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| Migratory shorebirds at a refuge in St. Lucy |
My Global Big Day birding adventure continued in the afternoon, after a late start. I had planned to begin at noon, but I only got on the road at 2:30. This meant that I had to skip some of the places I wanted to visit in the southeast of the island. However, I was joined by the rest of team Moore Birders as we headed to our first stop Redland, St. George.
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| American Coots - Red-shielded at Redland |
At Redland, we spotted Pied-billed Grebes (Podilymbus podiceps) and the two types of American Coots (Fulica Americana): White-shielded and the much rarer Red-shielded. Then we moved on to our next stop at the Ermy Bourne Highway, on the border of St Joseph and St. Andrew. Here, the bird we were targeting was one not seen for the year thus far namely Black Swifts (Cypseloides niger). We were lucky to find two of them flying among Caribbean Martins (Progne dominicensis) over the hills of Cambridge, St. Andrew. We also saw an Antillean Crested Hummingbird (Orthorhyncus cristatus) and a Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) on the beach side of the road, wading among the rock pools on the seaside. We continued our journey northward, stopping at a few locations but not adding any more new birds to our list until we reached North Point, the northernmost point of the island. There we observed Grassland Yellow-Finch (Sicalis luteola) in the fields next to the solar farm. We also added one more bird, an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), as we drove to our last stop of the day. |
| Semipalmated Plover in the beautiful sunset |
We arrived at our final destination around 5:30, with the sun just above the horizon. My son and I quickly surveyed the mudflats and added eight new birds to our Global Big Day list. Most of them were shorebirds. We sat on the grass, watching the busy shorebirds feed in front of us as the sun set behind them, painting the sky orange. It was a beautiful, peaceful, and wonderful way to end a day of birding.
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| Collared Plover was the bird of the day |
As we sat there, reminiscing about the birds we had seen throughout the day, our bird of the day flew in. It was a rare one: a
Collared Plover (Charadrius collaris) a South American plover. It was amusing to watch it chasing around the larger
Semipalmated Plovers (Charadrius semipalmatus) from its space on the drying mudflats. It was a fitting way to end our day of birding on this World Migratory Bird Day, surrounded by examples of such migrants, at a place established to provide them with refuge as they travel across flyways in search of better conditions.
Here is a list of bird species seen during the 2023 Global Big Day:
- Gray Kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis)
- Eurasian Collared-Dove(Streptopelia decaocto)
- Cattle Egret(Bubulcus ibis)
- Caribbean Elaenia(Elaenia martinica)
- Golden Warbler(Setophaga petechia)
- Bananaquit(Coereba flaveola)
- Barbados Bullfinch(Loxigilla barbadensis)
- Scaly-naped Pigeon (Patagioenas squamosa)
- Common Ground-Dove(Columbina passerina)
- Green Heron(Butorides virescens)
- Striated Heron (Butorides striata)
- Black-crowned Night-Heron(Nycticorax nycticorax)
- Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis)
- Carib Grackle(Quiscalus lugubris)
- Brown Booby(Sula leucogaster)
- Rock Pigeon(Columba livia)
- Zenaida Dove (Zenaida aurita)
- Magnificent Frigatebird(Fregata magnificent)
- Green-throated Carib(Eulampis holosericeus)
- Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)
- Royal Tern(Thalasseus Maximus)
- Black-whiskered Vireo(Vireo altiloquus)
- Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata)
- Rose-ringed Parakeet(Psittacula krameri)
- Black-faced Grassquit(Melanospiza bicolor)
- Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus)
- Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)
- Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)
- Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)
- American Coot (Fulica Americana)
- Black Swift (Cypseloides niger)
- Antillean Crested Hummingbird (Orthorhyncus cristatus)
- Caribbean Martins (Progne dominicensis)
- Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)
- Grassland Yellow-Finch (Sicalis luteola)
- Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
- Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
- Collared Plover (Charadrius collaris)
- Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)
- Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)
- Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius)
- Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)
- Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)
- Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
- Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus
