The Grassland Yellow Finch
Sicalis liteola called
Grass Canaries locally, are small seedeaters. These birds are poached locally for the pet
trade and can be seen in pet shops or in cages around the island. I never
really understood the battle for survival these birds go through until I found
a nest with three eggs on July 30th and started documenting the life
cycle of these birds. Below are the
diary entries.
July 30
 |
| Eggs @ Nest A |
The Grassland Yellow Finch
builds its nest on the ground, camouflaged among grass. On July 30th, while in the North of
the island, I came across two nests, one nest, which we will call nest A, contained three whitish eggs
with irregular brownish speckles.
The nest was cup shaped, made of grass with the top being about 3” in
diameter. I could not say how long the eggs
were there but no bird was seen sitting on or returning to it during the half
hour I was there.
 |
| Chicks @ Nest B |
Now a second nest, nest B, was a
different story. I found it just a few
feet from the first nest. An adult bird
was sitting on the nest but flew off allowing me to see three chicks in the
nest. I could not tell the age of the
chicks but they were covered with down feathers/baby feathers and their eyes
were closed. I took a few photographs before backing off to
a comfortable distance so “mummy bird” could return to the nest without feeling
threatened. I searched but was unable to locate other nests.
The only other birds I observed in the area were three Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis) who I thought
were searching the grass for insects or small rodents. This was not the case, as I found out later.
July 31
Posting this find on our local Bird Alert messaging board
drew the attention of Dr. John Webster and the next day he paid a visit to the
St. Lucy location. Following my
directions he was able to locate Nest A.
He reported that the nest no longer
contained three eggs but now had two chicks and one unhatched egg making the
chicks less than one day old. He searched
for Nest B but was unable to locate
it. He was surprised to see the Cattle Egrets
still busy in the area so he paid closer attention to them only to see that
these birds were in fact searching out and feeding on the hatchlings of the
Grassland Yellow Finches.
August 1
At 3pm I set about
checking the nest of the Grassland Yellow Finch at St. Lucy. Nest A
now contained three chicks now a day old. These chicks were very quiet, no doubt a
protective measure for a ground breeder. The three looked healthy and alert, raising their
heads to accept food from a parent. The chicks were covered with down feathers
and their eyes were closed.
Nest B was empty. Could there have
fallen prey to the Cattle Egrets? As defenseless chicks on the ground, other
possible predators are rats and mongooses. Even poachers are a threat to these
beautiful birds but the evidence points in the direction of a group of white
Egrets, which were still in the area.
August 03
 |
| 2 Remaining Chicks |
Around midday, with the
sun high in the sky, I made the trip to check on the nest of the Grassland
Yellow Finch in the northern parish of St. Lucy. As I approached the nest I noticed a parent
was sitting on the nest. She flew off
and I was now able to see two chicks.
This meant that one was missing. I
searched in and around the nest for the body, but did not see any. I also noted
that egg shells were nowhere to be seen in or around the nest. Was the mother responsible for the removal of
the shells, trying not to attract attention to the nest? I moved away from the nest and the mother reclaimed
her position to protect the hatchlings from the scorching sun.
August 07
Having not visited the
hatchlings for a couple of days I was eager to see how they were doing. As I approached the nest I realized to my dismay,
that it was empty. I searched around the
nest but found nothing. I sat on a rock
looking around in disbelief. A Cattle
egret a few feet away caught my interest, what was even more interesting though
was the way this bird was searching the grass fields. Like a detective searching
for clues on a crime scene the bird walked a few paces to the east, turned and made
the same amount of paces in a western direction. It searched every bit of grass, and stopped
ever so often to closely inspect something that grabbed its attention before
continuing on its mission. With this methodical approach by these birds the Grassland Finches maybe
loosing many of its chicks. Is this affecting the local population of this bird
species? It is hard to say.
The Grassland Yellow Finch
is a bird protected under the laws of Barbados. Still these birds are openly poached in the
grass fields around the island. Birds can still be seen in pet shops being
offered for sale. That is just one of the battles for survival these birds face,
but observing these chicks over a couple of days, it showed me that the fight
starts from the unhatched egg.
What a truly beautiful
bird!!!
