Faraaz Abdool considers winged visitors from across the Atlantic; especially those that don’t naturally reside here. What is it about our islands that seems to welcome migrants travelling on wind and a prayer?

In birding jargon, the word “vagrant” applies to a bird which appears in a region vastly different from its home range. This does not necessarily apply to human-assisted travel, for example hitch-hikers on ships or victims of the global exotic pet trade. Vagrancy in birding refers to a species which has accidentally arrived in a foreign land while on migration or an extensive foraging mission. Here in Trinidad and Tobago – an equatorial territory sitting on major migratory flyways in the western hemisphere – not many American (North or South) species qualify as bona fide vagrants.

The designation of vagrant depends wholly on region. Birding, like everything else, is a matter of perspective. In South Africa, birders spring into action when reports of pectoral and white-rumped sandpipers appear. Both species are relatively common occurrences here on their migration during the northern winter.

[caption id="attachment_896778" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Rumour has it that the black kite spotted in southern Trinidad is still present. - Faraaz Abdool[/caption]

However, the appearance of a curlew sandpiper here causes a similar stir. Curlew sandpipers breed in the Siberian Arctic and fly south to a variety of wintering locations throughout southern Asia and Africa. The first curlew sandpiper in Trinidad was seen in Caroni in 2002. Since then, the species has only been recorded twice, both times on the west coast of Trinidad.

Several other members of the highly migratory family of shorebirds from the Old World have appeared sporadically over the years. In 1996, a wood sandpiper was seen at Buccoo – the first record of this species for TT and South America. Prior to that, in 1983, a sighting of a spotted redshank was the first for TT and South America.

Other larger species often find their way here as well. In 2016, the appearance of a mottled brown duck in the wetlands of Bon Accord caused much excitement among the birding community. It was a Eurasian wigeon – the first record of that species in TT.

Also in 2016 was the first sighting for the entire western hemisphere of an Audouin’s gull. The family of gulls consists of many species that are frustratingly difficult to discern from one another, and others whose names seem to make little sense.

One of these is the black-headed gull, a bird that sports a dark brown head for half the year and is almost pure white otherwise. The first black-headed gull for TT and the South American continent was seen at Pointe-a-Pierre in 1976. Two years later, another black-headed gull was seen on Turtle Beach, Tobago. Since then, the species has only been seen occasionally.

[caption id="attachment_896777" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A grey heron in its natural habitat alongside Nile crocodiles and a sleeping African spoonbill. - Faraaz Abdool[/caption]

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