First confimied record of Wte-mtifi 
lor Mexico 
MICHAEL D. CARMODY. LEGACY TOURS • P. 0. BOX 8156 • SPOKANE, WASHINGTON 99203 • (MDCARMODY@COMCAST.NET) 
Figure 1 . When first found, the White-winged Becard was foraging actively from a barbed wire fence, in loose association with a feeding flock of 
other birds. The lack of gray supraloral stripe, gray hind-collar, and pale gray rump rule out Gray-collared Becard. All Images were taken near 
Benemerito de las Americas, eastern Chiapas, Mexico on 15 January 2009. Photograph by frank Stermitz. 
Abstract 
The author and a small party of birders ob- 
served and obtained photographic documen- 
tation of an adult male White-winged Becard 
(Pachyramphus polychoptenis) near Benemer- 
ito de las Americas in the eastern part of the 
state of Chiapas, Mexico on 15 January 2009. 
This sighting provides the first fully docu- 
mented sighting of this species for the coun- 
try of Mexico. 
Field encounter 
At 1155 on 15 January 2009, the author and a 
party of 11 other birders stopped to investi- 
gate a mixed-species flock approximately 20 
km along the road between Benemerito de las 
Americas and Pico de Oro, Chiapas (at 16° 
21.892’ N, 90° 40.980’ W). The flock consist- 
ed of nine Groove-billed Anis (Crotophaga sul- 
cirostiis), a Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphura- 
tus), six Social Flycatchers (Myiozetetes sim- 
ilis), a Clay-colored Thrush (Tiirdus grciyi), a 
Gray Catbird (Dwnetella carolinensis), a Red- 
throated Ant-Tanager (Habia fuscicauda), and 
eight Variable Seedeaters (Sporophila ameri- 
cana). Other species in peripheral attendance, 
either using a barbed wire fence that outlined 
a pasture five meters in from the road, or taller 
grasses and shrubs up to 10 meters beyond the 
fence, included a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 
(Empidonax Jlaviventris), a Tropical/Couch’s 
Kingbird {Tyrannus melancholicus/coiicbii), a 
Magnolia Warbler (Dendroica magno- 
lia), a Gray-crowned Yellowthroat 
(Geothlypis poliocephala) , a Yellow- 
breasted Chat (Icteria virens), three 
White-collared Seedeaters (Sporophila 
torqiieola), and the White-winged Be- 
card (Pachyramphus polychopterus) . 
The becard was first detected by 
Pat Stermitz at approximately noon. 
Though uncertain of its identifica- 
tion, she noted a black bird with 
white areas in the wing. Several min- 
utes later, Kraig Kemper relocated 
the bird, and pointed it out to Car- 
mody, who identified it as a White- 
winged Becard. During the next 
hour, we studied the bird for a total 
of 35 minutes at a range of between 5 
and 15 meters. There was one ab- 
sence of about 25 minutes almost im- 
mediately following the initial identi- 
fication, when the bird flew into 
heavy foliage on the opposite side of 
the roadway. Once it was relocated, 
photographs were obtained and de- 
tailed field notes were made. The be- 
card hunted from perches on a 
barbed wire fence and among taller 
grass stocks in the rough pasture. 
Twice the bird flew across the road- 
way to rest in the upper branches of a 
cecropia tree. Even after the flock was 
disturbed by our close approach, 
birds continued to return to the edge 
of the roadway. The reasons for this behavior 
were not clear, as no ant-swarm was present, 
but the birds may have been attracted to a 
concentration of small moths in the grasses. 
The becard itself was keenly intent on hunt- 
ing and allowed repeated close approach 
while it actively sought prey. The weather pat- 
tern at the time of observation included be- 
low-normal temperatures accompanied by 
short intervals of cold rain showers, the ef- 
fects of the third day of a four-day norte, that 
is, a storm system from the north. While in 
Benemerito de las Americas at 1045 on the 
same morning, the author had observed nine 
Gray Catbirds feeding in close proximity to 
one another on the exposed front lawn of a 
526 
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 
