Xenornis

Euclides Campos and Laura Reyes found this odd tern at Aguadulce salinas on September 20. The bird was with a few first-year Least Terns, but was clearly different. For one thing, it had a yellow bill (hint, hint). The gray crown and unmottled gray back on this bird show it to be an adult in basic plumage. The bill of a non-breeding Least Tern is all-black, but would be yellow and dark-tipped on a non-breeding Yellow-billed Tern, a vagrant from South America that has been recorded in Panama a few times, with records from Aguadulce and El Agallito (but has never been photographed, as far as I know). This bird's bill also seems too heavy for Least, but it lacks the dark area around the nostrils that basic-plumage Yellow-billed Terns should have (see Cotinga 15:10–13 and the identification essay on the Southeastern Caribbean Birds Photo Gallery ). So what do you think? Do we have photo documentation of Yellow-billed Tern in Panama or is this a Least Tern with a freaky bill? Do chime...

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.

94 Red Knots, which should show up in Panama any time now, were banded in Mexico earlier this year by Dr. Nigel Clark, from the British Trust for Ornithology. Each bird has a red flag with an X on it and a yellow flag with a number between 000 and 194. If you see a flagged knot, and especially if you manage to read the numbers, send us a report to playeros@panamaaudubon.org or xenornis@hotmail.com

Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann spent the afternoon shorebirding at Panamá Viejo. The mudflats between the IPAT building and the old stables had a big flock of shorebirds, and a few gulls and terns. The highlight was a Dunlin, picked out from the nearby Western Sandpipers by its larger size and differently shaped bill. The same mudflat also had a Long-billed Curlew, possibly the same bird seen there on the Christmas Bird Count. There were plenty of Whimbrels nearby for direct comparison, so picking it out was especially easy. There were large numbers of sandpipers, plovers and dowitchers, and a large flock of Surfbirds had a Red Knot molting into breeding plumage. The gulls were mostly Laughing Gulls, but there was one Ring-billed and one Herring Gull.