Transatlantic vagrancy in northern South America: eight Old World bird taxa new to French Guiana

We document the first records in French Guiana of eight Old World taxa during the period 2018–24: Common Swift Apus apus, Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola, Eurasian Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus phaeopus, Audouin's Gull Ichthyaetus audouinii, Purple Heron Ardea purpurea, Squacco Heron Ardeola ralloides, Black Kite Milvus migrans and Yellow-billed Kite M. aegyptius. Most of these occur very rarely in South America and sometimes anywhere in the New World. Indeed, the record of Yellow-billed Kite is the first in the Americas. With these discoveries, French Guiana confirms its high potential for Eurasian vagrants and is now the South American country with the second-largest number of records of Old World species. Factors and meteorological events that might have led to these remarkable observations are discussed.