SEVEN NEW BIRD SPECIES ON ABACO

January 22, 2018 by Rolling Harbour

Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Keith Salvesen)

Black-bellied Whistling Duck June 2014

SEVEN NEW BIRD SPECIES ON ABACO

THE BIRDS OF ABACO was published very nearly 4 years ago. At the time, the checklist of species recorded for Abaco at the back of the book, so meticulously compiled by Tony White and Woody Bracey, was definitive for as long as records have existed (in practical terms, since 1950). The final new species included in the book was a Black-browed albatross amazingly spotted in Abaco waters from the BMMRO research vessel by a keen-eyed intern the previous summer.

Brown Thrasher (Manjith Kainickara - Wiki)

Brown Thrasher Nov 2014

Within 3 months of publication, the checklist had been rendered out of date. A totally new species had touched down on Abaco – a small flock of 6 black-bellied whistling ducks. They worked their way up South Abaco from down by Crossing Rocks up to MH Airport via Schooner Bay, Delphi and Bahama Palm Shores. By then, numbers were down to 2. Soon even they disappeared, heading presumably from wherever the flock had intended to go in the first place. Maybe they got tired en route. Maybe their internal Satnav suffered a collective failure. Maybe senior BBWD had had a bright idea for a shortcut…

Masked Booby January 2015

We are not talking here of rarities in global terms, but species that have never been seen before on Abaco. Or, if seen, went unremarked. Or, if remarked, without awareness of the significance! The advent of the current enthusiasm for birding in the Bahamas plus the ease with which a quick photo can be taken – on a phone for example – as evidence of a sighting and to aid a clear ID, may well increase the number of new species sightings in the future.

Pearly-Eyed Thrasher, Treasure Cay, Abaco (Woody Bracey)

Pearly-Eyed Thrasher March 2015

There’s the added benefit from the ease with which photos can be taken and distributed – people will no longer have to do any of the following:

Shoot birds and take them as samples (hello, J.J. Audubon & historical cohorts)
Pack a sketch pad & crayons to draw birds before they fly away (or from memory)
Rely on scribbled notes made in low light and a light drizzle
Listen to, or read, a query about a “sort of brownish medium sized bird with maybe a bit of yellow on the wings, and a black tail I think, but I didn’t get a very good look and oh yes it had sort of beady eyes and sounded a bit like ‘Kalik Kalik Kalik’ “.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Abaco (Keith Kemp)

Buff-breasted Sandpiper Oct 2016

Over the 4 years, there have been a few birds that, although not ‘first evers’, are second or third ever – and the first ones with supporting photos. These include the fabulous scissor-tailed flycatcher; and the bald eagle that was sighted several times over south Abaco last year. I’ll return to these rarities another time. Let’s see the sixth new bird, from late last year.

Scaly-naped pigeon (Dick Daniels / carolinabirds.org wiki)

Scaly-naped pigeon Nov 2107

To complete the set, so to speak, 2017 ended with another gorgeous duck, the cinnamon teal. You can read more about all these birds using the following links to the relevant posts.

Cinnamon Teal (Dick Daniels / carolinabirds.org)

Cinnamon Teal Dec 2017

Credits: Keith Salvesen (1); Manjith Kainickara (2); Duncan Wright (3); Woody Bracey (4); Keith Kemp (5); Dick Daniels / carolinabirds.org / wiki (6, 7)

BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKS REVISITED…

July 15, 2015 by Rolling Harbour

BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKS REVISITED…

The first ever Black-bellied Whistling Ducks recorded for Abaco arrived last June. Six birds turned up on South Abaco in the Crossing Rocks area and slowly worked their way north via Delphi, Bahama Palm Shores and Casuarina. They split up into smaller groups. Two were seen near the airport. Eventually, after 3 weeks or so, the sightings and reports ceased. The BBWDs had moved on, presumably to Florida.

I mention them now because this June, a flock of 13 birds arrived on a golf course in Bermuda. The only previous recorded sighting of the species had been a single bird spotted in 2006. Within a couple of weeks, the birds had disappeared again. It’s strange that in consecutive years, June sightings have occurred on two islands where they are not a known species. I happen to have taken some photos of BBWDs elsewhere in the meantime, and I thought these pretty ducks deserved further exposure…

A BBWD LOVE STORY

Hello! Would you like to preen with me?

Yes I would. As long as there are no paparazzi around.

Mmmmmm. This is so great!

I’d like to look after you and protect you

Let me take you under my wing…

GODDAMMIT. Pigeon photobomb!

THE END

BBWDS ON ABACO

All photos by RH at WWT Barnes

“A WHALE OF A YEAR”: 12 MONTHS FROM ROLLING HARBOUR ABACO

December 30, 2014 by Rolling Harbour

Whale Tailing, Bahamas (BMMRO)

“A WHALE OF A YEAR”: 12 MONTHS FROM ROLLING HARBOUR ABACO

JANUARY

Red-winged Blackbird, Abaco Backcountry

FEBRUARY

French Angelfish (juvenile), Bahamas

MARCH

Publication & Launch of “The Birds of Abaco”

book-launch-1 Author signing copies, with Bahamas birding gurus Tony White, Bruce Hallett & Woody Bracey

APRIL

20130106_Bahamas-Great Abaco_4846_Bahama Yellowthroat_Gerlinde Taurer copy

Bahama Yellowthroat, Abaco

MAY

Bananaquit & palm, Delphi, Abaco, Bahamas 7

Bananaquit, Delphi Club, Abaco, Bahamas

JUNE

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Abaco : WWT - RH 3

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Abaco – first recorded sighting

JULY

Octopus ©Melinda Riger @ Grand Bahama Scuba

Octopus, Bahamas

AUGUST

Bobwhite pair 2.Abaco Bahamas.Tom Sheley cr

Bobwhite pair, Abaco, Bahamas

SEPTEMBER

Black-necked Stilt, Abaco

OCTOBER

White-winged Dove, Abaco, Bahamas

NOVEMBER

Exploring Dan’s Cave, Abaco

DECEMBER

Piping Plover: a precious winter visitor to Man-o-War Cay, Abaco

All the best for 2015 to Rolling Harbour’s regular, occasional and random visitors

Credits: BMMRO, RH, Melinda Riger, Gerlinde Taurer, Tom Sheley, Alex Hughes, Brian Kakuk, Charmaine Albury

A NEW BIRD SPECIES FOR ABACO: BROWN THRASHER

November 26, 2014 by Rolling Harbour

A NEW BIRD SPECIES FOR ABACO: BROWN THRASHER

The third new bird species this year has been found on Abaco by bird authority Woody Bracey. After the excitement of 6 BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKS in June and a FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER in October comes the very recent sighting (with photos) of a BROWN THRASHER, hitherto unrecorded for Abaco. It was seen near Treasure Cay, at the site of a derelict restaurant.

The Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) belongs to the same family that includes mockingbirds and the catbird – Mimidae. Its normal range includes Florida where it is resident, so there’s only 200 miles of ocean to cross to reach Abaco. Easier still with a stop-over on Grand Bahama. However I’ve checked for other Bahamas sightings, and so far I have found one recorded for Grand Bahama, and one for Eleuthera. So this first sighting on Abaco is possibly only the third for the Bahamas, suggesting that the Thrasher is generally not a great adventurer.

Here are some images in case you happen to see a strange brown speckled bird…

ADULT AND JUVENILE

And here are Woody’s evidential images of his sighting. They may not be such close shots as the others but they are conclusive for the record.

BESIDES ONE BIRD VISITING ABACO, WHAT’S INTERESTING ABOUT THE THRASHER?

They are known to have more than 1000 types of song, one of the largest bird repertoires
They repeat phrases 2 or 3 times before moving on to another (somewhat like Mockingbirds)

Rick Wigh / Xeno Canto

They are omnivorous, eating insects, snails, worms etc; and balancing that with fruit, seeds and nuts
They are shy birds, but can be very aggressive when defending territory or a nest site
They used their slightly decurved beaks to thrash around under leaves and ground debris as they forage – hence the name

YES INDEED, BUT IS THERE ONE REALLY MEMORABLE FACT ABOUT THEM?

OK. Their necks are extremely flexible and they have more vertebrae than camels or (get this!) giraffes.

AUDUBON’S DEPICTION OF A ‘FERRUGINOUS THRUSH’, AS IT WAS THEN KNOWN

Credits: Judi Howle, Manjith Kainickara, Anon (wiki), Woody Bracey, Ken Thomas; Wunderphoto, Wiki, Xeno Canto

BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKS ON ABACO: MORE SIGHTINGS & IMAGES

June 13, 2014 by Rolling Harbour

BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKS ON ABACO: MORE SIGHTINGS & IMAGES

I have only just posted about this new duck species for Abaco HERE. Yesterday Liann Key Kaighin encountered a pair of these ducks at Marsh Harbour Airport. She took some great shots of them. They certainly look very appealing little birds. Her first report was “Thursday June 12, 2014, around 9am, this pair flew in together to hang out in the water puddle. They were very unafraid. At ZigZag Airways, MH Airfield, Abaco”. Since previous sightings have been of 6 birds together, either the original group has split up as they have travelled north over the week; or another pair have chosen to inaugurate the new airport with a new bird species by landing there. I asked Liann about the numbers and she says that this could be the case: “These two came in on the wing from south and I watched them for half an hour. No more showed up”.

There have been a few other reports from the same general area, and I expect there’ll be quite an archive of photos building up. Woody Bracey is the person to report sightings to. That way, he can build the picture of how many of these visitors there are, and how they are moving around the island. Contact him at edb64 [at] hotmail.com

CHART OF REPORTS OVER THE WEEK SINCE THE DUCKS WERE FIRST SPOTTED

Photo Credit: Liann; Map by cartographer Martin Brown drawn specially for “The Birds of Abaco”

A STRANGE COINCIDENCE

In my last BBWD post I added a photo from Wiki and saw it was actually taken at the WWT Wetland Centre, Barnes in West London UK. I am briefly back in London (quite close to Barnes), though without my camera. Any camera at all. Except on my phone. So today I paid a quick visit to see if the BBWDs were in residence. They were, and I took a few shots of them and various other species. Frankly the ones I took when the sun was behind the clouds are useless; the ones in the sun are OK. So here are a few. But they are NOT the Abaco ducks, just cousins. And I’ll definitely be going back at the end of the month, with a proper camera!

I made a couple of sound recordings but one is ruined by an emergency vehicle siren that started up; and the other by a low-flying aeroplane making its descent to Heathrow Airport. The Wetlands Centre is a rural oasis ingeniously built round huge disused gravel pits by the Thames; but it has the drawback of being right on the flight path… Not sure if they are usable, thought the whistles are clear!

NOTE EPONYMOUS BLACK BELLY…

I took a brief (20 secs of your time…) phone video of the pond with a number of different waterbirds in and around it. The BBWDs are in the foreground. The interaction between the species was quite amusing. The moorhen was clearly in charge of them all… You’ll hear a bit of whistling – more a feeble squeak, really (and an aeroplane passing overhead). You’ll see that when the moorhen starts its casual harassment, the underside of the wing of the startled duck is completely black.

BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKS: A NEW BIRD SPECIES FOR ABACO

June 11, 2014 by Rolling Harbour

BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKS: A NEW BIRD SPECIES FOR ABACO

In March 2014 “The Delphi Club Guide to the Birds of Abaco” was published. It contains a checklist of every species recorded for Abaco that was accurate on the day of publication. So it was with a mix of excitement (new species!) tinged slight disappointment (the book is already out of date by June!) that I heard reports of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks Dendrocygna autumnalis being seen on Abaco. Followed by photographs to prove it.

The first report came from Woody Bracey in his account of a day in the field on June 9th in which 40 bird species were seen. He concluded the report: “Most remarkable of these sighting were the 5 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. This species has been reported before on Andros and Grand Bahama but never on Abaco. 5 were seen clearly in flight with their bright white central upper wing patches, dark underbelly, red legs and bill and long neck. A Yellow-crowned Night Heron spooked 8 Parrots feeding in a Gumbo Limbo Tree when this small flock of whistling ducks flew by affording a good look coming, overhead and going. Unfortunately I did not get a photo even with camera in hand. They have bred in Cuba but not in the Bahamas”.

So, a clear sighting but no photographic evidence. Until the following morning, yesterday June 10 around breakfast time, when at the Delphi Club Lucy Mantle happened to notice some strange ducks right in front of the Club. She grabbed a camera (possibly her phone?) and took a couple of quick shots. Peter Mantle checked Hallett, the go-to field guide, and saw at once that these were not West Indian Whistling Ducks (a species found on Abaco). So he put the word about, adding Lucy’s photos. Hers are almost certainly the first ever images of this species on Abaco.

STOP PRESS 12 JUNE I’ve had an email from Woody Bracey saying that he first photos documenting the Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were in fact taken Saturday June 7 on the Schooner Bay Dock by Glen Kelly. These photos are the ‘official documenting ones’ so I’m afraid that as things stand, Lucy moves to silver medal position and Tara to bronze…

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Delphi Club (Lucy Mantle) – ~~first~~ second species photo on Abaco?

Tony White, compiler of the checklist, responded to Peter: “Congratulations! you are the first to document a new species on Abaco since the book and checklist came out. These are Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, casual visitors to the Bahamas. They are increasing rapidly in Florida and I think we can expect them to be breeding somewhere in the Bahamas in the next few years.There are two subspecies and they both have been seen in the Bahamas. I’ll let Woody try to figure out which these are. Thanks for being so alert and getting these photos”.

The birds must have moved gradually north during the day, and further sightings were reported online. Tara Lavallee took some photos of them in her yard a few miles north of Delphi and posted them on FB asking “Six of these beauties visiting my yard. Anyone know what they are?” 12-year old birder Chris Johnson was very quick off the mark with the correct ID as Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. Hector Morales had seen them flying over his house the previous day. I’ve seen no further reports, but I am really pleased to be able to feature Tara’s photos, which she kindly emailed earlier today. Her bird photography credentials are high – her wonderful photo of a Bahama Woodstar feeding from a flower takes up the whole of p43 of “The Birds of Abaco”.

This is what they sound like. If you hear this call – grab a camera!

Paul Marvin @ Xeno-Canto

The present range of this species is shown in the Cornell Lab graphic below.It seems that the range is starting to expand, and that these ones are most likely to be visitors from Florida. It remains to be seen whether these ducks will remain vagrant curiosities, or settle down and begin to breed on Abaco. There are plenty of them, and they are IUCN listed as ‘Least Concern’. It’s a gregarious species, so perhaps that increases the chances of having a breeding population on Abaco.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Range Map

I’ll end with two excellent photos of the BBWD, taken by people who plainly had plenty of time to sort out and set up their equipment at their own pace, and not as the result of a totally unexpected and random arrival in the front yard!

Black-bellied Whistling Duck – Alan D. Wilson, http://www.naturespicsonline.com (Wiki)

Black-bellied Whistling Duck, London Wetland Centre, UK by Diliff (Wiki)

Photo credits as shown, with special thanks to Lucy Mantle for her exclusive ‘first’; to Tara for use permission and sending her originals; and an honourable mention to Chris Thomas for his powers of ID!