Xenornis

Report by Jan Axel Cubilla Photographs by Rafael Luck Date: October 25th, 2014. Participants: George Angehr, Rafael Luck, Euclides Campos and Jan Axel Cubilla (plus captain Jeff Hopkins and crew member “Lito”) We departed at 6:30 am from El Arenal beach, close to the town of Pedasi aboard a 30 ft sport fishing boat and headed directly to the south. Our intention was to chum a mixture of fish oil (kindly donated by Fulo Motta and Laly Vallarino) and bait plus popcorn at two different seamounts (at N 7º 14’ 52.0’’, W -80º 1’ 0.2’’ and 7º 18’ 31.7’’, W -79º 39’ 43.1’’, this last one surrounded by 1000-meter depths). We planned a 8-hours long trip, spending at least one hour at each seamount. The top speed of the boat was 12 nm, and we reached the farthest point from land at 27 nm approximately. In total, we recorded 19 species (plus three taxa), including eight tubenoses (petrels, shearwaters and storm-petrels), five jaegers and terns, and three suliformes (frigatebirds and boobi...

First, for context, a colored bathymetric map of Panama. Zooming in, a simplified diagram showing the 200, 1000, 2000 and 3000 meter isobaths. Zooming in further, the Google Earth image showing two notable points of our September 11 deep water pelagic trip : our stops that produced Tahiti Petrel and Wedge-tailed Shearwater . These stops were not serendipitous, but were carefully planned atop seamounts, underwater mountains. The most productive one, 45 km east-southeast of Punta Mala, has its summit at 91 meters deep, but is surrounded by 1000-meter depths. The Wilson's and Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels were seen about halfway to that spot, maybe at 300 m depths. We suspect the other mound, with a 37-meter deep summit was not in deep enough waters (around 500 m). There is a third seamount, about 45 km west-southwest of Punta Mala, also at the 1000 m isobath, that remains unexplored. Heading in that direction would allow us to swing by Islas Frailes, as a bonus. Finally, some eye cand...

On Saturday, September 11, Björn Anderson, Ken Allaire, Jan Axel Cubilla, Gonzalo Horna, Rafael Luck and Darién Montañez spent 11 hours out on the deep waters southeast of Punta Mala. The day started on a good leg at 6:30 am when the bird that was following our wake got close enough to show its white whiskers: an Inca Tern . The bird flew with us for five or so minutes, and eventually landed on the bow of our boat, where it hitched a ride for a while, allowing for great photos. Inca Terns invaded the Bay of Panama during the 1983 El Niño, and there may have been one in El Agallito during the 1998 El Niño, but has remained unreported since. At 7:10 we saw our first storm-petrels, which turned out to be Wilson's Storm-Petrel . Minutes later we saw our first first record for Panama of the day: a Band-rumped Storm-Petrel , identified by Björn based on its pointier wings and Leach's-like flight. Every other storm-petrel seen that day, and there were many, was a Wedge-rumped Storm-P...