


Top 20 Most Common Bird in Saint Lucia
The island nation of Saint Lucia is a tropical paradise with a diverse range of flora and fauna. Amid this natural beauty, 20 common bird species have made it their home. These avifauna stand out for their vibrant colors, distinctive calls, or unique adaptations, capturing the essence of Saint Lucia's ecological diversity. Their striking variety plays a vital role in the island's rich biodiversity.

Most Common Bird

1. Carib Grackle
The adult male Carib grackle is 27 cm (11 in) long with a long wedge-shaped tail, although the latter is not so long as other grackles. Its plumage is entirely black with a violet iridescence, its eyes are yellow, and it has a strong dark bill. The adult female is 23 cm (9.1 in) long, with a shorter tail and brown plumage, darker on the upperparts. Young males are shorter tailed than adult males and have some brown in the plumage. Young females are very similar to the adult females. The seven island subspecies differ from the nominate one in size, plumage shade (especially in the browns of the females), and vocalisations.


2. Zenaida Dove
The coastal pigeon (Zenaida aurita) is a species of pigeon birds. It occurs in Central America and some Caribbean islands. Its existence is not considered to be endangered. However, the coastal pigeon is now extinct on the Florida Keys, which used to be part of its distribution area.

3. Bananaquit
The bananaquit is a common bird found in tropical forests, woodlands, and home gardens where they primarily feed on nectar and fruit. There are over 40 known subspecies endemic to specific regions with noticeable differences in appearance. The exact taxonomic placement of Coereba flaveola is a subject of much debate among ornithologists, with some suggesting it should be split into at least three different species.

4. Grey Kingbird
The grey Kingbird is known for its long beak and loud calls. This species has developed large populations in Florida where it can be found in marsh and savanna ecosystems. The grey Kingbird likes to sit on tall, exposed perches in order to watch for insects, lizards, and any potential threats to its territory.

5. Lesser Antillean Bullfinch
The lesser Antillean Bullfinch has a very limited subtropical and tropical range and prefers to stick to the dense coverage of thickets. These birds are sometimes confused with the St. Lucia black finch (Melanospiza richardsoni) as they share the same black coloration. The lesser Antillean Bullfinch has a recognizable song of several “wheet” notes.

6. Black-faced Grassquit
A male black-faced grassquits is around 10 cm (3.9 in) long and weighs approximately 10 g (0.35 oz). It has a short conical black bill, a black head and breast with an olive green back. Females and immature birds have dull olive-grey upperparts and head, and paler grey underparts becoming whiter on the belly. Males on the South American mainland have more extensively black underparts, shading to a grey belly. The male has a display flight in which he flies for short distances, vibrating his wings and giving a buzzing dik-zeezeezee call.


7. Shiny Cowbird
The shiny Cowbird is named after its glossy feathers and close association with cattle. These birds are considered brood or nest parasites because they manipulate other species to incubate their eggs for them. This has caused some species' populations to suffer, especially in non-native regions where the shiny Cowbird has been introduced.

8. Scaly-breasted Thrasher
The scaly-breasted thrasher (Allenia fusca) is a species of bird in the family Mimidae found in the Caribbean Lesser Antilles. It was formerly united with the pearly-eyed thrasher in Margarops but now is again placed in the monotypic genus Allenia. It is found in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, Saba, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It may have disappeared from Barbados, Barbuda and Sint Eustatius. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest.


9. Antillean Crested Hummingbird
As the name implies, Antillean crested hummingbird is one of the few hummingbirds with a crest. It demonstrates the general sexual dimorphism for hummingbirds where the male is bright and colorful whilst the female is more tannish and dull. Males have a short straight black bill; head with green crest, tipped metallic green to bright blue-green, upperparts dull metallic bronze-green; underparts sooty black; tail black, rounded. The female bill is similar to male’s but its head is without a crest; the forehead, crown and upperparts are metallic bronzy-green; underparts light grey; tail blackish, rounded, four outer rectrices broadly tipped whitish grey. The subspecies can be distinguished by the colour of their crests: exilis is wholly green or slightly tinged blue on tip; ornatus has the terminal portion abruptly blue; cristatus is golden to emerald, violet terminally; emigrans is similar to the nominate but more bluish violet, throat paler grey; the degree of paleness in underparts of female varies with race. Calls include short "tsip" or "tzip" notes and a longer series of “tslee-tslee-tslee-tslee”.


10. Cattle Egret
Cattle Egrets are short, thick-necked egrets. Their name refers to their preference to follow along with livestock as they forage in fields. Cattle Egrets were native only to Africa until the late 1800s when they somehow made their way throughout the Americas. They can often be found along airport runways waiting for planes to take off and blow insects out of the grass and weeds. They also follow behind farm equipment and do the same thing.

11. Eurasian Collared-dove
This plump, pretty dove with a square-tipped tail is known for bobbing its head and flicking its tail while walking. Though nice to look at, many people are not pleased at the sight of a eurasian Collared-dove walking along. In North America they are considered an invasive species, and one that carries a disease-creating parasite that can spread to native dove populations through birdbaths, feeders, or even through hawks preying on them.

12. Magnificent Frigatebird
The magnificent frigatebird is the largest species of frigatebird. It measures 89–114 cm (35–45 in) in length, has a wingspan of 2.17–2.44 m (7.1–8.0 ft) and weighs 1.1–1.59 kilograms (2.4–3.5 lb). Males are all-black with a scarlet throat pouch that is inflated like a balloon in the breeding season. Although the feathers are black, the scapular feathers produce a purple iridescence when they reflect sunlight, in contrast to the male great frigatebird's green sheen. Females are black but have a white breast and lower neck sides, a brown band on the wings, and a blue eye-ring that is diagnostic of the female of the species. Immature birds have a white head and underparts. This species is very similar to the other frigatebirds and is similarly sized to all but the lesser frigatebird. However, it lacks a white axillary spur, and juveniles show a distinctive diamond-shaped belly patch. The magnificent frigatebird is silent in flight, but makes various rattling sounds at its nest. It spends days and nights on the wing, with an average ground speed of 10 km/h (6.2 mph), covering up to 223 km (139 mi) before landing. They alternately climb in thermals, to altitudes occasionally as high as 2,500 m (8,200 ft), and descend to near the sea surface. The only other bird known to spend days and nights on the wing is the common swift.


13. Lesser Antillean Saltator
The Lesser Antillean saltator (Saltator albicollis) is a species of songbird in the tanager family Thraupidae that is found in Dominica, Martinique, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Lucia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and heavily degraded former forest.


14. Common Ground Dove
The common ground dove is North America's smallest dove and is one of the world's smallest by mass. This species ranges from 15–18 cm (5.9–7.1 in) in length, spans 27 cm (11 in) across the wings and weighs 26–40 g (0.92–1.41 oz). The common ground dove has a yellow beak with a black tip. Feathers surrounding the beak are pink in colour. The feathers on the head and the upper breast have a scale like appearance. The tail feathers are very short and similar colour to the back. The plumage on the back of the bird is brown. The coverts and wing feathers are also brown but have black spotting on them. The common ground dove has chestnut primaries and wing borders, which can only been seen when the bird is flying. The common ground dove shows some sexual dimorphism in their plumage. The males have slate gray feathers on the top of their heads and pink-gray colouration on their belly. Females on the other hand are more gray than their male counterparts and are more evenly coloured. The common ground dove's call can be described as soft whoops that increase in pitch. Often the call is heard in repetition, and is quite distinct. To hear the call of the common ground dove see the external links for a link to a website.


15. Tropical Mockingbird
The tropical Mockingbird is named after its wide range throughout the coastal tropics of Central and South America. These birds are common in their natural habitats and can also regularly be seen sitting on telephone wires. They are very similar to the long-tailed mockingbird (Mimus longicaudatus) in appearance and call, but the two ranges do not overlap.

16. Green-throated Carib
The green-throated carib is a large hummingbird. Adult females have some feathers orange to light green below the peak, while adult males have light green in greater proportion. Also the tail in adult females is dark red-brown with tips ending in white, the tail of the male is dark blue. Both females and males have an intense blue band on the chest, belly of both are dark green-blue. The back of both is green with golden tones.


17. Little Blue Heron
A fairly small heron, the little Blue Heron is found in wetland habitats. Born with white feathers, a juvenile goes through a dramatic change to an all-dark adult. During the young stage, it looks very similar to the Snowy egret, with whom juveniles often mix during feeding time to get free food. A quiet and calm feeder, this heron is often overlooked; however, it's not easily approachable.

18. Grey Trembler
The grey trembler (Cinclocerthia gutturalis) is a songbird species in the family Mimidae. It is found only in Martinique and Saint Lucia, the Martinique trembler (C. g. gutturalis) on the former island, the Saint Lucia trembler (C. g. macrorhyncha) – which might be a distinct species – on the latter.


19. Caribbean Elaenia
The Caribbean elaenia (Elaenia martinica) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae found in the West Indies and parts of Central America. Its natural habitats are tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and heavily degraded former forest.


20. Spectacled Thrush
The spectacled thrush is 23–24 cm long and weighs 60 g. It is plain olive-brown above and paler brown below. The throat is brown-streaked off-white, and the lower belly is whitish. It has a prominent yellow eye ring which gives rise to its English and scientific names. There are two poorly defined subspecies, differing mainly in the darkness of the plumage. Sexes are similar, but young birds are flecked above and spotted below, and have a thinner eye ring. The song is a musical warble, slower and lower pitched than that of the cocoa thrush (T. fumigatus), and it also produces a cat-like queeoow call and, when uncomfortable, emits a kereel.
