January 1996
by Sue Adair
This year (1996) I replaced my participation in the Skaneateles CBC with a trip to the Northern Bahamas (poor me) and the CBC sector leader wanted a trip report. I decided to post it here in case anyone else was interested.
My husband and I spent New Year's week on Elbow Cay, which is a small (~3 mile long) island off of Abaco Island. Abaco is the northeastern most of the Bahamas Islands. While this was not primarily a birding trip, we did see 65 species and I found 17 life birds and one life race (marked with * below).
Most of our birding was done by walking around on Elbow Cay. We took the 8am ferry to Marsh Harbour on Abaco and rented a car on one day. This allowed us to get to the pine forests which are absent on Elbow Cay. We saw the Bahama Woodstar, Greater Antillean Pewee, Olive-capped Warbler and flavescens Yellow-throated Warbler only in these pine forests. We also saw Greater Flamingo, White-cheeked Pintail and Bahama Swallow only at a lagoon on Abaco. [This was at The Great Abaco Bone Fishing Club/The Different of Abaco. It was mentioned in the WINGS catalog or I wouldn't have known to look there. And it *is* different!].
Finally, we saw Loggerhead Kingbird only on Abaco Island. We found La Sagra's Flycatcher, Red-legged Thrush and Bahama Mockingbird only on Elbow Cay. The other West Indian Species were seen on both islands.
In the non-bird category we saw only two mammals - a bat and a rat. We also saw one anole lizard and lots of Curly-tailed Lizards (which actually have curly tails!). Best of all was the snorkeling. We did some off of Elbow Cay but to reach the best areas a boat is necessary. We rented a 17 foot Boston Whaler for 2 days and snorkled at Pelican Cays National Park. There we saw one shark, one sea turtle (Hawksbill I think) and four Spotted Eagle Rays (a beautiful brown ray with a long tail and white spots and ring-shaped markings on its back). Also many, many beautiful fish, very few of which I know the names of. All of these creatures were swimming around in a beautiful (albeit mainly brown and olive colored) garden of Elk Horn Coral, Brain Coral, other corals and sea fans. Definitely worth the trip!
Back to birds. The sixty-five species we found are listed below. FYI, the LaSagra's Flycatcher is not shown in Bond's Birds of the West Indies. It was split from the Stolid Flycatcher which is shown in Bond's guide. Also, the West Indian Woodpecker is called the Cuban Red-bellied Woodpecker in the guide. I looked up these two birds in the AOU checklist because the names didn't match the WINGS catalog listing of birds from their Bahamas trip. The rest of the names are from Bond's guide and I hope they are up to date. I also noted the ease with which we found the West Indian Species (and Smooth-billed Ani, which I haven't managed to find in 3 trips to Florida) below. We found the North American breeding warblers in the 0 - 5 per day range except for Palm and Prairie Warblers which were more common.
Magnificent
Frigatebird
Fregata magnificens
Great Blue
Heron
Ardea herodias
Great
Egret
Ardea albus
Green
Heron
Butorides virescens
Yellow-cr
Night-Heron
Nyctanassa violacea
*Greater
Flamingo
Phoenicopterus ruber
Two birds at The Different lagoon.
*White-cheeked
Pintail
Anas bahamensis
About 15 birds at The Different lagoon.
Blue-winged
Teal
Anas discors
Lesser
Scaup
Aythya affinis
Turkey
Vulture
Cathartes aura
Osprey
Pandion haliaetus
Red-tailed
Hawk
Buteo jamaicensis
Merlin
Falco columbarius
American
Coot
Fulica americana
Killdeer
Charadrius vociferus
Ruddy
Turnstone
Arenaria interpres
Laughing
Gull
Larus atricilla
Ring-billed
Gull
Larus delawarensis
Caspian
Tern
Sterna caspia
Eurasian
Collared-Dove
Streptopelia decaocto
Common
Ground-Dove
Columbina passerina
*Smooth-billed
Ani
Crotophaga ani
Several flocks of 3 to 15 birds in shrubby and open areas.
*Cuban
Emerald
Chlorostilbon ricordii
Generally available on both islands.
*Bahama
Woodstar
Callipholx evelynae
3 birds around a flowering shrub off one trail in the southern pine
forest
of Abaco Island.
Belted
Kingfisher
Ceryle alcyon
*West Indian
Woodpecker
Melanerpes superciliaris
2 birds on Abaco, 4 or 5 on Elbow Cay. One came in to roost in a palm
in
front of our inn each night.
Hairy
Woodpecker
Picoides villosus
*Greater Antillean
Pewee
Contopus caribaeus
3 birds in the pine forests on Abaco.
*Loggerhead
Kingbird
Tyrannus caudifasciatus
About 8 birds in varying habitats (including the airport) on Abaco
Island.
*La Sagra's
Flycatcher
Myiarchus sagrae
About 5 birds in shrubby woodland and mangroves on Elbow Cay.
Bahama
Swallow
Tachycineta bicolor
2 birds over The Different lagoon.
Ruby-crowned
Kinglet
Regulus calendula
Blue-gray
Gnatcatcher
Polioptila caerulea
American
Robin
Turdus migratorius
*Red-legged
Thrush
Turdus plumbeus
I saw only one bird in shrubby woodland on Elbow Cay. My husband got to
watch one perched about 10 feet from the
deck of our room for 10 minutes (I was beach combing).
Gray
Catbird
Dumetella carolinensis
Northern
Mockingbird
Mimus polyglottos
*Bahama
Mockingbird
Mimus gundlachii
5 birds in shrubby woodland on Elbow Cay.
White-eyed
Vireo
Vireo griseus
*Thick-billed
Vireo
Vireo crassirostris
Common on both islands.
Solitary
Vireo
Vireo solitarius
Blue-winged
Warbler
Vermivora bachmanii
Northern
Parula
Parula americana
Magnolia
Warbler
Dendroica magnolia
Cape May
Warbler
Dendroica tigrina
Black-thr Blue
Warbler
Dendroica carulescens
Yellow-rumped
Warbler
Dendroica coronata
Yellow-throated
Warbler
Dendroica dominica dominica
*Yellow-throated
Warbler
Dendroica dominica favescens
One bird in southern pine forest of Abaco.
*Olive-capped
Warbler
Dendroica pityophila
Abundant (although not very easy to see - they seemed to like to hang
out
up high in the pine needles) in the pine forests
of Abaco Island.
Pine
Warbler
Dendroica pinus
Prairie
Warbler
Dendroica discolor
Palm
Warbler
Dendroica palmarum
Black-and-White
Warbler
Mniotilta varia
American
Redstart
Setophaga ruticilla
Worm-eating
Warbler
Helmitheros vermivorus
Ovenbird
Seiurus aurocapillus
Northern
Waterthrush
Seiurus noveboracensis
Louisiana
Waterthrush
Seiurus motacilla
Common
Yellowthroat
Geothlypis trichas
*Bahama
Yellowthroat
Geothlypis rostrata
A few on both islands.
*Bananaquit
Coereba flaveola
Common on both islands.
*Stripe-headed
Tanager
Spindalis zena
Two in Abaco pine forests. One in Elbow Cay shrubby woodland.
*Black-faced
Grassquit
Tiaris bicolor
Abundant on both islands.
Red-winged
Blackbird
Agelaius phoeniceus
House
Sparrow
Passer domesticus
There they are! The only bird I really feel like we missed was the Cuban Parrot (Psittacus leucocephalus bahamensis (sp?)). Apparently it is most easily found by arriving at its roosting holes very early in the morning (well, I was told it involves arriving early, I assumed this would be at its roosting holes). This would have involved chartering a ferry which was going to be too complicated and expensive so we decided to pass on the parrot.
Elbow Cay/Abaco was a great place to go with a relatively non-birding spouse (like mine) with enough birds to be interesting for the birding spouse. The birdiest place we went was the road north out of Hope Town on Elbow Cay. The only birds I heard sing were the Olive-capped Warbler and the Black-faced Grassquit. Spishing worked *great* everywhere (except on Olive-capped Warblers).
I read that an ABA guide to the Bahamas is coming out soon but it was pretty easy to do without it where we were. I'm an irregular reader of BIRDCHAT, but if you would like to know anything more, send a private e-mail and I'd be happy to respond.
Sue Adair
Syracuse, NY
sdadair@cis.infopix.com