Brace yourselves; take a look at the picture below, and try to determine the species' identity based on your extensive knowledge of Panamanian birds, and even of potential vagrants from areas to the north and south of the isthmus.



Still stumped? Not surprising- this species wasn't even on the radar as a potential vagrant to North America. This bird is a Crowned Slaty Flycatcher, found by Kit Larsen (photo), Dennis Arendt, Roger Robb, and Paul Sherrell, all from Eugene, Oregon. Here's the text of the note that accompanied this photo:

"We believe we have sighted a Crowned-slaty Flycatcher in Cerro Azul on Dec 1, 2007 and again in the same place on the 4th. I have attached a photo. The bird matches well the descriptions in the Birds of Columbia and Birds of Ecuador. It matches the photos of the Crowned-slaty Flycatcher we find on the web. We found it on a utility wire adjacent to the Chagres Forest. In size, it is bigger than a Forest Elaenia. It did some flycatching as we watched, returning to its perch after going after a bug. The one thing the photo does not show is that it had a thin yellow line through the crown, which was visible when the wind blew. Also, the base of the lower mandible is lighter than the tip. We were able to observe the bird for more than 30 minutes on each observation. We have more photos - they show pretty much the same as the attached photo; we will submit them when we return home. We have sent the photo to Larry McQueen, who illustrated the new book Birds of Peru. He has independently confirmed that the photo depicts a Crowned-slaty Flycatcher. We found the bird on Calle Principal, just about 100 yards uphill from Calle A near the Hostal Casa de Campo in Cerro Azul, in case others want to look for it."

Raúl Arias de Para, owner of the Canopy Tower and Canopy Lodge, recognized the significance of this find and sent word out to a veritable panel of experts via e-mail. Multiple respondants, most of whom have firsthand experience with the species, confirm the i.d. based on the photo. This is a spectacular find; Crowned Slaty Flycatcher breeds in southern South America, apparently north only to Bolivia (I've been patching together this info from mulitple and less-than-clear sources). It is an austral migrant, which means it heads north when invierno hits South America, but generally only comes as far north as southern Ecuador and occasionally to southern Colombia, with a few records from Venezuela and Guyana. In December any member of this species should have long since headed south for warm weather, so it has been suggested that this Panamanian bird is a sample of the phenomenon known as "reverse migration," in which a migratory bird's internal compass gets turned around 360° and it heads in exactly the opposite direction as it would normally. This Crowned Slaty Flycatcher is not only a first record for Panamá, but a first for North America, and as such is one of those discoveries every birder dreams of. Kit Larsen asked me to credit Dennis and Roger for recognizing the unusual nature of the bird in the field, and Dennis for doing the proper detective work required for identification, before getting word to Larry McQueen. All four members of this team should be commended for their skill, diligence, and documentation of this extraordinary find. Please click here to read the early returns regarding this bird from the neotropical birding community at large .
More fine reports should be added within a day or two- I've got a lot of good stuff from Allen Chartier, among others. This has been a great week, and we're spinning our wheels trying to keep up!