April in Review

The Rains are back!  The month of April seems as if it was trying to make up for the lack of rain from the dry month of March.  I was able to post nine (9) birds, added six (6) new species to my year count and four (4) to my life count.

The rains are here but most of the migrating birds are moving on.  The wetlands are beginning to recover from the dry season, most notably Chancery Lane Swamp which completely dried up during the month of March but a recent visit shows evidence of its return.  I was able to see one of the two variants mentioned last month.  It took me three visits to the Woodbourne Shorebird Rescue (WSR) before being able to identify the Common Green-shank “Tringa nebularia” from among a flock of Greater Yellow Legs “Tringa melanoleuca”.  I had no such luck with the Eurasian Wigeon “Anas penelope” which appears to have moved on.  The rumor this month is of a Sandwich Tern “Sterna sandvicensis” a vagrant to the island with only nine (9) recorded up to 2005- (Birds of Barbados). This bird was seen at the world famous Oistins on the South Coast of the island.  I have been out in search of it but I have not been able to see it as yet.  You will know though if or when I do.

The Photograph of the Month

My photograph of the month is the Black Whisked Vireo “Vireo altiloquus”.  A very vocal bird found in gullies, forest and wooded areas.  This is a very hard bird to photograph, because it tends to stay in the foliage of trees.  This picture was taken from my bedroom window while I was sick in bed, got up to look outside and click click.  I'm always birding even from my sick bed.  

Bird Of The Month

Birding Event of the Month

The birding event of the month was not a local one, but that of the Big Day 2013 of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Team Sapsucker, which took place in Texas USA on April 25^th.  This team smashed the old record of 264 species with an outstanding 294 species in just 24 hours. That was some birding!  I would like to say Congrats from the 100barbadosbirds family.