Eye-ringed Flatbill is rather rare flycatcher of the central foothills, although
its retiring nature may render it under-observed as much as uncommon. A sight record from the area around the Canopy
Lodge by Dodge Englemann in December of 2000 was the first public report of the species from Coclé Province, although current
Canopy Lodge guide Danilo Rodriguez had observed it previously. North American Birds erroneously listed a report from the summer of
2005 as the first record for Coclé. It is still a tough find in the area. A report by a VENT tour from Altos del Maria
in December of 2005 may represent the first record for western Panamá Province. The failure of the ornithological authorities to identify
the contributions of native Panamanian birders to our understanding of this species' distribution is one of the motivating factors in my creation of this website.
UPDATE!
In early January of 2007 I experienced a remarkable sequence of good luck regarding Eye-ringed Flatbill, I observed this species on three
consecutive days at three separate locations, representing my only three sightings ever of this bird. On January 7th, 2007, Tino Sanchez and I found an Eye-ringed Flatbill
amongst an excellent mixed flock in a good piece of forest adjacent to a new road in Altos del Maria. In hindsight I seem to have captured audio of the bird's call (I was
actually trying to record a pair of Russet Antshrikes at the same location). The next day Armodio Rodriguez and I saw two separate individuals on La Zamia Trail outside El Valle (neither of us
saw both birds). And the day after that (1/9) I was hiking the higher trails on the property of the Canopy Lodge when I stopped to record
the vocalizations of a pair of birds just over my head; when I paused to identify the calling birds, I was pleased to find that they were
Eye-ringed Flatbills. Despite my great fortune on this trip, the species is still a difficult one to find in the area, and most one-time visitors to the area strike out.
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