carribean birding (1 Viewer)

Isurus

Well-known member

• Aug 12, 2007

• #21

A trip to anegada yielded:
68 - Willet
69 - Semi-palmated plover; and
70 - Antillean Nighthawk
(the last of these 3 being spotted when my girlfriend said from her hammock what's that one then?).

Also snowy plovers, many kestrels, night herons and green herons and hundreds of hummingbirds. No flamingos seen (didn't trek out to the pond) and no osprey surprisingly.

 

Isurus

Well-known member

• Aug 19, 2007

• #22

The hurricane has sent large numbers of birds our way. New for the list down at the salt pond yesterday were:

71 - semipalmated sandpiper
72 - wilson's plover

Also present were
least sands, semipalmated plovers, both yellowlegs, stilts, spotsands, 3 clapper rail, yellowcrowned night heron, ruddy turnstone, WC pintail and a few other bits and bobs I can't remember off the top off my head.

Decided to go for a dive this morning and whilst the 'cane hadn't helped the viz scored a couple of very friendly hawksbilled turtles. On the way back a strange shape amongst the boobies and laughing gulls turned out to be # 73 cory's shearwater...which reminds me I had an unidentifiable storm petrel off the boat a while back.

Nothing new on the pond today but did see a mongoose keeping an eye on me as I returned to the car.

 

Isurus

Well-known member

• Sep 1, 2007

• #23

Took a friend over to Sage Mountain National Park today to scale BVI's highest peak (without oxygen!). Not much by way of birds in the forest undergrowth but did get cracking views of #74 Bridled Quail Dove. I've been hoping for one of these for a while and was really surprised when I saw it - bigger than I expected. Great views of an Antillean Racer (my friend's first wild snake) and 4 kestrels on the way home was iced on the cake by crippling views of 2 red tailed hawks playing in the thermals as I drove us home.

 

Mike Richardson

Formerly known as Skink1978

• Sep 2, 2007

• #24

Just found this thread and read it to the end. Sounds like your having a great time in Tortola. Nice that you mention the other wildlife thats around, including reptiles. Any wild mammals apart from the non-indigious mongoose?Keep up the good work mate, will follow with interest.

 

Isurus

Well-known member

• Sep 17, 2007

• #25

skink1978 said:

Just found this thread and read it to the end. Sounds like your having a great time in Tortola. Nice that you mention the other wildlife thats around, including reptiles. Any wild mammals apart from the non-indigious mongoose?Keep up the good work mate, will follow with interest.

Click to expand...

Thanks Skink - sorry for the delay responding - I don't check this thread as often as I should and missed your reply. We have no extant terrestrial native mammals - I think we used to have a couple of hutia type things long ago but none survive. We have all the usual island ferals; both rats, cat and goat. Anegada also has a decent herd of feral cattle and donkeys which supposedly originate from the survivors of a shipwreck.

We have a couple of bats and some decent cetaceans though; humpbacks pass through on migration and I've seen bottlenose dolphin a couple of times.

 

Isurus

Well-known member

• Sep 17, 2007

• #26

I tried a new spot the other week; a concrete drainage ditch near the airport that had filled in with mud/decaying water hyacinths. A nice little flock of mixed waders resulted including short billed dowitcher, semi-palmated sand, moorhen and a strange peep that the id forum guys eventually put down as western sandpiper (#75 - only 25 to the ton!).

Oh yeah - I've been seeing an old friend around the house again!

 

Isurus

Well-known member

• Oct 22, 2007

• #27

No interesting birds of late but have had bottlenosed dolphin, green and hawksbilled turtle and nurse and caribbean reef sharks so haven't been slacking.

Forgot to mention I snorkelled with a few juvie lemon shark on Anegada - shark tick #26 in the water/#27 in total.

 

Last edited: Oct 22, 2007

Isurus

Well-known member

• Dec 9, 2007

• #28

hmm slightly embarassing this but feral pigeon has come off the list to be replaced by white crowned pigeon. After seeing some true white crowns elsewhere I realised what I'd put down as a strangely marked feral was actually a white crown. Haven't see either elsewhere in BVI so the list changes.

Meanwhile good views of Osprey yesterday and 7 kestrels on the ride home today. Also great views of spotted eagle ray and 2 bottlenosed dolphins today.