June is normally a slow birding month. Although it is the start of the hurricane/
rainy season most ponds and wet areas are dry.
Even though they are not many birds around, one bird you can look forward to
seeing are Black Swifts(Cypseloides niger). These birds
migrate to the island at this time of year and nest in sea caves on the Eastern
coast of the island. On Saturday morning
I went in search of these large swifts at St.
Bernard Village, a neighborhood in the parish of St. Joseph. As soon as I exited my car I saw 5 Black
Swifts hawking for insects over a blossoming Hog Plum (Spondias mombin) tree. These birds represented my 79th
bird species for the year and should remain with us until August/
September.
