110/10 Big Year Update – April

Image #20 Black-whiskered Vireo

A new bird, new Images, and new equipment, yes we had a mixed bag during the month of April. Closing the month with 83 species in the 110/10 Big Year and 20 images in the photo big year challenge.

The new birds for April were Willet (Tringa semipalmata), American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliates), which was also a lifer (#149), and a Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos). I added quite a few images during the month and ended the month with image #20 a Black-whiskered Vireo (Vireo altiloquus). See all the images here.
It has been three years and six months since I lost my Sigma 120-400mm f/4.5-5.6 AF, a moment of silence, please.  Since then the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS was my go-to lens until I can replace the siggy.   While it is a good lens, perfect for shots of birds within their environment, it is generally too short a focal length for the type of images I like.  That is were my newest lens, well new to me, came in. It is a Canon 75-300mm f/4-5.6 ii.  I truly hate this lens for so many reasons but in the right conditions this cheap, none image stabilizing, chromatic aberration friendly lens gives a fair quality image. So why did I purchase a substandard lens I hated? The extra length, an additional 80mm (50x1.6 crop), the availability, and the price.   Hopefully, in the near future, both of these lenses would take a back seat to something 400mm or over.

Goals for May

The month of May normally sees a lull in migratory birds but paradoxically has a high probability of finding mega-rare birds, judging from its history.  One of my goals for the month is to find one of these rare birds.   Other targeted birds will be Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) and Yellow-crowned Parrot (Amazona ochrocephala) both of which want to apply for the role of nemesis birds of 2022.   May 14^th is World Migratory Bird Day and the biggest day of birding worldwide, join our local team donate and/or come bird with us.  I am looking forward to a good month of birding, let’s see how it goes 

Join Birds Caribbean’s 2022 Global Big Day Celebration with Our Team

Global Big Day—the biggest birding day of the year, is just a few days away.  Again this year we are joining Birds Caribbean in its annual Global Big Day fundraiser.   This fun virtual team event pit together multi-national teams in a friendly competitive birding event in an effort to raise funds for a Caribbean Conservation, etc. This year's efforts will be geared towards raising funds to provide travel scholarships for Caribbean nationals to attend the AOS & BC Joint Conference in Puerto Rico this June. 

Last year our small team The Bajan Birders, made up of birders from Barbados and one from St. Lucia, not only had fun but also assisted in raising funds and won a few awards. 

Teammate Jerome Foster, of St. Lucia, who was only able to bird a few hours in the morning won the Life in the Wild category with “American Kestrels Mating”

and third in Best Bird Photo with an Immature Little Blue Heron.

Yours truly was awarded the Best Shorebird with an image of a Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage.

In all, our 9-member Bajan Birders team saw 61 species across two countries, including 8 West Indies endemic species.

This year we want to double all of those numbers, have a greater international presence and raise funds of well over $100. 

To emphasize our goal, the team was renamed “Bajan Birders & Friends”, and invitations to join our team were extended to birders across the globe.

You can join the effort by joining our team. To do that:

• Just follow this link  
• Click the “JOIN A TEAM” button below the Global Big Day graphic on this page and follow the wizard.
• On Global Big Day, May 14, share your ebird checklist with the username “BCGBDBajanBirders”.  
• Make sure to also upload your media - images and audio files.

To donate

• Follow this link
• Simply click the yellow donate button at the top of the page and follow the wizard.
• You can donate without joining the team.

Come bird with us, donate and have lots of fun.

Stay safe and enjoy your birding.

Lifer #148 - American Oystercatcher

American Oystercatcher

My fifth lifer of the year (#148) is one of those birds that you just cannot mistake for any other.  This large, stocky shorebird is about 17-21” (38-21cm) in length and sports a long, bright reddish-orange beak, yellow iris, and a bright reddish-orange eye-ring.  Yes, I am talking about the American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliates), a bird that feeds almost exclusively on shellfish and other marine invertebrates.  I saw this bird at Inch Marlow, Christ Church on Friday, April 22^nd, it was my 82^nd species for the year. (110/10 Big Year)  This year, my tenth year of birding continues to be a memorable one. With eight more months to go is another lifer out there? let's hope so.

110/10 Big Year Update – Mid April

17. Snowy Egret the last Photo Big Year Image entered 

There was a big jump in one of the year’s challenges while only a measly increase in the other.   For most of the year thus far, I must admit I was focusing more on the 110/10 Big Year List than on the Photo Big Year’s images.   That is for a number of reasons, one of which is the lens I am using, the Canon EF-s55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II.  While this is a fair quality lens, at best, the 250mm, which is 400mm on cropped sensor Canon 7D (250x1.6) max focal length is less than satisfactory for most situations.  Despite that, over 7 images were added to the Photo Big Year page. (See them here)

Only one bird was added to the 110/10 Big Year checklist.  That bird was a shorebird, a Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) and one of the suggested target birds ebird.org said to look out for in April.

Goals for the remainder of April

A Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) was photographed at Folkestone Park on the 13^th.  This is kind of a nemesis bird for me because  I’ve seen it twice and both times I did not have my camera to get a photograph.  I would love to see this bird this year and get a few quality images of it, for it is just one stunning bird.   Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) is another species that should be possible this month.  I will also continue adding as many images as I can, with the hope of finishing the month with at least 25 images. Let's see how it goes.

110/10 Big Year Update – March

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

Five year-birds, four images equal a good month of March. Those five birds took the 110/10 big year tally at the end of March to 80 species. The five birds were:

• Pacific Golden-Plover (Pluvialis fulva) which I saw on the 2^nd
• Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) was on the 3^rd;
• Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri) flew in on the 9^th
• Gray Heron (Ardea cinerea) at Tappy Pond, St. John on the 15^th
• Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Nyctanassa violacea) at Oistins on the 19^th

I am placing more effort into quickly increasing the number of photographs for the Photo-Big Year and was able to add a few during the month, my favorite being that of a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Nyctanassa violacea) at Oistins. This bird was very cooperative allowing me to capture not only stills but also video.

Goals for April

Scarlet Tanager photographed April 2015 

Spring migration is happening, even though not as noticeable as the fall migration it can produce a few eye-popping birds.  One such bird is the Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea), a fiery red bird with a patch of black on the wings, that bird will be on my radar.  Much easier birds to see will be Yellow-crowned Parrot (Amazona ochrocephala), even though it eluded me thus far, and Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica).  Ebird’s Target Species tool is also suggesting I also look for Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) and Willet (Tringa semipalmata). My target in April is four or more species for the Big Year but I am way behind in the Photo Big Year so 10+. Let's see how that goes. 

110/10 Big Year Update - March 3rd Week

Last week was a good week of birding for the 110/10 Big YearChallenge.  It ended with two new year-birds, both rare to the island, and a couple of decent images.  The first year-bird came early in the week when I paid a brief visit to Tappy Pond, St. John. 

Grey Heron

It was a location I normally would not stop at because the deep irrigation pond there seldom attracted any birds of note, but on this occasion, I did and was rewarded with a Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)^(#79), the old world equivalent to the Great Blue Heron (Ardea Herodias). These birds can prove difficult to separate but I took my reference from the color of the thighs, which are brownish on the Great Blue, and pale, like the thighs of this bird, on the Greys.

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

The second bird was much easier to identify, it was an adult Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Nyctanassa violacea) ^(#80) I saw it on a bright sunny morning at Oistins, Christ Church on the 19^th.  One of the photographs of that bird became my 8^th image in the Photo-challenge 2022 along with a male Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) at number 7.

Shiny Cowbird

Thus far for Mach, 5 new species were added. With another twelve days to go, I will hope for at least 2 more species. Let’s see how that goes.

110/10 Big Year Update: First Two Week of March

I am still finding it difficult to get out birding for the first two weeks of March, but was still able to add four year-birds to my 110/10 Big Year 2022.  These birds were: a beautiful Pacific Golden-Plover (Pluvialis fulva) on March 02^nd, Laughing Gulls (Leucophaeus atricilla) on the 03^rd and a Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri) that was showing signs of breeding plumage on 09th.  

Blue-winged Teal 

Quality images are still hard to come by but I did add one image of a Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors) to my Photographic Big Year 2022, check it out.

The goal for the remainder of March

The goal for the remainder of March is simple, get  out birding.