Incidental Birding

Fulvous Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna bicolor)

It looks like the dry spell is finally over.  We had a lot of rain over the last two weeks, not enough to start affecting the water levels in the ponds and wet areas but it is looking promising.  The island though was blanketed by a cloud of Saharan dust for most of last week and reports are that it should continue into this week. 

Black Swifts (Cypseloides niger)

I saw a few interesting birds as I traveled around the island last week.  On Wednesday afternoon I saw two Western Sandpipers (Calidris mauri) in St. Philip.  The following day, the 20^th, I saw a raft with close to thirty Laughing Gulls (Leucophaeus atricilla) , just off the coast of Speightstown, St. Peter, on the West Coast.  Later that day I recorded my 85^th bird species for the year, when I saw five Black Swifts (Cypseloides niger) while I was driving along the Ermy Bourne Highway, St. Andrew.   The following day I found myself in the northern parish of St. Lucy and in the pond outside the world famous Mount Gay Rum Distilleries I saw a Fulvous Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna bicolor) resting peacefully on the pond.  On Saturday afternoon I saw a total of five Masked Ducks (Nomonyx dominicus)at two different locations in the central parish of St. Thomas.  The first four I saw by a bridge at Farmers, two females, and two males.  One of the males was in breeding plumage, showing a blue bill.  The final one, a female, was seen at the SBRC pond.

Laughing Gulls (Leucophaeus atricilla)

With the rains coming, I am expecting to see more birds as we enter July and then into the fall migration.  Stay tuned to this blog for the latest in birding happenings on the island of Barbados.

Birding Walkers +

Pied-billed Grebe @ Walkers Reserve

With “drought-like conditions”  prevailing and a scarcity of migrating birds, because of the time of year, choosing a location for a few hours of birding was challenging.  I decided to take the suggestion of fellow birder, Dr. John Webster and head east to the parish of St. Andrew.  There, my son Jason, nephew Davion and I, visited Walkers Reserve, Long Pond and made a short visit to Greenland Irrigation Pond.  Here are the highlights.

Walkers Reserve – 23 Species observed

Pied-billed Grebe and two chicks @ Walkers Reserve

This was my first visit to Walkers since the Introduction to Birding workshop on May 25^th  and I was eager to see what birds were around.  John visited the reserve the day after the workshop and saw not only the Ruddy Duck but also reported a Pied-billed Grebe with seven chicks.  I was keen to see them and also to get a good sighting of the Ruddy Duck.  We got started at the Main Pond, which was not the plan but a cluster of shorebirds on the far bank of the pond caught our attention.  We tallied 25 Semipalmated Plovers, 75 Ruddy Turnstones and a Sanderling.  These birds appeared to be in the process of migration as a small mixed group of Turnstones and Plovers flew in and we saw the main group of Turnstones taking to the sky as one body and disappearing over the trees.  As we moved on to the southern pond we quickly located the family of Grebes, the chicks appeared healthy, we even saw one diving.  A few of the Common Gallinules in this pond also had chicks but we never saw the Ruddy Duck.  As we were leaving Walkers we saw a Great Blue Heron wading in the main pond.  It is rare to see Great Blues at this time of year and even more so with the scarcity in seeing them last season, but it was easily my bird of the afternoon.

Long Pond – 14 Species observed

Sanderlings and Semipalmated Plovers @ Long Pond

There were only a few birds at Long Pond.  The main bird of interest was a Sanderling molting to breeding plumage.  The transformation which some birds make to breeding plumage still intrigues me and sanderlings are one of the poster birds for this change.  In normal plumage, it is a pale-ish grey bird but around this time of year, the breeding season, it starts to replace that pale look with a reddish-brown and black livery, making it distinguishable from its non-breeding self.  Sadly while the molting process may start here on the island, by the time the process is completed the bird would already have migrated.

Greenland Irrigation Pond – 8 Species observed

With the sun setting over the hills of St. Andrew, we made our final stop at Greenland Irrigation Pond. This small and usually deep pond has suffered greatly from the dry conditions and is now very shallow and receding at the banks.  This pond  still attracted Common Gallinules (21) but not much else.

At the end of our trip to St. Andrew, we tallied 26 species made up of 388 individual birds.  Common Gallinules accounted for 163 birds with 141 of that number recorded at Walkers Reserve.  Even though I did not see the Ruddy Duck it was still a good afternoon of birding in the east.

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Birds seen:

1. Pied-billed Grebe - Podilymbus podiceps
2. Scaly-naped Pigeon - Patagioenas squamosa
3. Eurasian Collared-Dove - Streptopelia decaocto
4. Common Ground-Dove - Columbina passerina
5. Zenaida Dove - Zenaida aurita
6. Green-throated Carib - Eulampis holosericeus
7. Antillean Crested Hummingbird - Orthorhyncus cristatus
8. Common Gallinule - Gallinula galeata
9. American Coot - Fulica Americana
10. Semipalmated Plover - Charadrius semipalmatus
11. Ruddy Turnstone - Arenaria interpres
12. Sanderling - Calidris alba
13. Greater Yellowlegs - Tringa melanoleuca
14. Great Blue Heron - Ardea Herodias
15. Little Egret - Egretta garzetta
16. Snowy Egret - Egretta thula
17. Cattle Egret - Bubulcus ibis
18. Green Heron - Butorides virescens
19. Caribbean Elaenia - Elaenia martinica
20. Gray Kingbird - Tyrannus dominicensis
21. Caribbean Martin - Progne dominicensis
22. Yellow Warbler - Setophaga petechia
23. Grassland Yellow-Finch - Sicalis luteola
24. Bananaquit - Coereba flaveola
25. Black-faced Grassquit - Tiaris bicolor
26. Barbados Bullfinch - Loxigilla barbadensis

Birding Walkers + (images)

Walkers Reserve

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Semipalmated Plover - Charadrius semipalmatus

Sanderling - Calidris alba

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) & Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus)

American Coot (Fulica Americana) & two Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata)

looking north over the south Pond

Common Gallinule with chicks (Gallinula galeata )

Pied-billed Grebe with chicks (Podilymbus podiceps)

Long Pond

Long Pond

Sanderling (Calidris alba) (Front) & Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) Back

The Sanderling on the left is molting to breeding plumage