Rare Bird - White-winged Tern

We had another rare bird sighting in the northern parish of St. Lucy over the weekend.  It was a juvenile White-winged Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus) at the North Point.   This is a small tern about 7.9 - 10.6 inches (20 - 27 cm) in length with a wingspan of about 25 -27 inches” (63-67 cm).  The breeding plumage of this bird species is simply stunning - a black head, neck, uppers, and underparts, whereas the tail and wings are pale to white in color.

The non-breeding and the juvenile plumages, like this one, are not as dramatic – palish to white upper and underparts, reddish legs, with a dark helmet-like crown that extends like earmuffs behind the eyes.

This Eurasian species breeds from southeast Europe to Central Asia also in the Russian Far East, but winters in southern and central Africa, and from India to northern Australia.  White-winged Terns though rare, are no strangers to the island with five birds recorded up to 2008, follow by sightings in 2013, 2015, and 2019 (The Birds of Barbados – P.A. Buckley, Edward Massiah, et al). 

With rare birds popping up across the region, this may not be our last mega for the year so stay tuned. 

Pelicans on the West Coast

Two juvenile Brown Pelicans off Paynes Bay 

Very few Barbadians have seen our national bird, the Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis), here on the island.  This bird, once said to be a staple around the island, became a rare visitor when the sea area between an island off the southern coastline, called Pelican Island, was reclaimed and filled in during the building of the now Bridgetown Port. Throughout most of the year, we had sightings alonged the east and the south-east coast of a single bird but yesterday (November 09th) along the west coast about five individual birds were seen between the two fishing complexes at Pile Bay and Paynes Bay.  This is a great opportunity for locals to see our national bird.

One of the three Pelicans seen at Pile Bay

The Barbados Birds and Birding Report – October

October continued the trend of the latter months of the year seemingly as if trying to make up for the almost two years of drought - it rained almost  daily.   This did not affect birding or the birders too much as over 150 checklists were submitted to ebird.org by 9 birders. Seventy-five of those checklists with sixty-six bird species came on the 17^th and 18^th during two global birding events, the October Big Day and the Global Bird Weekend.    Barbados birds tally for 2020 increased by an additional 5 species, namely Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Calidris subruficollis) and Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) first seen at North Point, St. Lucy on the  3^rd and 11^th respectively, a Black Tern (Chlidonias niger) seen at Long Beach, Christ Church on the 9^th,  Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus)  on the 10^th in St. Lucy, and a Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca) at Woodbourne Shorebird Refuge (WSR) on 27^th, bringing the total birds reported for the year to 110 species.

October Rare Bird Sightings

We had lots of rare bird active during the month. Here is a list of Rare Birds reported during the last month parish by Parish (* continuing Birds)

St. Lucy

• Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) (3)* The first bird has been around since August 2019, it was joined by another in August and another one in September.
• American Coot ((White Shielded) Fulica Americana) bird first seen by John Webster during the October Big Day.

  

  Buff-breasted Sandpiper

  
  
• Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Calidris subruficollis) – Three birds at North Point on 3rd

  

   Bobolinks

  
  
• Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus)- First seen by John Webster on the 11^th. Over 21 birds at Archers Bay on the 21^st 

  

  Lesser Black-backed Gull

  
  
• Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus) – seen on the 30^th during bad weather
• Hudsonian Godwit (Limosa haemastica) – 2 birds seen late in the month
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus)  at Husbands and Harrison’s Point.
•  Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) – seen off of Animal Flower Cave on 31st

  

  Southern Lapwing

  
  
• Southern Lapwing (Vanellus chilensis)* – this rare local bird, the only one of its kind on the island was seen during the October Big Year.

St. Andrew 

• American Coot ((White Shielded) Fulica Americana) (6)*, 5 at The Walkers Reserve, and 1 at Bawdens. These birds were here for more than a year, nesting expected. 
• 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.
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus)  - seen at Walkers Researve, a first for Walkers

St. Thomas

• Striated Heron (Butorides striata)* was seen at the SBRC pond. This South American species returns to this location year after year.

St. George 

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

• Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) at Locust Hall.

St.Philip

• 

  Ruff

  
  Ruff (Calidris pugnax) – one bird seen at Woodbourne Shorebird Refuge on the 13^th.
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) at River.

 

Christ Church

• Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) – two birds were seen among the Mangroves at the Graeme Hall Swamp during the October Big Year.
• Black Tern (Chlidonias niger) – Seen by John Webster at Long Beach.
• Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)* seen at the Board Walk at Hasting and Oistin during the month.

St. Michael

• Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) at Welches

  

  Snail Kite

  
  
• Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis)* at Bay Street, a first for the island.

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.