Fall Global Big Day/Global Birding Weekend 2022
How it Ended:
It’s 6:45 pm as I pull into my driveway exhausted with my cell phone and camera batteries spent. I get out of the car to a familiar squawk. It is the elusive Yellow-crowned Night Heron. The last species on what was a marathon FallGlobalBig Day!
How it Started:
A 3:50 am alarm signals it’s time to get ready for the biggest day of the Fall birding season.
What is Global Big Day you ask? We go directly to eBird and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for the answer.
“Big Days are a 24-hour opportunity to celebrate birds near and far. Last October, more than 32,000 people from 195 countries submitted 78,000 checklists with eBird, demonstrating the power of birds to bring people together.”
With BirdCast (another valuable tool from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology) predicting over half a billion birds on the wing for migration this weekend, my hope is that a few of those species will decide to make their annual stop in Anguilla.
I brace my little buddy Darwin for a long lonely day ahead. As we enjoy our early morning walkies, the moon is setting in a cloud. I take that breathtaking site as a good omen.
With my lucky birding shirt on, I race off to pick up my friend Biz Bell and her colleague Baylee Connor-McClean in The Valley. Biz and I share a friendship that goes back to 2012 when we worked together on the rat eradication project on Dog Island. The last time I saw her was December 31, 2019, when I left her at the top of Aotea/Great Barrier Island in New Zealand studying tākoketai/Black Petrels. (There is an entire back story to that visit which is better left for another day. Think of my Scrub Island Trip with a mountain and even more awkward laughable moments!)
Since then, a global pandemic has kept us apart. But today we finally catch up. The greeting is happy but brief, as there is no time to waste.
Lately, I conduct these counts on my own, and my best Global Big Day number is 51 species. My hope is to break that record by at least 1 species, and I have a plan in my head for achieving that goal.
Biz and Baylee are counting for Team Nature Explorers Anguilla as well as Biz’s company, Wildlife Management International, Ltd. On this day, they have staff based in the U.K. and at home in New Zealand.
As is now customary, I share my counts with Team Wader Quest based in the U.K. Their main goal is to support shorebird conservation.
We quickly divide the workload to improve efficiency. Biz takes on the task of recording species in the eBird app on her phone, while I drive and count. Baylee is learning about our birds, so she counts big flocks. Our plan is to add a significant number of species to her Life List as this is her first visit to Anguilla! (She monitors the tarapirohe/Black-fronted Tern Colony in New Zealand, so counting is her specialty.) She also has an incredibly keen eye for seeing things we might miss.
We have inadvertently managed to color-coordinate our apparel for the day. Another positive sign!
With an array of ominous clouds, the sunrise at Savannah Bay is dramatic. We are able to pick up the American Oystercatcher as the 1st bird of the count at this location. This is always a tough species to record during “Big Days.” It seems to know we are looking for it, and it hides. Not today my pretty!
Nearby Junks Hole Pond gives us our first rainbow of the excursion. The positive signs continue.
Forest Bay allows us to tick off both Green and Tricolored Herons. Great and Snowy Egrets were present, but no sign of the Cattle. It took a trip through the agricultural district to find that one.
We also experienced the first of many downpours. Don’t let that sunny glow on the Tricolored Heron fool you!
Perhaps our biggest find came at the Merrywing Pond System on the Aurora Golf Course. A stunning immature Little Blue Heron was seen feeding along the edge. Juveniles of this species are often confused with juvenile Snowy Egrets because they are all white and have yellowish legs and feet. In the photograph below, you can see the patches of white being replaced by that signature steel blue. This is often referred to as the “calico” phase. What a beauty!
We recorded 27 species at this site, including 3 Pied-billed Grebes. I have been gravely concerned about the continued presence of the grebes here due to the recent extensive vegetation removal from their breeding habitat. It was a relief to see them quite active.
After a quick check on the doggo at home, it was time for sustenance. Birding is thirsty work, and an umbrella drink in the Caribbean is definitely in order (virgin of course.) While consuming a tasty lunch at Tropical Sunset on Shoal Bay, we recorded Roseate Terns among other seabirds feeding in the waters close to the beach.
With bellies full, we headed out to Little Bay where we were lucky to pick up a Peregrine Falcon and a sneaky White-tailed Tropicbird on the cliffs.
As a side note, I have to point out that Anguilla has some of the most beautiful birding habitats on the planet. From this vantage point, Brown Boobies and Pelicans were actively feeding on bait fish, while a variety of landbirds were twittering in the vegetation around us. But I digress.
Without the luxury of a long day at this time of year, we head for The West End. Just as we hit The Valley, the heavens opened up with a blinding downpour stopping us in our tracks. Yikes!
After a few minutes, there is a break and we head through the center of town, only to have to make another stop at the Post Office. The road is flooded and we can’t see. Earlier in the day, we recorded White-crowned Pigeons and House Sparrows here. (Although House Sparrows are considered an introduced species, eBird allows them in the count.)
Eventually, we are able to move and we head directly to Rendezvous Bay Pond. Here we find the usual cast of shorebird characters, including this transitioning Black-bellied Plover. Shorebird numbers are still low at this site, most likely due to high water levels.
Unfortunately, the rains have caught up with us and we are inundated again. Biz’s colleague back in New Zealand informs us that we are at 56 species and if we can find just 3 more, the Wildlife Management Team will hit 120. The challenge is on!
A Sanderling found on the Cap Juluca causeway at Cove Pond means we need just 2 more for Team Wildlife Management.
Eventually, we make it to West End Pond where we find the Sandwich and Roseate Terns again. They are in their usual evening spot on the rock wall hanging out with the Royals. A group of Common Terns flies in to roost at the last minute. The Barn Swallows that we have encountered throughout the day, are dining on a bug buffet in the sky. Ah, the joys of migration! Unfortunately, there are no new species here.
We head to Road Salt Pond in a last-ditch effort to pick up two more species. The Eurasian Collared Dove is a sure thing, but the Pectoral Sandpiper is not. This species only visits us in the Fall but is generally gone by the first week of October. This year is no different, and we failed to find even one.
We also expected to see a Yellow-crowned Night Heron at this time of day, but alas no.
We did, however, end the day with arguably one of the most spectacular sunsets I have seen at Road Bay!
After a marathon day of birding, Team Nature Explorers Anguilla surveyed 17 sites and recorded 58 species. (The actual number is 59, but at the time of publication we await eBird’s confirmation of the Roseate Terns.) This placed Anguilla at number 8 for the West Indies Region! An excellent outcome for the day!
To put our position into perspective, the top four islands in the West Indies region are Puerto Rico (158), Cuba (155), Bahamas (126), and Caymen Islands (124) - all powerhouses in the Caribbean bird world.
At the time of publication, 7462 species have been recorded across the globe- a Global Big Day record. You can see more of the statistics at this link: Fall Global Big Day 2022
Team Wader Quest recorded 285 species on October 8th and 299 for the entire Global Birding Weekend!
Team Wildlife Management was able to meet the goal of 120 and they are still awaiting counts from teams in the field.
I would personally like to thank Biz and Baylee for helping our team reach this new level. It certainly was a group effort. The bar is set very high for the next Global Big Day in May of 2023!
Did you participate in the Fall Global Big Day? I would love to hear about your experiences.
For more special moments of Fall Global Big Day on Anguilla, visit the Nature Explorers Anguilla YouTube channel at the link below.
Another delightful newsletter on the natural beauty we all share... thank you!