Xenornis

This morning I went to Pipeline Road in search of the female Blue-winged Warbler that was found by Jan Axel Cubilla and others on Pipeline Road near the entrance to the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center. I failed to find it, but while I was looking I met Swiss birder Jerome Fischer, who told me that he had seen a male near the Pipeline Road entrance earlier in the morning. I went to the spot, played the call, and the bird immediately popped out. It's at the ACP gate on the road just beyond the entrance to Pipeline. When I saw it, the bird was in the scrubby clearing just before the gate. Jerome found it with a mixed flock just beyond the gate.

En primer lugar me uní al grupo de observadores que han encontrado el White-eyed Vireo en la entrada de los Summit Ponds, la primera vez que lo vi fue un sólo individuo el lunes 21 de febrero, acompañado de una Magnolia Warbler inmadura en las misma marañas.  El miércoles 23 de febrero regresé al mismo lugar, esta vez acompañado de Rosabel Miró y posteriormente por Karl. Nuevamente encontramos el White-eyed Vireo en el mismo sitio.  En el lugar estaba un grupo de observadores guiados por Carlos Bathancourt quien encontró una  Agami Heron  inmadura en el laguito de la derecha, el cual fue apreciado por todos. En el día de hoy (sábado 26 de febrero), fui a Pipeline junto a Osvaldo Quintero. En el parche de maleza (paja canalera) a la izquierda del camino antes de la desviación hacia el PRDC observamos una Blue-winged Warbler , probablemente una hembra a juzgar por parte de la corona oliva (sólo la frente era amarilla brillante). Las fotos de la Blue-winged Warbler son de Osvaldo Q

Today [February 25], at approximately 10:30 am, an immature male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was seen around the Rio Mendoza area on Pipeline Road. The bird was just off the road creating holes on the trunk of trees extracting the sap. As we observed the surrounding trees, we noticed many small holes on the trunks of trees, which suggest the bird has been here for some time. Two other birders saw the bird and one photographed it.

On Feb 24 2011 Robert Furrer (from Switzerland), Euclides Campos, Laura Reyes and Alfred Raab birded the higher altitudes of Altos del Maria and they found two Crimson-bellied Woodpeckers . They were very shy and we could see them only for a very short time in flight and on trees. Back on April 2 2010, I was birding with Mark Hubinger and Joanie Hubinger at the higher elevation of Altos del Maria. We saw a 2 large woodpecker, one of them was a young bird constantly begging for food and always following the adult. We never had a full view of the bird, we saw only bits of the birds. I could see the back, which was all black without any white, then I could see the primaries, which were all black with white or whitish spots, then I could see the head with some red, then parts of the belly which was reddish. We observed the birds for a few minutes. I have never seen this woodpecker before this observation, but I was convinced they were Crimson-bellied Woodpeckers. Seeing only bits and pie

Hoy (24 de febrero) fuimos Benny Wilson y Rafael Luck en busca del White-eyed Vireo . Podríamos casi jurar que vimos a dos ejemplares, o tal vez una pareja. Aqui un par de fotos. Los encontramos en el mismo lugar reportado originalmente por Carlos Bethancourt, en la entrada de los Laguitos de Summit.

José Manuel Luciani photographed the male Cape May Warbler  in Gamboa on Tuesday, at the same spot where he saw it last week . The bird frequents the patch of pine trees on Morrow Boulevard in Santa Cruz, which is the last street on the right as you exit Gamboa, right before the now demolished Santa Cruz High School.

Stop the presses. Osvaldo Quintero sent in a third photo of that warbler from 2008. This one looks perfectly fine for a male Black-throated Green Warbler, a pretty common winter resident to our western highlands: the eye line and ear coverts are more olive than black, and if you squint you can almost see that the back and crown are also olive. Or maybe it's a hybrid with some Townsend's Warbler in it, which would explain the contrasty facial pattern.

Después de leer el informe de Carlos Bethancourt sobre la presencia de un Vireo Ojiblanco*  a la entrada de los laguitos del Summit, Euclides Campos y yo nos apersonamos a ese lugar hoy en la mañana. Apenas llegamos lo oimos cantar, y lo pudimos observar por bastante tiempo. No fué fácil retratarlo. [*] Carlos' report, from his Facebook page: White-eyed Vireo at the entrance of Summit Ponds; almost a week in the same area, you can hear it calling. It is outside the gate in the small patch of dry forest.

Rafael Luck sent in his photo of the male Golden-cheeked Warbler photographed above Cerro Punta on March 15, 2008 .

2011 is proving to be the year of the Cape May Warbler . José Manuel Luciani found a male in some pine trees in Gamboa this morning.

Says Jan Axel Cubilla: While admiring Osvaldo Quintero's huge photo gallery, I found the attached photo. It was labeled as a Black-throated Green Warbler, but I think it is an adult male Golden-cheeked Warbler ! Despite that I cannot tell if the underparts are completely white due to the quality of the photo, I think the black line through the eye is very distinct, and quite different from the olive auricular patch of the Black-throated Green Warbler. He took the photo in Volcan (no more details), march 15th, 2008. What do you think? The third report of Golden-cheeked Warbler for Panama, and the first with a photographic evidence? George Angehr concurs: I think it is definitely a male Golden-cheeked. In addition to the black eye line, which slants upward at the end to join the nape, the crown is black instead of olive as it would be in Black-throated Green. I think the yellowish tone is due to the sunlight filtering through the leaves. Congratulations to Osvaldo, as well as to yo

Last saturday february 12th, I went to Altos del María with Osvaldo Quintero, Rafael Luck, Alfred Raab and Robert Furrer (visiting from Switzerland). At 950 meters above sea level, at a clearing in the border of the forest, we found a huge mixed flock with (among others) White-throated Thrush (seen only by me), a male Golden-winged Warbler, a male American Redstart, and what we think is an immature Blackpoll Warbler . We noticed its yellowish underparts (with no buffy tones) with faint, but distinctive streaks on the chest and along the sides, and with clearly white undertail coverts. It has a somewhat plain facial pattern, with pale eyebrow and no contrasting cheeks. Also, we noticed in the photo that it has pale and dark legs (we did not notice this in the field). It worked the middle part of the trees, ocassionally moving just under the canopy. No vocalization was heard.  At more or less 1000 meters, now in humid montane forest, Alfred showed us a singing Brown Violetear , in the s

Osvaldo Quintero swung by the Audubon Panama office on Sunday morning and managed these great action photo of the male Cape May Warbler that has taken residence there. The bird was seen again that afternoon by a group of lucky local birders. Has anyone not seen it yet?

Breaking News: Expert opinion on the weird streaky warbler first seen on Thursday is that it's a female Cape May Warbler in winter plumage. Quoth George Angehr: Seems a little yellower than I remember. However, that doesn't make any difference for the ID. It seems completely consistent with fall female Cape May, and inconsistent with anything else. On not so breaking news, both birds are still being seen in front of the Audubon Panama office in Llanos de Curundu. Rafael Luck sent in he photo above, taken on Friday afternoon. Jan Axel Cubilla tells the story of his Wednesday afternoon hunt for the male over at his blog . Then on Saturday afternoon he was back, this time with Itzel Fong and Michael Froude, and found the male at 6:02 pm. Don't miss your chance to see these spectacularly pretty and spectacularly rare visitors. Come and get'em!

Proving that the third time's the charm, indeed, the Cape May Warbler that has taken residence in the trees immediately around the Audubon Panama office in Llanos de Curundu was seen again on Thursday evening and again on Friday evening. The hunt began Thursday morning, when George Angehr visited but didn't find it, quite. He tried again that afternoon, joined by Osvaldo Quintero and Darién Montañez, and after some minutes of checking every Tennessee Warbler a weird streaky warbler, seen in the morning by George, showed up. It was clearly not the male Cape May seen on the previous two days. Instead, it looked pretty much like a female Cape May Warbler, but what are the odds of not one but two of these rare, rare migrants showing up on our doorstep? Still, I can't think of any other i.d. options. What do you think? The bird was whitish below with distinct dusky streaks and a clear yellow wash on the throat, cheeks and supercillium. It had white undertail coverts, a faint y

A bright male Cape May Warbler was seen yesterday in our backyard in Los Naranjos, a small town just north of Boquete at about 3700 ft.  It was seen very well, and repeatedly, from our terrace, with binoculars, as it moved around in the trees and shrubs.  Though I haven't seen this bird previously in Panama, I have seen it while birding in Florida on spring migration.

The Audubon Panama  Cape May Warbler (yes, we're calling it that) was seen again yesterday. Jan Axel Cubilla braved the rain and got the photo above. Same time, same place: 5:40 pm at the small trees in front of the Audubon Panama office in Llanos de Curundu. Please join us today (conveniently before our February monthly meeting) to see if the third time's the charm.

Today while I was leading a group of clients at Altos del Frente and we spotted this Yellow-throated Warbler in a mixed flock with myriad of tanagers and other common suspects.

Hoy martes 8-FEB, a las 5:40pm, mientras un grupo de 13 turistas estaba observando aves en los jardines de la oficina de Audubon, llegó un Cape May Warbler al arbolito que está cerca de la entrada de la oficina. El warbler fue identificada por uno de los turistas y su identificación fue reconfirmada por Ariel Aguirre, el guía del grupo.

Delicia, Pedro and Darién Montañez visited Punta Chame at dusk to try for the American White Pelicans that have been there since last Wednesday. The birds were there, unmistakable and right next to the road—my kind of birding. The spot is a large pool between the beach and the road, on the right side 16.7 km from the turnoff at the Interamericana. The banks were full of sandpipers with a few oystercatchers thrown in for variety. Go get'em!

This were the Highlights from the last Program I led: Jan 24: Metropolitan Nature Park White-vented Euphonia (male and female) in a mixed flock by the unpaved side inlet left past the Ranger checkpoint at Mono Titi trail. (as far as I know, there is no record of this species here) Jan 25: Cerro Azul Rufous- crested Coquette at Birders' View Lodge backyard Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker in front of a house called: Mi Refugio at Altos del Frente Jan 26: Gamboa Hooded Warbler (male) by the beginning of the forest patch at the maintenance road past the Marina warehouse Jan 31: El Respingo/Los Quetzales Trail. Tawny-crowned Greenlet at a mixed flock past the first turn Rough-legged Tyrannulet ( zeledoni, also known as White-fronted) perched above ANAM checkpoint by the entrance.

 El pasado sábado 28 de enero, Osvaldo Quintero, Euclides Campos y mi persona nos dirigimos hacia Las Macanas. Entre otras cosas, encontramos un Mangrove Cuckoo , al menos seis Killdeers , ocho Caspian Terns , cuatro American Coots , cuatro Fulvous Whistling-Ducks entre los cientos de Guíchichis y una pareja (macho y hembra) de American Wigeons . Sin embargo, más importante, observamos un grupo de al menos 10 Long-billed Dowitchers  identificadas por la llamada, un "kick" enfático, nada musical que fue emitido por las aves mientras descansaban (alarmadas?), y también cuando volaron (en serie). También notamos su pecho de un gris bastante sólido y oscuro y la cola principalmente oscura, muy evidente al volar.  El mismo día, alrededor del mediodía, observamos en las salinas de Aguadulce, una fase blanca de Reddish Egret ... un inmaduro a juzgar por su pico completamente negro. Se encontraba más o menos a mitad de la calle que atraviesa las salinas, cerca de la misma, y pe