Xenornis

And speaking of spoonbills, Howard Laidlaw and Margot Ramos found a bunch in Aguadulce on September 21. But birds of the day were 2 American Avocets  on the last ponds on the west side of the road before reaching the beach. Also present  amongst the multitude of shorebirds were 6 Wilson’s Phalaropes.

These are a male and female nonbreeding plumage American Avocets found around the mudflats at Panamá la Vieja behind the museum on November 12. The female has a more upturned bill than male.

Venicio Wilson found a flock of eight American Avocets at Salinas de Aguadulce on May 15. These are different birds from the ones at Costa del Este, which are still hanging around.

Gwen Keller went shorebirding at Costa del Este yesterday afternoon and as the tide was coming in she spotted maybe 30+ Marbled Godwits, 9 American Avocets , some with rufous plumage, and a number of short billed dowitchers among the usual cast of characters.

And, as promised, here are better photos of the  American Avocets at Costa del Este by Osvaldo Quintero. Justo Camargo went looking for them yesterday afternoon and he reports seeing at least eight individuals. Avocets are a rare winter visitor to Panama, and this is the first record of a flock. Have you gone looking for them yet?

While on a routine visit to Costa del Este this morning, Dr. Osvaldo Quintero discovered not one or two, but four American Avocets at the mouth of Río Matías Hernández. He checked a while ago and they are still in the area, so if any of you need this extremely rare winter visitor to Panama, go for it. Better photos to come, for sure.

Venicio Wilson and Rosabel & Karl Kaufmann found this adult American Avocet in Juan Díaz on the late afternoon of Friday, September 10. The bird was on the future antenna field next to the future water treatment plant. Later that afternoon, the group found this Lesser Black-backed Gull at the future Santa Maria Golf & Country Club. Quoth Rosabel about the site: Ambos sitios estaban cubiertos por vegetación (el primero por manglares, el 2do por herbazales inundables). Al remover la capa vegetal los dos sitios se han convertido en áreas cenagosas, BUENISIMAS para observar playeros, gaviotas y otras aves acuáticas. En los 90 fue Costa del Este, en los 10 es Juan Díaz. Esto es como el nuevo mini Costa del Este. Se espera que se convierta en la nueva atracción de los pajaremos para los meses por venir... El lado negativo: hay camiones pasando cada 5 minutos y levantan polvo que da miedo, además de que es peligroso parquearse en la carretera por el alto tráfico de equipo pesado.

Was seen this morning at 9 am. Drive out towards Punta Chame for 12.8 km and walk the dirt road to the right towards the abandoned shrimp ponds. The avocet was in the flock of stilts on the pond to the right. Seen by Delicia, Pedro, Camilo and Darién Montañez. Then at noon Camilo and Darién showed the place to George Angehr in exchange for a ride back to the city. The bird was still on the same pond, but flew back to the far end of the pond. The pond also had a big raft of Blue-winged Teal, a few Southern Lapwings, and a Glossy Ibis. Photos by Darién Montañez.

Alfred Raab sent in the details about the American Avocet : I discovered the Am Avocet on Thursday [March 6], seen at 9 am on the way out to Punta Chame and again at 4 pm at the same location together with about 100 Stilts. The location is about half way out between Bejuco and Punta Chame. Going out at the left are large flats for rice plantations or something else, all dried up. At this point, accross the road, is a small dirt road, go down the dirt road for less than 100 m. There are ponds on both sides of the road. The Avocet was on the left side with the Stilts. The birds are very shy, approach very slowly. The bird was also seen by my friend Peter Willi of Switzerland. I reported the bird yesterday to Ken Allaire. We'll try for it tomorrow morning, maybe afternoon too. More to come.

The Canopy Tower's Carlos Bethancourt called in with a third-hand report of an American Avocet seen in a flock of Black-necked Stilts in Punta Chame. No more details are available at this time, but assuming the stilts were on mudflats (and not on the sandy beaches more common around the point), a good place to start looking would be on the mudflats on the mangrovy side, to your left as you drive out. A number of birders happen to be driving by Chame tomorrow morning, so expect an update soon. American Avocet is a rare vagrant to Panama. This is probably the fourth record from the country, with previous sightings from 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.