Shorebirds at Long Beach

Since the Sargassum Seaweed began its invasion of our beaches a few years ago, Long Beach has been a magnet for shorebirds during their migration.  This year was no different, that was until the passing of Tropical Storm Isaac to the north of the island on Thursday September 13^th then the numbers quadruple.  I visited Long Beach around midday on that day- hundreds of shorebirds birds of various species could be seen all over the beach busy feeding but my visit was cut short, thanks to a big,big biiig unleashed dog, roving the beach.  I had no time to do a count of the birds but i did noticed 4 Red Knots which was impressive for the island.  Dr. John Webster visited the following day, (see his checklist here) and reported extraordinary numbers of Semipalmated Sandpipers (490), White-rumped Sandpipers (240), Ruddy Turnstones (210), Sanderlings (90) and Red Knots (6).

Red Knot

I visited Long Beach again on the morning of Saturday September 15^th, but again a count proved difficult as a cleaning of the beach was being undertaken by Clean up Barbados.  Hundreds of birds took to the sky every time an unsuspecting volunteer disturbed their feeding, giving a visual display of the vast numbers on the beach.  I am happy that these at-risk migrants have found a much needed source of sustenance on their yearly flight to greener pastures.  Let’s hope that Long Beach and beaches like it across the Caribbean or the Americas as a matter of fact, continue to provide safe havens for these travelers.   

 

P.S: A visit to Long Beach the following day found a drastic reduction in the number of birds.
see more images here

Birding ending dog!!