Odds and Ends From the Late Rainy Season
Carlos Bethancourt, lead guide for the Canopy Tower and Lodge, sends a report of a very productive army ant swarm on Plantation Trail, at the base
of Semaphore Hill, on November 22nd. Besides the more-expected avian highlights, he was fortunate enough to find and digiscope the splendid
Ruddy Woodcreeper pictured at left. This species is extremely rare in central Panamá; the last report of which I am aware from the region is one
found on Semaphore Hill almost exactly one year ago. Ruddy Woodcreeper is fairly common in the lower highlands of western Panamá, but is uncommon at El Copé
(to the west of this site's coverage area) and at Cerro Azul (at the eastern edge of said area). To the best of my knowledge it is unrecorded from El Valle, and one must wonder
why this mid-to-high-elevation species would be found near sea-level along the Canal and not in the foothills. Given the coincidental timing of the two Canal area sightings of which I am aware,
one must speculate that the widely-spread breeding populations of Ruddy Woodcreeper engage in a post-breeding dispersal, passing through central Panamá en route to exchanging genetic material
with cousins to the east and west. The distribution of this species certainly merits more careful attention.
Somewhat belatedly come some fine reports from the Canopy Lodge. First, Tino Sanchez found a Pale-breasted Spinetail at Juan Hombrón on October 18th, in the vicinity of the large heron rookery previously reported on this site. Tino reported hearing this species in the area several months earlier, and is to be congratulated for bringing home this interesting sighting! Pale-breasted Spinetail is fairly easy to find at Tocumen Marsh (at the eastern edge of our coverage area), is found through much of the Azuero Peninsula (to the south), and in western Chiriquí (well to the west) even ranges into the lower highlands, but for some reason had not previously been recorded from southern Coclé Province. Tino's discovery suggests that this range gap was largely imaginary, and that finding Pale-breasted Spinetail in Coclé was simply a matter of visiting the appropriate micro-habitats, in this case the moist environment of a privately-owned rice farm.
Raúl Arias, owner of the Tower and Lodge, shared a report of a Bare-necked Umbrellabird found at El Copé on October 30th, in the company of Barry Zimmer and a VENT tour group. This range-restricted species reaches the eastern edge of its range in Omar Torrijos National Park (El Copé), and even there is scarce. Depending on the exact location of the sighting, it may represent a first record for Coclé Province (the park straddles the boundaries of Veraguas, Coclé, and Colón provinces). By the by, the VENT group was taking a specially-arranged field trip from the Canopy Lodge, the groundwork for which was laid by a similar excursion I undertook in the company of three Lodge employees in June of this year; if this trip becomes a more regular part of the Lodge itinerary this site may be forced to expand the scope of its interest.
I'd also like to draw attention to couple of noteworthy reports on the Xenornis Website, the fine site run by Darién Montañez that tracks the sightings of the resident Panamanian birding community. Some of the recent reports, while quite interesting, are from areas outside the defined range of The Canopy Report, but two stand out as being noteworthy in this forum. Most recent is a nicely documented Lark Sparrow found by respected Panamanian birder Ariel Aguirre and a small group at Tocumen Marsh on November 20th. This is a spectacular record of an extremely rare migrant in Panamá; the only other report of which I am aware is a sight record (albeit by two top-notch birders) from the same location over 20 years ago! Lark Sparrow has only been recorded a few times below southern Mexico; congratulations to Ariel for this splendid find, and for documenting it! Another good report is of an American Coot, also found by Ariel near the Gamboa Marina on November 4th. American Coot is a somewhat rare wintering bird in Panamá; although it has been recorded annually in recent years, it is still a good find. Interestingly, I observed an American Coot at Lagunas del Volcán in western Chiriquí Province in August of this year, an extraordinarily out-of-season find, and one wonders if this seemingly quite adaptable species is expanding its range southwards.
In closing I'd like to share another fine photo submitted by Carlos Bethancourt, this one of a striking Ocellated Antbird found at the same
Plantation Trail army ant swarm that was accompanied by the rare Ruddy Woodcreeper pictured above. Ocellated Antbird is a tough find but a regular one in the Canal area, and has been
found very occasionally to the west at Altos del Maria. One can properly appreciate the beauty of this photo by understanding that this is a species normally found skulking near the ground in dark places,
and that digiscoping does not allow for the use of a flash. Congrats to Carlos for this crystal-clear image of a beautiful bird!
