the 25th Great Backyard Bird Count

The annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is Friday, February 18 through Monday, February 21. This year, the GBBC is celebrating 25 years of coming together to enjoy birds. The GBBC was one of the first online projects to collect information on wild birds and was also instrumental in the creation of eBird back in 2002. Now there are more ways than ever to participate and share your love of birds! continue reading

How to Participate

Participating is easy, fun to do alone or with others, and can be done anywhere you find birds.

• Step 1: Decide where you will watch birds.
• Step 2: Watch birds for 15 minutes or more, at least once over the four days, February 18-21, 2022.
• Step 3: Count all the birds you see or hear within your planned time/location and use the best tool for sharing your bird sightings:

• If you are a beginning bird admirer and new to the count, try using the Merlin Bird ID app.
• If you have participated in the count before, try eBird Mobile app or enter your bird list on the eBird website (desktop/laptop).
• If you are participating as a group, see instructions for Group Counting.

The Barbados Birds and Birding Report – January

What a busy start to the new year we had, seventy-six species of birds reported,  with an increase in rare birds sightings. This surge could be the result of the colder than normal conditions we had throughout the month, or it could just be that the main birders were all out in earnest.  All three, Ed Massiah, John Webster and myself recorded at least one local lifers during the month.  One of us is doing a big year for sure, while another may be secretly doing or considering doing one, but the fact is, when these three are birding with a purpose, we tend to see more bird species being reported.  A lot of help was provided by the over ten other birders, local and visitors, who submitted over 70 checklist to ebird.  Let's hope this drive continues into February and for the remainder of the year.

January Rare Bird Sightings

Here are the rare birds seen during the month, highlighted below parish by parish. (* continuing Birds)

St. Lucy

Glossy Ibis

• Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)(1)*- the only one of the original three birds remaining at this location;

St. Andrew

American Coot (white-shielded)

• American Coot white-shielded (Fulica Americana) (15)*- 12 adults and 3 juveniles at Walkers Reserve, which continues to be the hub for this species return to the island;

  

  American Coot (red-shielded)

• American Coot red-shielded (Fulica Americana)(2) – at Walkers Reserve;
• American Wigeon (Mareca Americana) (2) – two of these migratory ducks were reported on the 16^th but were not seen on the 21^st;
• American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) – a yearly wintering warbler at Turners Hall Woods;

  

  Magnolia Warbler

• Magnolia Warbler (Setophaga magnolia) – First seen on the 15^th but identification was conformed by Ed Massiah on the 21^st. The bird was last seen on the 29^th, the last visit by a birder to Turners Hall Woods;
• Pearly-eyed Thrasher (Margarops fuscatus) – another one of this year’s gems from the Turners Hall Woods.  Ed Massiah heard the repeated call of this Caribbean visitor on his visit to the woods on the 23^rd.

St. Joseph

Baltimore Oriole

• Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula) - a beautiful male seen at Chimborazo on the 26^th.

St. Thomas

Snail Kite

• Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis) – after not being seen for close to three months, the Snail Kite turned up in Farmers, St. Thomas on the 17^th.   Sightings were also reported on the 20^th and 21^st.

St. George

• American Coot white-shielded (Fulica Americana)* seen at Redland.

ST. Philip

Purple Gallinule

• Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica)*- sub-adult at the Bayfield’s Pond, first reported by a  visitor to the island but as subsequently molted, or in the process of molting,  into its beautiful adult plumage.
• Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) – this bird was seen feeding among white egrets and herons. Maybe the same bird from last year.

Christ Church

Northern Shoveler

• Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata) - one duck was seen at Woodbourne Shorebird Refuge on the 23^rd;
• American Coot (Fulica Americana) – two juveniles  at a private location;

  

  Black-headed Gull

• Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)* – the bird was seen on the ice pier at Oistins, along with a few terns on the 19^th.  It was not seen since then;
• Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) – first seen on the ice pier at Oistins on 19^th last seen on the 21^st ;

  

  Cape May Warbler

• Cape May Warbler (Setophaga tigrina) – one of the two rare warbler species seen at the Graeme Hall Swamp during the month.  This bird was first seen by John Webster on the 23^rd;

  

  Northern Parula

• Northern Parula (Setophaga Americana) – this warbler was first seen on the 3^rd then on 19^th and  22^nd ;

St. Michael

Lesser Black-backed Gull

• Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus) – this large immature gull was seen at the Bridgetown Fishing Complex on the 5^th. It was most likely the same bird that was seen late last year at Pile Bay.

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 help.  

January's Warblers

Birding for wood-warblers is a tedious task.  There are small birds, between 4 -6” in length, very active, and tend to forage high up in trees. The constant looking up normally leaves you with neck pains, a condition known in birding circles as Warbler Neck.  To add to the pain(😂), for an island like Barbados, which is not in the range of many of these families of birds, the rewards, in terms of numbers seen, are not too high.  In January 2022 though we saw species of warblers we don’t commonly see on the island.  I am not sure if this was caused by some atmospheric anomaly, or because we, the birders, just spent more time looking for these birds, in habitats where there are known to frequent, like Turners Hall Woods, Graeme Hall Swamps, etc of both.  Whatever the reason, it was exciting to see these rare warblers.  Here are the warblers recorded from our native species to the much rarer ones.

Native warbler 

Golden Warbler, the local subspecies of the Yellow warbler

 

Yearly Wintering Resident

Northern Waterthrush

American Redstart

Yellow Warbler (North America sub species ) migratory 

Rare Migrants 

Northern Parula 

Cape May Warbler

Magnolia Warbler