2022 In Review - Part 1

Two thousand and twenty-two was good for birds and birding on the island with many highlights.  One hundred and nineteen bird species were recorded during the year which was the highest in over 10 years.  Included were a number of mega-rare birds, these are species that are new to the island or have not been recorded on the island for over five years. Birds like:

• Magnolia Warbler (Setophaga magnolia) has not been seen since March 24th, 1981 when it was reported at the Graeme Hall Swamp. Last year it was seen in January at Turners Hall Wood, St. Andrew.
  
  
  
• Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula) has not been seen since 1998 when it was recorded at Harrison's Point by Ed Massiah. Last year a beautiful male was seen at Chimborazo, St. Joseph in January.
• Cape May Warbler (Setophaga tigrina) before last year's sighting at Graeme Hall by Dr. John Webster, Ed Massiah reported a sighting on November 06, 1994, at Coles, St. Philip.
• American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliates) 1996 was the last time before 2022 sighting at Inch Marlow, Christ Church.
• Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra), a male, was seen perched in the central channel between the mangroves at Graeme Hall Swamp on April 24th 2004, last year we saw in October at Harrison's Point, St. Lucy.
  
    
• Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia) was last seen in 1988 in Turner's Hall Woods, but last year was seen in October at Harrison's Point, St. Lucy.

Added to these megas were our yearly rare birds like Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea), Ruff (Calidris pugnax), and Collared Plover(Charadrius collaris) just to mention a few.  It is fair to say that 2022 was a good year for rare birds.

   

Missed Birds

I cannot say if the reason for the 2022 high tally was the result of more birds turning up or just more time spent by birders birding.  Our three local birders were out more often, especially yours truly as I was doing a big year.  A new and enthusiastic birder also joined the local fold, and he was extremely prolific in his birding, especially in the north.  We also saw the return of visiting birders to the island, with the ease of COVID restrictions on the island and across the world.  So it was surprising that none of the above found these two local species, Southern Lapwing (Vanellus chilensis) and Yellow-crowned Parrot (Amazona ochrocephala). 

Southern Lapwing (FP)

This Southern Lapwing is the last of its kind on the island, so it's only a matter of time before it joins the list of extirpated species, but I hope that time is in the distant future.  This was not always the case, when I first saw this pre-historic-looking bird ten years ago at a small pond, called Mabel's Pond in St. Lucy, there were two birds. History showed that at one point there were even more, close to or over 10 confirmed occurrences at various locations across the island.  The first record goes back to 1998, followed by nesting in 2007 which produced 3 chicks in the area of Bright Hall St. Lucy.  These would prove to be the first West Indian occurrence, and nesting of this South American species.  After a well-publicized shooting of one of the chicks, the birds were offered protective status by the local Wildfowlers organization. We know the last remaining bird, a female, continued to nest, even laying eggs but without a mate, the eggs were infertile and no chicks were produced. Other than sickness and age, the high population of the Indian Mongoose (Herpestes javanicus) is an additional threat to this bird that spends most of its time on the ground.  This Southern Lapwing has survived for many years on its own and may still be around, as it has a nat of disappearing for months, probably to one of the golf courses, but always turns up at some point but not last year.   Keen eyes would be on the lookout for her this year.  Let's hope she is still around, 

Yellow-crowned Parrot (FP)

The second local bird that was missing from the 2022 checklist was one of our two parrots, the Yellow-crowned Parrot (Amazona ochrocephala) - which ironically has now been relegated, erroneously in my view, to a none counted status on ebird.  So even if this bird was seen during 2022 it wouldn't have affected the final year count of 119.  The history of this bird goes back to the early 90s when it was first identified among a flock of Orange-winged Parrot (Amazona amazonica) at Belleville, St. Michael.  

The first confirmed nesting was at the Garrison in 2007.  One problem both parrot species are facing is poaching for pets and the pet trade, but it seems like hybridization with the Orange-winged may be playing a serious role in the demise of the Yellow-crowned. Twice last year images of what was thought to be Yellow-crowned turned out to be hybrids.  The above photograph from 2020 showed that a pure form of the species is still in the wild unless the photo is deemed that of a hybrid. 

 So here is a call to action, help us find these birds.  If you see them, take a photo, and make a report to ebird, if you have an account.  You can also post the info in the comment section of this post or to our Facebook group.

 We will continue our review of 2022 in a future post until then, enjoy your birding