October's Big Day 2019

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

My truncated October Big Day was very pleasing.  I left home at 5:15 am for my first stop at Harrison’s Point, St. Lucy, getting there at 5:55 am.  My target birds were Blackpoll Warbler (Setophaga striata), Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), and Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus).  After spending close to an hour I only saw one of my targeted birds, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo.  So it was off to my next stop, a private location further north, and to my surprise the other two birds were waiting for me there, along with another rarity, a pair of Northern Shovelers(Spatula clypeata). That ended my birding for the morning.  Just after midday, I made two more stops, one of which resulted in another rarity, a juvenile Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica).
In the four stops I made, I recorded 42 species.  See the checklist below.

1. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck - Dendrocygna autumnalis
2. Blue-winged Teal - Spatula discors
3. Northern Shoveler - Spatula clypeata
4. Scaly-naped Pigeon - Patagioenas squamosa
5. Eurasian Collared-Dove - Streptopelia decaocto
6. Common Ground-Dove - Columbina Passerina
7. Zenaida Dove - Zenaida aurita
8. Yellow-billed Cuckoo - Coccyzus americanus
9. Green-throated Carib - Eulampis holosericeus
10. Antillean Crested Hummingbird - Orthorhyncus cristatus
11. Common Gallinule - Gallinula galeata
12. Purple Gallinule - Porphyrio martinica
13. American Golden-Plover - Pluvialis dominica
14. Semipalmated Plover - Charadrius semipalmatus
15. Least Sandpiper - Calidris minutilla
16. Pectoral Sandpiper - Calidris melanotos
17. Semipalmated Sandpiper - Calidris pusilla
18. Spotted Sandpiper - Actitis macularius
19. Solitary Sandpiper - Tringa solitaria
20. Greater Yellowlegs - Tringa melanoleuca
21. Lesser Yellowlegs - Tringa flavipes
22. Magnificent Frigatebird - Fregata magnificens
23. Snowy Egret - Egretta thula
24. Cattle Egret - Bubulcus ibis
25. Green Heron - Butorides virescens
26. Glossy Ibis - Plegadis falcinellus
27. Belted Kingfisher - Megaceryle alcyon
28. Rose-ringed Parakeet - Psittacula krameri
29. Caribbean Elaenia - Elaenia martinica
30. Gray Kingbird - Tyrannus dominicensis
31. Black-whiskered Vireo - Vireo altiloquus
32. Caribbean Martin - Progne dominicensis
33. Barn Swallow - Hirundo rustica
34. Bobolink - Dolichonyx oryzivorus
35. Shiny Cowbird - Molothrus bonariensis
36. Carib Grackle - Quiscalus lugubris
37. Yellow Warbler - Setophaga petechia
38. Blackpoll Warbler - Setophaga striata
39. Grassland Yellow-Finch - Sicalis luteola
40. Bananaquit - Coereba flaveola
41. Barbados Bullfinch - Loxigilla barbadensis
42. Black-faced Grassquit - Melanospiza bicolor

Glossy Ibis

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Bobolink

Blackpoll Warbler