Xenornis

A male Yellow-throated Warbler has appeared at our house here at Boca del Drago for the last 3 days. We have it on our yard list, so I guess we saw it last year or the year before also since that is how long we have lived on Isla Colon. Looking at the literature in Ridgely-Gwynne field guide motivated me to report this sighting since it states that its status-distribution is casual or very rare winter migrant. No photograph at this point in time. Still trying to get it with my 3X Mavica. This species was a pretty regular South Texas spring migrant where we used to live in Harlingen.

Euclides Campos and Laura Reyes went to Punta Chame today, and they found two American White Pelican and an American Wigeon. After you pass the town of Libano and the former shrimp farms (they have cleaned them out) you find the first guard rail to your right side and mangrove to your left. Further, there is an embankment and you can see it from the guard rail.

Alfred Raab saw an Ornate Hawk-Eagle in the upper cloud forest of Altos del Maria earlier this evening.

Alfred Raab visited the fresh water pond near the ocean in Gorgona yesterday evening and found ten American Coots and a female Masked Duck . Turn left at Gorgona, which is after the large meadow on the right of the Pan-Am highway. Keep going straight for a few km's. Then you come a fork, take the left branch (it is almost straight). After the large (bankrupt?) development you will see the large pond on your left. The female masked duck was on the far side across the lake in the marsh. You need a good scope to see it.

Euclides Campos and Laura Reyes saw a big flock of diving ducks at Las Ciénagas de Las Macanas today. It was made up of many females and few males of Ring-necked Duck and Lesser Scaup . Alfred Raab adds: Just for documentation. On Jan 3 2011 I saw 2 males and 4 female Ring-necked Ducks within a large group of Lesser Scaups (about 30) at Macanas. I did not report them because I could not take a picture, they were too far away.

El pasado fin de semana fuimos Euclides Campos y Rafael Luck a visitar las Tierra Bajas de Chiriquí, en vista de la lluvia continua en Boquete, que era nuestro destino original. En los potreros camino a  Puerto Armuelles encontramos un    Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.  En la reserva de Petroterminales en Charco Azul (al sur de Puerto Armuelles) reportamos las siguientes aves: Baird's Trogon, Tawny-winged Woodcreeper, Riverside Wren, male and female de Black-hooded Antshrike, Charming Hummingbird, Blue-throated Goldentail, Fiery-billed Aracari, y media docena de Mangrove Cuckoos, entre otras aves. Al dia siguiente, domingo, al grupo se agregaron Olmedo Miró y Milagros Sánchez, con destino a Batipa y en busca particularmente de la Yellow-billed Cotinga , que afortunadamente encontramos. La Cotinga nos llego de sorpresa en unos arboles con frutos al borde de la carretera, antes de la casa del centro de operaciones (frente a un laguito y como a unos 150 metros de...

Today I found a female-plumaged Black-throated Blue Warbler working over a recently fallen tree in the forest adjoining our house at Altos de Cerro Azul. I believe it is an adult female rather than a juvenile; the whitish face markings and the white spot in the primaries were prominent (in fact the latter was somewhat larger than that illustrated in Curson's “New World Warblers”). Remarkably this individual has turned up at the exact spot where we found a striking adult male of this very rare (for Panama) species many years ago (Dodge and Lorna Engleman will remember that). Also of note at the same place today was a group of 5 or 6 Black-eared Wood-Quail ; they have been calling on and off around our house for at least a week.

La presente es para hacer un reporte de Mangrove Cuckoo (Coccyzus minor) en el Centro Natural de Punta Culebra (Calzada de Amador, Ciudad de Panamá). La primera vez que la avisté en el Centro fue el Jueves 30 de diciembre de 2010 a las 4:30 p.m.; eran dos ejemplares el cual uno estaba haciendo movimientos extraños, presumiblemente cortejo. Luego, el viernes 07 de enero de 2011 los volví a observar cerca de las oficinas de Punta Culebra (Bunker #3). En el día de hoy (13/01/11), para hacer efectivo el reporte, el compañero Francis Torres (Guía del Centro) le tomó varias fotos a un ejemplar, a eso de las 10:05 a.m. Sabiendo que es una de las especies de aves raras que llegan a nuestro país, este sería el segundo reporte en el mismo lugar, ya que Ariel Aguirre lo reportó el 15 de Enero de 2008 en la pagina web xenornis, pero sin foto.

Here are 3 photos of a strange White-throated Mountain-gem like hummingbird I took at the Janson Family Coffee farm's coffee house near Volcan Lakes last April. The bird was in company of a female White-crested Coquette. Even with reference books in hand and more than 30 minutes or so of observation I was unable to confidently identify the bird. Hence, this email requesting that you post these photos in hopes that someone else might be able to. Though the photos represent the bird they do not do justice to this hummer's "glittering" green throat that extended to the lower mandible but also exhibited white to either side of the green. As a prelude to this email I have been looking over online reference photos for both the White-throated Mountain-gem and Green-breasted Mountain-gem with none quite fitting this bird's color patterns. [Odd indeed. If not for the green gorget I'd call it a Garden Emerald and call it a day, fide the facial...

December 26: [Central Christmas Bird Count, Pipeline Road] While birding with Osvaldo Quintero, Rafael Luck and Jan Axel Cubilla we found a White-throated Thrush attending an army ant swarm beyond Syristes Bridge, about 11 km into Pipeline road. The same antswarm also had Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner , Russet Antshrike and the usual suspects: Ocellated, Bicolored and Spotted Antbirds, Plain Brown and Northern-barred Woodcreepers and others. [Also seen that morning was this large nightjar, which has since been identified as a male Chuck-will's-widow ]. Later in the Day I joined Rosabel & Karl Kaufmann, and Randy & Graham Floyd to a revisit of the Limbo area, where we got a very cooperative Great Jacamar. December 29: Got and invitation to visit Mr Richard Bennett's farm in Sierra Llorona, Colon province, at at 400 meters above sea level. While walking around the garden of the caretaker's house I saw a Ficus tree full of red berries. I had seen this tree b...