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.

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...

Sólo para reportar que el American Golden-Plover sigue en Veracruz, Osvaldo Quintero y yo lo encontramos junto a los Black-bellied Plovers cerca de río. También observamos un Blue-footed Booby solitario justo en la playa, aliméntandose y sobrevolando incluso sobre los bañistas y, en el extremo de la playa cercano al poblado, un Lesser Yellow-headed Vultur e el cual reporto porque no lo habia visto antes ahí. Por otro lado, esa misma mañana, en el PNM escuchamos el Slate-colored Seedeater en varios lugares (siempre cerca del bambú) y de hecho vimos y fotografiamos uno en el sendero La Cieneguita (de tal forma que persisten en el parque). En la tarde, esta vez junto a Gloriela, en Costa del Este, me llamó la atención la gran cantidad de Franklin's Gulls en el área y también vimos al menos 4 Black Skimmers que me parecen de la raza suramericana (colas grises).

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.

Osvaldo Quintero sent in these photos taken in Costa del Este on Sunday, May 3. The Kelp Gull, first seen on april 3, is still around, and the flock of Black Skimmers has grown a bit: by our count, there are 75 skimmers in the photo, and we may have missed a few.

This afternoon, Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann, George Angehr, Jan Axel Cubilla and Darién Montañez hit Costa del Este at high tide looking for the Kittiwake yet again, with no success on that front yet again. This afternoon's 16' tide pushed zillions of gulls to Costa del Este, and all we had to do was find the rare ones in the massive flock of mostly breeding-plumage Laughing Gulls. The third-cycle type Kelp Gull made a late appearance but stayed in sight for a long while, as did not one but three first-cycle Lesser Black-backed Gulls, one of which is shown here next to one of the at least three first and second-cycle Herring Gulls. Also seen were at least five first and second-cycle Ring-billed Gulls (one of which was as ratty as a Herring Gull). Also present were a bunch of cineracens Black Skimmers, a Franklin's Gull, and what proved to be a Laughing Gull with a Heermann's-like black-tipped red bill (the blurry bird inthe middle of all the Laughing Gulls behin...

Karl Kaufmann sent in some photos taken at Costa del Este last Sunday, April 14 whilst looking for Black-legged Kittiwake. The Black Skimmers photographed show the slaty-gray underwing and reduced white on the tail that betrays them for the South American race cineracens. The North American subspecies niger (check your Sibley) would show mostly-white underwings and much more white on the tail. Karl also sent better photos (as opposed to my crummy digiscoped efforts) of the third-cycle-type Kelp Gull, shown in the last two photos in front of a first-cycle-type Ring-billed Gull. Also present was this extremely-bleached Ring-billed Gull (fide tapered bill, yellowish legs, medium size), possibly another first-cycle individual. More interesting is this large first-cycle gull that our sun-tired eyes called out as a Herring while we were there, but that upon closer scrutiny Karl is calling a Lesser Black-backed Gull (and we the editor agree) based on the coarsely mottled bre...

To no avail. Rosabel Miró, Ariel Aguirre and Darién Montañez didn't get to Costa del Este until two hours after high tide, and by then not even the Kelp Gull was visible. At least two Herring Gulls an four Ring-billed Gulls were around, though, and the flock of South American Black Skimmers was up to 25 individuals.

This morning's installment of Find the Kittiwake at Costa del Este had mixed results. Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann, George Angehr, Venicio Wilson, Jan Axel Cubilla and Darién Montañez were unable to find the needle in the haystack, but had some nice consolation prizes anyway. Top on the list was a presumed Kelp Gull of mysterious age, amply photographed. The legs (whih were dull greenish yellow) were not bright enough for anything else that came to mind, but somehow the back color didn't seem black enough, and the bird had too much dusky on the face and nape. The flock had more Ring-billed and Herring Gulls than any of the participants had ever seen together at once. Also present were about a dozen Black Skimmers of the South American denomination (i.e. with little white on the tail, dark underwings and little red on the bill), a dozen or so Elegant Terns, a Caspian Tern, and a Franklin's Gull. We'll probably hit Costa del Este again tomorrow at noon, so more photos ...

Jan Axel Cubilla visited Costa del Este at high tide on February 8 with Osvaldo Quintero, who photographed the group of Black Skimmers that has been haunting the area. On the 12th, Jan Axel returned and found at least four Herring Gulls, a Ring-billed Gull and a Franklin's Gull as well as the skimmers among the hundreds of gulls, and some Red Knots among the hundreds of shorebirds present. Then on February 17 Itzel Fong visited Costa del Este, where she photographed the skimmers and a handful of Marbled Godwits.

This flock of Black Skimmers (part of a flock of 12) was photographed by Karl Kaufmann this afternoon, whilst shorebirding Costa del Este with Brian Watts and Bart Paxton from the College of William and Mary, George Angehr, and Rosabel Miró. Also seen in the area was Long-billed Curlew, which seems to be a yearly visitor to the upper bay of Panama.

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

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.

Four Elegant Terns were seen a low tide at Amador. Also present were a few Black Skimmers and Franklin's Gulls .