Xenornis

Today our birding group observed 15 Soras in a rice field being harvested near El Rincón de Santa María. The field had a number of Savanna Hawks and Aplomado Falcons which caught 5 Soras (and a Yellow-breasted Crake ) as they flew away from the harvesting equipment. We observed the  birds and activity for 35 minutes. The  birding group members were Pete and Sue McCalmont, member Rhode Island Audbon Society, Guy and Sandra Wapple, members Nature Saskatchewan and provincial editor CBC Bird Studies Canada, Marion Schlender, active birder, and Julie and Ron Jensen, life members of Nature Saskatchewan.

[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...

Karl Kaufmann and George Angehr visited Tocumen Marsh this morning for the harvesting of the rail rice patch. Unfortunately, most of the rice was already gone by the time they arrived at the spot and so were the birds. A Yellow-breasted Crake was still around, though. And so it ends. Who knows where they all went. Hopefully we won't have to wait another 24 years for more reports of Spotted Rail or Paint-billed Crake.

Dave Klauber sent in an update on the Tocumen Marsh rail invasion. Photo by Bill Adsett. This morning [March 28] there were 5 of us who arrived separately, Bill Adsett and Mark (family used to own Tocumen) and Bill and Claudia Ahrens and me, arriving around 6:45. A Field Guides group led by John Rowlett arrived shortly after, but from talking with them they didn't see much different from what we saw. Rowlett commented on I think 6 Spotted Rails, 4 adults and 2 sub-adults. We probably had at least 4, including one or two adults and sub-adults, but no downy young, other than black downy Purple Gallinule chicks. We all had great, long views of a Yellow-breasted Crake (lifer!) and Mark may have seen one or two more. NOT seen or heard were Paint-billed or Gray-breasted Crakes. Several Soras were also seen. In the first hour or so there were only one or two, but a bit later a few came out, including at least two that were doing a strange wing shaking behavior in plain sight on the ber...

Here's another batch of Tocumen Neocrex photos taken by Jeremiah Trimble on March 9. Especially intriguing is this last photo, that seems to show a bird with both a buffy undertail and black-and-white barring on the flanks (or sides of the tail). Upon examining it, George Angehr remarked Curiouser and curiouser. The specmen I have, while very extensively barred below, has a very few buffy feathers just below the tail. The top of the crown is definitely slaty, with the brown feathers starting just at the rear end of the top of the head. Paint-billed is supposed to have the center of crown brownish, according to the Rails book. As Dodge has already pointed out, the first photos Rosabel got last week seem to show a Colombian. While th full underparts aren't visible, the area just below the tail, the thighs, and lower flanks appear to be buffy without any clear barring, although there are a few pale flecks. The crown appears to be entirely slaty. From the illustration in the Rails...

Karl Kaufmann reports. Here are some more photos taken March 15 at Tocumen. We had about 10 people this time. We spoke with the person who is leasing the property to grow rice. He said that the field on the west side of the road which had just been harvested was the dry variety of rice while that on the east side was wet rice. He plans to harvest the wet rice in April, so we have a few weeks more to see the rails. His lease runs out in 4 years, so apparently the fields will remain as rice fields at least until then. He also said that this year was the first year that he, or apparently anyone, had planted rice in October instead of December. Apparently the rice responds well to the extra sunlight available in the first part of the year. Perhaps this is related to the reason for such an unusual concentration of crakes and rails. In two more months, the young rails might be able to fly and the parents would disperse when the rice is harvested. Or maybe not. A pair of soras, showing size d...

This is what Tocumen Marsh's former rail haven looked like this morning, post harvesting and burning. The berm of plenty is now surrounded by scorched earth. Compare with the picture taken on Sunday. Luckily, the other side of the road is still lush and raily. Spotted Rails were still pretty common. Today we saw many more adults than on Sunday, but there were plenty of juveniles and chicks of all sizes present. Soras remained dirt common and we saw a few White-throated Crakes. No Gray-breasteds, though. Also we had great views of two Paint-billed Crakes sunning on the berm at the edge of the rice. These were more like the typical fieldguide illustration of an adult Paint-billed: bright salmon legs, bicolored bill, prominent black-and-white barring on the flanks and undertail. We even got to see the red eye and brown nape and crown. Also seen a couple of times (even photographed by Rosabel) was Yellow-breasted Crake, a lifer for most of the audience (which included Rosabel Miró, ...

As promised, early this morning found a group of intrepid birders (including Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann, George Angehr, Carlos Bethancourt, Jeremiah Trimble, Steve Langer and Darién and Camilo Montañez) at Tocumen Marsh, hoping for the Spotted Rails and Paint-billed Crakes seen in the area since last Friday. And o what a morning it proved to be, with six species of Rallids seen and lifers galore for everyone involved. A juvenile Spotted Rail was spotted almost immediately upon reaching the spot, which is on the road out to the beach, about 100 meters before the end of the section of road with rice fields and ditches on both sides. More interesting was the gray wing and red leg dangling out of the bill of a Great Egret, which flew off a bit but then was convinced by George to give up its booty: the third Panama specimen of Paint-billed Crake. After a few White-throated Crakes (seen by Camilo), lots of Soras and a smaller number of Spotted Rails, Rosabel called the group from a spot fu...

Sunny Phillips sent us these photos taken in early September 2005 near the entrance of Pipeline Road. We are assuming it to be a Gray-breasted Crake until proven otherwise. It looks like a gray-breasted alright; maybe a non-adult because of the non-greenish bill. I can't find any description of juvenile gray-breasteds; birds of colombia says young white-throateds have gray sides of neck and breast, which doesn't sound as dramatic as these pictures. i don't know what young paint-billeds are like, either, but i'd imagine the chestnut nape rules out this species. Although there is also chestnut on the forecrown, which shouldn't be there on gray-breasted...Any thougths? Dr. Dodge Engleman chimes in: "Juvie rails are tough. Most likely demographically of course is a youngster White-throated that isn't brown on the breast yet. But with rails it's hard to go by demographics! It looks good for a Gray-breasted to me, either the young not having the dark side of ...

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.