The Barbados Birds and Birding Report – August

Chancery Lane Swamp

Rain, rain and more rain – that was the theme for August.  The rainy conditions that broke the drought at the end of July continued into August and it brought many wet areas alive with water and birds. Three places that benefited were the old hunting Impoundment at North Point, St. Lucy, Woodbourne Shorebird Refuge (WSR) in St. Philip, and Chancery Lane Swamp in Christ Church, each hosted a significant bird or birding episode that warranted inclusion in this months report. Let's look at the highlights for August.

Birds and Birding for the Month

In August a whopping 91 checklists were created and forwarded to ebird.org, containing 60 species, and six birds were added to the Barbados 2020 checklist. These were Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota),  White-rumped Sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis),  Pectoral Sandpiper Calidris melanotos, Least Tern (Sternula antillarum), and Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Nyctanassa violacea). Three reasons for this jump in the number of submitted checklists are: (1)the availability of more areas for birds and birding because of the rains, (2) we are in the midst of the fall migration, so more birds to see, and (3)the island has been included in a conservation project to monitor the number of waterbirds at a few locations across the island, thus more frequent visits to these sites.  The program, which is headed by Birds Caribbean, is called the Caribbean Waterbird Census.   I will tell you more about it in another post. 

A few high counts of migrating birds were seen at various locations across the island

For example:

• Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla), had a high count of 157 birds reported by John Webster at North Point, other significant counts were 152, 104, and 100 at other locations.

  

  Whimbrels @ Chancery Lane

• Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) a high of 28 birds at Chancery Lane, also 6 birds at North Point.
• Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) sightings of this bird were reported in St. Michael, St. Philip, St. Thomas, and an additional one in the north joining with the one that was there for over a year.   

August Rare Bird Sightings

Here is a list of Rare Birds from last month listed by Parish  (* continuing Birds)

St. Lucy

• Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) (2)* This bird has been around since August 2019, but a visit to the location in the north on the 7^th found that this bird now has a companion.

  

  Least Tern

• Least Tern (Sternula antillarum) was first reported on 27^th by Niels Larsen at North Point.

St. Andrew

• American Coot ((White Shielded) Fulica Americana) (6)*, 5 at The Walkers Reserve, and one at Bawdens.
• American Coot ((Red Shielded) Fulica Americana)* the rarer of the two American Coots.  This bird is paired with one of the White Shielded mentioned above at Bawdens.

St. Thomas

• Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) seen flying over the recycle plant at SBRC, Vaucluse.

St. Philip

Glossy Ibis

• Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) one bird seen at Woodbourne Shorebird Refuge (WSR) on the 28^th.
• Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) at WSR on the 28^th.

Christ Church

• Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Nyctanassa violacea) was seen by two none birders at Enterprise Beach.  A Whatsapp image was sent to me to be identified.
• Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis). This bird was seen at Inch Marlow feeding with Royal and Roseate Terns.

  

  Brown Pelican

• Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)* this bird was seen by many persons between the areas of Inch Marlow and Oistins.

St. Michael

• Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) briefly tried to join the Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)  rookery at John Beckles Drive, Bridgetown before aborting the attempt and moving on. This may be the same bird seen at WSR.

 Feel free to contact me, Julian Moore @ 100birdsbarbados@gmail.com, John Webster @ barbadosbirds@gmail.com, or Ed Massiah @ ebmassiah@hotmail.com to report any rare bird sightings, or if you need assistance identifying a bird, we would be happy to assist.