Xenornis

As a preface, we have these photos of the Kelp Gull reported from Costa del Este by David Uit de Weerd and Lennaert Steen on December 1 . Then we have these photos of a mystery gull seen by Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann at Panamá Viejo during yesterday's Pacific Christmas Bird Count. This is clearly a different bird, with the solid mantle and darker streaks on the head that usually signal a third or fourth year bird and (gasp) pink legs —which would rule out pretty much anything known or from Panama. What do you think? A Western Gull with uncommonly streaky face? A very lost Slaty-backed Gull? Ring-billed Gull included for comparison.

Yesterday afternoon's Audubon Panama fieldtrip to Costa del Este had, as expected at this date, most of the common migratory shorebirds and gulls, some already in alternate plumage. Highlights included over 50 Black Skimmers , most of which showed the gray underwings and all-black tails of the South American subspecies cinerascens , a handful of Franklin's Gulls still in basic plumage, an alternate-plumage Ring-billed Gull , a few young Herring Gulls , a first-year Lesser Black-backed Gull and what we originally called a third-year Lesser Black-backed but are now calling a Kelp Gull . The gull in question was pretty big, with a large yellow bill that had a large black tip. The head was mostly white with dusky specks all over, merging into a dark smudge around and behind the eyes. The back was dark slaty gray with some older brown feathers in the coverts. Legs were putty-colored. No white tips on the primaries, black band across the tail. There is a size difference between Kel...

Jan Axel Cubilla photographed the Costa del Este Kelp Gull at its usual haunts, near the mouth of Río Matías Hernández, at noon on Wednesday. More details here .

False alarm, folks. The supposed Belcher's Gull at Costa del Este is but a subadult Kelp Gull . Young Kelps, of course, have black on their tails. Euclides' photo of the bird shows it to be the same size as the adult Kelp Gull next to it, and that would not be right, as the average Belcher's is smaller than a Lesser Black-backed, and the average Kelp is larger than a Herring. That made us look at the Jan Axel photos more closely (and not just out of the envy of never seeing the bird after repeated tries). The bill looks too heavy and blunt for Belcher's, which would look "sharper", but just right for Kelp Gull. The final nail in this coffin is laid by Bob Ridgely: To me this looks like a subadult Kelp Gull, and not a Belcher’s (Band-tailed). Head shape and overall jizz is off, as is the leg color; Belcher’s typically has bright yellow legs when adult, which by plumage it would have to be. Also, no one would ever consider Belcher’s a “huge” gull. But I’ll...

[The bird in question was proven to be but a subadult Kelp Gull . Apologies] Euclides Campos and Ramiro Duque visited Costa del Este today and found not only the Belcher's Gull [sic], but an adult Kelp Gull , plus the third-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull first photographed at the end of february and a Herring Gull . In the photo above, the gull in front shows a white mirror on what we presume is P10 and a white tail, which could show it to be an adult Kelp Gull, while the one in the back may show a black tail and no mirrors on the tips of the primaries, but they're roughly the same size. A Belcher's Gull should be noticeably smaller, so maybe it's another Kelp. More details to come. And now more photos, labeled for your convenience. (Belcher's Gull [sic]) (Kelp Gull) (Lesser Black-backed Gull) As a bonus, he sent this photo of an unfortunate Yellow-breasted Crak e being devoured at Las Macanas Marsh on March 3, where he also found a group of Long-billed Dowitche...

[This bird has been proven to be but a subadult Kelp Gull . Apologies] Jan Axel Cubilla uploaded the photos of the Belcher's Gull [sic] he found in Costa del Este on Sunday afternoon to his blog . What immediately caught my attention was a huge dark-backed gull standing alone in the shoreline. It was considerably larger than the Laughing Gulls and than the Ring-billed Gull present, with a bulkier shape and heavy yellow bill tipped in black, followed by red (wider in the lower mandible). Dark eye. Pale yellow(ish) legs. Head and breast completely white, with no streaking. Sides of neck, flanks, belly and upper back white with diffuse dark spots. Back and wings black... blacker in the wings and with a brownish tinge in the back (specially with the bright light). The secondaries had wide white tips. I didn't see the tail while the bird was standing. I thought first it was a Kelp Gull, but then the bird took flight, showing a white rump contrasting with the mostly dark tail! It als...

Jan Axel Cubilla visited Costa del Este for this afternoon's high high tide and found a strange gull with the thousands of Laughing Gulls just east of the bridge. Originally thought to be a Kelp Gull, when it took flight it showed a lot of black in the tail, which could mean he saw a Belcher's Gull. We'll have to wait for his photos to be sure, but it would be a good idea to visit the area tomorrow for an even higher tide at 4:26 pm. [The bird in question was proven to be but a subadult Kelp Gull . Apologies] We waited for the tide to recede and the gulls to reassemble, but could not find the one we were looking for. We did see two or three Herring Gulls , a few Ring-billeds and a young Lesser Black-backed . The beach at Panamá Viejo had two Elegant Terns and a Long-billed Curlew .

Costa del Este y'day Sunday produced the regular Kelp Gull, but also what I believe was an accompanying first year Kelp Gull. In addition one first year American Herring Gull and one probable first year Lesser Black-backed 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.

Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann, Jan Axel Cubilla and Darién Montañez spent last afternoon's high tide again braving rain and shine to scour through the flock of gulls at Costa del Este. We got there earlier this time, which gave us time for a first stop at Panamá Viejo, where we had a Lesser Black-backed Gull, a Herring Gull, a few Ring-billed Gulls, a first-cycle Forster's Tern, a diminutive Elegant Tern in front of a huge Royal Tern, a Franklin's Gull and a Laughing Gull with aberrantly-bright-red bill and legs. Photos by Rosabel Miró. Then on to Costa del Este, where we had pretty much the same as on Friday: at least five Ring-billed Gulls, at least three Herring Gulls, at least two Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and the third-cycle type Kelp Gull that has been hanging around for a week or so. Alas, no Kittiwake. Photos by Jan Axel Cubilla.

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...

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 photographed this adult Agami Heron at Pipeline Road's Río Frijolito this morning, while birding with Dr. Osvaldo Quintero. Also seen was a flock of half a dozen Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and two male Scarlet Tanagers in a Miconia, and two Brown-hooded Parrots over Quebrada Juan Grande. Later in the day he joined the team hunting for kittiwake in Costa del Este, where he photographed the Kelp Gull. Any ideas on the identity of this gull will be kindly appreciated.