Birds of Barbados

Known for its white sandy beaches and blue seas, Barbados is also home to over 250 bird species. While only a single species is endemic to it – the appropriately named Barbados Bullfinch – many other birds can be found here. These include gulls, sandpipers, and ducks.

The national bird of Barbados is the Brown Pelican, which is rarely seen in Barbados nowadays. However, the bird has a long history with the residents of Barbados and is in the country’s coat of arms, developed by Neville Clarke Connell, the director of the Barbados Museum at the time. The stylized pelican on the coat of arms depicts a small island called Pelican Island, where the Brown Pelican used to be found. However, it serves as a dock for cruise ships today as Pelican Island has been incorporated into a project called the Deep Sea Harbor development.

Birds of Barbados

List of Birds Found in Barbados

Native Birds

Anhingas

Cuckoos

  • Mangrove Cuckoo

Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl

  • Black-bellied Whistling-duck
  • Blue-winged Teal
  • Fulvous Whistling-duck
  • Masked Duck
  • Muscovy Duck

Falcons and Caracaras

Frigatebirds

  • Magnificent Frigatebird

Grebes

  • Pied-billed Grebe

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

  • Bridled Tern
  • Laughing Gull
  • Royal Tern
  • Sooty Tern

Hawks, Eagles, and Kites

Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns

Hummingbirds

Kingfishers

  • Belted Kingfisher

New World Warblers

  • American Redstart
  • Northern Waterthrush
  • Prothonotary Warbler
  • Yellow Warbler

Nightjars and Allies

  • Common Nighthawk

Osprey

  • Osprey

Pigeons and Doves

  • Common Ground Dove
  • Eared Dove
  • Scaly-naped Pigeon
  • Zenaida Dove

Plovers and Lapwings

  • American Golden-plover
  • Black-bellied Plover
  • Semipalmated Plover
  • Southern Lapwing

Rails, Gallinules, and Coots

  • American Coot
  • Common Gallinule
  • Sora

Sandpipers and Allies

  • Greater Yellowlegs
  • Least Sandpiper
  • Lesser Yellowlegs
  • Pectoral Sandpiper
  • Red Knot
  • Ruddy Turnstone
  • Sanderling
  • Semipalmated Sandpiper
  • Short-billed Dowitcher
  • Spotted Sandpiper
  • Western Sandpiper

Shearwaters and Petrels

  • Audubon’s Shearwater

Swallows

  • Bank Swallow
  • Barn Swallow
  • Caribbean Martin

Swifts

  • Black Swift
  • Chimney Swift

Tanagers and Allies

  • Bananaquit
  • Barbados Bullfinch
  • Black-faced Grassquit
  • Grassland Yellow-finch

Tropicbirds

  • Red-billed Tropicbird

Troupials and Allies

  • Carib Grackle
  • Shiny Cowbird

Tyrant Flycatchers

  • Caribbean Elaenia
  • Gray Kingbird

Vireos, Shrike-babblers, and Erpornis

  • Red-eyed Vireo
  • Black-whiskered Vireo

Non-native Birds

Boobies and Gannets

  • Brown Booby
  • Masked Booby
  • Red-footed Booby

Cardinals and Allies

Cuckoos

  • Black-billed Cuckoo
  • Common Cuckoo
  • Greater Ani
  • Smooth-billed Ani
  • Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl

Falcons and Caracaras

Flamingos

  • American Flamingo

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

  • Arctic Tern
  • Black-headed Gull
  • Black-legged Kittiwake
  • Black Noddy
  • Black Skimmer
  • Black Tern
  • Bonaparte’s Gull
  • Brown Noddy
  • Caspian Tern
  • Common Tern
  • Franklin’s Gull
  • Glaucous Gull
  • Gray-hooded Gull
  • Great Black-backed Gull
  • Gull-billed Tern
  • Herring Gull
  • Kelp Gull
  • Least Tern
  • Lesser Black-backed Gull
  • Little Gull
  • Ring-billed Gull
  • Roseate Tern
  • Sandwich Tern
  • Whiskered Tern
  • White-winged Tern
  • Yellow-legged Gull

Hawks, Eagles, and Kites

  • Black Kite
  • Eurasian Marsh-harrier
  • Northern Harrier
  • Snail Kite

Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns

Hummingbirds

  • Purple-throated Carib

Ibises and Spoonbills

  • Eurasian Spoonbill
  • Glossy Ibis
  • White Ibis

Kingfishers

  • Ringed Kingfisher

Mockingbirds and Thrashers

  • Pearly-eyed Thrasher
  • Tropical Mockingbird

New World and African Parrots

  • Orange-winged Parrot

New World Warblers

  • Bay-breasted Warbler
  • Black-and-white Warbler
  • Blackburnian Warbler
  • Blackpoll Warbler
  • Black-throated Blue Warbler
  • Black-throated Green Warbler
  • Canada Warbler
  • Cape May Warbler
  • Cerulean Warbler
  • Chestnut-sided Warbler
  • Connecticut Warbler
  • Golden-winged Warbler
  • Hooded Warbler
  • Kentucky Warbler
  • Louisiana Waterthrush
  • Magnolia Warbler
  • Northern Parula
  • Ovenbird
  • Palm Warbler
  • Prairie Warbler
  • Tennessee Warbler
  • Worm-eating Warbler
  • Yellow-rumped Warbler
  • Yellow-throated Warbler

Nightjars and Allies

  • Antillean Nighthawk

Northern Storm-petrels

  • Leach’s Storm-petrel

Old World Flycatchers

  • Northern Wheatear

Old World Parrots

  • Rose-ringed Parakeet

Old World Sparrows

Owls

  • Short-eared Owl

Oystercatchers

  • American Oystercatcher

Pelicans

  • Brown Pelican

Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies

  • Red Junglefowl

Pigeons and Doves

  • African Collared-dove
  • Eurasian Collared-dove
  • Rock Pigeon
  • White-crowned Pigeon
  • White-winged Dove

Plovers and Lapwings

  • Collared Plover
  • Common Ringed Plover
  • Killdeer
  • Northern Lapwing
  • Pacific Golden-plover
  • Piping Plover
  • Snowy Plover
  • Wilson’s Plover

Pratincoles and Coursers

  • Collared Pratincole

Rails, Gallinules, and Coots

  • Purple Gallinule

Sandpipers and Allies

  • Baird’s Sandpiper
  • Buff-breasted Sandpiper
  • Common Greenshank
  • Curlew Sandpiper
  • Dunlin
  • Hudsonian Godwit
  • Jack Snipe
  • Little Stint
  • Long-billed Curlew
  • Long-billed Dowitcher
  • Marbled Godwit
  • Ruff
  • Solitary Sandpiper
  • Spotted Redshank
  • Stilt Sandpiper
  • Terek Sandpiper
  • Upland Sandpiper
  • Whimbrel
  • White-rumped Sandpiper
  • Willet
  • Wilson’s Phalarope
  • Wilson’s Snipe
  • Wood Sandpiper

Shearwaters and Petrels

  • Black-capped Petrel
  • Cory’s Shearwater
  • Great Shearwater
  • Manx Shearwater
  • Sooty Shearwater

Skuas and Jaegers

  • Great Skua
  • Parasitic Jaeger
  • Pomarine Jaeger
  • South Polar Skua

Southern Storm-petrels

  • Wilson’s Storm-petrel

Starlings

Stilts and Avocets

  • American Avocet
  • Black-necked Stilt

Swallows

  • Cliff Swallow
  • Common House-martin
  • Cuban Martin
  • Northern Rough-winged Swallow
  • Tree Swallow

Swifts

  • Alpine Swift
  • Short-tailed Swift
  • White-collared Swift

Thick-knees

  • Double-striped Thick-knee

Thrushes and Allies

  • Gray-cheeked Thrush
  • Swainson’s Thrush

Tropicbirds

  • White-tailed Tropicbird

Troupials and Allies

Tyrant Flycatchers

Vireos, Shrike-babblers, and Erpornis

  • Yellow-throated Vireo

Wagtails and Pipits

  • White Wagtail

Weavers and Allies

  • Northern Red Bishop
  • Yellow-crowned Bishop

Wrens

There are several sites where enthusiasts like photographers and birdwatchers go to in Barbados to observe these birds without disturbing them, with September being the most suitable month for birding. Some popular ones include the Graeme Hall Nature Reserve, the Woodbourne Shorebird Refuge, and the Chancery Lane Swamp.

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