Xenornis

Euclides Campos and Laura Reyes saw a big flock of diving ducks at Las Ciénagas de Las Macanas today. It was made up of many females and few males of Ring-necked Duck and Lesser Scaup . Alfred Raab adds: Just for documentation. On Jan 3 2011 I saw 2 males and 4 female Ring-necked Ducks within a large group of Lesser Scaups (about 30) at Macanas. I did not report them because I could not take a picture, they were too far away.

[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...

Sólo quería compartir algunos avistamientos que Gloriela y yo hemos realizado desde el pasado fin de semana. Antes de encontrarnos con el grupo de participantes de la gira de campo de la SAP a Santa Fe, fuimos en horas de la tarde del viernes 17 de julio a las ciénegas de Las Macanas (Herrera). Sólo a destacar la presencia de al menos tres Aplomado Falcons a lo largo de la carretera nacional y otro (fotografiado) en la vía de acceso en las Macanas. El tiempo en Santa Fe no nos favoreció (mucha lluvia). Aún así pudimos llegar hasta cerca de la divisoria continental. Cerca del sitio de construcción de la nueva sede del PN Santa Fe en la carretera Alto de Piedra - Guabal (apenas en la vertiente pacífica) nos encontramos con una bandada mixta de tangaras conformada principalmente por Dusky-faced Tanagers con las cuales viajaba un sólo individuo de Ashy-throated Bush-Tanager (luego envio la documentación completa). Varios miembros del grupo pudimos observarla (inclutendo a Gloriela y ...

Osvaldo Quintero photographed this ibis in full breeding plumage at Las Macanas Marsh this morning. We are calling it a Glossy Ibis based on the dark iris and facial skin. White-faced Ibis (which has never been reported in Panama) whould have bright red eyes and facial skin, but if any of you have dissenting opinions, just let us know.

Guido Berguido sent in a report of his group's visit to Ciénaga de Las Macanas. While leading an Advantage Tours birding group on our way back from Coiba Island last Saturday June 20th, I decided to break the drive and do a brief visit at Las Macanas wetlands. Upon our arrival we were greeted by a covey of Crested Bobwhites at the parking lot, promptly followed by views of Mouse-colored Tyrannulets, and flocks of Black-bellied Whistling-ducks, as well as a vocal Rufous-browed Peppershrike. Later we saw a pair of Pale-eyed Pygmy Tyrants near some Common Tody-flycatchers, and a flock of "Veraguan" Brown-throated Parakeets. While walking around the water's edge, we saw lots of Grooved-billed Anis and were fortunate to spot a roosting Striped Owl. Towards mid-morning we decided to wrap it up. Back at the parking lot we heard a pair of Gray-necked Woodrails nearby and decided to wait under the shade to try to see them. Suddenly, a cuckoo flew in front of us and perc...

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...

Panama Audubon Society's Rosabel Miró with Ariel Aguirre taught a basic birding course at Las Macanas Marsh from November 30 to December 2 and sent in the following report: Swainson's Hawks: Los días viernes 30 de noviembre, sábado 1 de diciembre y domingo 2 de diciembre Ariel Aguirre, un grupo de estudiantes del curso de observación de aves en Las Macanas y yo observamos a eso de las 5:30 pm varios Gavilanes de Swainson, 12 individuos cada día, posados en los terrenos desmontados de la arrocera Santa Rita. De seguro habían más pero por cuestiones de tiempo no estuvimos en todos los rincones de la finca. Nuestras observaciones incluyeron individuos de diferentes fases: fase clara, fase oscura, fase rufa, juveniles y adultos típicos. Lesser Scaup: Durente la mañana del sábado 1 de diciembre se observó 1 individuo en el área de Las Garzas (Las Macanas). En la mañana del domingo 2 habían alrededor de 105 individuos (machos y hembras) en el área de la torre de observación. En la fo...

Darién Montañez and Swedish birding pal Mikael Sellin spent the morning at Ciénaga de las Macanas; saw pretty much the usual: about five Glossy Ibis, a couple thousand Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks but no fulvous, and a Mangrove Cuckoo. That afternoon we had a flock of 13 Stilt Sandpipers in the pond to the left of the street at Playa El Agallito. We also had Cinnamon Becard in the mangroves, which is supposed to be there but i had never recorded.

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...

Delicia & Darién Montañez had a fleeting view of what had to be a pair of Glossy Ibis when their bus to Chitré was passing next to the rice fields around the entrance to El Rincón de Santa María, near Ciénaga de Las Macanas. They were near a small group of assorted egrets on a shallow pond about 10 meters from the bus traveling at about 80 km/h.

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...