Xenornis

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...

The PAS fieldtrip to El Chorogo found most of the target endemics, like Baird's Trogon, Golden-naped Woodpecker and Tawny-winged Woodcreeper, and a few extra surprises. For the fourth year in a row, the Panama Audubon Society organized, helped by AFFABA, a fieldtrip to El Chorogo, one of the last remaining patches of lowland forest left in western Chiriquí, and the best place to find a handful of species endemic to that region. This year the group was formed by Loyda Sánchez, Bill Adsett, Jon and Itzy Bishop and Darién Montañez. A few miles after passing Santiago we stopped for a few minutes to observe a juvenile White-tailed Hawk that was soaring above the grasslands. Right after getting to Puerto Armuelles we went out to Petroterminales de Panamá, where we started getting the first species in our long target list: a pair of Black-hooded Antshrikes, a White-collared Seedeater and a Riverside Wren. Cherrie's Tanagers, the recently split Chiriqui form of Scarlet-rumped Tanager, ...