Xenornis

Rosabel Miró found not one or two, but three Long-billed Dowitchers at the very dry Aguadulce Salinas on May 20: one molting into breeding plumage and two still in winter plumage.

 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, ...

[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...

The Canopy Tower's Carlos Bethancourt reports a male Hooded Warbler seen today, somewhere in Metropolitan Nature Park. This seems to be a good season for hoodeds, with males seen both on the Central christmas count (beyond the telephone tower enclosure atop "Renacer" hill) and on the Atlantic count (at the former Fort Davis.) He also reports seeing a single Long-billed Dowitcher yesterday morning, in with a flock of Short-billeds on the road out to the beach at Tocumen Marsh. The Long-billed was identified mainly based on its call. Also seen there was Stilt Sandpiper.