2017 Review: Barbados

Mega Rare Bird: Black Kite 

Two thousand and seventeen was, to me, a bitter sweet year for birding in Barbados.  Sweet in that we recorded over 100 species, new species, mega-rare birds and a few that could be considered rare.  I felt that it was not a good year because even though we had these outstanding species they was a visual decline in the number of birds on the ground.  Let us take a look.

New Species 

New Specie : Ringed Kingfisher

Two more species were added to Barbados avian checklist during 2017, giving a year ending total of 270 species ever recorded on the island (Avibase - Bird Checklists of the World Barbados)  .  The first bird, a Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula, was discovered by Dr. John Webster. It was sitting on a pond with Ring-necked Ducks in a southern parish (see post here).  The second bird, a Ringed Kingfisher Megaceryle torquata, I first heard on September 21^st at Woodbourne Shorebird Refuge (WSR) (see post here).

New Specie : Tufted Duck

Mega Rarities

Mega Rare Bird: Pacific Golden-Plover

I referred to birds occurring once every 4 or more years as Mega rare and in 2017 we had a few. The first two were seen in the month of May, both of which were Eurasian species.  Pacific Golden-Plover Pluvialis fulvan (read) was seen on May 4^th while a juvenile Purple Heron Ardea purpurea (read ) was seen on May 31^st.  The birds from across the Atlantic continued to show with a Black Kite Milvus migrans (here) on July 8^th Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia (here).   On November 28^th I was emailed a photograph of an Owl, Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus which flew into a house but flew out unharmed.  This bird most likely originated from one of our neighboring islands.

Mega Rare Bird: Eurasian Spoonbill

Rarities

Rare bird: Wood Sandpiper

Here a list of the recorded rare birds for 2017:

• Fulvous Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna bicolor
• Brown Pelican - Pelecanus occidentalis
• Masked Booby - Sula dactylatra
• Gray Heron - Ardea cinerea - becoming a yearly visitor
• Tricolored Heron - Egretta tricolor 
• Striated Heron - Butorides striata
• Yellow-crowned Night-Heron - Nyctanassa violacea- maybe breeding but not common
  
• Glossy Ibis - Plegadis falcinellus  - becoming a yearly visitor
• Purple Gallinule - Porphyrio martinicus
• Ruff - Calidris pugnax - 2017 was a good year for Ruff, seen throughout the year
  
• Wilson's Phalarope -  Phalaropus tricolor
• Wood Sandpiper - Tringa glareola
• Pearly-eyed Thrasher - Margarops fuscatus - becoming a yearly visitor

The Bitter

While it was pleasing to see the number of rare birds in 2017 there was an obvious decline in the number of birds on the ground, more so seen in the migrating duck species. The Blue-winged Teal, for example, is our most numerous migrating duck specie.  It is normal, during the months of September to December to come across them at almost every birding location on the island but in 2017 it was they were hard bird to find, also for the second year running no American Wigeons were recorded on island. Lets hope this is not the beginning of a trend and just a off year for these birds on the island.

Two thousand and eighteen in now upon us, I am hoping for a good year of birding and birds on the island of Barbados.