The latest addition to our Western Caribbean Slope Birdlist, is a specie I have been hoping to see since I was a little girl. This bird is often seen in the nature documentaries of Latin American tropical birds, I am talking about the spectacular Jabiru (Jabiru mycteria).

The Jabiru is the biggest stork found in the Western Hemisphere. They can reach a hight of 131 cm (52 in) with a wingspan of 256 cm (102 in). It’s found from Mexico to Argentina. Besides its size, the best way to recognize this species is the entirely white plumage in flight with the bare black head and neck, and a pink or red ring around the lower part of the neck.

The populations of this species in some countries of South and Central America are abundant, but the situation is completely different for countries like Panama, where the specie is vagrant. A vagrant species means the bird is hundreds of miles from its familiar territory, and that is what makes this observation a very special and exciting encounter.