Great Backyard Bird Count 2021

Carib Grackle

This was the first  Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) that I spent solely counting in my backyard.  Normally for this four-day international event,  which ran this year from February 12-15^th, I would have visited a few local birding locations and would have ended the event with 35+ species recorded.  This was not possible this year because the island is on “pause” because of the second wave of the COVID virus.  The GBBC is an event that engages birders from across the world, of all ages, in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of bird populations worldwide.  Participants are not tied to their backyards but can submit a checklist from any location.

A female Shiny Cowbird

I did my count on the morning of February 13^th. A Carib Grackle (Quiscalus lugubris) and a Bananaquit(Coereba flaveola) are both in the process of constructing a nest in the Bajan (Barbados) Cherry Tree (Malpighia emarginata) just outside my bedroom window, and I realized that it attracted a lot of other species.  Where ever Carib Grackles are nesting you will find Shiny Cowbirds (Molothrus bonariensis)  and four of them came to the tree.  Cowbirds are brood parasites, in that they lay their eggs in another bird's nest, relying on them to raise their young.  Carib Grackles are the main host for this behavior.  I was soon joined by a pair of Yellow Warblers (Golden) (Setophaga petechial) and three noisy Caribbean Elaenia (Elaenia martinica) on my back fence.

Eurasian Collared-Dove

All in all, I saw only a few common birds, like Eurasian Collared-Doves (Streptopelia decaocto), Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis) and Gray Kingbirds (Tyrannus dominicensis), and I tallied 13 species in 30 minutes. See the full list below

1. Scaly-naped Pigeon (Patagioenas squamosa)
2. Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
3. Zenaida Dove (Zenaida aurita)
4. Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)
5. Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri)
6. Caribbean Elaenia (Elaenia martinica)
7. Gray Kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis)
8. Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis)
9. Carib Grackle (Quiscalus lugubris)
10. Yellow Warbler (Golden) (Setophaga petechia)
11. Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola)
12. Barbados Bullfinch (Loxigilla barbadensis)
13. Black-faced Grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor)