Xenornis

Last sunday at least seven Blue-footed Boobies were seen flying around Punta Culebra at Naos Island. Two of them were seen perched on one of the concrete blocks just out of Amador Beach. Karl saw them on tuesday and today, too.

A first winter Herring Gull was seen at dusk (high tide) at a newly discovered roost at Costa del Este by Rafael Cortez, Jan Cubilla and three fourths of the Montañez family. The gull was noticeably larger than the Laughing (and Franklin's) Gulls it was flying with. Its breast was mottled brown and it had pink legs and a pale bill base. The back was brownish-black as were the wings, with a darker trailing edge in the secondaries. The rump was white with some dark splotches that formed a dark tail band. The Herring Gull was in a small flock of gulls, most (at least 85 of them) were Franklin's in both adult and first winter plumage. Also seen were large numbers of Black Terns and a pair of Glossy Ibis. The new roost is in a flooded grassy field located to the left of the Corredor Sur, just beyond Snipe Field.

A male Prairie Warbler was discovered at dusk in Old Gamboa Rd, in the first clearing from the Golf Club entrance, just past the first road tothe left. All its underparts were a very bright yellow with clear black streaks on the flanks. The back was dull-olive, as was the crown; we couldn't see any chestnut streaking. The wings were darker and had vague wingbars. The face pattern wasn't seen clearly, but we saw that it had a dark eye-line and a paler supercillium. We did not see it twitch itstail, and it was very active moving in and out of view among the leaves of the tree. And a few minutes later a Pale-eyed Pigmy-Tyrant came to the same tree! It was seen mainly from below, so the streaked breast was its mostvisible fieldmark. Also seen were its bright-pink legs (not an useful fieldmark) and pink base to the lower mandible. The Pale-eye was seen briefly, and it was heard calling as it flew from one twig to another.