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This enormous stork is extremely rare in Panama, and in fact can be found only at a few scattered
sites through the whole of Central America. The first record was a bird collected in Bocas del Toro Province in 1927,
and only a couple of unsubstantiated reports were noted for virutally the remainder of the century. The Francisco
Delgado found and documented up to 4 birds in Herrera Province in November of 1999. Most recently, José of the Canopy Tower found an immature bird
at Tocumen Marsh on 9/19/2006, and Panamanian birders flocked to the site and documented the bird excellently. Carlos
Bethancourt and I visited the area on September 25th, and despite heavy rains were able to relocate the bird, albeit at some distance.
I suspect that Jabiru is a more regular vagrant in Panama than previously known, and that the (relative) frequency of reports in the last
decade or so has more to do with better coverage by birders than with any change in patterns of vagrancy in the species. Any flock of Wood Storks
is worth giving a once-over in search of a clearly more massive bird.
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