Xenornis

On the morning of December 20, 2017, Pedro Castillo photographed this Western Kingbird at Isla Jicarón, Coiba National Park. The bird was at the forest edge in a beach on the eastern side of the south tip of the island.

Richard Cooke reports seeing a Western Kingbird yesterday afternoon at the parking lot of the STRI Marine Lab at Naos Island, on the Amador Causeway. Even without binoculars, he could see the white outer rectrices. He also noted the olive wash on the chest extending further into the belly than on the typical Tropical Kingbird. What first called his attention to the bird was its unusual behaviour: skulking in a bush.

The Canopy Tower's Carlos Bethancourt sent in these photos of a rain-soaked Western Kingbird, seen while both bird and birders braved the rainstorm of November 26 at San Lorenzo. The photos clearly show the black tail with white-edged outer rectrices typical of Westerns, but we're blaming the notched shape to feather wear and to the rain. This is only the second record of this extremely rare migratory vagrant to central Panama, the first being one seen at Chivo Chivo Road in 1988.

Coming down from El Chorogo on Saturday, april 3, 1999 two, but possibly more, Western Kingbirds were detected by Darién Montañez about halfway down the last potrero before getting to the San Bartolo River. What first called attention to them were their calls, which sounded more like those of a Gray-capped Flycatcher: a sharp, whit. When one of the birds took flight, the whitish edges on to the outer tail feathers were noticed. The birds were rather tame, allowing for close approach, as close as about two meters. There were no Tropical Kingbirds nearby, but I've seen enough to have a general impression of their shape and size. The most noticeable difference between these birds and the TK was their tails, which were black with whitish edges and just slightly notched. Their bills were shorter and thinner. The head was pale gray, paler at the throat, and this color extended down to the chest, which is olive in the TK. The yellow underparts turned paler at the undertail coverts. The bi...