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Volume 48, No. 2

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Records of White Tern Gygis alba in Panama and potential connections to El Niño events


Authors

DANIEL BUITRAGO-ROSAS1*,2, JORGE L. MEDINA1,3 & PEDRO L. CASTILLO-CABALLERO1,3
1Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado Postal 0843-03092, Panama, Republic of Panama
*(buitragoder@gmail.com)
2Biology Department, University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 Morrissey Blvd, Boston, MA 02125, USA
3Universidad de Panama, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Naturales y Tecnologia. Panama, Republic of Panama

Citation

BUITRAGO-ROSAS, D., MEDINA, J.L. & CASTILLO-CABALLERO, P.L. 2020. Records of White Tern Gygis alba in Panama and potential connections to El Niño events. Marine Ornithology 48: 171 - 174

Received 24 March 2020, accepted 15 April 2020

Date Published: 2020/10/15
Date Online: 2020/06/29
Key words: El Niño Southern Oscillation, ENSO, White Tern, Gygis alba, Panama

Abstract

In Panama, the White Tern Gygis alba is a vagrant seabird that has been reported very rarely. Its first record was in 1983, during a very strong El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event that generated a massive invasion of unusual seabirds from South America into the Panama Bay. Unlike other vagrant seabirds, the White Tern remained unrecorded again until 2016. This note reports the second, and first confirmed, occurrence of White Tern to Panama, along with separate confirmed sightings in 2019. We briefly review these records and their potential connections to ENSO events.

References


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