This is the SOUTHEASTERN CARIBBEAN BIRD ALERT (2001-22) for 13 June 2001. Sponsored by the T&T Field Naturalists' Club, our aim is to promote birding and ornithology in the southeastern Caribbean by fostering communication among resident and visiting birders regarding the study of birds in the region. The SCBA and information about the T&TFNC are accessible on the Internet at http://www.wow.net/ttfnc. Reports should be sent to Floyd Hayes by phone at 662-5918 (H) or 645-3232 x2206 (W), or by e-mail at floyd_hayes@hotmail.com. The T&T Rare Bird Committee requests details for species indicated with an asterisk (see SCBA website above and end below).
HOTSHOTS IN HOT SPOTS: In Barbados, an immature WESTERN REEF-HERON (6th for Barbados), possibly the same bird that spent the winter in Tobago, turned up along with a GREY HERON at Graeme Hall on 7 June. However, it could not be relocated over the weekend though a GREAT BLUE HERON was noted on 9 June. Three BLACK-NECKED STILTS at Graeme Hall on 6 June provided the first record in 7 years and the first record of multiple birds. Elsewhere, four ROSEATE TERNS were noted at Oistins on 10 June.
In the Caroni Plain of Trinidad, further flooding of the Caroni Rice Fields continues to attract growing numbers of waterbirds including unexpected rarities. On 9 June, an extraordinarily late female (possibly immature?) NORTHERN PINTAIL* (1st for T&T) showed up among a bevy of South American ducks including up to 22 FULVOUS WHISTLING-DUCKS, eight WHITE-FACED WHISTLING-DUCKS* (three on 9 June, eight on 13 June) and 16 WHITE-CHEEKED PINTAILS in the southwestern sector. It was not relocated the following day, but was seen again on 11 and 13 June. The bird is slightly smaller than the Fulvous Whistling-Ducks and notably larger than the White-cheeked Pintails with which it associates. Previously recorded from Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname, its occurrence in T&T is long overdue. It is best seen at dawn in a flooded field where the ducks congregate at night; later in the morning it is difficult to see as it forages in the plowed fields.
Other noteworthy birds seen in the Caroni Rice Fields include: the immature SNAIL KITE*, which eluded birders over the weekend but reappeared on 13 June; a breeding plumaged LITTLE EGRET* on 10 June; a PIED-BILLED GREBE on 13 June; a LONG-WINGED HARRIER (light morph) on 13 June; a fledgling SOUTHERN LAPWING on 9 May; and an assortment of lingering Nearctic migrant shorebirds, including three WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS (tied latest date for T&T), eight STILT SANDPIPERS and two SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS on 13 June.
Elsewhere in the Caroni Plain, six WHITE-FACED WHISTLING-DUCKS* and two WHITE-CHEEKED PINTAILS were tallied in the recently flooded Valsayn Rice Fields on 9 June, two WHITE-FACED WHISTLING-DUCKS* and a LEAST GREBE on 10 June, and four WHITE-FACED WHISTLING-DUCKS on 13 June.
In southwestern Trinidad, a WHITE-TAILED HAWK* was carefully studied as it flew over cane fields along Timitall Trace, between San Francique Road and Pluck Road, Penal, on 6 June.
In the Northern Range of Trinidad, researchers at Caribbean Union College (CUC), Maracas Valley, were busy over the weekend documenting a new twist in the kinky mating systems of the TROPICAL MOCKINGBIRD. At one nest, two adult males (both colour banded) and two adult females (one colour banded) were seen provisioning three (subsequently reduced to two) offspring at a nest in which a single clutch of three eggs was laid and incubated by an unbanded female. During 36 trips to the nest, the dominant male present on the territory for at least five breeding seasons made only three trips but was the most defensive against humans and avian intruders; in contrast, the surprisingly helpful second male (possibly a parent?) made 17 trips. The incubating female made 12 trips and the assisting female contributed four trips. The same foursome earlier produced two clutches in separate nests simultaneously (see SCBA 2001-17), but unfortunately neither clutch hatched. The benefits and costs of cooperative breeding in mockingbirds remain a ripe subject for research.
Despite more than a thousand hours of observation of TROPICAL MOCKINGBIRDS at CUC, an event of predation was never observed until 12 May, when a DOUBLE-TOOTHED KITE picked off one of four noisily begging fledgling mockingbirds in a tree. The fledglings were from two different broods of a highly successful monogamous pair, demonstrating that reproductive success can have negative repercussions, in this case attracting the attention of deadly predators.
ORNITHOLOGICAL TIDBIT: In the "Forty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds" (Auk 117:847-858, 2000), the taxonomy of several birds in the southeastern Caribbean was changed. The Adelaide's Warbler (Dendroica adelaidae) has now been split into three distinct species based on genetic, plumage and morphological differences (Lovette, I. J., and E. Bermingham. 1999. Explosive speciation in the New World Dendroica warblers. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 266:1629-1636; Lovette, I. J., E. Bermingham, G. Seutin, and R. E. Ricklefs. 1998. Evolutionary differentiation in three endemic West Indian warblers. Auk 115:890-903). The three species are ADELAIDE'S WARBLER (D. adelaidae) in Puerto Rico, the BARBUDA WARBLER (D. subita) in Barbuda, and the ST. LUCIA WARBLER (D. delicata) in St. Lucia.
BIRD BRAINS: Do we believe what you see? We want to! Many of the identifications reported in the SCBA are tentative. The T&T Rare Bird Committee, formed in 1995, requests details for all rare birds observed (see Species Review List at our website). Please submit details to the T&TRBC Secretary: Graham White, Bungalow 16, Waterloo Estate, Waterloo Rd., Carapichaima, Trinidad and Tobago; fax, 868-673-0373; e-mail, g-white@tstt.net.tt.