This is the SOUTHEASTERN CARIBBEAN BIRD ALERT (2001-15) for 27 April 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: Regretably the past week was peppered with reminders that not all is well with the region's marine environment, perhaps attributable to the climatic conditions currently concocting a severe drought in the region.
In Barbados, an ill subadult MASKED BOOBY (fewer than 10 records for Barbados) landed on a cliff near Sam Lord's Castle (east coast) on 22 April; it was subsequently captured and is currently responding well to a diet of flying fish and oral antibiotics. SCARLET TANAGERS have staged an unprecedented invasion of Barbados, with a female at Bailey Hill, St. Thomas, on 22 April and a male (possibly a second male) and a female at Springhead, St. Andrew, also on 22 April. Curiously more than a dozen Trinidad and Tobago records were all males.
In Trinidad, a mini-pelagic trip to Soldado Rock (courtesy of the T&T Coast Guard), off the Icacos (southwestern) Peninsula, on 22 April produced four presumed LEACH'S STORM-PETRELS and a subadult PARASITIC JAEGER. Soldado Rock, an isolated outcrop about 10 kilometres west of Icacos Point, is well known for its large breeding colonies of Sooty Terns (up to 5000) and Brown Noddies (up to 3000) and occasional breeding of other seabirds in small numbers (Magnificent Frigatebird, Royal Tern and Sandwich Tern). However, the breeding seabird colonies had not been surveyed by an ornithologist since 1982. The only seabirds tallied at Soldado Rock on 22 April included about 120 MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRDS, 95 BROWN BOOBIES and 40 BROWN PELICANS. Surprisingly no terns were recorded and no seabirds were nesting, suggesting either that this is an anomalous year with an inadequate food supply for breeding seabirds or that the rock has been completely abandoned by seabirds as a breeding site. We're curious to know whether Brown Noddies and Sooty Terns have arrived and begun nesting off eastern Tobago on Little Tobago and St. Giles Islands; apparently both species were still absent during the first week in April. Other birds noted on Soldado Rock on 22 April included four BLACK VULTURES (1st for Soldado), a SPOTTED SANDPIPER and about 25 GRAY-BREASTED MARTINS.
Elsewhere in the Icacos Peninsula of Trinidad, noteworthy birds tallied on 22 April include: two YELLOW-CROWNED PARROTS, a GREATER ANI and a PYGMY KINGFISHER in desiccated Fullerton Swamp; two SANDERLINGS (rare on west coast) on the beach at Cedros; a TURKEY VULTURE nest on the ground with one egg at the base of a Coconut Palm (latest breeding record), a ZONE-TAILED HAWK, 10 LAUGHING GULLS, a ROYAL TERN, two GRAY-NECKED WOOD-RAILS, two RUBY-TOPAZ HUMMINGBIRDS and two STREAKED-HEADED WOODCREEPERS at Icacos; and at least six SPOTTED TODY-FLYCATCHERS seen plus others heard at Fullerton Swamp and Icacos, including a group of four in a leguminous tree in a parched Coconut Palm plantation at Icacos.
The seldom-birded Icacos Peninsula merits further ornithological exploration. To reach the peninsula, drive southward along the Uriah Butler/Solomon Hochoy Highway until it ends on a left-curving ramp near San Fernando. Turn left on Tarouba Road and proceed 0.9 km to a stoplight; turn left at the light and proceed southward on the Southern Main Road 0.2 km to a roundabout. Take the second exit on the roundabout and continue 3.4 km to a bridge; continue straight beyond the bridge, bypassing exit ramps on the sides, 1.1 km to a stoplight with a McDonald's restaurant on the left and Gulf City Mall on the right.
Proceed straight across this intersection to a causeway between the mangroves of South Oropouche Swamp on the left and the Gulf of Paria on the right; coastal waterbirds may be scanned by pulling off on the shoulder along this causeway. After 6.7 km pass over the Mosquito Creek bridge and proceed another 4.1 km to a fork; turn right at the fork (sign points toward La Brea/Pitch Lake/Point Fortin), continue another 8.3 km to another fork and turn left (toward Pitch Lake/Point Fortin/Cedros). After 0.9 km, the parking lot for Pitch Lake is on the right. The marshes on the east side of Pitch Lake can be highly productive for birds, though beware of guides who may insist that you pay them a hefty fee.
At a roundabout 10.5 km south of Pitch Lake, take the 2nd road toward Cedros (bypassing crowded Point Fortin on the right) and proceed 5.8 km to a T-junction; turn right and then immediately left at a fork. After 16.1 km, you may opt to turn left onto the Austin Road South, which skirts the northern fringes of Los Blanquizales Lagoon. The road passes through a mosaic of secondary forest growth and small-scale agriculture, crosses several small streams and ends 2.4 km later at a T-junction; from this point you may turn right and drive several km further on a deteriorating road, or turn left and drive 1.2 km to reach the Southern Main Road.
>From the junction of the Southern Main Road and Austin Road South, continue 5.2 km to the town of Cedros (labelled as Bonasse in most maps) on the coast of the Gulf of Paria. The beach, jetty and open sea should be scanned for coastal waterbirds. From this point, turn left and proceed 3.3 km to Fullerton (spelling on road sign) or Fullarton (spelling on maps) Junction; turn left and continue 0.4 to a fork.
If you proceed straight at the fork, you will pass through a small mangrove swamp bordering a stream (good place to look for birds) and after 2.0 km arrive at Columbus Bay, where coastal waterbirds may be observed. If you veer left at the fork, you will soon see patches of open water in a marsh on the right and then cross through the marsh with a small bridge 2.6 km beyond the fork. This is an excellent place to search for reclusive species of marsh birds. About 0.9 km beyond this bridge the road passes through Fullarton Swamp, with mangroves, marshes and open water providing excellent habitat for a variety of birds, including Spotted Tody-Flycatchers. About 2.9 km beyond this you will reach cross a small bridge (a dependable site for Gray-necked Wood-Rail) in the town of Icacos. About 0.6 km beyond the bridge you will reach a cross road paralleling the beach; rapidly eroding Icacos Point is reached by turning right and proceeding 2.8 km.
Along the west coast of Trinidad, a 1st-winter FRANKLIN'S GULL* (3rd for T&T and latest date) moulting into 1st-summer plumage and a worn 1st-winter RING-BILLED GULL* lingered among about 200 LAUGHING GULLS, two immature COMMON TERNS, a ROYAL TERN and a LARGE-BILLED TERN at San Fernando (see directions in SCBA 2000-44) on 22 April. Disappointingly no Lesser Black-backed Gulls* or Kelp Gulls* were present, though at least 1000 LAUGHING GULLS were flying about two large fishing trawlers well offshore. A dehydrated and emaciated LEACH'S STORM-PETREL missing a foot and an eye was picked up from the sea (locality unreported, though presumably from the northern Gulf of Paria) on 21 April; it later died despite an effort at rehabilitation. A morning walk at Cacandee on 21 April produced an adult GREEN HERON*, an immature BOAT-BILLED HERON, two RINGED KINGFISHERS, two PYGMY KINGFISHERS, a CLAPPER RAIL and two RED-RUMPED WOODPECKERS.
In the Northern Range of Trinidad, two FUSCOUS FLYCATCHERS with a fledgling were noted at Grande Riviere on 26 April. Somewhat enigmatic was a description from a local naturalist of a bird seen with visiting birders that was identified as a LANCE-TAILED MANAKIN* (potentially 1st for T&T), but an effort to relocate it on 26 April was unsuccessful.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER: The T&TFNC will be sponsoring a morning birding trip to Upper St. Anns on Sunday, 13 May. If you wish to attend, please contact the leader, Courtenay Rooks, by phone at 622-8826. We will be meeting at CIC Pembroke Street side at 6:30 am.
The Society of Caribbean Ornithology now has its own listserve service. To subscribe, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SocietyCaribOrnit. After you have signed up for the listserve, you can either have messages delivered directly to you and/or simply read the messages on the yahoogroups.com website. To do the latter, you will need to register with yahoogroups.com, but once you have done that (and saved your user ID and password), then every time you go to yahoogroups.com it will automatically bring up the SocietyCaribOrnit website.
ORNITHOLOGICAL TIDBIT: Polyandry, in which a female mates with two or more males during a breeding season, is unusual among birds but is the normal mating system in many species of shorebirds breeding in arctic latitudes. In these species the females are larger and more aggressive than males, females arrive first on the breeding ground, females always lay a clutch of four eggs, females lay several clutches each of which is incubated by a male, the young are precocial (i.e., able to care for themselves) and food is ephemeral (superabundant). Some tropical shorebirds, such as the Wattled Jacana, are also polyandrous. Female jacanas often commit "ovicide" by destroying eggs of other females incubated by males, to induce the males to mate with them and incubate their own eggs.
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.