Xenornis

And speaking of spoonbills, Howard Laidlaw and Margot Ramos found a bunch in Aguadulce on September 21. But birds of the day were 2 American Avocets  on the last ponds on the west side of the road before reaching the beach. Also present  amongst the multitude of shorebirds were 6 Wilson’s Phalaropes.

Cindy and Leslie Lieurance and I went on May 20 to the Finca Bayano rice farm near Chepo (Eastern Panama). Water levels are still low and water birds were sparsely distributed. Quality made up for quantity. Cindy's sharp eye located a group of 3 Wilson's Phalaropes way off in a shallow wash. There was one smart female coming into breeding plumage, while the other two were still in non-breeding plumage. This bird is rarely seen in Panama during the Fall migration and is exceedingly rare in Spring (only one previous Spring record?).  Nearby was a Pectoral Sandpiper , also rare in Spring, especially in mid-May. Leslie and I were walking a rough track through the undeveloped marsh area when a small heron flushed from a drainage ditch in front of us and landed in a clump of bushes. It turned out to be a most unusually tame Least Bittern that stayed put for several minutes just a few feet away from us. It is clearly a particularly handsome individual of the resident race ( ery...

On the morning of Sunday, September 12, still high on the post-deep-water-pelagic endorphins, Björn Anderson, Ken Allaire, Gonzalo Horna and Darién Montañez headed for El Copé in search of umbrellabird. And find it we did. After walking Sendero Los Helechos Trail, where we got Black-crowned Antpitta and Stripe-breasted Wren, we did Sendero La Rana. While waiting for a mixed flock to approach, a Bare-necked Umbrellabird was spotted sitting quietly on a branch, terribly backlit but at pretty much eye level. This bird had a full hood and some bare skin around the neck. It was soon joined by a second bird, which looked scruffier all over and was probably a younger bird. The flock eventually approached and provided a first-year female Cerulean Warbler . Later on, when we were making our way back to the visitor center, we were trying to lure in a calling White-throated Shrike-Tanager when another pair of umbrellabird showed up, this time two adult-looking birds. Light was better this time,...

El pasado viernes 3 de septiembre, junto a Osvaldo Quintero, observé en Panamá Viejo un Wilson's Phalarope en los fangales en plumaje de invierno. También una Lesser Black-backed Gull con plumaje de sub-adulto (?, lo discutí en mi blog ), la cual me parece es lo más temprano que hemos visto esta gaviota en Panamá.

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.

Bill Porteous stopped at Costa del Este this morning. Since the tide was only 12 ft, all the peeps stayed on the beach, but there were five Wilson's Phalaropes, four Stilt Sandpipers and a Buff-breasted Sandpiper by the pools at the Escuela Interamericana, and a Long-billed Curlew with the Whimbrels on the beach at the same spot.

Rosabel Miró, Bill Porteous and Darién Montañez spent the afternoon at Costa del Este hoping the 17 feet tide brought some interesting species. The pond by the Escuela Interamericana (A) had two each of Wilson's Phalarope and Stilt Sandpiper mixed in with a few hundred Dowitchers and Willets. One of the Stilt Sandpipers was still moulting into its winter plumage, as its undertail coverts had traces of black and white barring. Then we went to the other pond on the plot of land between the main road and the ditch by the mangroves (B), which was full of gulls and sandpipers. The Gray-hooded Gull was here, with its hard-to-miss red bill and legs. Its back is also lighter than that of the average Laughing Gull, turning lighter gray on the nape and off-white on the crown. All of this gives the bird a very pale appearance. The same flock had two Ring-billed Gulls and an Elegant Tern. The tern had black on the nape extending up to its crown, and just the forehead was white, and its thin cu...