Jan. 23, 2008 — Since the number and birding abilities of participants in the annual Audubon Society of the Virgin Islands changes from year to year, it's hard to draw firm conclusions from the numbers gathered on the Jan. 5 count on St. John.
"Only 10 people counted," said organizer Laurel Brannick on Wednesday. "Usually we have 20 or 28."
Those 10 very skilled bird watchers counted 2,135 birds from 54 species, she said.
Before the annual count, Brannick said that last year birders counted 1,713 birds from 47 species. This year, one bird counter tallied 1,300 kingbirds in the Coral Bay area, which accounted for more than half the total.
"They've living in the mangroves," she said.
In the 1980s, Christmas Bird counters saw the brown pelican count reach around 500. This year, the total was only 54.
"Is there less fish for them to eat?" Brannick said. "Hurricanes could be a factor."
Because the seas reached 10 feet on Christmas Bird Count day, no one went out in a boat to spot the brown pelicans at sea. There also appears to be a decline in the number of warblers and shore birds. The warblers fly south from Canada and the shorebirds from the northern part of the United States, Brannick said.
"They rely on a lot of places to stay and rest," she said. "Is there too much development? Where they used to stop, is there a mall?"
Or, she said, cats could be picking them off.
The variety of birds is also down from previous decades, but Brannick said counters did see white-wing doves, a species that appears to be expanding its range. The Christmas Bird Count wasn't the first time they were spotted on St. John.
"They've been here for a few years," she said.
Counters tallied 28 white-wing doves, and there were 29 scaly-knaped pigeons.
"That's pretty good," she said.
As for native species, the number of white cheek pintail ducks came in at 72.
"That's a good amount of ducks," she said.
The V.I. National Park has been trapping mongooses, which eat the ducks. Fewer mongooses may account for the strong number of ducks, Brannick said.
Counters found 37 green-throated Carib hummingbirds and 13 of the smaller Antillean crested hummingbirds.
The recent Christmas Bird Count, which takes places in the weeks surrounding the holiday, was the 30th on St. John and the 108th around the world.
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