Xenornis

 El pasado sábado 28 de enero, Osvaldo Quintero, Euclides Campos y mi persona nos dirigimos hacia Las Macanas. Entre otras cosas, encontramos un Mangrove Cuckoo , al menos seis Killdeers , ocho Caspian Terns , cuatro American Coots , cuatro Fulvous Whistling-Ducks entre los cientos de Guíchichis y una pareja (macho y hembra) de American Wigeons . Sin embargo, más importante, observamos un grupo de al menos 10 Long-billed Dowitchers  identificadas por la llamada, un "kick" enfático, nada musical que fue emitido por las aves mientras descansaban (alarmadas?), y también cuando volaron (en serie). También notamos su pecho de un gris bastante sólido y oscuro y la cola principalmente oscura, muy evidente al volar.  El mismo día, alrededor del mediodía, observamos en las salinas de Aguadulce, una fase blanca de Reddish Egret ... un inmaduro a juzgar por su pico completamente negro. Se encontraba más o menos a mitad de la calle que atraviesa las salinas, cerca de la misma, ...

On Sunday, November 28, Delicia, Pedro and Darién Montañez made a midday visit to Las Macanas Marsh. Bird of the day was a male Ring-necked Duck seen from atop the tower while foraging and diving near the floating vegetation at the lake's edge. Its head, chest and back were very dark, contrasting boldly with the very light gray sides. The usual Lesser Scaup, two rafts of 10–20 birds each, were way on the other side of the lake including a few males with their lighter backs showing no contrast with the flanks. The somewhat usual Fulvous Whistling-Ducks were heard and mixed in with the huge flock of Black-bellieds. On our way in, beyond the town of Rincón de Santa María, we had an Aplomado Falcon sunning in the middle of the gravel road, while its consort ate the last bits of a White-tipped Dove.

Jan Axel Cubilla sent in the following report of his visit to Las Macanas Marsh on February 24, with Osvaldo Quintero and Gloriela Archbold. Photos by Osvaldo Quintero: El pasado domingo 24 de febrero, mi persona, junto a Osvaldo Quintero y Gloriela Archbold, visitamos Las Macanas en busca de los patos migratorios que han sido vistos últimamente. No encontramos ningún Aythya sp., tampoco ningún Pato Calvo (American Wigeon). Aproximadamente a las 9:00 am encontramos un grupo de tres Patos Cucharas Norteños (Northern Shoveler) identificados al vuelo y luego re-localizados mientras reposaban en la vegetación espesa de la ciénaga. Se trataba de un macho adulto y dos aves en plumaje de hembra. Los observamos por unos minutos hasta que nuevamente levantaron el vuelo para unirse a un grupo de seis Cercetas Aliazules (Blue-winged Teals). De entre los cientos de Patos Silbadores Aliblancos (Black-bellied Whistling-Duck), sólo observamos dos Patos Silbadores Canelos (Fulvous Whistling-Duc...

Darién Montañez spent a week with Dale Herter and Alan Clark on a whirlwind tour of Central and Western Panama birding spots. Following, the cream of the 430-species crop. 24th: Bronzy Hermit, Black-throated Wren, Gray Catbird and Olive-crowned Yellowthroat at the Chiriquí Grande dump/oil tanks road. 25th: All three Spinetails, Ruddy Foliage-Gleaner and Worm-eating Warbler at Volcán Lakes. 27th: Anhinga, Least Bittern, Glossy Ibis, Roseate Spoonbil and singing Willow Flycatchers at Las Lajas Beach. Slaty Antwren at Santa Fe, and Fulvous Whistling-Duck at Las Macanas Marsh. 28th: Bare-crowned Antbird and Stripe-breasted Wren on Achiote Road.

On our way back from the PAS fieldtip to Santa Fe, we made a short detour to check out Las Macanas Marsh, near Santa María, and had a number of pretty good sightings. Orquídea found a juvenile Great Blue Heron, and Snail Kites were everywhere, as were Glossy Ibis. A Limpkin flushed from the vegetation near the small dock and flew to the other side of the marsh and Delicia had an even briefer look at what had to be a Masked Duck, small, brown and with white wingpatches, which flew up from the vegetation and dove down almost immediately. Among the thousands of Wattled Jacanas which were all over the place was a weird individual with what appeared to be an all-brown back (which stayed in the vegetation, ducking out of sight frequently). The red rictal lappets (the wattles) were visible thrugh the scope, but the top part of its red frontal plate was bluish white, which made this bird look even weirder. But the birds of the day were without a doubt the Fulvous Whistling-Ducks. The first sig...

The PAS fieldtrip to Las Macanas and environs got a few good birds, even though we dipped on most of the local specialities. Rosabel Miró had brief looks at a probable Yellow-breasted Crake at a small marsh in the town of Correa, where Darién Montañez had even briefer looks at a probable Least Bittern. Big numbers of Glossy Ibis were seen on both sides of the marsh, and also at Correa. Six Roseate Spoonbills were at the water's edge next to the observation tower at Las Macanas, quite close to a thightly-packed group of about four roosting Fulvous Whistling-Ducks. At the same place, a single Tree Swallow was seen among the Sand Martins flying overhead. At Playa el Agallito, some 25 Stilt Sandpipers were seen at the pond on the left side of the road, next to a female Wilson's Phalarope in breeding plumage.

The following report from Dodge Engleman was also received deviously: Karl and Rosabel took Lorna and I to Las Macanas 19th and 20th. We picked up the ANAM girl, Marina Gómez, and went out to the lake. The north end, where the tower is, yielded +/- 100 Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, with at least 5 Fulvous Whistling-Ducks being seen at one time. Seemed like more, but most seen at once was the 5. The thick-leaved shallow water vegetation was pretty obscurring and most good sights were of flying birds: all fulvous with black wings and white rump patch. a couple seen standing revealed the white scalloping on the sides. Bills and feet dark gray, but with all the immature Black-bellieds around, this wasn't a good field mark. In the south branch there was a strung out raft of 250-300 ducks viewed from less than 100 yds with the light at a 90 degree angle. I say less than 100 yds because I could have flown a wedge into them. All were Lesser Scaup with females out-numbering males about 6-1...

On their way to Pedasí for the Islas Frailes fieldtrip, Bill Porteous, Indra Candanedo, Rosabel & Karl Kaufmann and Vivian Diaz stopped at la Ciénaga de las Macanas and managed to get distant views of a few Fulvous Whistling-Ducks from the area around the observation tower. It's great knowing that a few are still there. Get them while supplies last.

Karl & Rosabel Kaufmann, Chris Rhodes and Darién Montañez visited la ciénaga de Las Macanas to look for Aplomado Falcon. An immature Snail Kite was seen perched on a low fence post right by the main road out to Chitré, about 300 meters before the entrance to Rincón de Santa María. The first Aplomado was seen on a field that was being plowed in front of the entrance to the observation tower. The field was full of. It was standing on the ground, surrounded by Cattle Egrets and Caracaras, with a recently caught morsel in its talons. A second bird was seen diving at a male Snail Kite over the ciénaga. Then a third bird was seen perched on the wires next to the interamerican highway a few kilometers past Divisa. At the marsh itself we found a flock of at least 33 Fulvous Whistling-Ducks seen together with a similar number of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. The ducks were standing on the shallow ponds near the edge of the ciénaga about 100 meters before the observation tower. They were bu...

Danny George discovered a Fulvous Whistling-Duck roosting with a small flock of the common Black-bellied Whistling Ducks at Rodman Spoil Ponds at dusk (around 5 p.m.), October 22, 1998. After learning about this, Rosabel & Karl Kaufmann and Darién & Camilo Montañez planned a quick visit to the ponds the next morning. We got there at approximately 6:15 a.m, and very soon found the bird, roosting in the small pond by the locked gate to the larger set of ponds. It was standing in the water rather away from the other ducks, preening with its back to our group. As there were many Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks of all ages present, it was easy to notice the rather evident differences between the two species. Most noticeable of all was the rich rusty cinnamon color of the bird, and the buffy-white streaks on the flanks. As it stood with its tail in our direction, it was easy to notice that the uppertail coverts were white, and the tail itself was black.The bill and legs were dark gray,...

Danny George discovered a Fulvous Whistling-Duck at Rodman Ponds. It was mixed with a flock of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks that roosts there at around 5 p.m. On Thursday, October 22, 1998, Susanne Follett and myself went to the Cocoli spoil pond (actually Velasquez dump) to complete our survey in that area for the NTT bird count. We had been there previously on Tuesday, October 20, 1998, and were returning to see if any more migrants had arrived or if we could find a few more resident species. A little before 5:00 P.M., we stopped midway along the berm on the canal side of the spoil pond, focusing our attention on a group of about 30 tree-ducks and assorted peeps, stilts, and yellowlegs. Water depth in this area was variable, but not deeper than about six inches where the wood ducks were located. After several minutes of observation, I noticed that one of the tree-ducks looked different. It was about the same size as the Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, but apart from the main group, o...