This is NOT an April fools!

Certainly NOT!  If you still want to see one of the most elusive bird of Panama, now is when!  The Neomorphus Ground-Cuckoos are the jewels of the crown for the neotropical birders.  Rare, localized and definitively impressive ground-dwelling cuckoos of the interior of humid forests, usually associated with antswarms or following herds of peccaries, having a glimpse of them is like touching gold!

Great Potoo

A pair of Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoos have been reported at the famous Pipeline Road (north of Gamboa, Colon province, central Panama) since mid-March attending an antswarm.  Pipeline is known for its long list of spectacular bird species, but it happens that the cuckoos (or I may say, the antswarm) have stayed at the same general area since then.  So I took advantage of my break at the office and headed to Pipeline. The staff at the Rainforest Discovery Center were the first to give me the instructions.  I soon find my friend Josanel Sugasti, who had not yet seen the bird today but gave me some tips to find the exact place (after showing to me the roosting Great Potoo over my head!).  The army antswarm is not by the road... you have to walk into the forest some 300 meters along a now-dry creek to find it.  I was not sure of the exact place because I was only hearing Gray-headed Tanagers.  Yes, they DO follow antswarms, but this particular antswarm was supposed to be attracting dozens of other, usually noisy, birds species.

Gray-headed Tanager

Thanks God another friend of mine came to the rescue.  Ismael "Nando" Quiroz (of Tamandúa) was guiding a group of visiting birders.  When I asked if he got THE bird, he said "Yes, only two"... and nope, he was not joking.  Nando pointed me the correct direction.  I followed his detailed instructions and soon started to hear Ocellated, Spotted and Bicolored Antbirds, among others.

Bicolored Antbird

Yes, I was in the middle of a forest at noon, standing on an army antswarm, sweating a lot due to the excitement (and the intense heat and humidity, plus the fact that I was dressed for an air-conditioned office, including shoes, didn't help either).  Just when I started to think that I needed to be on the road back to Panama City in less than an hour, then it happened.  Not one, but two Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoos were quietly catching preys that were trying to escape the furious army ants.  It doesn't matter if you had seen them before, they are simply magnificent creatures!

Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo

I'm very grateful with all the friends that helped me today.  Now you know it.  What are you waiting for to look after them?

Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo