Hello dear readers! I probably lost most of my regulars while I was finishing up a project this year to catalogue all my birds. My goal is to have one entry in my blog devoted to each of the 1600+ species of birds I have photographed as a kind of living and breathing repository of my life list. I am finally caught up with that project and now I can revert back to my usual blogging format. But first some non-avian news, we have adopted a new Whippet rescue named Louie! He is a sweetheart and it was tough to leave him in Wilmington for our recent Christmas vacation, but luckily the foster home that had him before we adopted him was willing to take him in while we were out.
We left for Eleuthera with heavy hearts, but looking forward to some time with my extended family. For those of you that don't know, my father and mother are retired and live in the Bahamas part of the year on a property that my father bought over 30 years ago. My nuclear family usually goes down every two years. This time we also were able to meet up with my brother's family for over a week overlap which was great. However, as you can expect, I still snuck out to do some birding.
Tricolored Heron on my father's pond.
Every year the numerous trees my father has planted get more impressive like this Bismarck Palm which he planted as a seedling.
Thick-billed Vireos are the most common passerine down on my father's property.
It was very windy the first week so we spent quite a bit of time exploring the Caribbean side. The beauty of Eleuthera is that if you don't like the weather on one side, less than a mile away you have something totally different.
I hooked up with a big grouper here but unfortunately the big ones usually get away by immediately taking your line under a coral head and lodging themselves in by expanding their spiny fins. This is why I usually try and avoid catching bottom fish in the Bahamas.
Zenaida Dove - we visited a new birding location that was created by the One Eleuthera Foundation in conjunction withe the Center for Training and Innovation (CTI) in Rock Sound. This awesome spot used to be a farm years ago and now they have transformed it into a training center for Bahamians to learn trades including farming. They have a restaurant and large greenhouse and recently started building out nature trails and even a birding blind.
White-crowned Pigeon
American Kestrel
Smooth-billed Ani
Red-tailed Pennant I think...
Greater Antillean Bullfinch
My father's property has some good ocean front sections but unlike others on this road, his houses are on the lake side of the road. I like it that way because it means his ocean front land has room for a lawn and places to sit and enjoy the vista without a big house in the way.
This is the property at the Potlatch Club which is where the Rolling Stones and the Beatles used to hang out at. Paul McCartney wrote "Oh! Darling" and "She came in through the bathroom window" on Potlatch stationary while on his honeymoon with Linda McCartney.
The beach at Potlatch is gorgeous.
My boys enjoying the good life during our lunch there. I think I should take the lunch bill out of their college funds.
Mangrove Cuckoo at Calypso! It was the most cooperative bird I have seen in a long time, posing in multiple spots for me.
Painted Bunting at Calypso on the Frangipani.
Bahama Woodstars love Calypso because my father planted so many Firecracker plants.
Thick-billed Vireo.
Ovenbirds are plentiful at Calypso.
Yellow-throated Warbler - I also had what I swear was an Olive-capped Warbler but there are no records from Eleuthera and I didn't get a picture. The closest island with Olive-capped is Great Abaco to the north.
Greater Antillean Bullfinch again - they were cooperative this time. Usually they are skulky.
Prairie Warbler
White-cheeked Pintail - usually I need to go to one of the ponds south of my Dad's place for these but I had them right on his pond this time.
I saw tons of Redstarts but they are hard to photograph because they are always on the move.
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Common Ground Dove
My father has started planting White Lantana or Button Sage which is a favorite of Kirtland's Warblers but so far I have yet to see one at Calypso.
I went fishing with my brother on the Caribbean Side. Usually my brother catches most of the fish, but this time I caught three of these Cero Mackerel which are prized for their tasty white flesh (unlike real mackerel) and he came up empty. We made a huge feast that night with them and they were a big hit.
This picture is hanging up on the wall at Calypso - I painted this back when I was a teenager and yes I know I spelled Poseidon wrong. My whole family doesn't like it, but it remains as a kind of running joke.
Cuban Crescent - A new lifer butterfly for me.
Mangrove Skipper
Band-winged Dragonlet - another lifer for me!
The day before Xmas I went back to the CTI campus to walk around this time with time to spare.
Palm Warbler
I found a grove of these bushes with berries that Cape Mays were feasting on.
Western Spindalis!
Black-faced Grassquit
Black-throated Blue Warbler
I couldn't believe my eyes! Eleuthera's first Loggerhead Kingbird!! Someone had reported an off-season Gray Kingbird a week or two before, but this was clearly a Loggerhead. I wonder if they misidentified it on the previous checklist. The eBird Reviewer confirmed, I had the island's first Loggerhead! Most Loggerheads are found not too far away on Nassau.
The dark head and white tipped tail is diagnostic.
I tried to get some recordings but it was silent.
Back at Calypso the next day, the Banaquits were loving my father's flowers.
The Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers love the palms.
Least Grebe on the pond at Calypso.
It was a great trip and I cannot wait to get back out there next year or maybe the year after that. It was so nice to come home and pick up Louie. I miss not having a dog welcome me home from my trips. My wife is absolutely smitten with him.
This week I hope to post some pictures from the Xmas bird counts for Wilmington and Bald Head which is Saturday and Sunday respectively.
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