First Week OF August

What a week of birding the first week of August provided. It gave me my first lifer for the year, two yearbirds and  a few rare birds. Here is the break down.

The Lifer

e.g. example of a Sandwich Tern  

I was excited to land my first lifer for 2020 on the 5^th of the month. I was  at Long Beach, Christ Church watching a Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus) and a Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) feeding close  to shore, then another tern joined in the mix.  This bird got my attention because it was smaller than the Royal but yet it was still kinda large.  Through my bins, I saw that it had a black cap, bill, and legs, but what cemented the identification as a new bird for me was the yellow on the tip of the bill, which made it a Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis).  This became my 141st species for the island. (why not my 142^nd ? will be explained in a later post ). The best part of the afternoon came a few minutes later when the Sandwich and Royal Terns were joined by 3 Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii).  I was able to observe these 3 tern species Large, medium, and small, flying around and feeding, sadly I did not have a camera to document it.

The Year Birds

One of the 3 Whimbrels @ North Point

As you may know, I am trying to see a minimum of 110 species of birds for 2020 (check my progress here).  I added two new species, along with the above lifer, to conclude the week at 88 species for the year.  The first yearbird, a Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos), came on the 3^rd at Redland St. George. A few days later at North Point, St. Lucy on the 7^th, three Whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus) were the 88^th species for the year. I hope this trend continues into next week.

Rare Birds

While at long Beach observing the terns and other peeps on the beach, a Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) flew in and started fishing not too far away. This may have been the same bird I saw last month sitting on a buoy far out to sea at Oistins. It was good to have this closeup look at this prehistoric looking bird.  On the 7^th, while in the parish of St. Lucy I made a short stop at a private location to check up on a Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) who took up residents there for close to a year.  I was astonished on seeing not just that one bird, but a second Glossy with it.  While this is not the first record of multiple Glossys on the island, I am hoping that these two wll be the first breeding pair for Barbados.

Migration An Action

Semipalmated Sandpiper at North Point

When there is physical evidence that a species of bird(s) is in the process of migrating, we refer to it as a flight.  You can tell a flight is on because there is a sudden spike in the numbers of that said bird across the island.  The first week of August saw a flight of a few species.  Least (Calidris minutilla) and Spotted Sandpipers (Actitis macularius) were visible on the first two days of August., and this was followed by Semipalmated Sandpipers and Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) as the week progressed. On Friday three Whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus) at North Point, St. Lucy, and four birds at Chancery Lane, Christ Church suggested a flight of this large shorebird was ongoing.

This was a great start to the business end of the year added to that we are getting regular showers. Rain fell almost daily. I am looking forward to what the 2^nd week of August will bring. If it is any thing like the first week i would be extremely happy.  Stay safe friends and enjoy your birding