Central America Were Found in Theregion Grationis at Its Lowestebb

MEXICO

FLYCATCHERSTHROUGH RioLagartos OROPENDOLAS Eye-ringedFlatbills appear to be latenesters, asone was just startingto build its nestover theV.C. road 12Jun (MG, BM, WS), anda fe- ) '--'-,• ...--'•_"",,(Cozurnel maleRoyal Flycatcher was one third through constructingher nestin samearea on same ) •'•" i '•'F" elipeC•rdlloPuerto day,with the male looking on (MG, BM,

•--•½-'3 ß • •-•% / Banco WS). A VermilionFlycatcher was in theright habitat 10 km n. of La Ceiba, L.C., w. of Ba- ",.._._...... i calar 26 Jun (BM). The distributionof the speciesin the s. part of the peninsulais not ...•_..•ß t•Chinchorro well documented. Earlymigrants included 4 NorthernParu- the estuaryat CelestQn20 Jul, meanseither porteduntil JuI.(AM). A reportof a Caribbean las at Rio Lagartos30 Jul (IN). Potentiallya that manydid not successfullynest at their Short-earedOwl, accompanied by an excellent new speciesfor the peninsula,a pair of traditionalsites within the Ria LagartosRe- photographof it preyingupon crabson the Flame-coloredTa.nagers was reportedfrom servethis year--or possiblythat the sizeof rockyshore of IslaContoy, was received 6 Jun. Central Vallarta in Q.R. 24 Jun, observed thepopulation has grown so much that there The exact date of the occurrence is still un- while they fed on the fruits of poisonwood are more non-reproducingindividuals from known,as is the nameof the photographer,(HD, LK). Actually,the firstobservation was thecolony (AD). CelestQnoften harbors non- who wasvisiting the island as a volunteerfor of a malein Dec2006 in theJardin Botfinico, breeders over the summer. the reserve.However, since a few such owls PresaMalpasu, and on twoother occasions fe- A PurpleGallinule, which may have been a showup oncein a whilein Florida,it maybe males were seen at Central Vallarta a few km residentbird rather than a migrant,was in the expectedas well on the YucatanPeninsula. to the west (LK). Unfortunately,no photo- roadsidewetland se. of Peto24 Jun, along There are two other records of Short-cared Owl graphof thebirds was taken, so it willjoin the with at least2 AmericanCoots (BM); and an- for thepeninsula, but thesubspecies or form list of hypotheticalsfor the region.A single other 10 cootswere at Celestfin10Jun (AD), hasnot yet been determined in eachcase. ad. MontezumaOropendola was still calling which may indicatethey chose to spendthe ThreeYucatan Poorwills were heard calling whileguarding young in nestat theotherwise summer in the subregion. Two Snowy at a ranchon the V.C.road predawn I2 Jun, abandonedcolony located on groundsof INI- Plovers,local residents,were on the sandbar andone was seen the next evening in samelo- FAB,just n. of Bacalar27Jun (BM,AS). at Celestfin25 Jun (AD), alongwith a single cation (MG, BM, WS). Vaux's Swift is little Forster'sTern, which is a veryunusual date knownin thes. part of thepeninsula; one was Collaborators:Alex Dzib, Henry Detwiler, for thisspecies here (AD). Twelve Least Terns seenflying over La Ceiba,L.C., nearBacalar JaneFitzgerald, Robert Ford, Manuel Grosse- were also at the same sandbar at Celest•n 28 25Jun (BM).A singleRinged Kingfisher was let, Luis Kfi, Barbara MacKinnon, Alberto Jul,where it is assumedthey nested (AD). seenat the freshwaterhole in the estuaryat Mezquita,Allan J. Mueller,Ismael Navarro, A pairof Yellow-loredParrots accompanied Celestfin 20 Jul (AD). The speciesis known WaldamarSantamaria, Ann Snook, Greg a youngfledgling high in thecanopy at kaguna to residein verylow numbersin the n. of the Wathen.• Ocom, Q.R. 13 Jun (BM, WS), and Yellow- peninsula,where habitat is adequate.A Belted billedCuckoos were back nesting at SanAnto- Kingfisherwas seen 28 Jul on the Gulf coast HOetotG6mez de Silva,Xola 314-E, 03100 M•xico, D.E, nioChel near M•rida this year. although not re- at CelestQn(AD). ([email protected]) CentralAmerica

H. Lee Jones populationsin northernSouth America.I[ Oliver Komar thissummer was any indication of suchphe- nomena,then we havetruly been missing out on greatopportunities! No fewerthan three seasonfor birds,but is it really?There speciesnew to North Americaand one new ummerare feweris observerssupposed afieldtobe because the "slow mi-• to Central America were found in theRegion grationis at its lowestebb. No onewill dis- in June. Two of the four breed in the south- pute that summeris the seasonto find that ernoceans, and the other two were from pop- occasionalaustral migrant wandering a little ulationsin nearbyColombia. Clearly, the farthernorthward than expected. And these mostspectacular was the exhaustedMagel- certainlyinclude the wealthof seabirdsthat lanic Penguinfound on a beachin E1 Sal- breedin the southernoceans. Perhaps early vador. The occurrence of the other three, summer is also an ideal time to look for birds though,could have been predicted.The dispersingnorthward from nearby "resident" moribund Greater Shearwater that was

648 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS (AP,JP). Itwas clearly distressed andwas placed ina tank of water with ice to cool it down.Despite efforts tosave it, it laterdied. It madeall the newspapers andprompted manyjokes about the irony ofa penguin traveling allthe way to El Salvador from Antarcti- cain search ofwarmer waters, only to be frozen todeath when it arrived.The reality isthat itwas probably onits last legs already. Thespecimen waspassed onto SalvaNatura, where it waslater identified (OK). The likelihood ofany penguin reaching the Northern Hemi- sphereunaided byman may always bequestioned, butan exhausted juv.washed ashore ona beach--especially ofa migratory pelagic species thathas tomed up as far afield as Australia,ne.Brazil, and Peru--stands asgood achance asany of reaching ElSalvador on itsown. Furthermore, therecord coincides with La Nifia climatic event, in which the cold Humboldtcurrent extended northward atleast as far as the Galapagos islands. Thisrecord represents thefirst for North America, butHumboldt Penguin hasalso been recordedinAlaska, British Columbia, andWashington (seeNorth American Birds 56: 402- [] Thisstarving juvenile Magellanic Penguin found on the beach in Ahuachapan department, El 408),where records have been presumed tobe of escaped former captives (see also Wilson Salvador,7 June 2007, died of exhaustion later that day. It washatched just four months or so ,•ulletin119: 284-288). earlierin southern Chile. Did it movenorthward onLa Nifia currents, ordid it arriveby ship in ElSalvador? Wemay never know, but other swimming spedes such as sea lions regularly pickedup ona beachin CostaRica is of a speciescommon in summer makethe trip from the Gah•pagos to El Salvador. Photo•iraph bygodo Jutirez. in theNorth Atlantic, albeit one rarely seen in the Caribbean,and the smallgroup of Large-billedSeed-Finches and Yellow-hoodedBlack- birdsfound in easternPanama were only a fewdozen kilometers from knownpopulations in Colombiaand may be froma previouslyunde- tectedlocal breeding population. Intriguing also was a June American Kestrelin thesame Panama location that was likely a subspecies(per- hapsFalco sparverius aequatorialis) from nearby resident populations in Colombia.This species was documented breeding in Panamalast year.Finally, and not to be ignoredamong the austral visitors, were a Wilson'sStorm-Petrel in Belizeand a Large-billedTern in CostaRica, onlythe secondever recorded in thatcountry and the thirdrecorded in Central America north of Panama. So, whoever said summer is the seasonof the doldrums(avifaunally speaking) should consider ex- ploringthe margins of CentralAmerica in June and July--that is, eastern Panama and the shorelines and nearshore waters of the western Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

TheEl Salvador penguins bill structure, and the light gray band across both maxilla and PENGUINSTHROUGH BOOBIES mandible,confirmed itsidentificaUon asMagellanic Penguin. Photo9rapbbyRocioJuarez. Thecount of at least30 Black-belliedWhistling-Ducks at E1Real Air- port, Darien15-18 Jun (GA, RD) exemplifiesthe species'increase throughoutPanama in recentyears. Providing the firstrecord for Co- cos Is., 520 km sw. of mainland Costa Rica, was a male American Wigeonseen 15 Jun (ph. FL). In Guatemala,an OcellatedQuail was heard5 kme. of SanPedro Carchfi, Alta Verapaz 29 Jul, the samesite asa pairfound in Apr,and another was heard 3 km farthere. thesame day(both KE). Although probably common in thePacific Ocean off n. Central America, Pink-footedShearwater had never been confirmed for Guatemalauntil thissummer, when one was photographed off Su- chitepequez7 Jun (ph. PV,VD). On the otherhand, a GreaterShear- waterfound in moribundcondition on the beach at Tortuguero,Lim6n 29Jun(DL) maybe the firstdocumented in CentralAmerica. After liv- ing twodays in captivity,it diedand was deposited in the collectionat Universityof CostaRica. Although a relativelycommon migrant in the n. AtlanticOcean, it is rarelyreported in the Caribbean.Many years Thepale gray throat and cheek, narrowly bordered inwhite, are features diagnostic ofjuve- ago,a skeletonidentified as this species washed up on the beach at Tor- nileMagellanic Penguin. These features were not dearly evident on the emadated bird until tuguero,but the remainswere not preserved,and evenif correctly it wasprepared asa studyskin (shown here). Photograph byVl•dlen Henr[quez. identified,it cannotbe known if it reachedCentral Americawaters alive. Another first for Be- noteworthywas a Nazca Boobyseen in lizewas established 4Jul in Belizewhen JU closelyobserved a Wilson's Storm-Petrel "dancing" Guatemala about 54 km off the coast of Su- at thesurface of the waterjust beyondthe surfat Placentia,Stann Creek. As with the Greater chitepequez7 Jun (PV,ph. VD). Thisspecies Shearwater,this speciesis rarelyreported in the Caribbean.Much lessrare but nevertheless hasbeen reported in Guatemalaon several oc-

VOLUME 61 (2007) NUMBER 4 649 CENTRALAMERICA

(D&LE, JOet al.). were noted 13 Jun at BocaRio Marina,Limdn Of interest was a male American (DW). Black Skimmersfound in summerin s. Kestrelseen at El Real, Darien 16- Central America could be one of the sub- 18 Jun (GA, RD, KEa, DJ, RH, speciesfrom South America, rather than mi- HAM). Evidence exists for Ameri- grantsfrom the north.Corroborating the re- can Kestrelbreeding in Panama centlydocumented range extension of Red- sinceat least 1995, and in 2006, a billed Pigeonon the Caribbeanslope of nest was found. This individual, Guatemala,2 werein theRio ChixoyValley 4 and others that have been seen km s. of SanCristOhal Verapaz, Alta Verapaz well, had an unspottedbreast and 10 Jul (KE, CA). Also in a locationwhere the lacked the brown crown spot of specieshad not beenrecorded previously, a northernmigrants, consistent with pair of Plain-breastedGround-Doves, one of thatof theresident subspecies from manyopen-country species that have benefit- Colombia,aequatorialis. Also pro- ed fromdeforestation in the Region,was at vidingan out-of-seasonrecord for Chiquibul,Alta Verapaz8 Jul (KE). In Costa the Regionwas a PeregrineFalcon Rica,well-birded Arenal Observatory in Ala- Althougha widespread spedes on the North American continent, this at E1 lmposibleN.P. 4 Jun (OK). juelarecorded its firstViolaceous Quail-Dove AmericanWigeon photographed on15 June 2007 provided the first docu- Ihis specieswas reportedlyex- 22 Jul (LC). Thisis typicalfor thisspecies in mentedfor Cocos Island in the PacificOcean, 520 kilometers southwest of hibitingpossible breeding behavior the Caribbean lowlands and foothills where it mainlandCosta Rica. Photograph byFelipe L6pez. at thissite in May (seespring re- simplyappears for a while at a locationand castenspreviously and may occurmore fre- port),but latersearches through the summer thendisappears. quentlythan the few records indicate. periodwere unsuccessful and could not con- In E1 Salvador,a PacificParakeet paired firm breeding.Apparently summering in n. with a Red-throated Parakeet were at a breed- PELICANSTHROUGH TERNS Belizewere 4 Black-belliedPlovers 30Jun and ing siteat SanFelipe La Joya, San Vicente 1 In our continuingeffort to reportall inland 2 and 8 GreaterYellowlegs on 10 & 30 Jun, Jun (ph. RIP). The taxonomicstatus of these occurrencesof Brown Pelican in theRegion in respectively,on mudflatsin thehe. cornerof two formshas been debated for manyyears orderto ascertaina seasonalpattern, if any, ShipsternLagoon, Comzai (NB, CG). Ihe (theyare currentlyconsidered to be separate we notethat 13 wereseen flying over Rocja muchrarer Long-billed Curlew also occasion- speciesby the AmericanOrnithologists' Pomtila,8 km so.of LagunaLachua, Alta Ver- allysummers in theRegion. One seen 3 Julat Union, with the red-throatedform treatedas apaz,on 21Jul (EC), and2 juvs.were seen at the mouthof the Rio Lempa,Usulutdn (ph. a subspeciesof GreenParakeet). An Oilbird L. Aftdan,Solold 30 Jun(JFH). The species is RIP) establishedE1 Salvador's first Jul record. seenat CerroJefe, Chagres N.E, Panamd27 only occasionallyseen at theselocations in A Large-billedIern, the 2nd recordedin Jul (AG, CAg, EuC) was the 2nd reported Guatemala.In e. Panama,a LeastBittern at E1 Costa Rica and one of the few ever recorded from the areaand one of only a few from RealAirport 18 Jun (GA, RD) providedthe in Central America, was at Boca Rio Marina, Panama.Providing the first confirmedevi- first record for Darien; in Guatemala,a Black- between LimOn and Ior- crownedNight-Heron at Los TarralesRe- tuguero,13 Jun (DW). Ihe serve,Suchitepequez 28Jun (EG, ph. JLL) pro- first was recorded at Tor- videdthe firstrecord for thereserve; and ap- tugueroin Mar 2003. In E1 proximately6 Boat-billedHerons on Isla de Salvador,Gull-billed Terns '' Coiha23 Jun (D&LE,JOet al.) providedthe were presentin larger num- firstrecord for thislarge island off the Pacific bers than usual this summer: 6 coast of Panama. were at La UniOn 30 Jun An imm.and 7 ad. KingVultures observed (RMa), one was at Rio Jiboa, 25 km n. of Uaxactfin1 Jun (MC, JM) wasa La Paz 29 Jun, and another higherthan expected number for thisuncom- was at the same site 30 Jul mon speciesin Guatemala'sPeten; a Hook- (both TJ). Unusual in mid- Thestatus of many pelagic seabirds, even common spedes, isstill poorly docu- billedKite at E1Imposible N.E, Ahuachapdn7 summerin Belizewere single mentedin the eastern Pacific Ocean. The globally threatened Pink-fooLed Shear- Jun (CF) was noteworthyfor this rarelyre- Black Terns in the he. corner water,probably a regular non-breeding visitor along the Padtic coast of Central portedspecies in E1 Salvador.Two fledgling of ShipsternLagoon 19 & 26 Amerkain the austral winter, was finally confirmed forGuatemala bythis photo- White-breastedHawks seen perched near their Jun (NB, CG). Occasional graph,taken 7 June2007 offSuchitepaquez department. Individuals were also nestin Sanimtaca,Alta Verapaz28 Jun (EPC) summering Elegant Terns observed6 June off Esculnfia department, 7 June off Retalhuleu, and 25 June off SantaRosa department. Photograph byPilaf Veldsquez. providedthe first nesting record for this Sharp- havebeen reported in El Sal- shinnedHawk "semispecies" in the Sacranix vador,but a groupestimated at between30 doneeof breedingin E1Salvador, five White- Mrs.of Guatemala.Ajuv. Barred Forest-Falcon and 40 at PlayaEl Maculis,La UniOn22 Jun collared Swift nests were discovered behind a seen13 Jul in LosTarrales Reserve (ph. JLL) (AM) was an unusuallyhigh numberfor a waterfallat Municipiode SantoDomingo de providedthe first recordfor the reserve,the speciesthat is usuallyonly presentin large Guzmfin,Sansonate 17 Jul (ph. CE JE IV,JJ, 2nd for Atifian Volcano(the first was recorded numbersduring fall migration. ST). At the samesite, several groups of 2-5 lastApr), and the first suggestion of nesting on LesserSwallow-tailed Swifts were seen daily theGuatemalan Pacific slope. In Panama,an- SKIMMERSTHROUGH MONKLET by thesame observers 17-19Jul. This species other first for lsla de Coiba was a rufous- Veryrare in summerin CostaRica, especially is rarelyreported in El Salvador.Rarely re- morphad. Collared Forest-Falcon seen 23 Jun on the Caribbean coast, 2 Black Skimmers portedin Guatemala,a GreatSwallow-tailed

650 NORTH AMERICAN BIRI) S CENTRALAMERICA

Swiftwas seen flying over the Rio Chixoy Val- Yellow-billedCotinga seen in mangroves12 ley 4 km s. of SanCristObal Verapaz 10 Jul km se.of Pedregal(s. of David),Chiriqui 26 (ph.KE, CA). Jul (GB)was the firstreported from the area A Wedge4ailedSabrewing at The Lodgeat since 1901. A Barn Swallowin Punta Gorda, BigFalls, Toledo 10Jun (LJ) was at a lowland Belizeon 11Jun (LJ)was completely out of localityin s. Belizewhere it had not been season.Exceptionally carly but not out of sea- recordedpreviously And in Guatemala,Ele- son was a Yellow-throated Warbler seen 2 km se. of Sarteneja30 Jun (NB, CG). Althoughthis species,consistently the earliestarriving fall migrant warbler in the Re- gion, typicallyappears in the 2nd week of Jul, this Jun recordprecedes the previousearliest record for Belizeby eight days.An- otherearly fall warbler was a male Black-and-white Warbler,still in breeding 1•epresence ofseveral singing males of the Large-billed plumage,seen in SanJos•, Seed-FinchinDarien, Panama--the first for the country-- Costa Rica 15 Jul (CW). suggeststhat this species isprobably resident inNorth Veryrare in the Caribbean was this Greater Shearwater, found moribund atTortuguero The speciestypically ar- America.1•ese birds were first found on 15 (here16) June NationalPark, Costa Rica, on 29 June 2007.1•is is the first documented record of the rivesin the regionthe lat- 2007,at a sitejust 100 km from the nearest known range in Colombia.Photograph byKevin Easier. spec'msforCosta Rica, although the species was reported once previously atthe same terpart of Jul. site.Photograph Daryl Loth. Threesinging male Slaty Knut Eisermann(Guatemala), Dodge and gantTrogon was recorded for thefirst time in Finchesat Monteverde25 Jul (CS) nowjoin Lorna Engleman,Jesse Fagan, Carlos Funes, theRio Chixoy Valley this summer when a fe- Peg-billedFinch as the 2nd bamboo nomad to EverildaGarcia, Camilla G6mez, Alexis Gue- malewas seen on 10Jul (at. KE, CA). Thirteen arrivethis yearin this popularCosta Rican vara, Juan FernandoHernandez, Ron Hoff, dayslater, a malewas seen and 2 moreindi- destinationto takeadvantage of an extensive RicardoIbarra Portillo, Tom Jenner (El Sal- vidnalswere heard calling in the samefrag- bamboofruiting episode. At only 400 m above vador),Jorge Jim•nez, Lee Jones (Belize), mentof pine-oakforest. These records suggest sealevel, a RustySparrow at Hun Nal Ye Re- DevJoslin, Oliver Komar,Josu• de Le6n Lux, a smalllocal population 50 km nw. of the serve,Alta Verapaz15 Jul (KE, CA) wasat a FelipeL6pez, Daryl Loth, RomainMartin nearestknown population in thearid Motagua lowerelevation than expected for thispart of (RMa), Olmedo Mir6, RosabelMir6, Alvaro Valley.In Costa Rica, a Turquoise-browed Guatemala.Spot-breasted Orioles were seen at Mois6s,Jos• Moreira,Holly Ann Myers,Ja- Motmot at Manuel Antonio (the town next to two new locationsin Alta Verapazthis sum- coboOrtega, Alcides P•rez, Juan P•rez, Efrain Queposbut not theN.P) on 2 Jul (AA)was mer:2 in theRio Chixoy Valley 24Jul and one Pop Chub, C•sar Sanchez,Sofia Trujillo, veryfar south.This species is seldomseen s. at Sataria,14 km n. of Cob•n,28Jul (both KE, JonathanUrbina, lselda Vega, Pilar Velasquez, of Carara. Two Lanceolated Monklets were at CA). Alsonew to theRio ChixoyValley were DennisWille, ChristopherWood, Jim Zook Rio Mulaba,above Santa Fe, Veraguas!7 Jul 2 AltamiraOrioles seen 10 Jul (KE, CA). (CostaRica). O (RM). Althoughthere have been several re- portsfrom Panama in thepast few years, it is Contributors(country coordinators in bold- H. Lee Jones neverthelessconsidered to be quiterare. face):Carlos Aguilar (CAg), GeorgeAngehr 901East Washington Street, Apartment 126 (Panama), Alex Arias, Claudia Avendafm, Colton,California 92324, ([email protected]) WOODPECKERSTHROUGH ORIOLES NickBayly, Guido Berguido, Efrain Caal, Eu- Oliver Komar A male Golden•greenWoodpecker, rare in clides Campos(EuC), LeonardoChaves, SalvaNATURAConservation Science Program Panama,was seen in theBayano area, Panamd Marcial C6rdova, Gabriel Cortez, Vanessa 33Avenida Sur #640, San Salvador, ElSalvador 29 Jul (OM). Elsewherein Panama,a male Davila, RobertDean, Kevin Easley(KEa), ([email protected])

(• N•rthAmerica•sfirstLarge•bi•edSeed.Finches(•scrassirostris)wererec•rdedinPanama•with3+rnales 1548Jon (one onthe 1$th, 3+on the 16th: andone or more on ,//-t the18th) at El Real Airport, l•ari•n (at. GA, RD, ph. KEa, DJ, RH, HAM). They exhibited thevery large white hill and prominent small white speculum inthe wing characteristic ofthis species.Hilly and Brown (1986./I Guide tothe Birds of½o/ornbia) showits •ange asco•ing within 50 km of Panama and 100 km from El P•aI. The similar Great-billed Seed-Finch (0.maxin•il- ian•is found no nearer toPanama than sw. Colombia, where itis scarce. Populations ofthis species w.of the Andes (perhaps onlya subspecies ofcrassirostris) haveayellowish-white billand littleor no whke in the wing, which isat the base ofthe primarie• While the determination ofthese birds asLarge-billed Seed-Finches hasnot been established unequivocally, Large-billed is farmore likely than Great-billed basedon range, and the observed fieldmarks support Large-billed. Perhaps theaudio recordings willprove definitive. Aday after finding North America's firstLarge-billed Seed-Finches atEl Real Airport, thesame team of observers weresurprised tofind at least 3male Yellow-hooded Blackbirds laiusicterocephdus) inthe same location--another firstfor North America (v.r.GA, ph. KEa). Atleast 3 males and 2 femaleswere present two days later on the 18th. One pair was being fol- lowedon the latter date by a begging juv.Shiny Cowbird. Thisspecies apparently ranges right up to the Panama border w.of the Gulf of Uraba inColombia, soits occurrence ashort distance awayin Panama was expected.

VOLUME 61 (2007) NUMBER 4 651