Xenornis

On the way back from the Annual Panama Audubon Society field trip to Santa Fé, Michael Froude and Daniel Hinckley stopped in at the salt ponds of Aguadulce. The highlight was two Roseate Spoonbills in the ponds near the beach. The birds, though of a feather, were not flocking together but rather on opposite sides of the salt farms. Other interesting birds observed and photographed were almost 200 Black Skimmers seemingly ( fide G. Angehr) of the South American race, a White-winged Dove near the first pond visited and a Zone-tailed Hawk at the beach (!). I shot many of these doves at the same place almost a year ago, so they seem to be a permanent fixture there now. Shot with my camera, of course. Rosabel Miró, Karl Kaufmann, George Angehr and Antonio Domínguez were also able to view most of these birds later in the afternoon as well as observe chicks and active nests of the very, very plentiful Black-necked Stilts.

On the morning of Sunday, September 12, still high on the post-deep-water-pelagic endorphins, Björn Anderson, Ken Allaire, Gonzalo Horna and Darién Montañez headed for El Copé in search of umbrellabird. And find it we did. After walking Sendero Los Helechos Trail, where we got Black-crowned Antpitta and Stripe-breasted Wren, we did Sendero La Rana. While waiting for a mixed flock to approach, a Bare-necked Umbrellabird was spotted sitting quietly on a branch, terribly backlit but at pretty much eye level. This bird had a full hood and some bare skin around the neck. It was soon joined by a second bird, which looked scruffier all over and was probably a younger bird. The flock eventually approached and provided a first-year female Cerulean Warbler . Later on, when we were making our way back to the visitor center, we were trying to lure in a calling White-throated Shrike-Tanager when another pair of umbrellabird showed up, this time two adult-looking birds. Light was better this time,...

El sabado 28 de agosto del 2010, cuatro miembros/colaboradores de Audubon (Kilo Campos, Jan Axel Cubilla, Gloriela Archbold y Rafael Luck) se dirigieron en la acostumbrada 4WD FJ Cruiser hacia El Copé en búsqueda del Umbrellabird y otras aves. Aquí fotos del Bare-necked Umbrellabird y Golden-olive Woodpecker de El Copé. [ Visit Jan Axel's Blog for more details]. Posteriormente visitamos las Salinas de Aguadulce y reportamos entre otros Reddish Egret , Stilt Sandpiper y una bandada de aprox. 150 Black Skimmers .

On Saturday, August 7, Claudia & Bill Ahrens, Rosabel & Karl Kaufmann, and Delicia & Darién Montañez braved the threatening skies over Pedasí and headed out for Islas Frailes. Frailes del Sur were covered in birds: about 500 Bridled Terns , including some in juvenile plumage, maybe 200 Brown Noddies, and 100 Sooty Terns , including some 25 in juvenile plumage that would often fly over our boat. Further out, and after deploying the chum, we started running into procellariids: one or two Galápagos Shearwater , a single Sooty Shearwater and a dozen Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels . Our persistence was rewarded when we approached a flock of noddies and ran into about 120 Galápagos Sheawaters sitting on the water, allowing for really close views. Of course, I completely forgot I had a camera on me. After this flock flew and floated away, we went out some more and found another similar flock, this time with about 80 Galápagos Shearwaters, similarly well-behaved. Our boatman estimated...

While in Coclé, Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann and Delicia and Darién Montañez decided to swing by Aguadulce Salinas to try for the Yellow-billed Tern seen there on September 20. Even though the tide was very high, there weren't many shorebirds anywhere, but we did find a flock of terns by the restaurant at the end of the road (Mar Nathy; great pescado frito): at least 18 Black Terns , about the same number Gull-billeds, a few Sandwiches and fewer Royals. No Least Terns nor Yellow-billed Terns were seen.

Euclides Campos and Laura Reyes found this odd tern at Aguadulce salinas on September 20. The bird was with a few first-year Least Terns, but was clearly different. For one thing, it had a yellow bill (hint, hint). The gray crown and unmottled gray back on this bird show it to be an adult in basic plumage. The bill of a non-breeding Least Tern is all-black, but would be yellow and dark-tipped on a non-breeding Yellow-billed Tern, a vagrant from South America that has been recorded in Panama a few times, with records from Aguadulce and El Agallito (but has never been photographed, as far as I know). This bird's bill also seems too heavy for Least, but it lacks the dark area around the nostrils that basic-plumage Yellow-billed Terns should have (see Cotinga 15:10–13 and the identification essay on the Southeastern Caribbean Birds Photo Gallery ). So what do you think? Do we have photo documentation of Yellow-billed Tern in Panama or is this a Least Tern with a freaky bill? Do chime...

Rosabel Miró photographed this flock of 250 Black Skimmers , the biggest any of those present could remember encountering in Panama, at the Aguadulce Salinas.

Indra Candanedo and Bill Porteous saw a single American Avocet at the Aguadulce Salinas. The bird with a group of Black-necked Stilts in the pool nearest the beach on the right hand side. It was asleep and almost completely hidden at first, and, based on its gray head, it almost got written off as a Willet, but the group of stilts moved and the Avocet woke, showing a strongly upcurved narrow black bill. The head and neck were grey, the underparts white, and the wing black with a white bar on the coverts. The legs were grey-blue.

While birding at the Aguadulce Salinas, Bill Porteous saw a flock of around 50 Black Skimmers come in at high tide and land in a shallow pool.