Xenornis

Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann and Delicia and Darién Montañez spent their Sunday checking just how good the new and renewed El Llano-Cartí road was. And it was very good: all asphalt all the way to the Caribbean (except for the still unfinished bridge over the Cartí River, which should be done by August) The birding was good, too, as long as you don't mind no shoulders and cars zipping by at breakneck speed—but then we've all birded Achiote Road, right? The first stop, well before Burbayar, produced a few Sulphur-rumped Tanagers in the first of many tanager flocks, mostly of the Tawny-crested denomination. At Ina Igar we saw Striped Woodhaunter and an Olive-backed Quail Dove before being rained out. Back on the road, a culvert a few kilometers beyond the trailhead had an adult Fasciated Tiger-Heron, seen both on our way to Cartí and on our way back. Well in the lowlands we found plenty Blue Cotingas, a pair of calling Jet Antbirds and a fruiting shrub with four female Scarlet-...

In a recent visit to the Emberá community of Nuevo Vigía in Río Tuquesa, Darién, I got some interesting birds: Little Cuckoo, Barred Puffbird, Bare-crowned Antbird, Green-and-rufous Kingfisher, Saffron-headed Parrots, Black Oropendola and Brown-chested Martin . Here are some few photos I managed to take. Though this was not a birding trip, the place is full of good birds and worth a more in depth visit.

The highlight of the Audubon Panama fieldtrip to Santa Fe, attended this year by Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann, Vivian Díaz, Olmedo Miró and Darién Montañez, was repeated encounters with flocks of Barred Parakeets , approximately 25 individuals each time. The first sighting was on Saturday, July 17 at about noon, as we began walking the 3 Cascadas Trail. The first section of trail now passes through a grove of young melastome trees that were all loaded with ripe berries and parakeets. After a few seconds they grew nervous and flew into a taller tree, and then flew off into the distance. That afternoon we ran into more (perhaps the same flock), again on berried melastomes on the road to the left past the Alto de Piedra school. On Sunday midmorning the parakeets were again at the beginning of 3 Cascadas Trail. Other notable birds seen included a few Crimson-collared Tanagers , a male Snowcap harassing a Double-toothed Kite, male and female Green Thorntails at blooming Inga trees, Black-he...

La semana pasada un pequeño grupo de observadores de aves de Panamá hizo una gira a Cana, Darién (Bill y Claudia Ahrens, Rafael Luck acompañados del guía Roberto Medina). Entre otras fotos estamos incluyendo el Green-naped Tanager, Pirre Warbler, Orange-bellied Euphonia, White-headed Wren, Red-throated Cara Cara, Sharpbill, Little Cuckoo . Se vieron muchas rapaces incluyendo al Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle , que curiosamente nos estaba observando, el White Hawk, Black Hawk-Eagle, King Vulture, y como una gran sorpresa desde el mismo campamento principal, se pudo observar un Águila Harpía desde lejos. Estamos enviando fotos de tres guacamayas (Blue-and-yellow, Red-and-green and Chestnut-fronted Macaw). Vimos el Great Green Macaw, pero desafortunadamente no se dejó retratar.

Alfred Raab and I spent July 6-11 on El Real and Rancho Frío, joined the morning of the 10th by Björn Anderson and Gonzalo Horna (all photos included are Alfred's). The star of the show was a Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper seen by me and Isaac Pizarro (our local guide) on the 8th below Rancho Plástico, as noted in the Birdfinding Guide, and recently rediscovered by Euclides Campos (many thanks to Kilo for sharing this report). The bird vocalized at length (good recordings were captured) and generally put on a show. Isaac tells me that he has known of this bird for at least 3 years, but his previous reports were not believed because he does not have the means to document the sighting. Believe me, the bird is there. It is an extremely difficult climb down to the river, and I would recommend waiting until the dry season to look for this for all but the most fit (which I am not!). Other highlights from Rancho Frio were Crimson-bellied Woodpecker, Gray-cheeked Nunlet, Wing-banded Antbird, ...

There is a Common Potoo in the Metropolitan Park, Panama City, very easy to see, it has been there for the last 8 days. From the office drive a few 100m towards the city and park at the guard station. The Potoo is about 30m across the guard station, 10m up on an exposed branch, perfect for a good picture. If you do not find it ask the guard (he showed it to me).

On June 30, Alfred Raab and I visited El Chirú, Coclé Province, and found at least a pair of Grassland Yellow-Finches . There have a been a few reports of this species recently buried in larger reports of flashier birds, including sightings by Venicio Wilson, Jan Axel Cubilla, and Bill and Claudia Ahrens (who noted a female with nesting material last week). This is good news regarding a bird generally considered to be on the decline in Panama, even in its historic strongholds in Cocle. El Chirú is about 3k west of Río Hato—turn north just west of the big "Ahora le Toca al Pueblo" sign (there is a small "Bienvenidos al Hogar El Chirú" sign just in front of this), then turn east (right) at the next intersection, just before a stand of planted trees (eucalyptus, I think?). A couple hundred meters ahead on the right is a small cemetery; the birds have been seen several times in this area. The grass is high and the birds are hunkered down and not vocalizing, but wit...