Until next year my friends (03-07Apr2015)

With mixed emotions I said my goodbyes to my Bahamian avian friends which I had come to know much better this year.  Although I did not add any new birds in my final days in the Bahamas, I saw the same cast many times and learned some new things about their behavior and habits.

Red-legged Thrush - very unafraid but little reason to come out in the open.

Plenty of Fiddler Crabs on the dried up lake at Calypso for Clappers.

I will have no problem identifying Cape Mays anymore.

White-crowned Pigeons got more confiding as the week progressed.

Greater Antillean Bullfinch - loves the native Lantana berries as much as the Kirtland's.

Cape May Warbler

Thick-billed Vireo - ever present and very vocal.

Great Lizard Cuckoos are the Don Juans of the bird world.  They are always bringing offerings to their mates even if it is as insignificant as a leaf.

My dad has tied orchids and bromeliads all over the property and this Phalenopsis was blooming it's head off.

La Sagra's Flycatcher - I saw several of these over the course of a week.

Black-and-white Warbler - hard to get them to stay still.

Horrible photo but the first Sora I have seen in Eleuthera.

Now back to North Carolina birds and it is full blown migration to boot!  First stop was Holly Shelter yesterday evening after work.

It did not take long to find this Bachman's Sparrow.

There was plenty of recently burned Long Leaf Pine habitat.

It helped that it was signing like crazy.

Red-cockaded Woodpecker - I found a nice group of them mixed with other WP species.

I stayed until dark hoping for Nightjars but had no luck.

GLC and Kirtland's (30Mar2015)

Yesterday was a good day.  In the morning I walked Calypso hoping for one of my three remaining target birds (Great Lizard Cuckoo, Key West Quail Dove and Kirtland's Warbler).  It took a while but I finally found one of them.

Black-necked Stilt - two for one.  Calypso pond.

Clapper Rail - very vocal individual.

Black-faced Grassquit

Then finally......

Great Lizard Cuckoo!!!  I followed this bird around the property for over an hour.  He did not mind a bit.

Look at that tail! I was trying to get an underrated shot with him perched but I never got an opportunity.

Here he is attacking an unsuspecting lizard or maybe a moth.  In the hour that i watched him, he found and devoured 2 huge moths and 2 lizards.

Has to me one of my favorite birds.

In the afternoon after some calls, I drove my family to look for shells on a beach near Tarpum Bay.  On the way I swing by the lakes at Double Bay and scored with 5 White-cheeked Pintails.

White-cheeked Pintails.

After dropping off my family, I made a short drive to a side road that looked really good for Kirtland's Warbler.  The Kirtland's Warbler is the most endangered of the North American warblers and just so happens to call Eleuthera home for the winters.  It likes successional habitat and more specifically loves White Lantana.  Well this little road I could see from the Queen's Highway looked perfect.  I pulled over and tried a couple chip notes and right away Bingo!!!

Kirtland's Warbler

Actually when I first saw her, I thought it was a palm warbler because she was flipping her tail up and down.  However, once I got a good look it was obviously not a palm and obviously was a Kirtland's.  Yellow belly with fine streaking and broken eye-ring.

I say her because she did not have the dark lores of a male and was not a very bright yellow.

Then if that was not enough I saw my 2nd and 3rd GLC of the day.

Great Lizard Cuckoo

I went to go pick up the family on the beach and just as I met up with them we witnessed a huge shark chasing something in the shallows.  It had to have been at least 14 feet.  The dorsal fin was sticking out about 1.5 feet out.

What a day!

The Ephemeral Isles (29-30Mar2015)

The Bahamas a truly a special place, especially the "Out Islands".  The pace of life is slow and relaxing, the climate is pretty much perfect and with my mother being here, the food is amazing.  However I have come to grow a new appreciation for it the past couple years with the focus on birds and wildlife in general.  Amazing that such diverse life is capable on a land that is relatively young or at least in terms of landmass.  They call them the ephemeral isles because the sea level has such a drastic effect on the land.  Eons ago many of these islands were connected.  With sea level rising now, who knows if they will be around in a couple thousand years.

Lizards and Anoles on Eleuthera are varied.  I could see myself getting into Lizard identification too.

At Leon Levy Preserve the birding was a little slow in the middle of the day on Sunday.  Black and White Warbler.

The lizarding was great though.

Back at the house a couple of herons posed for me.

Tricolored Heron

I was pretty sure this was a white morph Reddish Egret. Maybe a second year bird.  Bill was dark and not bicolored.  It was too big to be a Snowy and the feet were black.  The dark bill ruled out Great Egret.  Not right for a Little Blue either.

In the evening we went to South Palmetto for sunset and I bagged this Kestrel.

American Kestrel

In the morning today I got up early and headed to Leon Levy.

Red-legged Thrush!!  Very obliging bird but light was still not ideal.

Cape May Warbler

Mangrove Cuckoo!! Could I ask for a better pose?

Finally got some better shots at White-crowned Pigeons.  There was at least 50 roosting around the mangroves.

Prairie Warbler

Bad photo but it shows the size difference between the Reddish Egret white morph and the Snowy Egrets.

In between conference calls (yes I can't get away from work), I went outside and this Western Spindalis was eating some kind of grub next to my Dad's tool shed.

Are you kidding? This bird is face melting.

Another B&W Warbler

Then while on a work call I was looking out the window and saw this guy!  Luckily he was still there when I finished up.

Ovenbird

Later in the evening by the lake:

Green Heron

It's too bad my kids have school.  I could totally live down here.

Cheers.