A Pelagic Surprise

Our mystery bird as we first saw it

The island of Barbados is a dream location for many vacationers. Blue waters, white sand, beautiful people and world class hotels.  It seems though, that the birds are getting in on the action as well.  Do you remember the Peregrine I wrote about in 2014 that loves to stay at the Barbados Hilton? (See the post here) Well in 2016 he is back again but this time not alone, he has company, female company.  While staying in his usual suite on the Hilton sign, another visitor was also enjoying the hospitality of the Hotel’s lush surroundings.  This bird, a first for the island, was a Great Kiskadee. (See the post here).

 My 126^th Barbados Lifer

mostly white underparts, brownish upperpart, black bills, pink legs

The bird which became my 126^th Barbados lifer was not to be left out.  It was found walking around the entrance of a four star south coast hotel called Oceans 2 on Wednesday June 8^th. The bird seemed unable to fly and was captured by hotel employees who then contacted Dr. John Webster to identify it.  Early the following day I met Dr. Webster at the hotel, both of us were surprised to see that the bird was a large pelagic bird.  Its upperparts were brownish, mostly white underparts, with a black cap, black bill, pink feet and a white rump.  We were able, with the help of field Guides, to identify the bird as a Greater Shearwater- Ardenna gravis.  The bird still appeared unable to fly but looked healthy and was very alert.   Dr. Webster took the bird to The RSPCA where it was thoroughly examined.  We were happy to hear it had no broken bones and that the vet would be holding it for observation for a couple of days, hopefully it will be able to fly by then.  

Greater Shearwater in Barbados

being examine by the Vet at RSPCA

Greater Shearwaters, at 19”  in length, are one of the two largest shearwaters found in the West Indies. (Helm Birds of the West Indies). These birds spend most of their lives at sea, breed on islands in the South Atlantic, they have migration routes which bring them close and through the West Indies, with peak periods in the month of June.  There were five records of Greater Shearwaters in Barbados and its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) before this one, this being only the second one recorded on land. (Birds of Barbados)

Hopefully I will be able to share photos of the Shearwater flying off into the sunset.  I would like to say thank you to the wonderful staff at Oceans 2 Hotel for catching the bird and keeping it safe, also to the staff at RSPCA for doing what they do best, help all creatures great and small and to Dr. Webster who is becoming the unofficial bird rescue guy on the island, a role which he performs without fanfare.  Keep it up guys!  

Here are a few images of the shearwater from Dr. John Webster’s IPhone. Enjoy!

Pelagic Bird Found on the East Coast

Manx Shearwater

Pelagic birds are seldom seen near the island, as they live mostly on the high seas. Most of the records we have on ebird.org were made by observers who were on vessels, except for our two native species, the Audubon’s Shearwaters (Puffinus lherminieri) that breed in St. Lucy and the Red-billed Tropicbirds (Phaethon aethereus) that breed in St. Philip. On November 25th, a visiting couple discovered a rare bird on an east coast beach, a Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus), which was identified by Ed Massiah. The bird was injured, lost the primary feathers on its right wing, and had a leg wound that seemed to be caused by a fishing line or net.

injury on the leg

Ed also kindly agreed to take and keep the bird until it could be brought to the RSPCA for treatment. The staff there have helped many wounded birds in the past, such as the  Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) in 2019, Greater Shearwater (Ardenna gravis) in 2016, link 2, Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), to name a few. He also consulted a veterinarian on how to care for it until we could get it there. Sadly, it died before it could reach the RSPCA.

The Manx shearwater is a medium-sized seabird that measures 12–15 in (30–38 cm) long and has a wingspan of 30–35 in (76–89 cm). It is known for its amazing migration, traveling thousands of miles between its wintering grounds in the southern Atlantic, Brazil, and Argentina, and its breeding grounds in northern Atlantic countries like the United Kingdom, Iceland, etc. These birds are closest to our island during February and March when they migrate to their breeding grounds. It would be wonderful to see these beautiful birds in their element, far out at sea, in the pelagic zone. Yes, a boat trip is needed for some open-water birding, maybe in 2024.

Stay safe and enjoy your birding.

 

The Barbados Birds and Birding Report - November

Lesser Scaup- one of the species of migratory ducks seen in November

November was a calm month after the busy October we had. We added three new species to our 2023 checklist: Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca), Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata), and Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) ending the month with a jaw-dropping 123 species seen for the year. Meanwhile, more migratory ducks showed up and we saw four different species by the end of the month: Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors), Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca), Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris), and Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis). In St. Lucy and Christ Church, we observed some large flocks of Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors) with over 100 individual birds each.

November's Rare Bird Sightings

November was a slow month for new rare bird sightings, and December tends to be even slower. But we still have a chance to see some wintering warblers at Turner’s Hall Woods and the Graeme Hall Swamp that could make 2023 end with a bang. Plus, the rains have filled up the ponds and made them more appealing to some birds, so we might get some surprises in December so stay alert. These are the rare birds that we saw in November, some of which stayed from previous months.

St. Lucy

one of the six long-stay Glossy Ibis

• Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)(6)*- These birds have continued at this location for over a year.
• Fulvous Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna bicolor)*(1) – One bird seen among a flock of  Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis)
• Killdeer (Charadrius vociferous) - was seen last on November 5th 
 

St. Andrew 

• Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica)(2)- This pair was seen at various locations

  

  Manx Shearwater

• Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) - This bird was found on the beach at Morgan Lewis in poor condition, and appeared to be caused by a fishing line or net.  It died two days later

  

  One of the two Prothonotary Warblers seen at Turner Hall

• Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) - two birds were seen in the Turners Hall Woods during the month. 

St. Philip 

• Hudsonian Godwit (Limosa haemastica) seen early in the month 
• Red Knot (Calidris canutus) (2)* - This could be the pair from last month that roosted at a private wetland.
• Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica)* - last seen on November 19 at a private location.

St. Michael

• Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus)(2) - 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.  A new tool to help with your local bird identification is our Facebook Group, The Birds of Barbados. Click here to join   

The Journey to Bird Rock - Part 1

Bird Rock by John Webster's iphone

It is the local breeding bird never seen by most of the island's birders.  It nests in limestone crevices on a small rock stack about 30 meters offshore Cluffs Bay, St. Lucy, called Bird Rock.  It is known to return to this rock stack daily during the breeding period which commences in late November and tapers off by May- June.  You may ask if you know where the birds sleep and when it goes to sleep, what's the problem? Since the last visit by Martin Frost and Ed Massiah (Birds Of Barbados by Buckley, Hutt Massiah et al) in 1998, many attempts were made to visit Bird Rock, but for one reason or the other, the trip never came to fruition.  The main issue was with the path leading to the nesting colony, it was treacherous during the day, so you can just imagine how it was at night. Let me tell you more about this bird and why the journey to see it is such a difficult one.

The Birds

Audubon's Shearwater  Free image from www.goodfreephotos.com

The bird,  Audubon's Shearwater (Puffinus lherminieri), is about 12” (30cm) – that is about the size of a Zenaida Dove (Zenaida aurita). These seabirds are black at top and white underparts. And were nesting on this same rock stack for over 300 years. In his book The Natural History of Barbados: In Ten Books published in 1750, the naturalist  Rev. Griffith Hughes referred to Bird Rock as a “place of safety for several seabirds”(The Natural History of Barbados: In Ten Books: book IX pg 252) and that it is, and I hope it remains so for another 300 years. These seabirds spend their days far out to see, in the pelagic zone, returning to the nesting site well after dark. Hence the first problem is to see these birds, you have to go after dark, at night.  The second difficulty is the path to Bird Rock.

The Path to Bird Rock

Reaching the lookout point to the rock stacks at Bird Rock,  involves a tricky descent into a wooded ravine, along a tenuous pathway. Tricky enough during the day, so you can just imagine traversing it at night. On Saturday, March 7, John Webster, Ed Massiah, and I, the three birders, took an exploratory trip to Bird Rock, to feel out the path for a night visit. We met at the entrance to the path, which is in Greenridge's St. Lucy, a small community off highway 1B.  We met at 6 AM, well most of us did but one person, who I will not name, was late.  As we waited for John to arrive I took note of the birds in the area, a few Caribbean Martins(Progne dominicensis), Cattle Egrets(Bubulcus ibis) but was surprised when a Great Blue Heron (Ardea Herodias) flew overhead and landed about a ½ mile away.

The path to Bird Rock started along a trodden path through a pasture, but it was not well defined suggesting that it was not widely used. This slowly gave way to shrubbery and trees. We then started to descend into the ravine, zig-zagging between trees and boulders before coming to a clearing looking out to the rear of Bird Rock. It was a stunning view, enhanced by the morning sun escaping the horizon and starting the journey slowly across the sky, it was breathtaking. An abandoned foundation of a building in the background suggested that someone attempted to make this amazing view a daily event.  We spent some time surveying the area, taking note of a few areas along the cliff that should give a less challenging view of the stacks, before heading back to the top. These areas I will investigate in the coming week.

The excursion to Bird Rock provided us with the information we needed. It would be difficult to make the journey at night. We do have a few other options to explore, but for sure the trip to Bird Rock is on. I hope!

2016 Review:Barbados

Drought was the main problem for 2016 on the island.  This spilled over from 2015 but the rain came in a big way during the latter quarter of the year hopefully signaling the end of these extreme dry weather conditions and low rain falls we have been having for at least a year and a half.  In spite of these conditions the island recorded 105 bird species one of which was a new species and it also includes a few rarities.

New Species for the Island 

In the month of February a new bird was added to the local avian checklist.  It was the Great Kiskadee.  This bird was seen by a visiting birder on the grounds of the Hilton Hotel.  The bird hung around for a couple of weeks before disappearing.

Rarities

Some of the rarities from 2015 stayed with us into 2016.  A Eurasian Wigeon in St. Andrew,  and a Grey Heron at Chancery Lane,  Lesser Blackbacked Gull at Oistins and the Marsh Harrier.  A West Indian Whistling-Duck in St. John could be considered a resident since it was here for a couple of years now and is reported to have its second brood of hybrid ducklings with a Black-bellied Whistling duck.

The island has a few species of rare birds that are becoming yearly visitors such as the Glossy Ibis, Gray Heron, Ruffs, Fulvous Whistling Duck and Wood Sandpipers.  Other species of interest recorded during 2016 that can be considered rare were the Pearly-eyed Thrasher, Tricoloed Heron, Brown Pelicans, Purple Gallinules and Striated Heron.  

The two birds I considered to be the mega-rarities for 2016 were a Greater Shearwater, which strolled into a hotel on the south coast one night, (follow these links to see the postings 1, 2) and  a White-crowned Pigeon which was photographed by a resident in the Warrens, St. Michael area.

Birding Aboard, a program which seeks to mobilize the worldwide boating community to document ocean bird sightings for the sake of conservation, added a few pelagic birds to the island’s checklist.  The vessel Delphinus on a transatlantic voyage from Cape Verde to Barbados recorded sightings of White-tailed Tropicbird, Leach's Storm-Petrel and a Pomarine Jaeger to mention a few.

We can add to this list a few special birds that were seen during 2016.  A Pink Cattle Egret which was seen in St. Philip, we also had a Eurasian Whimbrel seen at Chancery Lane and a suspected Lesser Antillean/ Barbados Bullfinch hybrid seen in St. Peter. 

There were a few unconfirmed sightings for example a White-cheeked Pintail seen at Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary which most likely was one of the caged pintails kept at the sanctuary and another was of a flock of Gadwalls which were seen after a rainstorm.  If there is any confirmation of these two birds, I’ll let you know. 

Wild Bird Rehabilitation found a Home on the island

During 2016 we had two occasions where wild birds needed emergency medical attention and on both occasions a friend was found in the local RSPCA.  The first occasion was a Great Blue Heron with a broken wing which arrived at the Barbados RSPCA in November 2015 and was released in February 2016 (Click Link).  The second bird was a Greater Shearwater, nicknamed Ocean (see here), who strolled into a south coast hotel on the night of June 8^th.  Ocean was unable to fly but showed no signs of injury.  Dr. John Webster took him to the Barbados RSPCA where the staff worked assiduously to nurse Ocean back to health but sadly he died (See here). A Big thank you to all involved.

This is the 2016 record what will 2017 bring…