2017 Photographic Big Year - 87 - 89

Week 43 was an active but productive one for my 2017 Photographic Birding Challenge.  I was able to add three more birds to my checklist. We had/have a rare visit of a Tricolor Heron⁸⁷ – a small to medium size heron which is more common to South America and the Greater Antilles; Wilson Snipe⁸⁸ – a master of camouflage and a common winter migrant and the Yellow-billed Cuckoo⁸⁹ another winter visitor seen mostly in the eastern and northern parishes around this time of the year.

With two months left in 2017 I still need to photograph 11 more species which means the pressure is on, no more games, the kid gloves are off – stay tune 😓 – happy birding.

See images below.  See 2017 Photographic Big Year images here.

87 - Tricolored Heron - Egretta tricolor

88 - Wilson's Snipe - Gallinago delicata

89 - Yellow-billed Cuckoo - Coccyzus americanus

Harrison’s Point 2017: Blackpoll Fall Out

October normally finds local birders, like myself, combing the wooded areas surrounding the old US Naval Base at Harrisons Point (HP), St. Lucy. This is in search of a bird weighing less than an ounce but has one of the longest and most impressive migrations of the animal kingdom.  These birds, Blackpoll Warblers(BLPW) (Setophaga striata), take off from their breeding grounds, in forests of northern North America from Alaska, through most of Canada, the Great Lakes region and New England, on a  journey  of up to 1,500 miles over the Atlantic to their winter grounds in South America. (See migration map).  A study in the 90s done by McNair, Massiah and Frost at Harrisons Point discovered that the area around HP is an important refueling station along the migration route of these birds.  On normal occasions you may see one or two birds but during bad weather the birds on the ground can number into the hundreds.  This is a phenomenon called “fallout”.  It is when adverse atmospheric conditions interrupt migration forcing birds to the ground.  The study by McNair et al. stated that among other things when the barometric pressure is low around the BLPOs peek migration period - between October 15^th -25^th - that fallout will occur at HP. Saturday 14^th was just that, with a barometric reading of 1012mb (weatherforyou.com) along with winds from the SE and persistence rain.

I left home at 5:45am with my birding buddies, Jason and Sahara (my two children) for the 40 minute drive to HP in the north.  When we arrived, it was still raining and I drove onto one of the new access roads (that’s another story) and parked under a large Tamarind Tree (Tamarindus indica) in hope that it would offer some protection from the rain.  They were many birds around especially seedeaters, like Blackface Grassquits and Barbados Bullfinches who were attracted to the seeding Megathrsus maximus commonly known as Guinea Grass.  Shiny Cowbirds and Carib Grackles were also busy feeding on the grass seeds.  As I exited the car with an umbrella, I caught sight of my first Blackpoll Warbler in the Tamarind Tree.  It was a strange one, something I had never seen until then - this bird was still showing its breeding plumage.  I then saw another, and another and another and by the end of our trip to HP the tally was 15 BLPO warblers and I knew many more were around but after spending one hour  and a half it was time to go. 

I am hoping to visit HP again this coming Saturday. Hopefully the weather is better and the birding is good.

2017 Photographic Big Year - 85,86

The 40^th week of 2017 gave me two more images for my Photographic Big Year. One was a new bird for the island, Ringed Kingbird⁸⁵, and a rambunctious little tern, Common Tern⁸⁶.  This moved my year count within 14 images of my goal 100!!

 

See images below.  See 2017 Photographic Big Year images here.

85 - Ringed Kingfisher - Megaceryle torquata

86 - Common Tern - Sterna hirundo

A New Avian Species Record for Barbados – Ringed Kingfisher (Megaceryle torquata)

Ringed Kingfisher (Megaceryle torquata)

I first saw, well heard, this bird on the afternoon of September 21^st, while birding at Woodbourne Shorebird Refuge (WSR).  The call was unfamiliar to me so I took note of it.  I tried in vain to find the bird in the dense foliage but was unable to.   Minutes later what I first thought was a Belted Kingfisher, which is common to the island, flew from the area the bird call came from.  I noticed the reddish colour underparts and got a quick shot with my camera.  The shot was horrible but I

My first image of the RIKI on September 21

was sure this bird was a Ringed Kingfisher.   On returning home I listened to the call of the Ringed Kingfisher on the website www.xeno-canto.org  and it was the same call I heard earlier that afternoon at WSR.   I had seen and photographed what I thought was a Belted Kingfisher sitting over one of the ponds, it then flew to the same dense foliage just before I heard the strange call so I reasoned that it must have been the Ringed Kingfisher and gathered a few of the best images to share.   Of course, no matter how you try, you cannot turn a Belted Kingfisher into a Ringed Kingfisher, yes the

Belted or Ringed Kingfisher?

response was unanimous - a Belted Kingfisher.  I was dejected but vowed to find and get photographical evidence to support my sighting but because of a series of unfortunate events I was unable to do an in-depth search.  On September 30^th, a local birder saw and photographed the Ringed Kingfisher at the same location, confirming that I did hear its distinct call.

I was finally able to get my first good look at the bird on October the 1^st and first usable images on October 5^th some of which you can see below.

Ringed Kingfisher (Megaceryle torquata) is a large bird about 16 inches, with bluish-gray upperparts, shaggy crest and a broad white collar around the neck.  Its underparts are reddish-brown, which covers the entire breast of the male to under the tail while females are more colourful having a bluish-gray breast and a narrow white stripe separating the breast from the belly.  Juveniles are darker above, with marks on the back; breast is mottled and belly a lighter reddish-brown making our bird a female.

While these birds are uncommon to this island they are common to some of our Caribbean neighbours eg. Dominica which was recently devastated by Hurricane Maria – Our hearts and prayers go out to them.

Here are a few images of the bird:

Bird Dispatches from the Hurricane Front Lines - Bird Caribbean

It has been an exhausting few weeks for many of BirdsCaribbean’s partners across the region. The hurricane season is not over for another two months, but Caribbean conservationists are hoping for a break. BirdsCaribbean and its wonderful supporters across the region are doing their best to keep up with a variety of urgent needs, from shipping hummingbird feeders for starving birds to organizing assessments and surveys. There is a lot of work to be done, but teamwork and partnerships are making the difference.
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