Antigua and Barbuda trip -Feb 27-Mar 1, 2020

Barbuda Warbler, Coco Point Road, Barbuda, Feb 28, 2020

I just returned from a final trip down to warmer locales for this winter season. The trip began with a solo trip down to Antigua on Thursday the 27th with the main purpose of the trip to finally get over to Barbuda to track down the endemic Barbuda Warbler (more details on the warblers here). The small island was devastated by Hurricane Irma back in September 2017 (a Category 5 storm with 185 MPH winds) and there were fears that little if any of the birds made it though a record setting storm. Although we had stopped in Antigua on two previous cruises (March 2019 and December 2017) out of San Juan the day time cruise stops were never long enough to get over to Barbuda (a supposed 90 minute ferry ride away from Antigua...more on that later). There are three ways over to Barbuda from Antigua: a ferry trip, a small plane ride or a helicopter and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the best mode of transport as they all have their positive and negative attributes. The helicopter flight was out as it is way too expensive and I decided against the flight as it involved possibly spending a night on Barbuda as the flights over and back don’t leave a lot of time to look around and weight restrictions would keep me from bringing all the items I would need for the trip. Of course that meant it would be a trip over on the ferry. I had left myself two full days on Antigua in order to have a back up day if the ferry got canceled by bad weather (something that apparently happens with some frequency). It was a great plan until the ferry schedule changed and no trips were planned to Barbuda for Saturday so it would have to be a Friday trip and I would have to keep my fingers crossed the trip didn’t get cancelled.

Barbuda Warbler, Coco Point Road, Barbuda, Feb 28, 2020

Barbuda Warbler, Coco Point Road, Barbuda, Feb 28, 2020

Bananaquit, Coco Point Road, Barbuda, Feb 28, 2020

Lesser Antillean Bullfinch, Coco Point Road, Barbuda, Feb 28, 2020

Cape May Warbler, Coco Point Road, Barbuda, Feb 28, 2020

Lesser Antillean Flycatcher, Coco Point Road, Barbuda, Feb 28, 2020

Common Ground Dove and Zenaida Dove, Coco Point Road, Barbuda, Feb 28, 2020

Black faced Grassquit, Coco Point Road, Barbuda, Feb 28, 2020

Mangrove Cuckoo, Coco Point Road, Barbuda, Feb 28, 2020

Helmeted Guineafowl, Coco Point Road, Barbuda, Feb 28, 2020

Looking back toward Antigua, Barbuda, Feb 28, 2020

Friday arrived and I got down to the ferry dock in St.Johns for 5:30am for a 6AM departure (or so I thought!). Despite multiple emails confirming the departure time the ferry was not actually leaving the port until 7AM....so much for the confirmation! The boat finally got going a little after 7 and then we took a turn away from the route to Barbuda to go to another pick up spot further south on Antigua (Jolly Harbor). After lots of waiting around there we finally got underway to Barbuda. We never arrived until 9:45 so the advertised 90 minute trip to Barbuda turned into a much longer ordeal...oh well, at least we eventually made it there. I immediately headed out to walk along Coco Point Road and River Road to Codrington (the only town on the island). After a very short time I started coming across a few Barbuda Warblers in the low scrub vegetation that dominates the island. It was great to see a decent numbers of warblers as well as many other species that made it through the hurricane from a few years ago. The most common species along the road were the Barbuda Warbler, Bananaquits and Black faced Grassquits. Among the more expected species I had two rare sightings with a male Cape May Warbler in a mixed flock as well as a Merlin that rocketed past chasing an American Kestrel (both flagged as rare in eBird with no previous records for the warbler and only one for the Merlin). The damage from the storm was still quite evident but the island was certainly slowly coming back to life. I walked almost all the way to town before turning back and heading back toward the ferry drop off. With a little remaining time I headed south of the ferry dock for almost a mile and added a new bird for the day with a couple of Helmeted Guineafowl from an established feral population that flushed as I was walking by. It was a very hot day with little in the way of shade but I made it through relatively unscathed with no hydration problems but got burned a bit in spots I didn’t put sunscreen on quite thick enough. The return trip also turned into a bit of fiasco with a slightly delayed departure around four and then the advertised 90 minute trip back to Antigua and another detour to Jolly Harbor before finally making it to St. John’s around 6:30pm. I would recommend to anyone thinking of taking the ferry over to Barbuda to leave and return out of Jolly Harbor instead of St John’s as you won’t have to leave as early and will get back quicker. I was totally beat when I got back and then could not find my previously arranged driver and after having no luck contacting him I decided to just make the half hour walk back to my lodging...bringing me up to over ten miles walked for the day with all my equipment and supplies.

White cheeked Pintail, McKinnon's Saltpond, Antigua, Feb 29, 2020

Gray Kingbird, McKinnon's Saltpond, Antigua, Feb 29, 2020

Bananaquit with nest material, McKinnon's Saltpond, Antigua, Feb 29, 2020

Cattle Egret, McKinnon's Saltpond, Antigua, Feb 29, 2020

Yellow crowned Night Heron, McKinnon's Saltpond, Antigua, Feb 29, 2020

West Indian Whistling Ducks, McKinnon's Saltpond, Antigua, Feb 29, 2020

Antillean Crested Hummingbird, McKinnon's Saltpond, Antigua, Feb 29, 2020

McKinnon's Saltpond, Antigua, Feb 29, 2020

Saturday would be a more relaxed and slow paced day compared to Friday with my day spent relatively local to my lodging along Fort Road (although I did walk several miles once again). I headed out before dawn to hit the nearby McKinnon's Saltpond (a great spot for waterfowl, waders and some shorebirds and a spot I had visited on one of my previous trips to Antigua). I walked about a mile and a half before turning around to retrace my steps as the day warmed up quickly. The salt ponds featured some good birds with numerous species of waterfowl including West Indian Whistling Ducks, White cheeked Pintails and a high count of Ruddy Ducks, four species of shorebirds, nine species of waders and loads of Bananaquits and Yellow Warblers. I headed back out late in the morning to walk out to Fort James. The middle of the day consisted of a few shorter walks and an occasional break from time to time as I tried to limit my time in the direct sun after getting a little burned the day before.

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', McKinnon's Saltpond, Antigua, Feb 29, 2020

As the day came to a close I headed back to McKinnon's Saltpond again and stayed there until sunset where I had yet another apparently rare sighting for the island when I heard a familiar chip note and found a group of three Yellow rumped Warblers along one of the hedges. I managed to get a recording as well as a few identifiable photos with my phone through binoculars (I left the big camera back at my lodging to give my back and shoulders a break). There are no eBird reports of the species for Antigua and just one record from Barbuda of a single individual back in December of 2006. I also found a few new species of shorebirds for the trip plus watched some of the evening flight of waders as they came into roost.

Cattle Egret, McKinnon's Saltpond, Antigua, Mar 1, 2020

White cheeked Pintail, McKinnon's Saltpond, Antigua, Mar 1, 2020

White crowned Pigeon, McKinnon's Saltpond, Antigua, Mar 1, 2020

Black faced Grassquit, McKinnon's Saltpond, Antigua, Mar 1, 2020

On Sunday morning I had some time available before I had to head to the airport late morning for my flight down to Grand Cayman via Miami to begin the second part of the trip. I once again walked over to the nearby McKinnon's Saltpond early in the morning, covering most of the areas I hit the previous day. Mostly the same species were around but I did add a new species for the trip with a Northern Waterthrush. I also had a higher count of waders as I got to the pond a little earlier and had more birds leaving their roost. I finished up around the pond before nine and headed back to get ready for the next portion of the vacation.

Species total for the trip to Antigua and Barbuda came to 56 species. Total for Antigua and Barbuda from this trip and two previous day stops during cruises now stands at 65.  Much more details on the warblers seen during this part of the trip can be found at the following link: Antigua and Barbuda warblers.