Interesting sighting in Caño Tiburones
A group from the Puerto Rican Ornithological Society made a count of wading birds in Caño Tiburones and the coasts of Barceloneta and Arecibo, and they found a rare subspecies of an Osprey in the aforementioned swamp.
On September 6, 2014, about 15 birdwatchers were doing a bird count in Caño Tiburones and its surroundings. This activity was one of many that were held that week in several countries of the Caribbean. It was organized by the society for the conservation and study of Caribbean birds (SCSCB) in an effort to aid in the conservation of wading birds.
They visited a part of Caño Tiburones that is very near sector Víbora in barrio Islote in Arecibo. While the count was being carried out, they saw an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) which had a very particular characteristic: his head was white with very little presence of black in his eye-line, which reminds us of a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). This feature corresponds to the the Caribbean subspecies p. h. ridgwayi . This subspecies is only found in Cuba, the Bahamas and Belize. The one that is regularly seen in Puerto Rico is the p. h. carolinensis, which has a remarkable black eye-line that extends to the cervix. This migratory subspecies breeds only in North America.
eBird users have to be careful when entering data for this species. Some users make the mistake of entering the Ospreys as «Osprey (Caribbean) p. h. ridgwayi », when this subspecies does not breed in Puerto Rico, it is only accidental.