Pre-storm Birding

Friday, July 24, 2020

two of the tree Collared Plover 

With the threat of tropical storm Gonzalo to the south of the island I wanted to investigate a few birding locations on the south and south-east coast. 

My first stop was at the Oistins pier and it was empty! No Laughing Gulls, Roseate Terns, or Magnificent Frigatebirds that would normally be there. The fishing boats that are usually moored in the bay were all gone, move to safety no doubt. The sea was very calm, lets hope it was not the proverbial calm before the storm. I then went on to Inch Marlow. The sargassum seaweed littered beach played host to a few  Spotted Sandpipers (Actitis macularius) and Least Sandpipers (Calidris minutilla) but that will change in the coming weeks as migration intensifies.  My last stop was at a private location in the parish of St. Philip and it was there that I saw my bird of the afternoon, a Collared Plover (Charadrius collaris), three of them in fact.   The most numerous bird species were Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes), a few in breeding plumage, and Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla).  

Lesser Yellowlegs

It was a good afternoon of birding, I saw 23 bird species included a rare one.  Now as I am here sitting and reminiscing a it has started to rain, light at first but then it really came. The island need the rain after the perlong drought we are experiencing. It was refreshing to learn that the storm system is much further south than first reported, thus would not effect the island to the degree as was expected. It is also weakening and hopefully  will have little or no affect on the islands to our south. Stay safe and enjoy your birding. 

Checklist

1. Scaly-naped Pigeon (Patagioenas squamosa)
2. Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
3. Common Ground Dove (Columbina passerina)
4. Zenaida Dove (Zenaida aurita)
5. Eared Dove (Zenaida auriculata)
6. Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata)
7. Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
8. Collared Plover (Charadrius collaris)
9. Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus)
10. Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)
11. Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)
12. Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)
13. Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius)
14. Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)
15. Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)
16. Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
17. Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)
18. Caribbean Elaenia (Elaenia martinica)
19. Caribbean Martin (Progne dominicensis)
20. Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis)
21. Carib Grackle (Quiscalus lugubris)
22. Grassland Yellow-Finch (Sicalis luteola)

The Business End Of The Year

Spotted Sandpiper in
breeding plumage at Inch Marlow

We are into the business end of the year, the southern migration period and the first migrants are here. Typically the first returning bird species we see are Spotted Sandpipers (Actitis macularius), and I am happy to report we are seeing them in Breeding plumage from Inch Marlow on the south coast to River Bay in the north.  I saw the first and second ones at Inch Marlow on July 10^th and seven at River Bay last Weekend on the 18^th.  As the weeks go on the birds will continue to pour in.  It the business end of the year people LETS GET BIRDING! Stay safe and enjoy your birding.

The Barbados birds and Birding Report - June

June is normally a slow birding month.  Most of the migratory birds are on their breeding grounds in North America and they are one or two birds to look out for, but this June was extra slow.  But the last couple of days in the month was pretty excited. But before getting into the rarities and other stuff I would like to congratulate Dr. John Webster and his lovely wife Sonia who won the award for the best smile in the Birds Caribbean Global Big Day Awards 2020. I just want to add, if it was a photo of John alone he would not have won the award.  

Birds for the Month

In June, birders on the island recorded 52 species, including four first for the year and a few rare birds.  The four first were a Fulvous Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna bicolor), Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii), Collared Plover (Charadrius collaris) and a surprise appearance by a Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens). At the end of June 89 species of birds were recorded on the island.

Rare Birds by Parish   * denotes a continuing Bird(s) (Birds from last month)

St. Lucy

• Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)* This bird is has been around since August 2019.

  

  Fulvous Whistling-Duck

• Fulvous Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna bicolor) – seen on the 14^th at the Mount Gay Distillery Pond with Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks (Dendrocygna autumnalis) by Mr. L. Larsen. This bird is expected at this time of year.

  

  Collared Plover

• Collared Plover (Charadrius collaris) – this tiny plover was seen on the cliff above River Bay on the 28^th.

  

  Brown Pelican

• Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) was seen on the 28th at River Bay

St. Andrew

American Coot (White Shielded)

• American Coot ((White Shielded) Fulica Americana)*, 4 at The Walkers Reserve, with a pair actively involved in nest building,  and one at Bawdens, an aggressive male paired with a Red shielded female.
• American Coot ((Red Shielded) Fulica Americana) the rarer of the two American Coot on island. One bird is at Walkers Reserve and the other is paired with a White Shielded at Bawdens as mentioned above.  

St. Peter

• Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens) – this is for sure the bird of the month. Photographed in a private residence on the St. Peter coastline. It is rare to see migratory warblers at this time of year with only one June-July record for this species in the West Indies, from St.  Barthélemy on June 2, 2019.

St. Philip

• Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus)* one bird seen with two Short-billed Dowotichers by John Webster on May 30th. Separating the two Dowitchers is always difficult so I reached out to Guillermo Rodriguez Lazaro of the blog Sub-alpine birding, who wrote a post on identifying dowitchers using the Underwing pattern, he confirmed that one of the birds was indeed a Long-billed Dowitcher. The bird hanged around for a few days and then moved on.

  

  Grey Heron

• Gray Heron (Ardea cinerea) was seen in the cow pasture at Golden Grove.

  

  White-tailed Tropicbird

• White-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) The first report for the year was on February 4^th by Quincy Clarke. Seen on June 1^st at Green Point.

Christ Church

Brown Pelican

• Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) seen at Oistins, sitting on a buoy way out to sea.

St. Michael

• Pearly-eyed Thrasher (Margarops fuscatus) – a photo and a short video of this bird drinking water were posted on Facebook on the 17^th  for identification.  It is the second reported sighting of this species for the year.   

June ended with an increase in birding activity. It no doubts will continue as we approach the business end of the year, the start of the southern migration.