Xenornis

Between January 6-9 a party consisting of Bill Adsett, George Angehr, Charlotte Elton. Dave Klauber, and Les and Cindy Lieurance visited Darien, birding mostly around Canglon, and Yaviza. The following are some of the highlights (with photos by Bill Adsett). Pale-bellied Hermit . A few individuals seen on the El Salto Road and north of Yaviza on Jan 7. The hummingbird feeders at the Avicar Restaurant in Meteti on Jan 6 and 9 featured Scaly-breasted Hummingbird , Sapphire-throated Hummingbird , Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Snowy-bellied Hummingbird, Black-throated Mango, and Long-billed Starthroat. Spot-breasted Woodpecker . Two seen near Rio Iglesias on the afternoon of Jan 6. Barred Puffbird . Several pairs seen a few km north of Yaviza on Jan 8. Blue-and-yellow Macaw . A flyover by three individuals on Jan 6 about 7 km east of Rio Iglesias, on the south side of the Filo de Tallo, in a mostly deforested area. It's good to see the species still persists here. Spectacl...

[Tuesday, January 13] These are the popular Whistling Herons that are being reported frecuently from the pond at Gorgona's Malibu residential proyect; I finally decided to go and search for them to get my lifer; however the pictures are not so good due to the far distance and heat waves making the pictures blurry; well a success anyways!! Thanx to Rafael Lau and Justo Camargo for the information about the location to get to the place and to Niurka Castillo for joining me for an early start that day. I also happened to find this group of Masked Ducks consisting of one male and four females which spent the whole day foraging at the center of the pond far from the edges asociating with a group of nearby Blue-winged Teals and Common Moorhens. Through the day for many hours (and to my surprise) the Masked Ducks never searched for the concealment of the plants at the edge of the pond.

I had a Ring-necked Duck at Lago Calamito, Panama Rainforest Discovery Center on the afternoon of Sunday, January 11. Was with the continuing Masked Ducks . Lousy photos but the pale eyering and white ring on the bill can be seen. Not sure of its newsworthiness but there are still 2 American Wigeons hanging around at Gamboa Rainforest Resort Marina.

Present at Farfan on 10th January 2015 from 12.35 pm to 1.35 pm was a white-morph Reddish Egret . Also 2 Northern Shovelers continue there.

On the afternoon of November 22, Jeanette Frazier, a visiting birder from Indiana, photographed this winter-plumage Chipping Sparrow with a flock of Yellow-faced Grassquits in Altos del María (Perhaps at a spot called Siena Park?). Due to the locality, consensus among the Panama Records Committee is this is a natural vagrant rather than being ship-assisted like some of our other vagrant sparrows. Jeanettte's report follows: Viewers: Elcira Villarreal and Elizabeth Booth and F Jeanette Frazier (all residents of Indiana, USA) Location: Altos del Maria  Date: on the afternoon of Saturday November 22, 2014.  We stopped at several locations in Altos but the photos of the bird in question came from near Parque de Siena. (I think that is what it is called.) We walked towards a building that I think is a library and then beyond to the first house and turned away from the house looking across the street into the habitat. My guess is that we were facing north, but I may not ...

The two Whistling Herons that have taken residence at the pond in Playa Malibú ( first seen on July 15 by Euclides Campos ) have been visited by many a birder in the last few days.    First were Venicio Wilson and Maurice Posner, who went there on the morning of Wednesday, January 7. They found them on the fields north of the pond, where they also had a juvenile Tricolored Heron that may be the mysterious possible third Whistling Heron reported previously. The pond had Masked Duck and the Lesser Scaup reported previously, as well as many American Coots . On the morning of Friday, January 9, Delicia, Camilo and Darién Montañez tried yet again, this time successfully. The two birds were on the edges of the greener grass around the small pond on the NE of the big pond. The juvenile Tricolored was also there, so caveat emptor. The pond had a raft of 6 female Masked Ducks (out in the open, too), lots of Coots and two Lesser Scaup . That same afternoon had Rolando Jordán v...

January 4, 2015: After the several reports on Xenornis from Paul Oehrlein, Jose Pérez and I took a quick look at the pond and saw these 2  Whistling Herons!  If you missed the Chepo heron this is a good chance to see them!

Juan Pablo Ríos found Mangrove Cuckoo and Ovenbird at Galeta on January 2 and a male Northern Parula on the 3rd. Some of the many teams that visited Galeta yesterday for the Atlantic Christmas Bird Count found the Parula again, including Jan Axel Cubilla's and Darién Montañez's (who found the male and a female in a mixed flock at the turnoff to the Albatros antenna field). Word also has it that a Prairie Warbler has also been seen recently, so this may be a great time to go roam the mangroves.

January 2, 2015. Just took a turn down by the pond and noted two of the Whistling Herons on the Eastern end of the pond. As before, I submitted a checklist to E-bird.