The Mariana’s, Day 1-2 — Guam

The Mariana’s are a chain of islands stretching northward from Guam. They comprise two US Territories: Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The flight from Honolulu departed at 3:30 PM on December 17, 2023, and arrived about 7.5 hrs later at 7 PM on December 18, 2023, after crossing several time zones and the international Date Line and more than three thousand miles. For U.S. citizens, a passport is not required to enter Guam. However, we did have to go through Customs inspection, which was quick and painless. I picked up my rental car, drove a few miles to my hotel, checked in, grabbed dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant, strolled along the beach counting shorebirds for my daily eBird checklist, and went to bed. Although shorebirds are often active at night, my count was zero. My first day in the Marianas had passed and my Biggest Year list was still stalled at 849 species

On the morning of December 19, 2023, I left the hotel at 6:30 AM, grabbed breakfast at McDonalds and planned my birding day. I had all day available as Nick Jr. would need to be picked up at the airport at 7:30 PM, about two hours after sunset. I started off the day visiting beach parks along the west side of the island. I had lunch at Jeff’s Pirate Cove along the eastern shore.  This is a popular birding hotspot and I explored the grounds thoroughly after downing a fine burger. I then visited the interior of the south side of Guam at the Layon landfill. I finished the birding day along the southeast coastline. Avian diversity was low. My day list was just 18 species but seven of those were new for my year list: 

850 Black Drongo

851 Philippine Collared-Dove

852 Yellow Bittern

853 Micronesian Starling

854 Common Sandpiper

855 Kentish Plover

856 Little Egret


For the full list of species from Guam on December 19, here is my eBird trip report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/184095?welcome=true. 


Nick Jr. arrived safely and on schedule but nursing a cold. He had spent his extra morning in Honolulu birding in the rain and his Canon Camera had malfunctioned, which was a bummer. He would have to wait for birding on Guam as our flight to Saipan, the largest of the islands in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) was early in the morning the next day, Wednesday December 20, 2023. 

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