IslandWalk Birds, 2025-2026 Season

3 loggerhead shrike fledglings hanging out around their nest. ID them by their black eye masks. I spotted them from 1 of their parents making a food delivery. In a live oak on the south bank of Lake #23 between Dominica & Ellice. April 23, 2026.

My overall birdwatching strategy for IslandWalk is posted here. I have made that post kind of the home page for my Birdwatching in IslandWalk project, and will update it whenever I do a new post on IW Birding.

This is my 6th report, here are the 1st 5:

1. 2020-2021;
2. 2021-2022 - the 1st post chronologically, it contains discussions of things I found interesting about a lot of the species - 10 seasons worth;
3. 2022-2023.
4. 2023-2024.
5. 2024-2025.

For the 2025-2026 season, I was in IslandWalk October thru April, less 11 days in KY in November, 8 days on Guadeloupe in February, & 8 days in North Carolina in March.

I manually entered this season's data, 32 bird lists, in this spreadsheet. It doesn't take that long, and it gives me a good review of the data.

I will be reporting for all observed species the following 4 datapoints:

1. % of days seen;
2. total birds counted;
3. average, of the days when the bird was counted; days when the bird wasn't counted don't go into the average;
4. max.

Here's the link to the IslandWalk hotspot at eBird.org.

Each bird name listed below is linked to its IslandWalk activity page in eBird.org. So click on the name, you will get a picture & all the data eBird has on that bird in IslandWalk.

Note, I went through the eBird bird list for IslandWalk looking for new species. There were 17! I decided to put them into a separate table at the end. I will merge them with the main list for next season.

I set the cut date for pushing into next year's report as April 30.

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Swimmers

I guess all are dabbling "ducks"? "Dabbling" === "stick your bill down in the water & swish it around & eat what you get from that" - as opposed to diving ducks.

• mottled duck: % days 100; tot 936; avg 29.3; max 64.
• muscovy duck: % days 96; tot 162; avg 5.2; max 12.
• common gallinule: % days 100; tot 1290; avg 40.3; max 73. After 1st being counted in IW by me 2020-04-02, their #s continue to grow - they have passed the mottled duck as our most populous water fowl species by a good margin. The gallinule seem to like the spike rushes.
• american coot: % days 66; tot 94; avg 4.5; max 8.
• egyptian goose: % days 0.
• canvasback: % days 0.

Divers

We did not get large numbers of any of the Canadian migratory diving duck species as we did in the last couple of years.

• hooded merganser: % days 9; tot 5; avg 1.7; max 2.
• lesser scaup: % days 34; tot 35; avg 3.2; max 8. After having had over 200 last season, very few this season.
• ring-necked duck: % days 0.
• pie-billed grebe: % days 91; tot 239; avg 8.2; max 22.
• double-crested cormorant: % days 94; tot 291; avg 9.7; max 44. #s up a little, I won't sound a Cormorant Menace alarm just yet.
• anhinga: % days 100; tot 346; avg 10.8; max 28. These #s are up.
• brown pelican: % days 75; tot 59; avg 1.4; 5 max.
• belted kingfisher: % days 19; tot 6; avg 1.0; max 1. Their distinctive chitter is easy to recognize.

Waders

• great egret: % days 100; tot 279; avg 8.7; max 17. Back to being our most numerous wader. Their average counts was double digits for a lot of the season. I think they like the spike rushes.
• great blue heron: % days 75; tot 43; avg 1.8; max 4. I think they also like the spike rushes.
• snowy egret: % days 81; tot 60; avg 2.3; max 13.
• cattle egret: % days 0.
• tricolored heron: % days 100; tot 103; avg 3.2; max 6.
• little blue heron: % days 94; tot 135; avg 4.5; max 12. #s up a bit, passing tricolored heron.
• green heron: % days 56; tot 22; avg 1.2; max 2.
• wood stork: % days 91; tot 140; avg 4.8; max 11. #s up considerably, particularly early in the season.
• white ibis: % days 100; tot 592; avg 18.5; max 53.
• glossy ibis: % days 81; tot 130; avg 5.0; max 24.
• limpkin: % days 97; tot 136; avg 4.4; max 10. #s still up, slightly above last season.

Beach Birds

• killdeer: % days 22; tot 8; avg 1.1; max 2.
• black skimmer: % days 0.
• royal tern: % days 9; tot 3; avg 1.5; max 2.
• magnificent frigatebird: % days 0.

Raptors

• osprey: % days 50; tot 24; avg 1.3; max 2.
• bald eagle: % days 0.
• cooper's hawk: % days 0.
• red-shouldered hawk: % days 13; tot 4; avg 1.0; max 1.
• broad-winged hawk: % days 0.
• short-tailed hawk: % days 0.
• american kestrel: % days 0.
• swallow-tailed kite: % days 0.
• loggerhead shrike: % days 84; tot 91; avg 3.4; max 10. 1 of my fav birds. Slightly up from last season. Note the pic of 3 fledglings at the top of this post.
• black vulture: % days 3; tot 1; avg 1.0; max 1.
• turkey vulture: % days 56; tot 30; avg 1.7; max 3. Note, at times, I have maybe quite counting these once I get back past a dozen or so. I have decided to count them as best I can.

Corvids

• fish crow: % days 88; tot 286; avg 10.2; max 50. I am increasingly thinking it is pointless to count crows. The proper caw goes out, 100 crows can gather in 30 seconds or so. Well, I guess it is interesting to see what the biggest gathering we get is.
• blue jay: % days 88; tot 239; avg 8.5; max 23. #s down a bit from last season. I doubt it's significant.

Perching Birds (Passerines)

• mourning dove: % days 69; tot 193; avg 6.4; max 23. Down a tad, maybe.
• eurasian collared dove: % days 69; tot 56; avg 2.5; max 6.
• common ground dove: % days 0.
• rock pigeon: % days 0.
• common grackle: % days 84; tot 833; avg 30.9; max 94. Once again our most common passerine. Down a bit, prolly meaningless.
• boat-tailed grackle: % days 63; tot 101; avg 5.1; max 16.
• red-winged blackbird: % days 31; tot 32; avg 3.2; max 7.
• european starling: % days 22; tot 64; avg 9.1; max 44.
• northern mockingbird: % days 94; tot 528; avg 17.6; max 46. Wow, last season's total mockingbirds was also 528, & the max was also 46. What do it mean?
• brown thrasher: % days 19; tot 13; avg 2.2; max 4.
• northern cardinal: % days 6; tot 2; avg 1.0; max 1.
• red-bellied woodpecker: % days 91, tot 182, avg 6.3, max 19. Down a little from last season.
• pileated woodpecker: % days 0.
• downy woodpecker: % days 9, tot 3, avg 1.0, max 1.
• northern flicker: % days 6; tot 2; avg 1.0; max 1.
• yellow-bellied sapsucker:% days 0.
• palm warbler: % days 81; tot 286; avg 11.0; max 26.
• black-and-white warbler: % days 0.
• yellow-throated warbler: % days 0.
• prairie warbler: % days 0.
• red-eyed vireo: % days 0.
• white-eyed vireo: days 0.
• blue-gray gnatcatcher: % days 0.
• gray catbird: % days 0.
• american redstart: % days 0.
• american robin: % days 0.

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We had 17 new species recorded in eBird for IslandWalk last season! IMO, that's a lot! I am including these in a separate table here, as I did not observe any of them on my X or X2 walks. Next season, I will incorporate them into the master list above.

10 for the indefatigable Pete Laviola, 3 for his mentor George Eschenbach, 2 for Michael Gow, who is a serious birder who teaches school in MA & visits his parents in IW over Christmas, & 2 for me.

#	Common Name	Birder	Date
1	Eastern Bluebird	Pete Laviola	2025-07-03
2	Black-bellied Whistling-Duck	Pete Laviola	2025-07-03
3	Cliff Swallow	Pete Laviola	2025-08-24
4	Northern Yellow Warbler	Pete Laviola	2025-09-02
5	Hermit Thrush	Pete Laviola	2025-10-20
6	Swamp Sparrow	Pete Laviola	2025-10-24
7	Yellow-crowned Night Heron	Pete Laviola	2025-10-24
8	White-winged Dove	Pete Laviola	2025-10-27
9	Ruby-throated Hummingbird	chris heinz	2025-11-02
10	Wild Turkey	George Eschenbach	2025-11-05
11	Ruby-crowned Kinglet	Michael Gow	2025-12-25
12	Yellow-throated Vireo	Michael Gow	2025-12-25
13	Western Tanager	George Eschenbach	2025-12-31
14	Wilson's Snipe	chris heinz	2026-01-29
15	Barred Owl	George Eschenbach	2026-02-16
16	Northern Rough-winged Swallow	Pete Laviola	2026-04-17
17	Swainson's Thrush	Pete Laviola	2026-05-02