Caribbean Waterbird Census at Walkers

Photo courtesy Walkers Reserve

On February 2, World Wetland Day, I joined Walkers Reserve and the Caribbean Youth Environment Network for their first annual bird census for the Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC).  The CWC is an initiative of Bird Caribbean and its partner to study, monitor and conserve birds and the habitats they need to survive. 

Green Point, St. Andrew

We met around 6:15 am for a briefing which was lead by Jonathan Ramsay, Regeneration Coordinator at Walkers, also present was Justin Springer of Caribbean Youth Environment Network, local birder Dr. John Webster, my son Jason and our newest residential birder Niels Larsen, along with two others.

We were divided into two groups to cover the reserve, a nearby inland runoff to the sea called Green Pond and the protected stretch of beach that links Green Pond with the Reserve. Each group had a recorder- whose responsibility was to list the bird seen and totals, an ebirder – used the ebird app to record live updates to eBird Caribbean, and a birder – to identify the bird species,  he and the ebirder were also responsible for tallying. John and I were the designated birders in each group. My group counted Green Pond, the beach which was over a mile long and littered sargassum seaweed and the meander watercourse of Long Pond that lead back to the Reserve.

The list below highlights the water bird species we recorded:

• Semipalmated Plover
• Sanderling (on the beach)
• Least sandpiper
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Wilson Snipe
• Little Blue Heron
• Little Egret
• Cattle Egret
• Common Gallinule

Sanderling among the Sargassum Seaweed

At the end of the exercise, both groups tallied a total of196 birds made up of 27 different species with the highlight being a Ring-necked Duck and a suspected Little/Snowy Egret hybrid. The hope is to make this census a consistent practice and also to use this model for other wet areas across the island. I would like to thank Jonathan Ramsay for including me in the event.

 

Checklist update 2019

January was a record-breaking month in birding for me because I recorded 66 species. My previous best was in 2016 then I tallied 61 species for the first month of the year. Since my last update, which was on January 15^th, I added 9 more species, 5 more in January and 4 thus far in February, totaling 70 species for the year. Check here to see my full 2019 checklist. 

Here are a few images

68. Western Sandpiper - Calidris mauri

64. Eared Dove - Zenaida auriculata

67.  Ring-necked Duck - Aythya collaris

63. Northern Shoveler - Spatula clypeata

 

Caribbean Waterbird Census at Walkers Reserve

I had a good time at Walker Reserve on World Wetland Day, Saturday, February 2^nd, to participate in my first Caribbean Waterbirds Census. Stay tuned for the report.

World Wetlands Day 2019: Wetlands and Climate Change

World Wetlands Day is celebrated every year on 2 February. This day marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Since 1997, the Ramsar Secretariat has provided outreach materials to help raise public awareness about the importance and value of wetlands. Read more

Eurasian Spoonbill Critically Injured

Eurasian Spoonbill doing fine after emergency surgery

On Sunday 27^th, Shae Warren, Jonathan Ramsay (both of Walker’s Reserve) and I were involved in a dramatic rescue of the second of the two Eurasian Spoonbills on the island.  The bird somehow suffered a severe injury to its right wing and was unable to fly.  Thanks to the quick action of the guys from Walker’s Reserve and the staff at Barbados RSPCA  the bird was saved.  But sadly because of the extensive damage to the wing, it had to be amputated.  

The latest reports are that she is doing well after the surgery, feeding, and wading in her new environment.  Of course, this bird cannot be returned to the wild.  This robbed us, the local birding community, of the eagerly awaited meeting of the two spoonbills.