The Enthusiastic Birder: March 2023

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Lifer # 154 - Garganey

My second local lifer for the year, and it's a mega. I saw it while afternoon birding in the north. The bird was a Garganey (Spatula querquedula), a small dabbling duck that breeds mostly in Europe and Asia. It was among a flock of Blue-winged Teals (Spatula discors) and could have easily been mistaken for the female of that species, but what alerted me that it was different, was the distinctive facial markings, two clearly defined lines, one passing through the eyes and the other just below. Also, the brownish patch just above the eyes, and the lack of the white patch at the base of the bill were not field markings of the Blue-winged Teal.

Comparing the Female BW Teal, (front), and Garganey (back)

Taking the field markings into account, I tentatively thought - Garganey but having ever only seen an example of one in a field guide, I wanted expert confirmation. That was found with our local expert Ed Massiah, who I shared images with on our local Bird Alert messaging board, and Whatsapped said images to a friend and bird expert living in Guadeloupe, Anthony Levesque of Birding Guadeloupe (If you are visiting Guadeloupe and need a guide, look him up, he's the best). Both of them confirmed Garganey. The task now is to get quality images of this species before it migrates.

Here is how my birding numbers look:

Barbados - 154 species
West Indies - 198 species
World - 363 species
2023 checklist

can you find the Garganey among the BW Teal?

Saturday, March 18, 2023

RBTB at Green Point

Red-billed Tropicbird

I made a brief visit to the Red-billed Tropicbirds (Phaethon aethereus) nesting cliff at Green Point St. Philip on Thursday. On arrival, it was very quiet, with just one bird seen far out to sea, but that soon changed as more and more birds flew in from the ocean. Some birds appeared to be actively searching for nesting areas in crevices in the face of the cliff.

A Red-billed Tropicbird entering a crevice

Their made repeated flights to the rock face, as if entering a specific hole then pulled away at the last minute. This inspection continued repeatedly along the cliff front, going in a northerly direction. Two birds successfully entered holes, like the one in the image above, and a different bird flew out of another, directly out to sea. In the 45 minutes I spent on the sea ridge I counted eleven birds but I am sure there are more nesting pairs along the coast. Here are a few more images from the outing.

Friday, March 3, 2023

My 2023 Images - February

Last year, I concentrated on birding and seeing as many species as I could. This year, 2023, I will concentrate on photography. My primary tools will be Candace II (Canon 7D II) and a Sigma 150-600mm 5-6.3 Contemporary DG OS HSM aka Big Selma, with minor adjustments in Lightroom 5. Every month, I'll post some of my favourite images, as well as any images of rare or interesting birds; feedback and suggestions are welcome. Here are the February ones.