Xenornis

José Tejada drove out on the gravel road to Darién to look for Brown-chested Martins. At the ricefields beyond El Llano he found about 200 in two flocks, but the bird of the day was a Pale-bellied Hermit seen on a swampy clearing beyond the Bayano Bridge. On the way back to the city he found a few more Brown-chested Martins on a big flock of Gray-breasteds near Chepo.

Delicia and Darién Montañez acompannied Bill Porteous on a productive, week-long expedition to the Fortuna area. On Tuesday, July 17th, after a slow day on the Continental Divide and Río Hornito Trails we spent the later part of the afternoon at La Verrugosa Trail, where two Black-headed Nightingale-Thrushes were seen, one in response to a tape of its song and the second one as we climbed up to the cars, singing from the railing on one side of the trail. Also, we saw a female White-crowned Manakin. On the 18th, after being rained on on many different locations, we also spent the late afternoon at La Verrugosa, where we finally had a flock of 3 or 4 Ashy-throated Bush-Tanagers near (but not with) a mixed flock: olive crwons and backs, gray cheeks and throats and lighter gray vents separated by a yellow-olive chest, olive flanks. I managed to catch a glimpse of a Chiriquí Quail-Dove as it walked into the undergrowth and away from the trail. Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann joined us on Thursday...

Delicia and Darién Montañez spent the morning at the Volcán Lakes, looking for Gray-breasted Crake, Spot-crowned Euphonia and Rose-throated Becard. We heard the Crake, but every Euphonia turned out to be a Thick-billed, and every Becard a White-winged. The only noteworthy sighting was that of two American Coots that were browsing through the vegetation on the shores of the lake (with no chicks swimming nearby, in case you were wondering).

Two Peg-billed Finches were seen by Delicia and Darién Montañez on the trail to the waterfall at Parque Internacional La Amistad in Las Nubes, Cerro Punta. The first one, a male, responded to pishing at the first platform (about 100 meters before 'La Nevera'). At first it was assumed to be yet another Slaty Flowerpiercer, but its straight, conical bill with a horn-colored mandible indicated otherwise. It was slate-gray all over, slightly darker on the head and paler below, and there was definitely some yellow on the legs and (especially) around the toes, like the legs of a male Blackpoll Warbler in winter plumage. As we scrambled down the muddy trail we found a second bird, this time a female. Same bill, olive-brown above, buffier below with noticeable dusky streaks in the chest and two clear buffy wingbars. The female was also quite responsive to pishing and was (thus) observed at close range (a meter at most) as it called from a tangle on the left bank of the trail. Further d...