A female scarlet tanager spotted this week in Grand Cayman. – Photo: Tonja Wight
Birdwatchers in the Cayman Islands are set for a bumper weekend as recent storms and the start of autumn migration have created the perfect opportunity to tick elusive rare birds off their wish lists.
Billions of birds are currently on the move from North America in search of warmer winter climates. While many choose to fly down through Mexico to South America, those that go via the Florida panhandle often stop off at points in Cuba, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, and Hurricane Helene has created an aviation backlog which will see birds arriving in larger numbers than usual.
“Due to the storm we’ve already had flocks of migrant birds arriving on island which is very unusual,” says keen birdwatcher Ian Kirkham, who sits on the National Conservation Council. “There’ll be many more coming in over the next few days having sheltered from the storm in Florida. Birds can detect changes in air pressure so they’re aware of incoming storms long before we are, and the storm will have blown in birds which would never have come here otherwise.”
With 100 resident bird species in the Cayman Islands and a further 150 migrant species passing through every year, birdwatchers are not short of birds to spot, but rarer birds tend to generate the most excitement as well as the kudos of being able to record the find in global bird-spotting database, eBird.
Recent new species sighted in Grand Cayman include the great crested flycatcher, the blackpoll warbler and the Mississippi kite, and even birds which are typically found far out to sea have been spotted taking refuge on land.
In spite of the abundance of birds on the islands, the resident bird-watching community barely makes it into double figures, but those that do it are passionate about their hobby.
“I go out every weekend with a couple of friends,” says Kirkham. “It’s not only great for hiking but it’s therapeutic, it’s meditation and it gets me to parts of the island that I wouldn’t necessarily have discovered.”
He admits that some birders can be highly competitive, but “for me, it’s a personal passion. It’s exciting to find a new bird species, but I don’t chase the numbers – it’s just fun.”
Tonja Wight calls herself a novice, but in just three years of birdwatching she has already chalked up 171 different bird species.
“I got into it during COVID, when I was stuck at my mother’s home in Virginia,” she says. “I started watching all the different birds which came to her bird feeder, and I said to my husband: ‘This is what we’re going to do when we’re back home!’”
Tonja and her husband Philip, a keen photographer, now head out before sunrise most weekends to see what they can spot.
“It’s a good time of day because the birds are active and they sing a lot then too, so if you can’t immediately see them, you can hear them,” she says.
The couple has even got their nephews and nieces involved, including 12-year Oscar Kirkconnell, with the budding ornithologists quickly learning to spot birds by sight and song.
“Most Caymanians know about five local birds and think that’s all we have,” she says. “My family were astonished when I told them how many bird species I’d seen.”
While the resident bird-spotting community is small in number, that doesn’t mean the Cayman Islands is off the birding map altogether. Holidaymakers with an interest in birdwatching will often leave the lure of the beach and head to popular spots like the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park to add to their personal list, or take a special birdwatching tour.
Geddes Hislop, of Silver Thatch Excursions, has been running such tours since 1998 and says some visitors will even send him a list of species they hope to see in advance.
“We have many unique species here, such as the Cayman Islands parrot which isn’t found anywhere else,” says Hislop. “People who are members of birdwatching groups like the fact that they’ll be able to go home and say they’ve seen birds which no one else has.”
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Publish date : 2024-09-27 18:01:00
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