Xenornis

Jennifer Wolcott shares this photo of what looks pretty much like a male Yellow-throated Euphonia . Problem is, the bird was seen at Chicá, over 250 km west of the species' known range. But, hey, stranger things have been known to happen happened. The bird was photographed on Sunday, October 14, at the feeders at La Joya de Chicá B&B. If you swing by to look for this rarest of Panama euphonias, try and get a female.

Rafael Luck sent in his photos of the Long-winged Harrier his group (which included Venicio Wilson, Osvaldo Quintero and Jan Axel Cubilla) found in Juan Hombrón yesterday. Comparing the photos with the poor illustrations of the species in South American field guides, and having never seen the species ever, I'd say this is a young dark morph adult (fide the few pale streaks in the underparts). They also had this American Golden-Plover at the same location and later encountered a Northern Harrier in El Coco, for comparison.

This Long-winged Harrier , apparently a dark-phase adult, was photographed yesterday at Juan Hombrón, Coclé: about 100 km west of the westernmost previous records from Tocumen Marsh.  En estos momentos estamos recibiendo reportes de que en la carretera que va a Juan Hombrón, en el área de arrozales, se está observando un Long-winged Harrier. Otras aves vistas incluyen varios Pectoral Sandpipers y un American Golden-Plover . Observadores: Beny Wilson Altamiranda, Rafael Luck, Osvaldo Quintero y Jan Axel Cubilla Rodríguez. More details to come.

The following miscellaneous observations may be of interest. The first hummingbird I saw using my newly-installed feeder, on 3 September, was a Long-billed Starthroat. It has returned several times since, though Rufous-tailed now dominate. On one occasion the gorget showed clear lateral projections, befitting the name Starthroat better than the illustration in Angehr. On 12 October I saw a male Purple-throated Mountain-gem at Monte Azul, at about 1000m. Blue cap, purple gorget and white post-ocular stripe were all clear in direct sunlight. This extends the range stated by Angehr a little to the east. On 9 October, at Valle Bonito, five small birds foraging on or near the ground took to the trees on my approach, revealing yellow rumps and flanks. I could not get a definitive sighting but Yellow-rumped Warbler would appear to be only possible identification, in which case they were a full month earlier than the period stated by Angehr. Blackburnian Warbler have been more numerou...