A Morning With An American Coot Family

Male American Coot

As a birder, I cannot remember ever leaving home with the sole aim of photographing a particular bird, maybe it happened before, if it did I can’t remember it.  My photographs normally come as a result of being out birding, birding being the primary focus, and photography secondary.   Saturday was different, my sole purpose was to photograph the chicks of the American Coot (Fulica Americana).  To me, the chicks of these birds have the most amazingly colored downy feathers, and now that they've recommence breeding on the island, and on discovering a nest during the Global Big Day, I've jumped at the chance to photograph one.  Sadly the opportunity fell through as I only got a brief glance of the chick who was tucked safely under its mothers wings.  A consolation, I guess was watching and documenting the interaction between the parents, especially the extremely aggressive male.   

The male bringing food for female and chick

The nest was constructed in reeds just off the shoreline of a lake. The female spent most of her time there on the nest and the few occasions she ventured off with the chick, she stayed with in the confines of the thick reeds.  Yes, I identified the male as aggressive but the above image showed his gentle side.  Don't be fooled, that gentle persona started when he entered the reeds and ended when he exits it. 

Male coot off to defend its territory 

As soon as I saw him with his head low to the water and speedily move in a direct manner, I knew another bird had just enter that, no go zone, and was about to be rudely escorted out. 

Pesky Common Gallinule

This single pesky  Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata) seem to be poking fun at our star bird.  It continually crossed that imaginary border and moved away just enough to avoid confrontation.  Something seem to be attracting him to the reeds patch.  The perfect opportunity soon presented itself, when the male was distracted.  The gallinule made it to its desired destination, an area between the bank and the reeds with the nest.  I could not tell what it was but, he found something to feed on in that area.  You may be wondering what could have distracted our studious guard away from it duties? It was a rival coot.

The chaste is on as the Male ousted a rival

This time the male coot ran the rival almost to the other end of the lake before returning to his duties at the reeds patch.  He was not too happy to find the Common Gallinule so close to the nest. After a brief scrap where the gallinule gave as much as it took, the male coot gave up and returned to the task of looking after his family.

I will return next weekend in hope that the chick is more active. Even though my first attempt was not successful, I truly enjoy my morning with the coots.

  

  

The Global Big Day 2021

The Moore Birders, Sophia, Jason, Sahara and I, were out in full force for the Global Big Day 2021, Saturday May 8th.  The days birding took us from one end of the island to the other, starting just before 5:30 AM and ended prematurely at 3:30 pm because of vehicular troubles.  At the end of the day, the combined team saw 48 species, including three rare birds, with each team member, except yours truly, registering lifers. Here are a few images and highlights. (See more images here)

Grey Kingbird

St. James 4 species: Our first records came from around our home as the sun was rising - Grey Kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis),  Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis),  Carib Grackle (Quiscalus lugubris), and Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola).

Our first rare bird, Snail Kite at Bay Street, St. Michael

St. Michael 15 species: After missing two of our targeted birds, Orange-winged (Amazona amazonica) and Yellow-crowned Parrots (Amazona ochrocephala) at our first stop in the parish of St. Michael, we saw our first rarity, Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis) at the second. The other birds from St. Michael were Scaly-naped Pigeon (Patagioenas squamosal), Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto), Zenaida Dove (Zenaida aurita), Antillean Crested Hummingbird (Orthorhyncus cristatus),Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri), Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis),  Black-faced Grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor), Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens), Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla), Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster), Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), Green Heron (Butorides virescens), Caribbean Elaenia (Elaenia martinica) and Caribbean Martin (Progne dominicensis).

Orange-winged parrot

Christ Church 19 species: I was a bit disappointed in missing the parrots, but thanks to directions from fellow birder John Webster we were able to find the Orange-winged (Amazona amazonica) at another location.

Long-billed Dowitcher at Chancery Lane

Another highlight was our second rarity sighting at Chancery Lane.  We at first recorded it as a Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus) but was soon corrected by our local birding guru Ed Massiah, who identified it as a Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus). The other birds seen were Black-whiskered Vireo (Vireo altiloquus), Common Ground Dove (Columbina passerine), Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata), Golden Warbler (Setophaga petechial), Barbados Bullfinch (Loxigilla barbadensis), Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres), Rock Pigeon (Columba livia) Royal Tern  (Thalasseus maximus), Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius), Sanderling  (Calidris alba), Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla), Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola), Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus), Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca), Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes), Snowy Egret (Egretta thula), and Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea).

Grassland Yellow-Finches at Bushy Park, St. Philip

St. Philip 5 species: We missed a targeted bird, the Red-billed Tropicbird (Phaethon aethereus) in St. Philip.  If we had hanged around for just a few minutes more, as did John,  we would have seen them, but we did get these Grassland Yellow-Finches (Sicalis luteola) as we were passing Bushy Park. The other four species we saw were Green-throated Carib  (Eulampis holosericeus), Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus), Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla),and Solitary Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria).

A fraction of the 200+Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks at St. John

St. John, St. George, St. Andrew and St. Lucy 5 species:  Around midday we started birding our way north, making a few stops along the way. At a pond in the parish of St. John we saw over 200 Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks (Dendrocygna autumnalis), then an Eared Dove (Zenaida auriculata) and American Coot (Fulica Americana), our third rare bird, at  Redland St, George.

Pied-billed Grebe at Walkers Reserve, St. Andrew

At Walkers Reserve, St. Andrew was Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) and our final bird for the day was a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) at a wetland in St. Lucy.

We had just two more planned stops to make with two targeted species but was unable to make them.  One of them for sure would have given us our 49th species Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) but that did not put a damper on  the wonderful family day of birding we had.  Happily the problem with our vehicle was not too serious and it was back on the road in no time.

Hence the second Global Big Day is in the books for Team Moore Birders, giving us a total of 68 species over the two events.  We are eagerly looking forward to the October Big Day.  Let hope that this COVID would riding off into the sunset at that time.

See more images from The Global Bid Day 2021 here

Images From The Global Big Day

Here are a few images from The Global Big Day and to reed more about that day click here

Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis)

Snail Kite in flight

Orange-winged Parrot (Amazona amazonica)

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) stretching a leg and a wing

Ruddy Turnstone

American Coot (Fulica Americana)

American Coot sitting on a nest at Walkers Reserve, St. Andrew

Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) 

Green Heron (Butorides virescens)

A fraction of the 200+Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks (Dendrocygna autumnalis), at St. John

Male (L) and female (R) Caribbean Martins (Progne dominicensis)

More Caribbean Martins

Even More Caribbean Martins

Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) in the oil fields 

Barbados Bullfinch (Loxigilla barbadensis) with an injured eye

Barbados Bullfinch

Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) in breeding plumage

Spotted Sandpiper, a winter visitor will soon be on it was north for nesting 

Male Golden (Yellow)Warbler (Setophaga petechial)

Yellow Warbler singing "sweet sweet sweet want so more sweet"

Grey Kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis)our largest tyrant

Grassland Yellow-Finches (Sicalis luteola) 

 

Birds Caribbean Global Big Day 2021 Fundraiser campaign

For this year's World Migratory Bird Day and Global Big Day , the birders of this lovely island have joined the BirdsCaribbean Global Big Day 2021  Fundraiser campaign.  Our team is called "Bajan Birders" visit our page and donate to this worthy cause.