Big Year Update: August

The favorable birding in August got me back on target, well for my Big Year, but the Photo Big Year challenge was a different story. I added 6 year-birds in August.  There were Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos), Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis), which was my first lifer for the year, Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), White-rumped Sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis), Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota), and a Least Tern (Sternula antillarum).  This helped me to finish the month with 91 species, 19 behind my target of 110 species.

My Photographic Big Year effort took a big hit when my Canon 5D Mark 2 stopped working and with no repair centers on the island, it maybe more feasible to get a new camera than shipping it off to be repair.  My heart is set on the birder's dream, a Canon 7D Mark 2.  I am hoping to find a reasonable used one, and would like to pair it with the budget Sigma 159-600 mm contemporary lens which I am hoping to get new.  The camera I am using now, a point and shoot Canon SX30IS, is not the best for birding, especially when the bird is moving. Despite my camera issues, I was able to add 6 new images in August, bringing my tally to 54 images.  My goal to get me back on track is 20 images in September, this maybe too large of a task but will see at the end of the month.

Here are the new images that were added:

54. Barn Swallow
 (Hirundo rustica)

53. Pectoral Sandpiper
(Calidris melanotos)

52. Willet (Tringa semipalmata)

51. Caribbean Elaenia
(Elaenia martinica)

50. Caribbean Martin
(Progne dominicensi)

49. Common Ground Dove(Columbina passerina)