73 Different Bird Species Spotted for I.M.B.D. Celebration!

Seventy-Three different Bird species spotted in St.Kitts on 14, 15 & 16 October, 2014 (total birding hours 18.5 hrs.)

By: Michael Ryan

 

International Migratory Bird Day (I.M.B.D.) in the Caribbean is celebrated on the second Saturday in October every year. As is customary, I always undertake a species bird count in St.Kitts close to that period to see how many different species that I can spot. This is my quiet celebration of this important day. It is undertaken over a period not exceeding 20 hours of bird watching, usually over 2 days. However, this year I decided to do this count over 3 days to make it a little easier on the body! A total of 18.5 hours were spent in 2014, generally split into two areas, “The Ponds” and “The Rainforest.” The previous best was last year, 2013 with 67, but that record was blown out of the water in 2015 with a new record of 73 different species!

 

  1. Zenaida Dove
  2. Cattle Egret
  3. Royal Tern
  4. Least Sandpiper
  5. Western Sandpiper
  6. Semipalmated Sandpiper
  7. Semipalmated Plover
  8. Wilsons Plover
  9. Lesser Yellowlegs
  10. Short Billed dowitcher
  11. Barn swallow
  12. Snowy Plover
  13. Ruddy Turnstone
  14. Spotted Sandpiper
  15. Pectoral Sandpiper
  16. Great Blue Heron
  17. Greater Yellowlegs
  18. Little Blue Heron
  19. Magnificent Frigate Bird
  20. Yellow-crowned Night Heron
  21. Northern Waterthrush
  22. Lesser Antillean Bullfinch
  23. Common Moorhen
  24. Osprey
  25. Herring Gull
  26. Yellow Warbler
  27. Caribbean Elaenia
  28. Black-faced Grassquit
  29. Bananaquit
  30. Brown Pelican
  31. Nutmeg Manniken
  32. Antillean Crested Humming Bird
  33. Wilsons Snipe
  34. Laughing Gull
  35. Stilt Sandpiper
  36. Great Egret
  37. Caribbean Coot
  38. Blue-winged Teal
  39. Pied Billed Grebe
  40. Blackpoll warbler
  41. Green Heron
  42. Sanderling
  43. American Golden Plover
  44. Black-bellied Plover
  45. Rock Dove
  46. House Sparrow
  47. Black-necked Stilt
  48. Merlin
  49. Snowy Egret
  50. Brown Booby
  51. Scaly-naped Pigeon
  52. Killdear
  53. Prairie Warbler
  54. White-rumped Sandpiper
  55. Eurasian Collard Dove
  56. Common Ground Dove
  57. Grey Kingbird
  58. Black-whiskered Vireo
  59. American Kestral
  60. Red Jungle Fowl
  61. White Winged Dove
  62. Pearly Eyed Thrasher
  63. American Redstart
  64. Ovenbird
  65. Brown Trembler
  66. Lesser Antillean Flycatcher
  67. Black & White Warbler
  68. American Kestrel
  69. Red Tailed Hawk
  70. Green Throated Carib Hummingbird
  71. Least Tern
  72. Belted Kingfisher
  73. Ruddy Duck

 

Note: Three Terns were spotted at the Great Salt Pond and pictures were taken. I was uncertain if they were Sandwich or Common Terns, but was fairly confident that they were Sandwich Terns. I sent the pictures to the experts at Whatbird.com and it created quite a great debate! There was a consensus that they were either Sandwich or Common, but in the end the I.D. was inconclusive! However, as three birds were seen at the same time, many suggested that all three may have been different species which may have caused the confusion, but the pictures were not perfect, as they were taken while the Terns were in flight! As a result, I did not include them in the list above.