• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Map
• Reference and further resources

Site description (2007 baseline)
Collectively, the shooting swamps in the northern parish of St. Lucy at: N 13°19' 29.21", W 59° 37' 18.09"; N 13°19' 56.30", W59° 36' 40.13"; N 13° 17' 40.44", W 59° 38' 04.01"; N 13° 18' 11.95", W 59° 37' 32.11"; N 13° 19' 01.25", W 59° 37' 00.48" form an IBA. These artificially created and maintained wetlands average 4 to 5 acres in extent and are all situated on private land. The express purpose is to provide habitat for migrating sandpipers so they can be shot. Generally, the immediate environs of these wetlands are pasture or sugar cane lands.

Key biodiversity
It is reported that a collective total from all these swamps of between 7 and 15 thousand Nearctic-nesting sandpipers are shot annually (see text for target species). Empirical evidence indicates that larger flights (and therefore the number of birds shot) are weather-dependent. More birds stop when affected by adverse weather conditions associated with tropical Atlantic waves, depressions and storms. Thus, numbers stopping vary from year to year in the season from July to October. Estimates vary and numbers shot are an unknown percentage of the total numbers passing. These wetlands also provide necessary habitat for non-target species.

Non-bird biodiversity: Not Applicable

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: St Lucy Shooting Swamps (Barbados). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/st-lucy-shooting-swamps-iba-barbados on 25/12/2024.