Mystery cuckoo in Las Macanas

Guido Berguido sent in a report of his group's visit to Ciénaga de Las Macanas.

While leading an Advantage Tours birding group on our way back from Coiba Island last Saturday June 20th, I decided to break the drive and do a brief visit at Las Macanas wetlands. Upon our arrival we were greeted by a covey of Crested Bobwhites at the parking lot, promptly followed by views of Mouse-colored Tyrannulets, and flocks of Black-bellied Whistling-ducks, as well as a vocal Rufous-browed Peppershrike. Later we saw a pair of Pale-eyed Pygmy Tyrants near some Common Tody-flycatchers, and a flock of "Veraguan" Brown-throated Parakeets. While walking around the water's edge, we saw lots of Grooved-billed Anis and were fortunate to spot a roosting Striped Owl.

Towards mid-morning we decided to wrap it up. Back at the parking lot we heard a pair of Gray-necked Woodrails nearby and decided to wait under the shade to try to see them. Suddenly, a cuckoo flew in front of us and perched on a tree about 15ft. high some 30 ft. away from us. At first I thought it was just a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, but when it flew to another nearby tree I didn't notice any rufous in the primaries, and it seemed to have a much duller gray-brown. I thought it may just be a stranded young Yellow-billed... However, having heard about the possibility of the similar-looking Pearly-breasted Cuckoo in Panama, I decided to try to document the sighting. I managed to shoot a couple of pictures with a small point-and-shoot Canon Camera. What do you think ?
On the way out to the highway we stopped at some fields and found a bunch of egrets as well as 7 Glossy Ibises, Yellow-headed Vultures and a pair of Aplomado Falcons.

The cuckoo is, of course, the most interesting bit. Yellow-billed Cuckoo has never been formally recorded in Panama during the boreal summer (no records from mid-May to mid-August), although (as pointed out by Guido) there are "immature [specimens] collected in South America in [the boreal] summer." The other possibility is, of course, Pearly-breasted Cuckoo, which again has never been formally recorded in Panama. We are only aware of its existence because of a recent reevaluation of an odd cuckoo photograph from 2007. Apart from a minimal difference (and the fact that Pearly-breasted is a really rare vagrant to northern South America), the best field mark is the lack of rufous on the primaries typical of Yellow-billed Cuckoo. This is very evident in flight, but can be seen even on perched birds. According to Guido, they did not see any rufous on their cuckoo's wings:

Cuando lo estabamos viendo, yo estaba bien conciente de buscar el rufo para autenticar que en realidad era un Yellow'billed Cuckoo pero en realidad no lo vi.. incluso en el momento le dije a la gente que buscaran para ver si le veian el rufo... y entre el par que me contestó, nadie logró verle el rufo... He recibido respuesta de tres de los participantes de la excursion y ellos recuerdan que yo les pregunté si veian rufo en las alas del cuclillo y todos me confirmaron que en efecto nuestra ave NO TENIA nada de rufo en las alas !!

What do you think? Do you see any rufous on the wings? Do you have any insights that the Panama Records Committee should consider when considering this record?

Birding above Santa Fe, a report by Bill Adsett

Botanists Alicia Ibañez, Fermín Hernández and Bonarge Rodríguez and I—the lone birder—spent two days in Santa Fe. On June 18 we ascended Cerro Mariposa using the route described in Where to Find Birds in Panama. (Note: In a previous message I said that this trail probably went to Cerro Delgadito; in fact it does go to Cerro Mariposa which is separated from Delgadito by a narrow canyon). The trail was not easy—long, much overgrown, muddy, rocky and very steep in places. There were recent cat tracks—probably ocelot—and an older Baird's Tapir print. The height of this hill is not marked on the map but using our GPS reading on Google Earth it is 1,364 meters (somewhat higher than expected). Very few birds were seen, but near the top we ran into a bit of higher elevation stuff—Common Bush Tanager, Collared Redstart, Ruddy Treerunner, and Purple-throated Mountain-Gem. On the summit, there was a sizeable flock of Chestnut-collared Swifts (40 individuals or more) accompanied by some dark unmarked swifts of the same shape and size (immatures of the same species?) and a few White-collared Swifts. The summit is covered with dwarf vegetation including a bush that so far has so far only been found on the top of that one cerro—Ladenbergia nubigena.

For birding purposes, anyone going there would do better than I did by camping overnight at or near the summit.

The next day we went to Cerro Tute and revisited the Wedge-tailed Grass-Finches. A mature male was photographed—note mostly yellow beak, conspicuous eyering, yellow on wing and uniformly dull underparts.

An immature was also photographed—note no yellow on beak and wing, very narrow eyering, very yellow throat and yellow wash on underparts.

The only other noteworthy bird there was a Magenta-throated Woodstar.

Lesser Goldfinch and House Sparrow in Darién, a report by Jan Axel Cubilla

Durante la gira de la SAP a El Real (Darién oriental), observé la primera tarde que estuvimos ahi (12-jun-09) en el camino del cementerio (aka Mercadeo Road) un individuo macho adulto de Lesser Goldfinch. A pesar que la observación fue sólo unos segundos, sí pude notar todas sus partes ventrales amarillas (incluyendo la garganta) y las partes dorsales negras con puntos blancos en las alas (en las terciarias). Se encontraba a nivel de la vista sobre una espiga a unos 5 m de distancia.  El último día, cuando nos encontrábamos de regreso a desayunar y empacar, escuché el llamado de otro individuo, el cual se posó en un árbol sobre el hospital. Éste era más bien oliva, pero con las alas igual a las del adulto (¿un macho joven?. Llamó un par de veces para luego alejarse con su característico vuelo ondulado en dirección al pueblo. En esta ocasión le pude enseñar el ave a Bill Ahrens quien también la observó.
Sólo para el record, cuando paramos al regreso en Metetí para llenar el tanque, la estación de gasolina tenía varios individuos de House Sparrow.  Le tomé una foto y la subí a mi blog, en donde escribí una pequeña crónica del fieldtrip (un poco dificil de leer, pero creo que mi inglés va mejorando).

Petit Comité Pelagic

Mike Mulligan and Darién Montañez spent the morning of June 20 out beyond Islas Frailes hoping a pelagic bird or two would approach. A gorgeous, non-glary day with still waters and no wind provided excellent conditions, and allowed us to see floating shearwaters from far, far away. We must have had about 15 Galápagos Shearwater sightings, some floating obliviously about two meters away from our boat, but most flying around (we like to think attracted to our meager chumming efforts). The ones that definitely (perhaps) came in to our canned-tuna slick were the Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels, of which we had about 30 different sightings throughout the morning. We also had a Pomarine Jaeger fly by, paying no attention whatsoever to us. No other species of shearwater, storm-petrel, or jaeger were seen.
Islas Frailes themselves were, as reported by our captain, full of birds. Two to three hundred Bridled Terns, about one hundred Sooty Terns, and about three hundred Brown Noddies stood in every nook and cranny, but we also had about fifty each Blue-footed and Brown Boobies.

PAS fieldtrip to El Real, Darién

A group of hardy Panama Auduboners spent last weekend braving weather and lodging and birding around El Real, Darién. After waking up at an ungodly hour on June 12 we made a quick stop at the bridge over Río Mono in the Bayano, where we heard a Barred Puffbird and nothing more. The Pan-American Highway is in excellent condition, and most of the 260 km from the Riande Hotel to Yaviza are freshly-asphalted, thus making it a pleasant four-hour drive. A stop at the marsh just out of Yaviza that had Large-billed Seed-Finches last November was also futile. After a quick lunch at the always-sweltering Yaviza we hopped on our boat and headed for El Real under a light drizzle. Ten minutes later we were being pounded by the heaviest of rains, that didn't stop until we walked into our hotel. During a lull in the storm, about halfway from Yaviza to the point where the Chucunaque River meets the Tuira River, Jan Axel Cubilla looked up from under his raincoat and saw a Black-collared Hawk. Not to be outdone, Guido Berguido's Advantage Tours group saw two of these while making their way from Yaviza to El Real later that day.
After settling down at humble Hotel Nazareno, most of the group walked out to the airstrip in search of Darién lowland specialties. The flooded field to the left of the road to the airstrip had a single male Yellow-hooded Blackbird (the only one seen during our stay). When spotted by Jan Axel, the blackbird was perched on the far side of the field, but that did not stop two birders in wellington boots from taking a closer look. The airstrip itself had two or three male Large-billed Seed-Finches singing from exposed perches, many Plain-breasted Ground-Doves (perhaps first records for Darién), a number of heard, unseen Gray-breasted Crakes, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture (perhaps second record for Darién, first for El Real), and a voice-only Bran-colored Flycatcher. Then we went to the cemetery, where we had another voice-only bran-colored, Spot-crowned Barbet, Orange-crowned Oriole, a flock of Spectacled Parrotlets feeding at a Cecropia patch, and a male Lesser Goldfinch (perhaps first record for Darién). At dinner that evening we were serenaded by the calls of a Limpkin, locally known as la escandalosa, "a brownish kind of heron".
After a stormy night (metaphorically speaking) we hopped onto the car graciously arranged by Advantage Tours for our thirty-minute drive to Pirre 1, en route to Rancho Frío and the forests of Darién National Park. Fourteen years ago, this was a six-hour walk—and that was when the road was not as mucky as the one we tried to walk last November—but, again, this road is now in excellent conditions. Before we headed out we met Guido's group, which had the first of many Yellow-breasted Flycatchers, and then on the way we saw Crane Hawk and Laughing Falcon. Before hitting the trail we stopped to study a pair of Pied Puffbirds working a nest hole from a termite nest a few centimeters from the ground (and about a meter from the road) and a Red-rumped Woodpecker. A pair of mystery parrots that flew in the mist overhead might have been part of the two flocks of Saffron-headeds that Guido saw two weeks ago, but nobody got good enough looks to call them out.
The first half of the trail was full of puddles and devoid of birds, with a few notable exceptions: more orioles and barbets, plus a small flock of Yellow-backed Tanagers. Things got even more quiet once we entered the forest: the only thing that springs to mind was a male Green-crowned Woodnymph (plus a ten-minute dip in the Río Peresénico). We walked back to the road, had our lunches, and hopped back in the car for our ride back to El Real. Again we stopped when we met Guido's group, which at this time was taking naps and tending to their lists. The highlight of their day had been a Harpy Eagle carrying off a sloth, perhaps to a nest. Then we walked back to the airstrip, where we had more seed-finches, two Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures, and a pair of Donacobius (courtesy of Guido).
Our last morning in El Real was spent on the road to Pinogana, which was also in prime condition. Not much of note: female Black Antshrike, Black Oropendola, Yellow-breasted Flycatcher, Laughing Falcon... same old, same old. We returned to town for a hearty late breakfast, packed our bags and hopped on our boat back to Yaviza. Thankfully, this time the light drizzle remained a drizzle.

Nesting American Swallow-tailed Kites

Osvaldo Quintero shares these photos of two American Swallow-tailed Kite nests (both with chicks) taken on June 12 and 14 in Las Nubes, Cerro Azul. The group of observers included Jan Axel Cubilla and Gloriela Archibold, Osvaldo Quintero, junior and Rafael Luck.

Mystery cuckoo, revisited

Stop the presses! Sometime in June 2007, José Carlos García photographed this cuckoo near Río Mono on the Bayano. It was originally reported as a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, which would have no business in Panama during the boreal summer, but as it clearly was neither Dwarf, Dark-billed or Gray-capped Cuckoo, the three species of South-American vagrants previously recorded in Panama, the local consensus was that it was safer to call it a Mangrove Cuckoo and move on.

Two years later, Pat O'Donnell chimes in with an alternate ID: Pearly-breasted Cuckoo. Quoth Pat:

Pearly-breasted Cuckoo (Coccyzus euleri) may be a better candidate for this bird. Pearly-breasted Cuckoo is an austral migrant that looks more or less like a Yellow-billed Cuckoo but with no rufous in the wings and gray eye ring instead of yellow. Although the eye ring is hard to see, there is no indication of yellow in this image. The bird in the image also shows light gray on the throat lacking the buff tones of Mangrove. Upperparts also look to be darker brown than the grayish brown of Mangrove.

Pearly-breasted Cuckoo has never been recorded in Panama, and is "very local and scarce in Colombia, Venezuela and Guianas. Presence erratic and unpredictable." Googling Pearly-breasted produces two photos, one in flickr and one at the IBC, both showing what basically looks like a Yellow-billed.

Discuss.

Black-collared Hawk and more in the Bayano

Sunday's PAS fieldtrip to the Bayano was an utter success by all counts. The crowd amounted to thirty participants, yet we didn't have any casualties. And if that weren't miracle enough, we saw many a good bird, and lifers for everyone. A first stop at the Bayano bridge produced the first of maaaany Cocoi Herons, a Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Pied Water-Tyrant and great looks at a pair of Jet Antbirds. But the fun really started at the Río Mono bridge. Not five minutes after our horde arrived, Rosabel Miró spotted a raptor with a bright rufous back perched looking the other way in a distant tree. The head was buffy, whiter on the crown, and if you squinted you could even imagine some black in the chest. The back had sparse black streaking, and there was a slight dark eyeline, reminiscent of Yellow-headed Caracara. Even though the bird flew away before everybody saw it, we had no doubt we had a Black-collared Hawk (especially after seeing the better plate in Garrigues). Luckily, it didn't go far, and it was re-spotted perched in a cuipo tree a little bit up the road, where it posed for ten or fifteen minutes. Photo on top, Björn Anderson; below, Rosabel Miró, Karl Kaufmann.

Later on, a male Hook-billed Kite soared above us for a minute or two (photo, Björn Anderson), while a Barred Puffbird whistled unseen paying no attention to the looming rain clouds. White-eared Conebills made brief, distant appearances, but the group walked on to a nearby trail for some interior forest birding.

The trail was quiet and muddy, but we found a single male Black Antshrike (photo, Björn Anderson) among the dozen or so Western Slaty-Antshrikes of both genders. A while later the rain finally convinced us to head back to the cars.

Most of the group called it a day, but the insane ones made one last stop at the Río Mono bridge, for even better looks at Conebill (two males and three or so females out on some open trees just above eye level). Just as we were about to call it a day for good, Jacobo Ortega arrived and magically produced the Barred Puffbird that had been whistling at us all morning (photo, Rosabel Miró). Exhausted and finally satisfied, we headed home. Jacobo soldiered on, and later saw a pair of Orange-crowned Orioles.

Pygmy Kingfisher at Ammo Dump Ponds, a report by Carlos Bethancourt

I just wanted to share this pic of American Pygmy-Kingfisher that was observed by me and a group of birders from Oregon. The interesting thing is that this beautiful bird was around for about an hour and constantly feeding, taking the food away and coming back to three different spots over the water at Ammo Ponds. I could say that it probably has a nest nearby, but I couldn't work a lot on this bird since there was a lot going on at Ammo ponds....
We also got great views of male and female Olivaceous Piculet, Yellow-tailed Oriole, Southern Lapwing, Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet, Scrub Greenlet, Immature Rufescent Tiger-Heron, Great Blue Heron, Striated Heron, White-throated Crake etc... It was a nonstop birding afternoon...

Gulling Costa del Este

Björn Anderson visited Costa del Este on Saturday afternoon. A first year American Herring Gull and 15 Black Skimmers were present. Alas, no Kelp Gull.