Birding Last Day of June

Solitary Sandpiper - Tringa solitaria

With all the rain and strong winds, we were experiencing last week, on Sunday I headed to the east to see if any new birds were about.  On my way there, I first checked the irrigation ponds at Redland in St. George and was surprised to find a very early or very late Solitary Sandpiper.  According to ebird.org, this is the second Solitary ever recorded on the island in the month of  June.  It is so rare, that I was prompted to investigate the possibility of this being its old world doppelganger, GreenSandpiper.  I will let you know how my investigations into that matter end up.

Leaving Redland, I ventured to a private pond in the east and recorded a tally of sixteen species including nine shorebird species but nothing out of the ordinary.  We are still a few weeks away from the busy period resulting from the fall migration but things are starting to heat up.

 Here are the species I saw on Sunday

1. Scaly-naped Pigeon - Patagioenas squamosa
2. Eurasian Collared-Dove - Streptopelia decaocto
3. Common Ground-Dove - Columbina passerina 
4. Zenaida Dove - Zenaida aurita
5. Common Gallinule - Gallinula galeata
6. Black-bellied Plover - Pluvialis squatarola
7. Semipalmated Plover - Charadrius semipalmatus
8. Ruddy Turnstone - Arenaria interpres
9. Semipalmated Sandpiper - Calidris pusilla
10. Western Sandpiper - Calidris mauri
11. Short-billed Dowitcher - Limnodromus griseus
12. Solitary Sandpiper - Tringa solitaria
13. Greater Yellowlegs - Tringa melanoleuca
14. Lesser Yellowlegs - Tringa flavipes
15. Little Egret - Egretta garzetta
16. Snowy Egret - Egretta thula
17. Cattle Egret - Bubulcus ibis
18. Green Heron - Butorides virescens
19. Carib Grackle - Quiscalus lugubris
20. Yellow Warbler - Setophaga petechia
21. Grassland Yellow-Finch - Sicalis luteola
22. Barbados Bullfinch - Loxigilla barbadensis