Xenornis

Euclides Campos photographed this White-crowned Pigeon at Cayos Holandeses in Kuna Yala on June 23th.

Itzel Fong Gadea sent in a link to her gallery of Azuero Parakeet photos taken at Flores on June 20 (I reckon). As noted, some birds show dark irises, while some had pale irises. On Saturday, June 26, Delicia, Pedro & Darién Montañez visited the Velásquez farm at the appointed time (8:30 AM), but the parakeets were not immediately visible. We were forced to walk 25 meters from the house in order to locate a flock of about 30 birds, preening and frolicking in a nance tree. While waiting we had a half dozen Vaux's Swifts fly overhead. Juancho Velásquez, our host, says the parakeets are usually in the area from early June to early July, and favor fruiting figs and nances. This is by far the easiest way to see this Panama endemic, and you should go for it. To get to the Velásquez farm, drive past Atalaya towards Mariato. 100 km of a nice asphalt road later you will arrive at the town of Flores, on the outskirts of the buffer zone for Cerro Hoya National Park. See map on page 182...

Last week I joined three different birding journeys in the western side of the country. We began by returning to the Velasquez farm on two occasions with several members of SAP looking for Azuero Parakeet, and got some more pictures, videos and interesting details about this seldom seen endemic bird. During my visit in April there were hundreds of Brown-throated Parakeets in the forest edge and trees in the pasture, the same area that the Azuero Parakeets are using now, however we could only see a single Brown-throated Parakeet in the area. Itzel Fong pointed that some birds have a white eye ring while other have a browner eye ring. I also noted some birds with brown irises and some few had brilliant orange iris. One of the birds had a tiny blue spot in the forehead right above the bill. There were about 60 birds feeding at the fig tree; 4 times more birds than the previous week. The parakeets were doing a lot of grooming and pair bonding activities which we filmed. I also spotted wh...

Yesterday, June 19th, Björn Anderson, Gonzalo Horna, and I ventured to Coiba Island, where in only a few hours (before heavy rain came) on the Pozos Termales Trail, we were treated to crippling views of both Coiba Spinetail and Brown-backed Dove . Björn obtained excellent photos, and I collected good audio recordings—I will make these available to amy one who asks. We also saw most of the island endemic subspecies, collected many recordings and photos of these, and tried a couple of intriguing playback experiments. As a bonus we observed a Galapagos Shearwater (thanks to Björn) about halfway between the island and the mainland. Today (20/6) we ventured to the Velásquez farm to enjoy Azuero Parakeets , and were not disappointed—the parakeets came in like clockwork around 8:30, and up to 30 birds at a time were enjoyed for several hours. We also were delighted to run into Beny Wilson and an all-star group of Panamanian birders, who were smart enough to sleep in and show up just ...

Variable seedeaters are common round our house (Palmilla, Mariato district, Veraguas Province), but in the last week of may we found some that were rather more variable than normal. As the attached photographs show, the chin and neck of the bird are not white, but quite bright yellow. We have never seen this variation before and Vencicioo Wilson, who does quite a lot of birdwatching, was also at a loss and said he had never seen variable seedeaters like this. Bill Adsett chimes in: In fact it’s not that unusual to see Variable Seedeaters with yellow neck bands (or whatever the correct technical name is). It’s not something confined to Azuero. I have seen this coloration on a few birds at different times at Altos de Cerro Azul and in Panama City. I have no idea what the explanation is!

Last Saturday Gloriela Archbold, Jan Axel Cubilla, Rafael Luck and Venicio Wilson as guide, visited the farm of Juan and Fanny Velasquez in the town of Flores, Veraguas to find the endemic Azuero Parakeet (Pyrrhura eisenmanni). Juan and Fanny informed in my previous trip that the endemic parakeet visited their backyard during the months of May, June and July. According to Mr. Velasquez the Azuero Parakeets normally came to eat fruits from 8:30 to midday. On June 13 at 8:33 a flock of about 16 parakeets come to eat Figs at a tree next to the corn field in the Velasquez backyard. The birds ate figs and nance that were abundant in the gallery forest next to Playita River. They moved from tree to tree and gave us a magnificent show. I saw at least one couple copulating, some grooming and some birds offering food to others. This could be an indication of the beginning of the breeding season? Here are some pictures and videos we managed to take with a point-and-shoot camera and a Kowa te...

I'm a PhD student currently conducting my research on mechanisms of understory insectivorous bird declines on Barro Colorado Island. While I was driving a boat to the far side of the island on June 2, I observed a Waved Albatross (Phoebastria irrorata) sitting on one of the buoys marking the edge of the Canal. I didn't have a camera with me so I was unable to get any photos, but I was able to pull my boat right up next to the buoy and observe the bird for several minutes, and have no doubts about the identification. I was driving a small motorboat around to the far side of Barro Colorado Island from the field station on the morning of June 2nd. On my way back to the field station, driving along the main Canal side (Buena Vista Reach, on the NE side), I spotted a large seabird sitting on top of one of the large red channel-marking buoys close to the entrance to Laboratory Cove (specifically, the second tall red buoy out from Laboratory Cove). I pulled my boat right up to...

During a recent visit to Coclesito, in the province of Colon, I found a Barred Puffbird singing in the gardens of the Rural House of Fundacion Alternativa. The bird was being mobbed and bombarded by other small birds like tanagers, flycatchers and hummingbirds. It responded to tape but was very shy which made it difficult to get a better picture. I also found some birds that we normally associates to the Pacific slope savanna: White-tailed Kite, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture and Southern Lapwings . There was also this Empidonax flycatcher with a interesting longer bill. Any ideas as to its identity?

Onward and upward. Xenornis now resides at the much memorabler www.xenornis.com, although the awkwarder xenornis.blogspot.com will still work. Update your bookmarks, please. Also, we have spent a painful weekend transcribing ten years of old reports from backups of our now-defunct geocities home, and they are now available here for your perusal. Yes, you can now Google back to 1997, the time before googling existed.

Leslie Lieurance filmed a Fasciated Tiger-Heron yesterday at Cerro Azul. Full report at his blog .