A little Birding at Caño Tiburones

(Photo: Merlin/Falco columbarius)

Well today I woke up very early and I went birding for one of my favorite places: “El caño Tiburones”. El Caño Tiburones is one of the biggest estuarine wetlands of Puerto Rico. Its ecological value makes it unique for their size and their hydrological, geological and biotic. A variety of species associated with these systems use the Caño Tiburones as their main habitat. Caño Tiburones Nature Reserve is considered an important area for wildlife. It is home to about 206 bird species, 26 families of insects, reptiles, 6, 9 crustaceans, 21 species of fish, including native animals, endemic, migratory, rare or endangered species and other commercial and recreational importance.

(Purple Gallinule/ Porphyrio martinica)
This is one of my favorite places to go bird watching, as I said before. And today I had a good day even though I was only a little while, I saw 37 species of birds and take these pictures I share with you. And also I put the list of birds observed.

List of Bird observeb March 29, 2011

Blue-winged Teal - Anas discors 2
Masked Duck - Nomonyx dominicus 1
Least Grebe - Tachybaptus dominicus 1
Pied-billed Grebe - Podilymbus podiceps 6
Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias 3
Great Egret - Ardea alba 3
Snowy Egret - Egretta thula 20
Tricolored Heron - Egretta tricolor 1
Cattle Egret - Bubulcus ibis 13
Green Heron - Butorides virescens 3
Osprey - Pandion haliaetus 2
Merlin - Falco columbarius 1
Purple Gallinule - Porphyrio martinica 1
Common Moorhen - Gallinula chloropus 9
American Coot - Fulica americana 5
Killdeer - Charadrius vociferus 2
Black-necked Stilt - Himantopus mexicanus 15
Greater Yellowlegs - Tringa melanoleuca 2
Lesser Yellowlegs - Tringa flavipes 4
Stilt Sandpiper - Calidris himantopus 4
Wilson's Snipe - Gallinago delicata 1
White-winged Dove - Zenaida asiatica 1
Common Ground-Dove - Columbina passerina 2
Monk Parakeet - Myiopsitta monachus 4
Smooth-billed Ani - Crotophaga ani 14
Belted Kingfisher - Megaceryle alcyon 1
Gray Kingbird - Tyrannus dominicensis 11
Caribbean Martin - Progne dominicensis 1
Cave Swallow - Petrochelidon fulva 4
Northern Mockingbird - Mimus polyglottos 3
Bananaquit - Coereba flaveola X
Yellow-faced Grassquit - Tiaris olivaceus 2
Grasshopper Sparrow - Ammodramus savannarum 1
Greater Antillean Grackle - Quiscalus niger 20
Venezuelan Troupial - Icterus icterus 1
Orange-cheeked Waxbill - Estrilda melpoda X
Bronze Mannikin - Spermestes cucullatus 16

Banded Ruddy Turnstone 2

Some days ago I wrote about two Ruddy Turnstone with bands that I saw on the beach of Barceloneta. Well today I received the certificate of the second Ruddy Turnstone that I saw that day. This one was banded in CUMBERLAND COUNTY, NEW JERSEY, USA, hatched in 2000 and is a female. I am get quite a thrill today to receive the notification and also do this to document this bird with band. I've grown fond of this flock of Ruddy Turnstone since arrive every year to Puerto Rico. I have a picture of one of these birds in 2009. That means that every year after they nest in the north, they return to PR. Every year when the flock reaches the coast of Barceloneta I go out to observe and photograph, and will continue each year.

The Flamingo of Camuy

Puerto Rico receives various bird visitors a year, sightings can be categorized as rare. And sometimes they stay, and As it says the title of this post we talk about a Flamingo. On January 23, 2009 came to our island a Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber). It is not the first time we received the visit of a Flamingo, actually in Puerto Rico used to be a Flamingo population in early twentieth century but was extirpated by hunting. Usually, when a flamingo comes to PR, visit the Southwest of Puerto Rico, an area with many wetlands and salt flats.

What is special about this Flamingo which arrived in 2009? Well, Came to Stay. This Flamingo reach the town of Camuy in the northern zone of Puerto Rico. He has stay at the pond "los Amadores”, and felt comfortable in Puerto Rico because it fulfilled 2 years and 2 months since he arrived at the island. The residents gave him an great host to the flamingo, you can see that even after 2 years, people stop to see this pink bird. On occasion the pond dries, he moves to the pond "yeguada" that is very close to where the flamingo, but when it rains and turns to fill the pond "amador" back to there. Already has a name, they say the "El Flamenco de Camuy "(The Flamingo of Camuy). Is rare has decided to stay by himself, therefore the flamingos usually live in communities of hundreds of individuals. But we are pleased that this has chosen to live on our island, I leave 2 photos to be enjoyed.

Banded Ruddy Turnstone

On March 24, i observed and photographed a group of 65 Ruddy Turnstone in Barceloneta PR, and between them two of them had bands in there legs. I was so excited so did my best to take photos of the bands. I managed to get pictures in which the bands were visible, and made ​​a report to the USGS in reportbad.gov. And one of the Turnstone was marked by the year 2008 in the U.S. state of Delaware. Although the Ruddy Turnstone is very common but doing this I get very excited and will continue doing when i found some other bird band and I recommend to do it.

Backyard for the Birds part I

A while ago I decided to fix my backyard to attract more birds. So I set to work, and I'm still working on it and still much work to do. . I have concentrated on planting many plants that give many flowers as well as fruit trees.





I also put some seed feeders, as well as nectar feeder. The purpose of this nectar feeder is to feed the hummingbirds, but in Puerto Rico very few people used to put these nectar feeders so the hummingbirds here are not used to them so when I put mine, gave me work "to train them. " At first only the Bananaquit came to the nectar feeder, but after 3 or 4 months of patient waiting for the first time came one Antillean mango, a species endemic to the Antilles, and I take a photo, but not too good but you can see in the feeder.


Later I will post more about my backyard with more photos

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Im back!

Greetings to all who pass by my blog. From the November 19, 2009 was my last post, it seems i was very lazy. But here I am again to talk about birds of Puerto Rico, but also to talk about my new life with birds. Now I offer bird watching field trips to individuals, groups and nature photographers. Soon I will be doing some updates to my blog.