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Posted by Paul Bithorn on 21:16:26 10/17/06
Had the good fortune to have a fantastic three-day visit to Grand Bahama with my good friend Bruce Purdy of Blackbeard Cruises (http://www.blackbeard-cruises.com) on Saturday, October 7th thru Monday, October 10th.
On our five-hour trip from the mouth of the New River in Ft. Lauderdale to Freeport, aboard a 27-foot deep v speedboat, we were very disappointed in the total lack of pelagic species. The seas were calm and we saw a sailfish roll a couple of times, but that was it.
Two solid days of powerbirding produced 100 species including a rare American Bittern seen early Monday morning, October 9th on Midshipman Rd. in a residential front yard. As we attempted to photograph the bird swaying in its typical posture with bill held erect in some high grass, two dogs flushed it to the roof next door when it hopped onto a second floor balcony.
We were able to see all of our main target birds except for Zenaida Dove, Key West Quail Dove, Bahama Swallow and Bahama Mockingbird. We were very fortunate to see and hear the rare Bahama race of the Brown-headed Nuthatch in some pinelands near the Lucayan National Park. The island dump had almost all of the shorebirds plus the two duck species. Twenty-one species of warbler were seen, mostly in West Indian hardwoods and mangrove swamps.
I was rather disappointed in the condition of the Garden of the Groves, which is in a total state of disrepair since being purchased by Parrot Jungle. During a Florida Ornithological Society (F.O.S.) meeting on Grand Bahama in October of 1996 the Garden was very well maintained. I have very fond memories of that trip that included the likes Bill Robertson, Glen Woolfenden, Mort Cooper, Wes Biggs and Bob Brown.
Bruce is friends with the owners of the Lucayan Brewery and we were able to sample a Lucayan and Hammerhead Amber Ale fresh from the huge beer kettles. Conch salads at Cooper s on the Grill and whole fried Lane Snapper with rice and pigeon peas at the Diamond Sunrise Restaurant and Bar on High Rock were exceptional along with the Shepard s Pie and Bangers and Mash at Shenanigan s. It took several Kalik s and Black and Tan s to wash down these culinary delights. A respectable 100 species were seen including:
1. Least Grebe
2. Pied-billed Grebe
3. Brown Pelican
4. Double-crested Cormorant
5. Neotropic Cormorant (Our Lucaya Golf Course)
6. Magnificent Frigatebird
7. American Bittern
8. Great Blue Heron
9. Great Egret
10. Snowy Egret
11. Cattle Egret
12. Green Heron
13. Yellow-crowned Night Heron
14. Blue-winged Teal
15. Northern Shoveler
16. Turkey Vulture
17. Osprey
18. Red-tailed Hawk
19. American Kestrel
20. Common Moorhen
21. American Coot
22. Black-bellied Plover
23. Semipalmated Plover
24. Kildeer
25. Greater Yellowlegs
26. Lesser Yellowlegs
27. Ruddy Turnstone
28. Solitary Sandpiper
29. Spotted Sandpiper
30. Willet
31. Ruddy Turnstone
32. Sanderling
33. Semipalmated Sandpiper
34. Least Sandpiper
35. Pectoral Sandpiper
36. Long-billed Dowitcher
37. Laughing Gull
38. Royal Tern
39. Rock Dove
40. White-crowned Pigeon
41. Eurasian Collared-Dove
42. Mourning Dove
43. Common Ground Dove
44. Yellow-billed Cuckoo
45. Mangrove Cuckoo
46. Common Nighthawk
47. Smooth-billed Ani
48. Cuban Emerald
49. Bahama Woodstar (St. Georges Park-Freeport)
50. Belted Kingfisher
51. Hairy Woodpecker
52. Cuban Pewee
53. Eastern Wood-Pewee
54. Eastern Phoebe
55. La Sagra's Flycatcher
56. Gray Kingbird
57. Loggerhead Kingbird
58. Barn Swallow
59. Brown-headed Nuthatch
60. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
61. Red-legged Thrush
62. Gray Catbird
63. Northern Mockingbird
64. European Starling
65. Thick-billed Vireo
66. Yellow-throated Vireo
67. Red-eyed Vireo
68. Blue-winged Warbler
69. Tennessee Warbler
70. Northern Parula
71. Yellow Warbler
72. Magnolia Warbler
73. Cape May Warbler
74. Black-throated Blue Warbler
75. Black-throated Green Warbler
76. Yellow-throated Warbler, both races
77. Pine Warbler
78. Prairie Warbler
79. Palm Warber
80. Olive-capped Warbler
81. Black-and-white Warbler
82. American Redstart
83. Prothonotary Warbler
84. Ovenbird
85. Northern Waterthrush
86. Bahama Yellowthroat
87. Common Yellowthroat
88. Hooded Warbler
89. Bananaquit
90. Western Spindalis
91. Summer Tanager
92. Scarlet Tanager
93. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
94. Blue Grosbeak
95. Indigo Bunting
96. Black-faced Grassquit
97. Red-winged Blackbird
98. Baltimore Oriole
99. Greater Antillean Bullfinch
100. House Sparrow
Life is good...........
"I went to a fight Saturday night and a football game broke out!"
Footnotes:
1. Saw a Lark Sparrow at A.D. Barnes with Pam on Saturday, October 14th, 2006. The bird is not on the TAS checklist for the park.
2. See a dozen Bronzed Cowbirds everyday coming home from work feeding along the Red Rd. (N.W. 57th Ave.) Canal, north of N.W. 103rd St.
3. Juan Villamil is in Pan American Hospital (Room 209- Bed 1) keep him in your prayers.
4. See y all on the Shark Valley fieldtrip on Saturday, October 21st.
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