Morning Birding in St. Lucy

I had an exciting morning of birding in the parish of St. Lucy yesterday.  In just a  few hours, I saw rarities, good raptor action, and plenty of good birds.  The only thing missing that would have made the morning perfect would have been a lifer. Here is a synopsis.  

Raptor Action

Peregrine Falcon with its bat prey

The first sign that it was going to be a good day in the field took place on my way to my first stop.  It was about 6:15 am, and still a little dark out when I noticed a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) on a powerline feeding on a bat.  I stuck around, photographing, and even did a little video until he was finished, then he flew off.  The second raptor encounter was not as exciting and happened between birding stops.  It was a flyover from an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), the fishing falcon. I had no time to adjust the setting on the camera but just fired away.

Rare Birds

Purple Gallinule

I saw a plethora of rare birds that morning.  At my second stop of that day, was a pair of Long-billed Dowitchers (Limnodromus scolopaceus) which was the appetizer for the main course.  That came at my next stop which presented multiple rarities.  First up was a beautiful adult  Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica).  This bird showed very well until it realized that it was being watched and then disappeared into the tall grass.  As I continued along the water's edge a juvenile one came into the clearing.  It was more tolerant than the adult and I was able to observe it for about 5 minutes.  The other two rare birds were ducks.  The first was a  Fulvous Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna bicolor), this duck was hanging out with a flock of Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors) but our second duck was alone.  It was a Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis), the stiff tail diving duck. This is most likely the same duck I saw there in late December that was still around.  The most surprising rarity of the day was a bird I saw at my last stop. 

It was an American Coot (Fulica Americana), and what was surprising is that it was a juvenile bird, which means the bird was hatched at that location.  Coots have not nested on the island for some time but with the increase in long stay individuals,  it was expected. For more than a year John Webster and I were on Coots nesting watch at two locations in St. Andrew and here it appeared that one was nesting right under our noses and we never knew. Well well, at least I did see some good birds.

Plenty of Good Birds

Outside of the rare birds I also saw some good common birds.  I saw 66 Least Sandpipers (Calidris minutilla) as the most numerous bird for the morning, followed by Blue-winged Teals (Spatula discors) (52).  Soras (Porzana Carolina) also made their presence felt throughout the morning.  At one location these tiny birds demonstrated their big voices when one started a chorus of calls and held their own against the much larger Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata) and Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) who joined in.  It was my first time hearing the call of the Purple.

Juvenile Purple Gallinule 

At the end of the morning I had tallied 314 individual birds divided into 44 species. See the species list below.

1. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck - Dendrocygna autumnalis
2. Fulvous Whistling-Duck - Dendrocygna bicolor
3. Blue-winged Teal - Spatula discors
4. Ruddy Duck - Oxyura jamaicensis
5. Scaly-naped Pigeon - Patagioenas squamosa
6. Eurasian Collared-Dove - Streptopelia decaocto
7. Common Ground Dove - Columbina passerina
8. Zenaida Dove - Zenaida aurita
9. Sora - Porzana carolina
10. Common Gallinule - Gallinula galeata
11. American Coot - Fulica americana
12. Purple Gallinule - Porphyrio martinica
13. Black-bellied Plover - Pluvialis squatarola
14. Semipalmated Plover - Charadrius semipalmatus
15. Sanderling - Calidris alba
16. Least Sandpiper - Calidris minutilla
17. Semipalmated Sandpiper - Calidris pusilla
18. Long-billed Dowitcher - Limnodromus scolopaceus
19. Wilson's Snipe - Gallinago delicata
20. Spotted Sandpiper - Actitis macularius
21. Greater Yellowlegs - Tringa melanoleuca
22. Lesser Yellowlegs - Tringa flavipes
23. Magnificent Frigatebird - Fregata magnificens
24. Great Egret - Ardea alba
25. Snowy Egret - Egretta thula
26. Little Blue Heron - Egretta caerulea
27. Cattle Egret - Bubulcus ibis
28. Green Heron - Butorides virescens
29. Black-crowned Night-Heron - Nycticorax nycticorax
30. Osprey - Pandion haliaetus
31. Peregrine Falcon - Falco peregrinus
32. Rose-ringed Parakeet - Psittacula krameri
33. Gray Kingbird - Tyrannus dominicensis
34. Barn Swallow - Hirundo rustica
35. Cliff Swallow - Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
36. Shiny Cowbird - Molothrus bonariensis
37. Carib Grackle - Quiscalus lugubris
38. Northern Waterthrush - Parkesia noveboracensis
39. Yellow Warbler - Setophaga petechia
40. Grassland Yellow-Finch - Sicalis luteola
41. Bananaquit - Coereba flaveola
42. Barbados Bullfinch - Loxigilla barbadensis
43. Black-faced Grassquit - Melanospiza bicolor

Big Year Update: Final Update & Review

I enjoyed both the 2020 Big Year and Photo Big Year challenges, despite the perplexing year we had.  I saw some great birds, logged two lifers, recorded a personal best for species seen in a year, but was not able to reach my set targets.  I came close in the Big Year, finishing the year with 109 species, just one short of the 110 I was aiming for but was only able to put up 92 images in the Photographic Big Year.

Big Year Challenge

After recording my 108^th species on November 29^th, it took me another 30 days to see the 109^th, an American Wigeon (Mareca American) at Chancery Lane, Christ Church on December 28^th.    I was disappointed in not reaching the 110 species goal but I was happy with the effort. That effort provided me with a few personal best:

• A new year high of 109 species –  This is two more than my previous high which was 107 species in 2018.

Snail Kite

• Two Barbados lifers, Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) and Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis) moved my local lifer tally to 142 species.

Photographic Big Year

You would figure that if you saw 109 species it should have been a breeze to photograph at least 100 of them but sadly it was not that easy.  I have never successful completed a Photographic Big Year in two or three attempts, but 2020 was supposed to the year... The year started promisingly but was quickly marred with a series of equipment failures leaving with a temperamental Point and Shoot for most of the year.  In December I was able to add nine images, some of which quality wise I am not proud of, bring my year-end tally to 92 species.

Goals for 2021

This year is supposed to be a slow birding year for me.  The plan is to spend more time sharpening my photography skills.  I have a new camera, my dream camera a Canon 7D Mark II, it's a beast.  At present I am using a Canon EF-S 55-250 mm with it - this is the longest lens I have at the moment. I am amazed  at the quality of the images, even when cropping to sometimes ¼ of the original.  The video on it is not too shabby either and may encourage me to do a few of them.  The new  Canon 100-400L II is my dream lens for the 7D, and will try to get one sometime next year, but at the moment I am close to acquiring a used Sigma 50-500 mm.  So the plan for 2021 is to take it easy on the birding front but work hard on improving my photography.  So please join me on the journey. Stay safe friends.