Xenornis

Delicia and Darién Montañez picked out three different Forster's Terns from the tern flock at Playa El Agallito, Chitré. Also in the flock were about six Caspian Terns.

José Tejada photographed this American Golden-Plover at Costa del Este. He has also been seeing a Long-billed Curlew there regularly since August 29. Both birds have been seen both in the exposed mudflats at low tide, and in the grass fields.

We have second-hand reports that José Tejada saw (for the second day in a row) a Ruff at Costa del Este. A Montañez-Miró expedition to the site produced no results. More details to come.

Rosabel Miró and Tony Nunnery's VENT group found two Gray-hooded Gulls in the flock of Laughing Gulls. Slightly smaller and obviously paler than them, these were easily separated from the crowd by their red bills and legs. The diagnostic photographs taken allow the species to be promoted from the hypothetical bird list for Panama.

José E. Tejada saw and photographed a Nutmeg Mannikin (née Scaly-breasted Munia) feeding with a group of Variable Seedeaters in the grassy area in front of the Gamboa Ammo Dump.

On may 04, 2003, the group of Jose Tejada, Ariel Aguirre and Luis Paz saw a Black Banded woodcreeper while walking halfway the gravel road of the continental divide north of Fortuna. I (Jose Tejada) estimate we were already in bocas when we saw the bird. It flew across the road and landed in a low tree about 4 m. from the ground. The bird reminded us a barred woodcreeper but had a lot of buffy streaking in the breast and a light brown lower breast and belly with very distinct black barring. The bird was large size and the bill reminded the cocoa woodcreeper's bill but somewhat heavier. We saw this bird for about 2 minutes with our binoculars (nikon venturer lx 8x42, zeiss victory 10x42, konus 10x42) as the bird climbed the tree inspecting the mosses.

While scanning the flock of gulls and terns at Paitilla, Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann and Delicia Montañez found a South American Tern, the first record of the species for Panama, which normally ranges down both coasts of, you guessed, South America, from southern Perú and Brazil to Patagonia. The bird, first spotted by Delicia, was the same size as a Sandwich Tern it was standing next to, but had bright red legs and a long, relatively thin reddish bill. Is this the harbinger of a new flurry of El Niño birds? Only time will tell. Later on, they had an albino Neotropic Cormorant standing among about 2,000 normal birds at Costa del Este. This bird was completely white, with yellow legs and bill. [Later analysis proved the bird to be an aberrant elegant tern: A closer examination of the South American (sic) Tern photos showed that some features of this bird, especially bill shape and size and tarsi lenght, were not right. Current consensus has it that the bird was an aberrant Elegant Tern, o...

Eduardo Amengual and Robert Dean, of the Costa Rican Birding Club, spent three weeks birding around Panama. Highlights of their trip included a Plumbeous Hawk early on March 11 on Los Caobos Trail at the Metropolitan Nature Park, a male (and possibly a female) Cinereous Becard on one of the canal maintenance roads near Madden Lake on the 17, two Palm Warblers at Fort San Lorenzo on the 18, two Violaceous Quail-Doves in the forests of Fort Sherman on the 19, a male Rufous-crested Coquette on the entrance to Chorro Macho at El Valle on the 22, two White-throated Flycatchers around the Volcán airstrip on the 24 (as well as another two around the Hotel Dos Ríos on the 25), and a Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl mobbed by a flock of birds on the Volcán-Boquete Trail on the 26.

John Rowlett and Mitch Lysinger, with a group of 10 Field Guides participants, saw and tape-recorded a singing Russet-crowned Quail-Dove (Geotrygon goldmani) on Cerro Jefe, 3100 feet, on March 22, 2003, precisely the same date 92 years later that E. A. Goldman reached the summit of Cerro Jefe/Azul. Quite fittingly, the group also saw a beautiful male Violet-capped Hummingbird (Goldmania violiceps) on Jefe the same day. Goldman’s effort was roundly celebrated. On the 17th of March the same group of birders found, tape-recorded, and obtained lovely digital photos of an Ochraceous Pewee above Guadalupe in the mountains of Chiriquí.

Paul Coopmans saw, taped and photographed a Lanceolated Monklet along the Continental Divide Trail at Fortuna.

Seems the male Rufous-crested Coquette has taken permanent residence at the Kaufmann front yard at Cerro Azul. The coquette has been consistently seen since christmas day, 2000. The photo below was taken by Joe Fuhrman, who came on a VENT tour last month.

The following acount was stolen from The FieldEditor's Report, by George Angehr, published in the January-February issue of El Tucán. The highlight of this report is a new species for Panama, Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus). The bird was discovered in a weakened condition in the sea near shore at Isla Margarita, near Colón, by Karla and Rogny Aparico and Oris Acevedo, during the Atlantic Christmas Count on 5 January 2003. The bird was taken to the Smithsonian’s Galeta Laboratory, but died the night of 8 January. The bird’s upperparts, including the sides of the rump, were blackish, and the underparts, including the throat and undertail coverts, were pure white. The wing linings also were extensively white. The dark color on the side of the face extended well below the eye. The legs and feet were mostly dark gray, but pink on the inner sides. The slender bill and overall configuration indicate a shearwater of the genus Puffinus. Among small black-and-white Puffinus species, Audu...