The spectacular coral reef chains of the Bahamas include the 3rd largest barrier reef in the world. Abaco’s reef system stretches from Little Harbour to beyond the northern end of the mainland, as Sandy Estabrook’s map shows. Inside the reef: the Sea of Abaco. Beyond the reef and the next landfall east: Western Sahara, south of the Canary Islands.
A rainbow effect of filtered sunlight on sea fans
Since the devastation of Abaco by Hurricane Dorian last September, a number of surveys have been carried out. Some of these relate to the impact of the storm on the natural world – the damaged forest and coppice, the bird-life including the Abaco specialities, and the marine life including marine mammals, fish, and reef structures and environments.
A recent assessment by the Perry Institute for Marine Sciences (PIMS) in Abaco and Grand Bahama waters has been carried out on the coral reefs to determine the extent to which the vulnerable structure, ecology and environment has been damaged. Some details have just been published in the Nassau Guardian in an article by Paige McCartney. The LINK is below.
DAMAGE FINDINGS IN BRIEF
25 – 30% of the 29 reef sites surveyed are devastated
factors include damage from debris, silt burial, and bleaching
uprooted casuarina trees were caught in the storm surge, causing damage
in particular, corals have been smashed and reef structure destroyed
there is biomass loss – basically reduced populations of fish & other organisms
RAYS OF LIGHT
Although the reef systems of both islands have been significantly damaged, in other areas little damage was found. Moreover, in some areas the storm had washed away some types of seaweed that are harmful to the reefs. The hope is that restoration of the damaged areas can be achieved with careful management.
WHAT CAN BE DONE NOW?
Action towards restoration and future protection includes:
removal of debris and other deleterious matter (eg silt)
cutting back the non-native, invasive casuarinas from the shoreline
restoration programs (recent successes with ‘coral farming’ could be vital)
extending marine protected areas
developing a rapid response protocol to meet extreme situations
The reports ends with some welcome news: Government departments have recently proposed putting $5 million towards a coral restoration project on Abaco, including the establishment of a and-based aquaculture facility to support coral growth in nurseries. Let’s hope that becomes a reality.
Spot the trumpetfish…
The publication of the PIMS report and its findings gives some hope of recovery for the fragile reef environment of the northern Bahamas. Other factors may reverse the optimism of course, not least the accelerating warming of the seas and the exponentially expanding pollution problem such as this, recently reported
This has been an opportunity to revisit the clear waters around Abaco where Melinda Rogers of Dive Abaco took these astonishing photos of coral on the local reefs. If the coral is destroyed or dies, this is what our children and their children will be be missing.
Click the brain coral to link to the Nassau Guardian Article
All photos, Melinda Rogers / Dive Abaco; Map, Sandy Estabrook; Nassau Guardian / Paige McCartney; Perry Institute for Marine Sciences (PIMS)
Bananaquits (Coereba flaveola) are small, colourful, and delightful birds of the coppice and garden. Besides their obvious attractiveness, the birds have in recent years enjoyed an uniquity: the status of being the sole species in the family Coerebidae.
However this singular status has really been a kind of avian parking place due to past, present (and doubtless future) uncertainty of the right category for these birds. Like so many avian species these days, they are subject to the rigours and vagaries of continual reclassification by the ornithological powers-that-be.
Bananaquits are, broadly speaking, passerines – essentially birds that perch. The nominal ‘passer’ was specifically awarded to sparrows by BRISSON, a contemporary of Linnaeus. Recently, bananaquits have suffered mysterious migrations of their classification ranging from the generalised ‘passerine‘ to the vague incertae sedis (= ‘uncertain group‘) to uncomfortable inclusion with tanagers / emberizids.
The debate over the appropriate classification for this pretty little bird (of which there are many subspecies in the broad Caribbean region) – rumbles on. A new way to confuse the issue is the suggestion that the bananaquit should be split into 3 species. In some areas, I believe this has happened at least informally.
Elsewhere there are doubters, sceptics, and champions of other group inclusions. The most obvious beneficiaries of all this will be dedicated birders, who may end up with two extra species to add to their ‘Lifer’ lists. Personally I’d like to think that the birds themselves will stay ahead of the curve in their own category, maintaining the mystery of their precise status while humans argue about what to call them.
CREDITS: Keith Salvesen / Rolling Harbour (1); Gerlinde Taurer (2); Craig Nash (3, 7); Tom Sheley (4, 5); Erik Gauger (6). All birds photographed on Abaco, Bahamas
Bananaquit perched on yellow elder, the National flower of the Bahamas
We are back again under the sea, warm below the storm, with an eight-limbed companion in its little hideaway beneath the waves.
It’s impossible to imagine anyone failing to engage with these extraordinary, intelligent creatures as they move around the reef. Except for octopodophobes, I suppose. I’ve written about octopuses quite a lot, yet each time I get to look at a new batch of images, I feel strangely elated that such a intricate, complex animal can exist.
While examining the photo above, I took a closer look bottom left at the small dark shape. Yes my friends, it is (as you feared) a squished-looking seahorse,
The kind of image a Scottish bagpiper should avoid seeing
OPTIONAL MUSICAL DIGRESSION
With octopus posts I sometimes (rather cornily, I know) feature the Beatles’ great tribute to the species, as voiced with a delicacy that only Ringo was capable of. There’s some fun to be had from the multi-bonus-track retreads currently so popular. These ‘extra features’ include alternative mixes, live versions and – most egregious of all except for the most committed – ‘Takes’. These are the musical equivalent of a Picasso drawing that he botched or spilt his wine over and chucked in the bin, from which his agent faithfully rescued it (it’s now in MOMA…)
You might enjoy OG Take 9, though, for the chit chat and Ringo’s endearingly off-key moments.
All fabulous photos by Melinda Riger, Grand Bahama Scuba taken a few days ago
This post has little to do with Abaco, and only a tenuous connection with the Bahamas. It is about birds, though, so I’ll justify it that way. This is today’s news and these are photos I took this morning in a park that is less than 10 minutes walk from our house. The reason? I’d heard that goslings had been seen at the small lake there, remarkably early in the year for any bird.
I had expected that this rumour related to the Canada geese that lord it over the smaller waterfowl (moorhens, coots, mallards, tufted ducks and so on). What I saw, as I got close to the lake, was a pair of Egyptian geese Alopochen aegyptiaca. And, true to the report, they had goslings with them. There were 10 in all and they were jointly and severally (as we lawyers say) totally adorbs and charmsy.
These are birds of Africa, but – like Canada geese – have spread far and wide mainly as the result of introduction by man. The Egyptians considered them sacred and featured them in hieroglyphs. Modern man has deemed them ornamental (cf peafowl) and removed them from their home to pastures new. Geese are robust, so they adapted in their new environment with relative ease.
As with many other transferred species, birds inevitably escaped from their ‘owners’ and feral populations soon became established. In Abaco terms, this is exactly what happened with the peafowl that were brought to the ‘Different of Abaco’ fishing lodge. The birds survived its demise, lived and bred in the increasingly wild grounds, and are now many generations on.
At some stage, the Egyptian goose was introduced in Florida, where it thrived. Nowadays it is not a particularly unusual bird there. It remains one of the birds of south-east US that has never made the relatively short journey to Abaco. There are however a handful of reports from Grand Bahama, New Providence and Eleuthera, so northern Bahamas is in range.
It’s probably only a matter of time before these geese turn up on Abaco. Five years ago, the first BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKS were found, a flock of 6 seen several times as they progressed from Crossing Rocks north to the airport. There are still the occasional sightings of these ducks, the last about 2 weeks ago north of Marsh Harbour. The Egyptian goose is a fine bird and part of me (the part that doesn’t disapprove of avian introductions) hopes that they do occasionally undertake the journey from the flocks in Florida.
All photos: Keith Salvesen / Rolling Harbour Abaco
YELLOWTAIL (REDFIN) PARROTFISH: BAHAMAS REEF FISH (54)
The yellowtail parrotfish (sometimes known as a redfin) is one of around half-a-dozen kinds of parrotfish found among the coral reefs of the Bahamas, and sometimes in seagrass areas. There are many other related species worldwide (about 80). Parrotfish are among the most important fishes on the reef because they play a major role inBIOEROSION , a vital process for the health of the reef.
A. FEEDING & BEACH BUILDING
Their dental arrangements – a mouthful of meshing teeth – form the characteristic ‘beak’
Primarily herbivores but also snack on small creatures, organisms, or even molluscs
As they feed on their favourite algae, their teeth grind up the coral which they ingest
They digest the coral & excrete it as sand, becoming a component of your favourite beach
The teeth grow continuously, replacing ones worn away by grinding coral as they graze
They are a vital species in preventing algae from choking coral: essential reef cleaners
B. PARROTFISH: PERSONAL INFORMATION
Some secrete a protective mucous cocoon to sleep in or as concealment from predators
Mucous also helps to heal damage, repel parasites, & protect them from UV light
As they develop from the juvenile stage, most species change colour significantly
In some species, juveniles change colour temporarily for protective purposes
These are “sequential hermaphrodites”, turning from female to male (‘protogyny’)
Single males tend to have several lady friends, and aggressively defend their love rights
Parrotfish arePELAGIC SPAWNERS. Females release many tiny buoyant eggs into the water
The eggs float freely then eventually sink to the coral until they hatch
Unlike almost all other fishes, they use their pectoral fins to propel themselves
Feeding behaviour / dietary requirements make them (thankfully) unsuitable for aquariums (or aquaria, if you prefer)
WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT CHANGING SEX?
Parrotfish may undergo sex reversal in which developing female fish become males
Parrotfish born male remain male throughout their lives (“primary males”)
Female-born fish may change sex & colour to become male (“secondary males”)
Secondary males are fertile and generally mate with a single female
Females that stay female live in harems protected by a dominant “supermale” BUT…
…if the supermale dies, the largest female in the group changes sex to become male…
…AND amazingly adopts the coloration of the supermale (best ‘astounding fact’ of all)
ARE PARROTFISH EDIBLE? JUST ASKING…
Parrotfish skin is very tough but their flesh is soft and degenerates quickly
Some species (eg blue parrotfish) carry ciguatera toxins – to be avoided
They are not considered a fishing target in Bahamas, nor a food-fish
Parrotfish are eaten elsewhere in the world however, for example Jamaica (cooked)
In Hawaii they are eaten raw – at one time they were reserved for royalty
Credits: Melinda Rogers / Dive Abaco for her great illustrative images. All photographs were taken on the reefs of Abaco, before the devastation and destruction of Hurricane Dorian last September; Florida Museum to cross-check facts; VIDEO – Scientific American
PIPING PLOVERS Charadrius melodus are specialist shorebirds on Abaco. For a start, they are very rare – the IUCN listing suggests a population of only 8000 mature birds in the world. They are both scarce numerically and limited geographically.
These tiny plovers breed only in a few defined areas of North America – areas that are rapidly reducing mostly for all the usual depressing human-derived causes, for example the exercise of man’s alienable right from time immemorial to drive vehicles all over the nesting sites in the breeding season. The birds are unsurprisingly IUCN listed as ‘near-threatened’.
Piping Plovers breed and nest in the north and produce their chicks. The chicks soon learn to be independent and to fly. From about mid-July, those adults and chicks that have avoided the wheels of the SUVs, the unleashed dogs in the areas set aside for nesting, and the more natural dangers from gulls, start to get the urge to fly south for the winter. The range of their winter grounds is shown in blue on the range map above. It includes the Bahamas in general and Abaco in particular.
Q. WHY ARE THEY CALLED PIPING PLOVERS? A. BECAUSE OF THIS!
Paul Turgeon
I will return soon to the significance of the safe, clean beaches of Abaco and the healthy habitat for the survival of this remarkable little bird. For now, I’ll simply say that loss of habitat, and an increase in the nature and / or extent of environmental threats at either end of the migration, may seriously damage the survival of the species. It follows that habitat degradation at both ends of the migration could see the IUCN listing progress rapidly to vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered and… well, the next category is ‘extinct in the wild’.
If you are interested in shorebirds, in bird migration, in research into bird movements, and in the reason migratory birds are banded, you can find out more at ABACO PIPING PLOVER WATCH. This is the only season-long research project in the Bahamas, and involves Citizen Scientists on Abaco in the south working with partner Proper Scientists in the breeding grounds in the north. Early next month I will write a follow-up post on these topics.
The photographs in this post were taken a few days ago on the long crescent of beach at Winding Bay, Abaco by Lisa Davies. Her contribution is precious because the APPW project mentioned above was for many reasons in danger of stalling as the result of the devastating effects of Hurricane Dorian on almost every aspect of island life. Lisa’s discovery of a small flock of a dozen plovers in the sunshine has given impetus to the project – and has resulted in some superb photos.
Credits: All photos by Lisa Davies; audio call, Paul Turgeon / Xeno-Canto; range map from WIKI
