Xenornis

Just one small flock of Brown-chested Martins was seen today, a few miles beyond the spot where the big flocks were seen last sunday.

Large flocks of Brown-chested Martins were seen on the transmission lines besides the Interamerican Highway beyond Chepo. The Brown-chested Martin is the only austral landbird that migrates to Panama on a regular basis. Therefore, it is a shame that many birdwatchers still need that check on their life lists. But now, and for a limited time only, you can add this tick to your list. This morning, Loyda Sánchez, Judith Anguizola, Karl & Rosabel Kaufmann and Darién and Camilo Montañez went east of Chepo to see if they could find the species and, sure enough, their effort was rewarded with not one or ten, but about a thousand individuals on large flocks. The first one, of about 200 birds, was seen perched on the wires beside the road about halfway between El Llano (just past the turnoff to Nusagandi) and Polin (the next town on the Panamerican Highway). That flock flew off after a short while and joined an even larger flock (maybe 300 birds) on the high voltage transmission lines on th...