Cayman Islands’ dedicated group of birdwatchers turned out in force last weekend to count as many bird species as possible in just one day.
The dawn-to-dusk effort was part of an annual global count, where birdwatchers from around the world unite to spot species ranging from the common to the ultra rare.
This year, almost 46,000 people from more than 190 countries headed out with their binoculars to chalk up 7,845 species in the 24-hour period.
The Cayman Islands spotters more than held their own in the region, sighting 123 different species in total on Saturday, 12 Oct. This was the fifth-highest count for the Caribbean, an impressive achievement given the relative size of the Cayman Islands compared with leaders Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
Keen birdwatcher Peter Davey started his personal count at Meagre Bay Pond in Bodden Town before sunrise and travelled across the island during the day, taking in top bird-sighting spots including Farm Road in East End, and Canaan Land Road and Malportas Pond in North Side. He spotted 96 different species during the day, including a blue-grey gnatcatcher and a pied-billed grebe, and walked more than 21,000 steps and 10 miles in the process.
“Collectively, we beat our previous total by one, and found some rare birds which are extremely difficult to find,” he told the Cayman Compass.
“It was a great team total, with everyone playing their part in picking up species which others might not have been spotted,” he said. “We currently have a lot of experienced birders here, which really helps, as it’s not just a case of spotting the birds, but trying to identify them as well.”
A team of four birders – Tonja Wight, Jen and Simon Artuch and Ian Kirkham – had headed out before sunrise to East End and worked their way across Grand Cayman, recording an impressive 102 species among them, including a Nashville warbler, a Baltimore oriole and a rose-breasted grosbeak.
They were joined at the Agricultural Grounds by Luke Smallwood, a Brit who had begun birdwatching in the UK and was now discovering the many new species of indigenous and migratory birds that live in or visit the Cayman Islands each year.
“My father is a keen birdwatcher too and loves spotting all the birds here when he comes out to visit me,” he said. “There’s obviously a lot of birds which might be common here, but which you could never see in the UK.”
There are around 50 indigenous bird species in the Cayman Islands, and a further 220 migratory species that stop off for a few days for food and shelter on their way to the warmer south, or who spend the whole winter here. Storms also often blow in birds rarely seen on the islands, meaning that there is always something new for birdwatchers to try to add to their personal counts.
“There are birds everywhere in the Cayman Islands,” Wight said. “There are just not enough people looking at them and recording them, but it looks like our numbers are slowly growing.”
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