Xenornis

On January 30 We went to El Chirú, where we had a brilliant day of birding! First we all got excellent views of Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl and Tropical Screech-Owl... In the same area we have close views of the endemic Veraguan Mango, as well as Crested Bobwhite, Saphire-throated Hummingbird, Red-breasted Blackbird, Rufous-browed Peppershrike... After a great morning we went to Juan Hombrón where we had perfect views of Straight-billed Woodcreeper, Mouse-colored Tyrannulet, Northern Scrub-Flycatcher.... The most amazing thing for us during the day was a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, which is a rare migrant for Panama especially in the Coclé Province. We saw this bird, a juvenile, at El Chirú. Tino Sanchez (Canopy Lodge Top Guide) and I got great views of it. I had the close telescope views so I could see the bright red gorget. We could not take a picture there, but every one in the group got to see it. Once in Juan Hombrón I found another Ruby-throated but this one has less red on the gorg...

Javier Araúz sent in these photos of Fiery-billed Aracari taken in the Charco Azul forests managed by Petroterminal de Panamá, near Puerto Armuelles. This is apparently the first time the species, which is a tad more common further inland, is seen in Charco Azul.

While exploring Panama for their third time, members of the Tennessee Ornithological Society, led by Advantage Tour's Guido Berguido, birded the Cerro Gaital Nature Monument and other cloudforest ridges above El Valle on January 24th, 2009. Despite the constant bajareque in the mountains close to 3,000 ft., we managed to push on and were rewarded with a few interesting sightings including Brown-billed Scythebill, Snowcap, Tufted Flycatcher, Black-and-yellow Tanager and many individuals of the punctulatus race of the Common Bush-tanager. I was particularly glad to see a few Rufous-browed Tyrannulets in the mixed flocks, and very happy to learn that tour member Michael Nelson had taken some shots (see attachment). This was only the second time I ever see this species : ) We were quite delighted to find numerous warblers on the flocks including Canada, Mourning, Blackburnian, Black-and-white, a pair of Golden-winged Warblers, and even Wilson's and one Yellow-throated Warbl...

A group of 12 brave Panama Auduboners spent the weekend of January 23 birding and snorkeling Coiba National Park. Highlight was the seldom-photographed Coiba Spinetail, seen a couple of times on Los Pozos trail on the 24th (and photographed by Itzel Fong), and the piles and piles of Scarlet Macaws seen (almost) every day at Punta Esquinas, the former prison and Playa Machete. Brown-backed Dove proved harder to get: a number were heard on the morning of the 25th at Los Monos trail, but only seen by Delicia and Darién Montañez. Most of the other endemic subspecies were seen by at least part of the group; exceptions were Sepia-capped Flycatcher and Tropical Parula. Other birds seen that are not on the list published in Where to Find Birds in Panama were Mangrove Cuckoo, Short-tailed Swift, Black-and-white Warbler and Palm Tanager.

On Dec 28, 2008, I took my friends Debi Shearwater, Don, David, Helen, Cindy and Les, birding to the Bayano Lake, where we got some Darien specialties. Seen that morning were White-eared Conebill (a lifer for me, woooo!), Gray-cheeked Nunlet, Barred Puffbird, White-headed Wren, Red-rumped Woodpecker, Black Antshrike, Crane Hawks and Bare-crowned Antbird, just to mention a few!.... We all had a great time in Bayano plus a lifer for me, not bad... Then on Dec 28th (With Debi Shearwate, Don, Les, Cindy, David and Helen) 2008 and Jan 9, 2009 (with the VENT group, Lifer for my friend Jery Langham) I went up to Cerro Azul and both days I got great views of the endemic Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker.

The Canopy Tower's Carlos Bethancourt photographed this male Elegant Euphonia in Altos del María while leading a VENT trip with Jery Langham on Jan 15 at around 10:30 am. This is not apparently the first time they've encountered this species, typically found much further west. Also seen that day were Snowcap, Ochraceous Wren, Tawny-capped Euphonia, Orange-bellied Trogon, Black-and-yellow Tanager, Common Bush-Tanager, Silver-throated Tanager, Gray-breasted Wood-Wren, Pale-vented Thrush, Green-crowned Brilliant, White-ruffed Manakin and Spotted Barbtail.

El sábado 17 de enero de 2009, Osvaldo Quintero, Rafael Luck y mi persona fuimos al Bayano para observar aves. Sobre el puente del río Mono localizamos un Barred Puffbird, primero notado por su característica llamada, que nos deleitó respondiendo a nuestras imitaciones. Aparte de un registro en Capira y otro en Cerro Azul, me parece que para la vertiente del Pacífico sólo se conoce en el Darién. Además, observamos al vuelo (y escuchamos) un Laughing Falcon, el cual se posó muy distante en un cuipo... aunque aún se puede reconocer en mi distante foto. Luego de despedirme de Rafael y Osvaldo entrada la tarde, fui hacia Pipeline road por un tip de Julia Sarco (de Avifauna) quien nos comentó que había pasado la mañana viendo un Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo en el camino principal, antes de la desviación hacia el centro de visitantes. Me tocó adentrarme un poco en la maleza y, con todo y lluvia, pude observar por unos 15 min un Ground-Cuckoo mientras se alimentaba en un enjambre de hor...

Darién Montañez spent January 9–11 at Fortuna with a group of UW Green Bay students. Weather was great, so the birding wasn't, but still there were a few highlights. A pair of Passerini's Tanagers (female seen well) near the turnoff to the Fortuna cabins on the 9th may be the first record of the species in the Pacific Slope. A rufous-phase Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl was observed for many a minute whilst perched over Continental Divide trail on the morning of the 10th, about halfway from the 800m and 1km marks. At one point it stretched out into a weird pose with beak pointed skywards, similar to the "dead wood" pose of some screech-owls, as a Broad-winged Hawk soared above. Then the morning of the 11th brought a White-fronted Tyrannulet, seen doing its characteristic one-wing stretches and heard singing at the grounds of the STRI cabin.

Jacobo Ortega photographed this Montezuma Oropendola a the entrance of Fort San Lorenzo near Sherman on December 31st, 2008. Montezuma Oropendolas, here at the western limit of their range, are somewhat rare around Achiote, which is about 11 km south of San Lorenzo.

On December 19, 2008, following a tip from Ito Santamaría, Glen Lee went to Entre Ríos in Cerro Punta to photograph this first fall male "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warbler. "Audubon's Warblers" winter mostly in Mexico and northern Central America, but there are a few records from Costa Rica and one or two from western Panama, so it's important to check the throats of every yellow-rumped one encounters.

Olmedo Miró found a small group of Mangrove Cuckoos at his rice farm in Alanje, Chiriquí on December 26. More photos are posted on his smugmug gallery. 

Durante el Conteo Navideño de Aves del Pacífico (14 de diciembre) observé, junto a Osvaldo Quintero, un grupo de aproximadamente 15 Collared Plovers, junto a poco más de 50 Wilson's en playa Veracruz, en un banco de arena a la salida del río. También en la playa (pero al otro extremo) logré observar un Elegant Tern junto a varias Laughing Gulls, Royal y Sandwich Terns lo cual me permitió hacer comparaciones directas. El Conteo de Aves del Atlántico (28 de diciembre) resultó muy interesante. Rafael Luck y mi persona observamos en el Drop Zone 6 Muscovy Ducks al vuelo, 8 Blue Grosbeaks, 1 hembra de Common Yellowthroat y un Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, el cual observamos por espacio de 30 minutos aproximadamente (Lifer para ambos). En la tarde, observamos una Northern Parula caminando el oleoducto en Rancho Ramos, probablemente una hembra por lo mate del plumaje (aunque aún atractivo, en la foto distante no se aprecia el anillo ocular entrecortado... era muy evidente en el campo...

Here are some of the pelagic birds we saw during a National Geographic/Lindblad Expeditions trip on board of the Sea Voyager from Costa Rica to Panama. Dec 31: During while sailing from Coiba Island to the Panama Canal, some 60 nautical miles west of Punta Mariato I spotted a "rare" tern. After closer observation we realize it was a juvenile Red-billed Tropicbird. It was together with some Laughing Gulls and Black Terns. [A rare bird anywhere away from Bocas del Toro—Ed.] Later during that same afternoon, while looking for whales, dolphins and marine life, we got 2, maybe 3, Pomarine Jeagers. Several pictures where made of these birds. They floated and flied around the boat for over and hour. Jan 2: During the ducking operation at Pier 6 in Cristobal Port we got an adult Parasitic jeager chasing a laughing gull. Also they were several Ring-billed Gulls and a Herring Gull. I am not very sure of this last 2 birds so I hope the pictures and your expertise help.

Margelys Barría reports on the last few months of notable sightings from the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center on Pipeline Road: 1. Nuestro primer gran avistamiento fue el del Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo en el camino de acceso a nuestro centro de Visitantes, que fue visto por Margelys Barria, guia del P.R.D.C. y por Alcibiades Sarco (personal de mantenimiento), eran como las 6:30 de la mañana y ambos lo pudimos observar sin necesidad de binoculares por lo cerca que estabamos. Dos dias despues estaba en la parte de atras del Centro de Visitantes detras de un grupo de hormigas guerreras el avistamiento fue hecho por Julia Sarco y Margelys Barria ambas guias del PRDC y por el señor Iván Muñoz (personal de mantenimiento), sin necesidad de binoculares, fue visto aproximadamente como a las 11:00 am. Luego una semana despues fue visto en uno de los senderos del PRDC. por Julia Sarco y un grupo aproximado de 15 estudiantes del Istituto Nacional. Al pasar dos semanas nuevamente avistado por d...