GREATER ANTILLEAN BULLFINCH: ABACO’S “POLICE BIRD”
Following my last gloomy post about the widely-reported die-off of the poor, exhausted migratory great shearwaters, let’s turn with relief to a cheerful bird known to all and admired in coppice and garden: the Greater Antillean Bullfinch Loxigilla violacea. These pretty birds are easy to find and to identify. They love feeders, and they are responsive to ‘pishing’, that irritating (?) noise that birders make to unseen avians in the coppice to persuade them to reveal themselves. Adult males are black with bright red accessories (hence “police bird”); females are paler with orangey accessories; and juveniles look a bit scruffy and patchy. Here’s a GAB gallery to enjoy.
Credits: Erik Gauger (1); Alex Hughes (2, 3); Tom Sheley (4, 6); Keith Salvesen (5); Charles Skinner (7); Gerlinde Taurer (8); Bruce Hallett (9)
ROLLING HARBOUR ABACO 
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Delightful presentation of a wonderful bird, RH. This is one I have never seen or heard of, always a treat. Had to chuckle at your irritation at pishing, for I, too, find it irritating. I think it scares the birds more than attracts them. lol. 😀
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Thanks as always for your enthusiasm, Jet. Common or garden birds, but quite striking. Actually I pish, click & whistle a bit (imitative, I like to think) in the wild but not in company! Done quietly, anything that’s interested will come anyway. I don’t think high volume works. RH
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