Global Big Day/Global Birding 2022
How Anguilla Faired!
One of the best parts of birdwatching is an early start to the day. Birdwatchers experience many events that others often miss. A perfect example is the above alignment of planets seen in the early hours of May 14, 2022 as I prepared to participate in Global Big Day sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
As you can see from the Night Sky Ap screen capture above, there was a perfect alignment of 5 planets on this date. Although all 5 were visible, my camera could only capture Mars, Jupiter and Venus. What a treat!
Once again I partnered with Global Birding in the U.K. and joined the Wader Quest Team, as I set forth to record as many species as possible in a 24 hour period.
I arrived at Long Pond Bay just as the sun began to rise, providing a stunning view.
The Sargassum that started to arrive a week earlier, had clearly taken over the beach on this eastern facing bay. Although despised by many especially in the world of tourism, it provides a food source for birds. Twelve species were recorded on the bay, including this Ruddy Turnstone in full breeding plumage. He should have moved north for the breeding season already, but it was nice to see a few still on our ponds.
Ruddy Turnstone
For the most part, Anguilla’s migrants have moved north for the breeding season. They are replaced by our summer breeding population, mostly comprised of seabirds. Resident shorebirds and terrestrial species are also in full breeding mode at this time of year as well. There was plenty of hanky-panky going on out there!
Royal Terns Mating
A few nests were also present!
Least Tern Nest Road Salt Pond
Over the course of the day, I visited 12 sites across Anguilla and recorded 45 species. This leaves Anguilla fairly low on the list of international Birding teams as we must compete with larger countries across the globe.
According to the eBird Global Big Day tally site, Anguilla ranked number 15 in the West Indies region. Here we compete with islands like Cuba, that took the top spot with 161 species. Honestly, its not a bad showing for a 35 square mile island and our “team” of one!
The species seen are as follows:
Lesser Yellowlegs
Pied-billed Grebe
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Osprey
Gray Kingbird
Green-throated Carib
Black-bellied Plover
Stilt Sandpiper
Common Ground Dove
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Green Heron
Lesser Antillean Bullfinch
White-crowned Pigeon
American Kestrel
Caribbean Elaenia
White-winged Dove
Zenaida Dove
Antillean Crested Hummingbird
Roseate Tern
Magnificent Frigatebird
Pearly-eyed Thrasher
Snowy Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Willet
Least Tern
Sandwich Tern
Yellow Warbler
White-cheeked Pintail
Black-necked Stilt
Wilson's Plover
Killdeer
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Least Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Royal Tern
Bananaquit
Black-faced Grassquit
Audubon's Shearwater
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
On the other hand, the Wader Quest Team came in at number 7 with 420 species overall. Well done! Thanks for asking Nature Explorers Anguilla to join you for another special Big Day.
Although species variety was reasonable, a few things stood out in this count. Throughout the 12 hours of counting, I did not see one Brown Pelican. This is a trend that has been developing over time. There appear to be small pockets of pelicans on the north side of the island, but not the normal numbers we generally see feeding in our waters. Not one individual was present to count.
Least Terns were also present in much smaller numbers in their usual nesting sites. In particular Long Pond which is normally one of the largest colonies, only had a few birds during the count. There was definitely some pairing off evident, but no active nests were seen at that site on the 14th.
Least Tern Male Presenting Fish to Female
Perhaps one of the highlights of the day, was an Osprey hunting over Road Salt Pond. This beautiful raptor, is an overwintering species that usually moves north in April. Perhaps it is enjoying its winter vacation a little too much. You can hardly blame the bird though - don’t you think?
If you would like to see more of the amazing species we saw on Global Big Day 2022 here in Anguilla, please see our companion reel at the following link: