Once again a smattering of reports have come in from various sources. Most exciting is the following report submitted by John Rowlett of Field Guides Inc., accompanied by some fine photos:
As you’ve heard from Tino, the last visit to Altos was an exciting one, with all the seedeaters and the Touit,—yes,
the Blue-fronted Parrotlet! I was amazed to see it. I heard it, used playback (of Blue-fronted, incidentally; I didn’t
have Red-fronted on my iPod) to turn it around and bring it tearing in. It settled in the canopy for fine viewing, as
they are wont to do once they perch. Characteristically, it sat silently (for the most part) moving about a little on
the limb and very occasionally uttering soft conversational notes. We set about to photograph it
after the group had scoped it nicely, but the area was rather dark and it was late in the afternoon, so Tino and I didn’t
have much light for digiscoping. My two photos aren’t much to look at, but they do confirm the ID. It was nice to be able
to confirm Tino’s sighting of April 24, 2007. He told the group that he was “very happy”—because now I would believe him!
That was cute. I can’t but think that the bird is a vagrant singleton that (like the Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker) somehow
wound up in Altos del Maria. The situation with the parrotlet, however, is somewhat different in that there is another
congener that lives in Altos del Maria with which it could conceivably hook up. We’ll have to watch for that.
Tino saw only one bird the first time as well, so it would appear that it hasn’t joined any flocks of Red-fronteds or
paired up with one (assuming our sighting was of the same bird; it was very close to where Tino saw his in 2007).
So far, the woodpecker has not been seen again. BTW, I also got a fair recording of the Touit’s vocalization as it left
the perch, but I don’t imagine the differences in dilectissimus and costaricencis
are reliable for ID purposes. Playback of Blue-fronted certainly works on Red-fronteds along Fortuna Road.
We spent a good bit of the mid-day with the Slate-colored Seedeaters. I knew we were going to find fruiting bamboo when
we saw the first couple of birds, but then we began hearing and seeing many more than that! A conservative estimate
for the number of males we had (no females were seen) was 30+. There could have been a hundred. They do occupy fairly
large territories for a seedeater, but we had them all along the road during one long stretch. I’ve attached my photo of
a male that had a few mist drops on his back, as we encountered a light mist for perhaps an hour. I also got good
recordings of the entire song, the first part of which, though short, is suggestive of a Catharus (Tino thought Solitaire);
this is delivered before the bird segues into its well-known buzzy series of chugging and sputtering trills.
I’ve never heard this species deliver such a long musical preamble to its insect-like song.
Attached also are photos of: one of the nine Spotted Rails (four adults, two subadults, and three fairly big chicks)
that our group saw (with local guide, José Perez) on the morning of March 28 (photo at head of this paragraph);
and a Rufous Nightjar (lifer for José)
that we saw on the evening of March 28 along Old Gamboa Road (not far from Summit Pond). Carlos Bethancourt had alerted
us to the presence of this bird which his group had seen earlier the same afternoon; but he wasn’t sure of the ID.
He wanted me to check on it, and of course it was a lifer for José, so he was determined we find it.
Carlos had left a nice arrow pointing right at the bird. I believe it was a female, but it could have been a male.
We couldn’t see any white on the tail corners, but that isn’t visible on the closed tail. I have no doubt it was on
and egg or two, or perhaps young chicks. We did not want to flush it to find out, but any time one sees a
Rufous Nightjar on the ground, it is almost inevitably on a nest since these birds roost and sing off the ground.
I haven’t been back in touch with Carlos or José to find out, but presumably they know more of the story by now
since it’s been about two weeks. It’s reasonably clear from this photo (I have a close-up of the head
that shows it clearly) that the rictal bristles are completely free of lateral filaments, meaning that this
bird was no Chuck. Incidentally, the photos of the Nightjar are digiscoped. We didn’t want to get so close
as to put the bird off the ground/nest.
Next up is a report of a Pheasant Cuckoo seen from the Canopy Tower on 4/8 by Carlos Bethancourt et.
al.; this sedentary species is always a tough find, but best found in the Panamanian dry season, the end of which
is rapidly approaching. On 4/5 Carlos and a Birding Ventures group led by Simon Thompson enjoyed a sort of daily double on Pipeline Road, with great looks at an
elusive Little Tinamou, followed by a trio of Great Jacamars, 2 males and a female. The former species is always
present in the area, but really hard to find; the latter is a true rarity anywhere in central Panamá, and I can't recall another
occasion upon which more than two individuals of this species were seen.
On 3/29 Carlos Bethancourt and Terry Moore of Leica Sports Optics started the day at Tocumen Marsh, where they were successful
in locating both Spotted Rail and Paint-billed Crake, at least a day after the most recent reports of these rare species.
In the afternoon Carlos and Terry teamed up with Bill Maynard of the ABA to visit the Summit Ponds, and came up with a trio of
excellent sightings. First they found the Agami Heron that has been lingering for the last few weeks, and then a Pale-eyed
Pygmy-Tyrant, a very good find in the area. To top things off they viewed the previously-discovered nesting Rufous Nightjar;
this very localized caprimulgid is most easily found in the region before dawn near the entrance of Pipeline Road,
and I am unaware of previous records of nesting around Summit Ponds and Old Gamboa Road.
I recieved some nice photos and very general reports from Marcus Martin of New Mexico, who visited El Valle de Anton and Altos del Maria in March.
Marcus found the Wedge-billed Woodcreeper pictured above at left in La Mesa on 3/29; this species is quite rare
in the area, although sightings seem to have increased in recent months.
On the same day Marcus was fortunate enough to find a Barred Forest-Falcon, a good bird anywhere in Panamá. On the Cara Iguana Trail
outside El Valle on 3/28 Marcus found and photographed a Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher, here at the
highest elevation in its range.
Also noteworthy was his sighting of a Rusty-margined Flycatcher (pictured at right) in El Valle; any sighting of this species
west of the Canal area is noteworthy, although it seems to be enjoying a range expansion, as reports from central-western Panamá
have been on the rise in recent years. This photo is not quite conclusive in terms of identifying the species, but the very dark
lores and barely-visible rusty margins of the primaries seem to confirm Marcus' diagnosis.
