Birding At Home: Backyard Birding

With the shutdown and stay at home order in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the local birders took this time to sit back and enjoy the birds around their homes. In this two-part series two birders, Dr. John Webster and I will talk about our experience  “Birding at Home".  Below is my experience.

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Grey Kingbird 

On days like this, an off day, I would be preparing to head off to one of the birding hot spots across the island, probably the Graeme Hall Swamp, since it is around the time for migratory warblers to arrive. But this is not a normal day, these are not normal times. The island is on a 24-hour curfew, which has now being extended for the remainder of April. This is in an attempt to flatten the curve and manage this very contagious virus, COVID-19. Hence the only birding I am doing is from my house.

Birding at home is divided into two sections, on mornings I bird mainly from my front patio.  It gives me a good view stretching from the horizon over Payne's Bay, St. James, on the west coast, east to the hills at Edge Hill, St. Thomas.  Then with the assistance of my Nikon Monarch binoculars, it gives me a range of between ¼ to ½ mile.  Within that arch, I have a view over a section of the Sandy Lane Golf Course and the hills surrounding the Mangrove Landfill, both birdy areas.  In the afternoon around 3 pm,  I head outdoors and bird mainly around the few fruit trees on the property. Here is a synopsis of the average day.

Morning Birding

Yellow Warbler

On most mornings, I would come out to the patio around 4 AM.  I love this time of the morning, It is quiet, the air feels so moist, so clean, so fresh, so new.  At that time of the morning, only two birds are active, a Grey Kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis) who normally sits on the powerlines just in front of the house calling loudly with its repetitive rolling call.  The other bird is a domesticated

Red Junglefowl

Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) aka Yard fowl.  This particular bird is not the best example of this beautiful species. He is kinda bald, not naturally, I don't think but with little to no competing cocks in the area, he is the king of the roost. His piercing call intermittently breaks the silence of the morning.  These two birds carry-on long-distance conversations with other birds of there kind across the early morning landscape, with replies coming from near and far. As the darkness slowly gives away to the light, silhouettes of  Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis) leaving their roost not too far away begin to full the air.  Another bird, a Caribbean Elaenia (Elaenia martinica) begins its morning chorus from the neighbor's mango tree.  Soon the morning is alive with a symphony of bird calls, from the sweet singing of the Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechial), punctuated by the equal sweetness of a passing Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis), the mournfully cooing of the Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) to the metallic uttering of the Carib Grackle (Quiscalus lugubris).  The quieter seedeaters, like the Black-faced Grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor) and

Barbados Bullfinch 

Barbados Bullfinch (Loxigilla barbadensis) diligently searching among the dry grass for food, goes almost unnoticed. The morning is now fully awake and as the day ages, the symphony slowly subsides and becomes overshadowed by the noises of human living.

I started this residential birding on April 2nd and on most mornings I saw the same birds with few exceptions.  On the 10th, while sitting in the living room, I noticed Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis), on the golf course suddenly took to the sky in alarm. I  got my binoculars to take a closer look and saw an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) in the midst of them. I continued scanning the horizon and added a Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens). Then on the 12th, a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) flew by heading in an easterly direction towards the landfill.

Afternoon Birding

Eurasian Collared-Dove nesting 

The mature trees around the property include a Bajan Cherry (Malpighia emarginata), which seems to be the nesting tree of choice, containing two active nests belonging to a pair of Eurasian Collared-Doves (Streptopelia decaocto) and Bananaquits (Coereba flaveola). Strangely, a  Carib Grackle (Quiscalus lugubris) visits this tree daily and sits in the same position for hours for no perceived reason. Interesting!   There are three Mango trees (Mangifera indica), most of which are blossoming, attracting insects. Grey Kingbirds (Tyrannus dominicensis) spends the day plucking them from between the branches.  Also a Jamoon tree (Syzygium cumini),  this is a hit with Scaly-naped Pigeons (Patagioenas squamosa) when in fruit, sadly it is not at this time. Most of the morning birds remain around the property throughout the day. The exception is the Caribbean Elaenia (Elaenia martinica) thus far it was not observed during the day or on afternoons.  Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri) nest in the ceiling of a church about a mile away and sometimes pass the house on afternoons heading to roost. Another unexpected bird was a Caribbean Martin (Progne dominicensis) late one evening on the 19th.

With the extension of the lockdown period until May 4th, birding at home is the only birding I will be doing. That is quite fine by me, as this staying at home and the practicing of social distancing, while not normal, is necessary to protect myself and my loved ones.  #StayAtHome

The birds I saw since April 2nd

Bananaquit

1. Scaly-naped Pigeon 
2. Eurasian Collared-Dove
3. Cattle Egret ibis
4. Shiny Cowbird
5. Carib Grackle
6. Yellow Warbler
7. Bananaquit
8. Barbados Bullfinch
9. Black-faced Grassquit
10. Zenaida Dove
11. Green-throated Carib
12. Rose-ringed Parakeet
13. Grey Kingbird
14. Caribbean Elaenia
15. Common Ground Dove
16. Snowy Egret
17. Magnificent Frigatebird 
18. Osprey
19. Caribbean Martin
20. Peregrine Falcon 
21. Rock Pigeon 

Zenaida Dove