at the gardens of the Kaufmann Cerro Azul Villa. The bird flew across the garden and perched atop a tall tree, facing us, in not-so-good light for a few seconds. Its black throat and belly contrasted strongly with the white malar streaks and flank patches. The stripe across its back was not seen.

Bill Porteous, Indra Candanedo, Henry Stockwell, Marianne Akers and Karl Kaufmann spent about 5 minutes observing a Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle from the patio of the Kaufmann residence in Cerro Azul. The bird was perched sideways to the viewers in a tree about 15 m away and was partially obscured by branches. The bird was the size of a large hawk, had a white head with a small black crest. It had very prominent black lores, the black extending back round the eye. The bill was black with an orange cere. The underparts were all white, and the back was black. The legs were feathered white to the toes, which were bright yellow. There was no barring present, which distinguishes it from a juvenile Ornate Hawk-Eagle as does the orange cere and black mask. The cere and mask also distinguish it from the light morph juvenile Grey-headed Kite.

Bill Porteous reports a pair of Ornate Hawk-Eagles at Santa Fe, seen on the road towards Rio Luis beyond Alto de Piedra. At around 8am on a warm sunny morning they rose from the forest, circled a few times, and disappeared over the next crest. The wings were broad and very rounded and the tail long with at least two bands, which were white on the undersurface. From below, the body was heavily barred and darker than the underwings, while the dorsal surface appeared all dark, apart from the nape and neck sides, which were bright orange-tawny.

Indra Candanedo and Bill Porteous saw a single American Avocet at the Aguadulce Salinas. The bird with a group of Black-necked Stilts in the pool nearest the beach on the right hand side. It was asleep and almost completely hidden at first, and, based on its gray head, it almost got written off as a Willet, but the group of stilts moved and the Avocet woke, showing a strongly upcurved narrow black bill. The head and neck were grey, the underparts white, and the wing black with a white bar on the coverts. The legs were grey-blue.

Bill Porteous found no less that three males of White-throated Shrike-Tanager accompanying mixed flocks in El Copé. Both sightings were on the trail that goes down to the right beyond the ANAM refuge. The first was of a single bird which sat quietly on a branch at eye level and in full view, but about 30m distant. It had its back to me at first, and appeared all black with a triangular yellow mantle patch, but it turned to look at me, displaying its white throat and yellow underparts. The second sighting was of two males in the same mixed flock. Both were calling aggressively, and, following tape playback, they came in to about 5m range in the understory providing excellent views.

While birding at the Aguadulce Salinas, Bill Porteous saw a flock of around 50 Black Skimmers come in at high tide and land in a shallow pool.

Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann visited Costa del Este hoping for gulls but had to settle for a few Pectoral Sandpipers, a Black Tern, a Merlin and a Long-billed Curlew. The Curlew was on the mudflats by the Escuela Interamericana (everything else was on the grass between the escuela and the mudflat, btw).

Then at Punta Chame, Bill Porteous found a single Roseate Spoonbill in a group of egrets and White Ibis. The bird was feeding actively with a side-to-side motion and the other birds appeared fascinated by the spectacle.