St. Lucia is blessed with richness of skies due to wide variation of avifauna. It is a good place for St. Lucia bird watching and nature’s lover paradise because of its 117 bird species, 6 being endemic to the island: the St. Lucia Parrot, St. Lucia Pewee, St. Lucia Warbler, St. Lucia Black Finch, St. Lucia Oriole, and St. Lucia Wren.
St. Lucia Parrot. Also known as Jacqout, is found only in the Island of St. Lucia in the Eastern Caribbean. In order to the other members of the parrot family, its feathers are usually green, with rainbow-colored of bright red and blue on the edges of its wing. It has also a touch of dark red on its chest and light blue on the top the head. Although these parrots are over foot long and has multi-colored feathers they are hard to spot in the forest canopy where they live. Perhaps its one of the most colorful of the entire species of the Amazon parrots. And it is one of the largest birds in St. Lucia.
Unfortunately for this beautiful, unique species, a combination of human traits and nature place their long-term survival is in danger. Actually it is the best known St. Lucian endemic bird species. A few years ago, the St. Lucian Parrot is in danger of becoming extinct because of deforestation of St. Lucia rainforest and uncontrolled hunting, which decreases the parrot populations. Now, there are about 800+/-25 living in rainforest.
St. Lucia Pewee. It is commonly known as Gobe-Mouche or Pin Kaka, with dark-olive brown upperparts and reddish-brown under parts. The adult Pewee grows about 15 cm in length. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist forests, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. Pewee is a kind of timid bird that is usually seen in openings in the forest understory where they sally for insects. Its calling sound is a rising pree-e-e and a high-pitched peet-peet-peet. The pewee nest is a cup-shaped nest made of leaves and moss placed on a branch. The female pewee lays two dark cream-colored eggs, heavily spotted with brown. The usual breeding season is May and June. St Lucia Pewee is full endemic because they were considered races of Lesser Antillean Pewee. Despite of genetic and morphological differences have caused ornithologists to assign full species status to both pewees.
St. Lucia Warbler. Is a species of bird in the Parulidae Family. Its local names are Chic-chic and Sequia Ba bad. It can be recognized by its bluish-grey upperparts; yellow throat and breast; yellow eyebrow stripe; and black crescent below the eye. Their voice delivers a loud trill, changing in pitch and speed. It is found in all forest types and at all altitudes. They forage energetically, collects insects and spiders from leaves and twigs. The St. Lucia Warbler resides in western and eastern coasts of St. Lucia. And this is one of the two St. Lucian endemic warblers.
St. Lucia Black Finch. Commonly called Moisson Pied-blanc, black or brown finch with heavy, black bill. The female can be recognized because of its grey head above and buffy below. The male black finch does not have a patch of red on its throat like the female one. But both of them have pink legs and they bob their tails vertically. The vocalization is a buzz tick-zwee-swisiwis you with the accents on the second and last notes. It grows from 13-14 cm tall with a breeding season from November to June.
St. Lucia Oriole. Also known as Carouge, which grows about 20-22 cm length. Commonly found in woodlands including dry and moist forest. The adult is black except for the lower back, rump, shoulder and lower belly which are rich orange or yellow orange. The womanly is similar to the male, but orange-yellow is duller; the immature is mostly greenish with a blackish throat. The nest is a well-made basket woven of grass and fiber. Their breeding season is from April to July. And it is endemic because of natural calamities like hurricanes, pest and diseases, aerial application of agricultural pesticides, deforestation and hunting.
St. Lucia Wren. The St. Lucia Wren locally known as Rossignol a small, active brown bird with black bars on its wings and tail, an indistinct pale stripe above the eye with a relatively large head. It is 11.5-13 cm length. The breeding season is May to August. The female lays two to six whitish eggs, heavily speckled brownish-red. It is considered as endemic because the wren is threatened by the loss of its forest habitat.
Image credit:
www.wvbirder.org
ibc.lynxeds.com
birdseen.co.uk
charliesbirdblog.com
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