Monday the 8th, Peregrine sets sail for the Caribbean. I have nervous energy and insomnia so last night (morning) I went through my West Indies book and wrote out a list of possibilities for St. Lucia in the Lesser Antillies, our first landfall. I don’t know how long we’ll have once we get there and I know I won’t get everything, but here’s the list:
St. Lucia Parrot—endangered
Masked Duck—uncommon—threatened
Little Blue Heron—(This one would be nice as the only other one I saw was pointed out to me on a tour in Arkansas. Gene and I went to a bird fair to hear the Ivorybill group speak and a guided bird tour was offered. It was my first, and so far last, guided trip. One of the birds the guide pointed out was a Little Blue Heron. I saw a blob fly overhead and decided I couldn’t list it.)
Scaly-naped Pigeon
Eared Dove
Bridled Quail Dove—uncommon to rare
Zenaida Dove
Mangrove Cuckoo—(fingers crossed)
Rufous Nightjar—endangered
Lesser Antillean Swift—fairly common
Ant. Crested Hummer—common
Purple Throated Carib—common
Green Throated Carib—common
Lesser Ant. Flycatcher—common
Gray Kingbird—common
Caribbean Elaenia—fairly common
St. Lucia Pewee—fairly common
Caribbean Martin
House Wren—endemic race—rare & local
Brown Trembler—uncommon
Grey Trembler—fairly common
White-breasted Thrasher—rare-critically endangered
Tropical Mockingbird—fairly common
Scaly-breasted Thrasher—fairly common
Pearly-eyed Robin—fairly common
Rufous-throated Solitaire—fairly common
Bare-eyed Robin—fairly common
Black-whiskered Vireo—common
Northern Waterthrush—fairly common
Yellow Warbler
St. Lucia Warbler—common
Semper’s Warbler—possibly extinct
Bananaquit
St. Lucia Oriole—uncommon
Carib Grackle—common
Grassland Yellow finch
Lesser Ant. Saltator—common
St. Lucia Black Finch—uncommon-local
Lesser Ant. Bullfinch—common (maybe I’ll finally see a Bullfinch)
I just read Scott Wiedensaul's epic on cryptozoology and extinction "the ghost with trembling wings" which opens with him questing for a semper's warbler on St. L.
Hope you get it!
A few comments: the official policy on St Lucia is that you have to have a local guide in national parks etc. I might be worth it to try to contact Donald Anthony (do a google search on the name combined with St Lucia and bird guide); he showed me White-breasted Thrasher and Black-Finch, two of the more difficult species.
Semper's Warbler is in the Probably extinct group, not possibly. There has been several discussions as to whether the Brown Trembler actually exist on St Lucia. However, it is fairly easy on St Vincent and Dominica as well as on islands north of there. The form from Guadeloupe and north might be a third species.
I have not seen/heard the nightjar on St Lucia, and was told that they are mostly inactive/absent? in winter (I visited around christmas).
I think the Raffaele book is the only source that has ever believed that the Pewee on St Lucia is specifically distinct from the Lesser Antillean Pewee on e.g., Dominica. The wren may even be a better candidate! I did not see the wren but was told it should be quite numerous on the Pitons.
Good luck with the Quail-Dove. As far as I can see, your list lacks the shiny cowbird, but you may have that from elsewhere. Are you visiting other islands around here?
Niels