Xenornis

As a preface, we have these photos of the Kelp Gull reported from Costa del Este by David Uit de Weerd and Lennaert Steen on December 1 . Then we have these photos of a mystery gull seen by Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann at Panamá Viejo during yesterday's Pacific Christmas Bird Count. This is clearly a different bird, with the solid mantle and darker streaks on the head that usually signal a third or fourth year bird and (gasp) pink legs —which would rule out pretty much anything known or from Panama. What do you think? A Western Gull with uncommonly streaky face? A very lost Slaty-backed Gull? Ring-billed Gull included for comparison.

During yesterday's Pacific Christmas Bird Count, Celeste Paiva and Juan Pablo Ríos photographed this juvenile Ornate Hawk-Eagle  at Plantation Road, about 1.5 km from the entrance. They also saw an adult Plumbeous Hawk .

From monday 6 December until thursday 9 December, Gwen, Beatriz, Angel, Michael, Joe, David, Juan, Loes and myself were working in the buffer zone of Cerro Hoya National Park near Flores (on the farm of Juan Velazques—he of Azuero Parakeet fame). We were busy placing artificial nes tboxes for Great Green Macaws, a project implemented by Fundación Avifauna. During these four days in the Cerro Hoya buffer zone we saw 15 Great Green Macaws on Monday, two on Wednesday and 16 on Thursday. We also saw a group of about 12 Azuero Parakeets on Wednesday.

On November 25, Joe Lanenga and Michael Peters (two birders from Chicago) and Terry van Niekerk (birding guide from Boquete) photographed this Blue-and-gold Tanager  at 1600 meters on the Culebra trail in Boquete. It was spotted again by Terry on the Bajo Mono, near Culebra trail, on December 8. Picture was taken on the 25th of November by Michael Peters.

A male Rufous-crested Coquette visited the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center. The bird was spoted by Marcial Caisamo, who remembers seeing the bird every Dicember since the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center was open to the Public in 2008. The bird tried to feed at the hummingbird feeders but its tiny bill was not long enough to reach the sugar water.

An army ant swarm has set up its bivouac in a hollow tree in our garden at Altos Cerro Azul. This morning (Wednesday) I found two Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoos waiting around for, and then following the ant swarm. One was very wary, the other remarkably tolerant while it ran around catching prey put up by the ants. An immature Barred Forest-Falcon also turned up but did not wish to be photographed. Other birds on the swarm were not particularly interesting but they included a Rufous Motmot, Spotted and Plain-Brown Woodcreeper, Spotted and Bicolored Antbird, Red-throated Ant-Tanager (uncommon in Cerro Azul), Swainson's Thrush and Clay-colored Thrush. We used to get Pale-vented Thrushes on our ant swarms; they have now been driven out of the area by Clay-colored, no doubt due to housing development.

Michael and Christian Gernez from Sendero Panama and Venicio Wilson visited the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal to scout some birding spots. Here are the most remarkable sightings: a very tame Yellow-throated Vireo in the garden at the mechanic who fixed our flat tire in Escobal a very shy family of White-headed Wrens in El Trogon Trail, Achiote Road a Black Hawk-eagle at Gatun Dam spillway a Crested Guan in the road to Fort San Lorenzo Yellow-rumped Warbler female Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeding in the flowers at the fort a pair of Indigo Buntings The Gatun Dam spillway had 3 gates open and hundreds of gulls and terns at the spillway and at the river mouth. At both places we had a large, dark-mantled gull which I believe was a Lesser Black-backed Gull . From fort San Lorenzo we watched a tern that seemed to me like a Bridled Tern : dark gray mantle, whitish narrow collar around neck, dark crown, white forehead, black bill. Anyone going that way keep an eye in tha

Today David and I (two birders from the Netherlands) found a 3cy or 4cy Kelp Gull at Costa del Este in Panama City. The gull was on the mudflats between the bridge over the creek (end of the river mouth) and the end of Costa del Este on the most western point of Costa del Este. Description of the gull: Big gull with dark upperparts. Gull was nearly twice as big as the surrounding Laughing Gulls. (Also much bigger then the two present Ring-billed Gulls). The head of the gull was entirely white with some dark striping in the neck. The bill was also big/heavy with dark tip at the end. Base of the bill seems to be yellowish. (but distance was faraway, certainly the bill has two colours). On the breast the bird had some streaking. The gull had whitish ends of the secondaries. We saw the bird one time from the back and had two patches of white in the secondaries. Colour of the legs not noticed. Too faraway and too muddy.