WHERE’S THE CATCH? A REDDISH EGRET FISHING

June 4, 2018 by Rolling Harbour

WHERE’S THE CATCH? A REDDISH EGRET FISHING

The narrowest point on Abaco is just north of Crossing Rocks. The 120-mile long highway that splits the Island down the middle passes over a narrow strip of land. On the west side, there are mangrove swamps, an inlet of sea, and a small jetty used by bonefishers to reach the productive waters further out. On the east side? Well, there’s more mangrove swamp, giving way to thick jungly coppice before reching the top end of Crossing Rocks beach – and not much else. Except for a long thin brackish pond by the road, that is.

If you are interested in birds – maybe on your way to the pond at Gilpin Point for Bahama Duck and waders, or returning from a Bahama mockingbird hunt in the National Park – it’s worth pulling over at the pond. Or preferably on the other side of the road so you can approach it stealthily. There’s plenty of roadside cover for birder discretion. Chances are, you’ll encounter one or more of the several heron or egret species found on Abaco – and that they’ll be fishing.

You can see how clear the water can be. It’s no wonder that this reddish egret has ‘hunched up’ to get that cruel beak closer to the surface to stab down on a small silver snack. In the short time we watched, he had no success (hence ‘Where’s the Catch?’ – there was none). But I’ve seen reddish egrets including the white morph successfully snacking at the pond; and a tricolored heron. A couple of years ago we had a great scoop in late March – a male reddish egret fishing in his wonderful breeding colours. Compare the ‘routine’ plumage of the bird above with this gorgeous creature.

And to show I am not making up the fishing part, a shot of this bird actually making a catch…

All photos: Keith Salvesen

A RARE SPOONBILL VISITS GILPIN POND, ABACO

October 7, 2015 by Rolling Harbour

A RARE SPOONBILL VISITS GILPIN POND, ABACO

In past posts I have mentioned what an excellent birding place Gilpin Point has become. There’s the large pond; and right beside it, dunes, the other side of which is a fine secluded beach and the ocean. The place is a magnet for birds of all shapes and sizes, from brown pelicans down to the tiny endemic Bahama woodstars. There are water birds, wading birds, shorebirds and coppice birds. It has become a place where Abaco parrots regularly congregate. You can reach the Gilpin FB page HERE.

A while back, there was a rare visitor, a Flamingo that stayed a few months then disappeared again. It was in some ways a sad reminder of past flamingo glory days, when they were commonly found on Abaco. Now they are confined to Inagua apart from the occasional vagrant. For more on the the topic, with wonderful photos by Melissa Maura of the breeding season on Inagua, click HERE. Another rare vagrant – formerly quite plentiful on Abaco – was recently found at Gilpin by Keith Kemp, who skilfully managed to get photos of it from some distance away: a Roseate Spoonbill.

I have featured spoonbills before in a post IN THE PINK, but the photos were taken on New Providence by Woody Bracey. I had no Abaco spoonbill photos. To be fair, we did once see one while we were bonefishing far out on the Marls. It was on the edge of the mangroves a good distance away, and the pale pink tinge caught my eye. My photo with an iPhone 4 (the one with the risibly cr@p camera – remember?) was so utterly pathetic that I dumped it (the photo, I mean, but the phone soon followed). But we knew what we had seen, and that was enough.

STOP PRESS 1 I should add that a friended visited the pond after the side-effects of Hurricane Joaquin had receded, and the spoonbill had gone. So the spoonbill alone would not make the journey worthwhile!

STOP PRESS 2 A check of eBird reveals that a handful of spoonbills have been reported in Northern Bahamas this year, about 6 in all. Almost none before that. I have the impression that birding intensity in The Bahamas, coupled with the ease of uploading reports to eBird, will increasingly make a difference to the incidence of sightings of uncommon and rare species, cf the recent WHIMBRELS of Grand Bahama.

GILPIN POINT LOCATION

Gilpin Point is just south of Crossing Rocks. The brackish pond – sometimes an alarming reddish colour that I assume is algal – is just inland from the shoreline and provides a wonderful haven for birds. It’s a long mile from the highway. There is no vehicle nor even human traffic apart from occasional birders and walkers. Please note that the drive and the property are private. However Perry Maillis is always welcoming to tidy birders who (as I have written elsewhere) bring only enthusiasm and take only photographs (though a picnic on the beach is worth considering. And maybe a swim…).

Helpful location maps

WHAT SPECIES MIGHT BE FOUND AT GILPIN?

A brief list includes regular visits from parrots. It’s the only place we have found a furtive little sora skulking in the reedy margins. It’s a reliable spot for herons and egrets of every kind, white-cheeked (Bahama) pintails by the score, black-necked stilts and lesser yellowlegs. Occasionally a northern pintail, ruddy duck or merganser. Turkey vultures. Limpkins. We’ve seen belted kingfishers, Bahama woodstars, cuban emeralds, american kestrels, Bahama swallows, doves, pigeons, western spindalis and many more coppice birds besides. One flamingo. One spoonbill. Pelicans have been seen on the rocks on the beach. Shorebirds include turnstones, sundry plovers & sandpipers, and oystercatchers. You may well see tropicbirds and frigate birds off-shore, and assorted gulls and terns. I can’t personally be more species-specific because I have never ‘shorebirded’ properly there, but I have noticed an impressive mix…

When we launched THE BIRDS OF ABACO at the Delphi Club, we were delighted that Pericles was able to come to the party. He took a few photos and I’m sure he won’t mind my including a small gallery to end with, featuring a couple of the Gilpin entries in his signed copy.

Bahamas birding nobility: Tony White with Caroline Stahala; Woody Bracey & Bruce Hallett

Credits: Keith Kemp for the great spoonbill photos; Perry for the Delphi photos

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

‘BONEFISH CHASE’: A SKIFF RIDE FROM CROSSING ROCKS

May 22, 2015 by Rolling Harbour

‘BONEFISH CHASE’: A SKIFF RIDE FROM CROSSING ROCKS

Does any ‘fun’ (toxic concept) ever happen around Rolling Harbour? All that detailed business about our little winged friends. All that earnest historic stuff with, like, maps and things. All those fish that are basically just… fish. Ditto the flowers. The prints of Whales (geddit?). But does Rolling Harbour ever truly come alive?

Well here’s a little brief entertainment in a skiff setting off from Crossing Rocks for a day of bonefishing, throwing some shapes along the twisty channel between the jetty and the flats beyond. Anyone who has enjoyed the sometimes exhilarating / sometimes painful (in choppy waves) skiff trips on Abaco to get out to the bonefish grounds will relate to this. You get 2 versions: high definition, with some pretentious music to match the mood. According to me.

Here’s a smaller version with a more familiar theme (also to be found on the Sidebar of this blog) for those who are allergic to pretentious music… it’s more ‘fun’, in fact.

Dreadits: all stuff, RH; music by Preston Reed and Commander Bond

“HANDSOME BIRD, BLUE EYES, LIKES FISH, SEEKS MATE…” REDDISH EGRET ON ABACO

April 8, 2015 by Rolling Harbour

“HANDSOME BIRD, BLUE EYES, LIKES FISH, SEEKS MATE…”

REDDISH EGRET ON ABACO

Reddish Egrets come in two colour schemes, reddish and pure white; and both are available on Abaco. ID hint – among the 10 heron and egret species found on Abaco, these are the only ones with a black tip to the beak. In March, these birds are thinking about fish. They do that every day of the year. But they are also thinking about finding a mate. The colouring of the males intensifies, and in particular the greyish-pinkish base of its beak turns a bright ‘hi babe, how are you doing’ pink. The male RE in this post is resplendent in his breeding plumage. We encountered this RE at Crossing Rocks in the brackish pond area on the opposite side of the highway to the bonefishing jetty. This in an excellent place to check out for herons, egrets and other wading birds such as yellowlegs. The island is at its thinnest point here, with the hard dry land over which the highway passes just a few yards across. On either side it’s basically water, mangroves, and other wetland plants. The RE noticed us at the edge of the pond and put on a little display. This is unlikely to have been a ‘come on’… Conceivably, he wanted to show off his distinctive ‘bad hair day’ styling. More plausibly, he was probably put out by having his fishing disturbed. He wasn’t diverted for long, though, and soon got back to business hunting fish. Sometimes he would stand stock still, poised for a rapid strike into the water with that lethal beak. This is the RE’s classic fishing method, the static hunt. However, there are times for being proactive and chasing down the prey. While bonefishing out on the Marls, I have seen this done from a distance, especially by the white RE morphs. They splash about near the edge of the mangroves, moving back and forth, lifting their long legs high in the vegetation as they hunt down their small silver snacks. Our Crossing Rocks RE was suddenly on a mission… We had to tear ourselves away from this performance, grateful to have seen it at such close quarters. However we went back a few days later while on a birding trip to the pond at Gilpin Point. But that’s a post for another time…

REDDISH EGRETS (WHITE MORPH)

All photos RH; cheers to Woody Bracey for stopping the truck here during our warbler expedition!

‘BURNS NIGHT’ – CONTAINING FOREST FIRES ON ABACO

June 6, 2014 by Rolling Harbour

‘BURNS NIGHT’ – CONTAINING FOREST FIRES ON ABACO

Every year Abaco has a number of forest fires, especially in the south of the island. The timing is variable – sometimes it’s March, right now it’s… right now. The fires are good in some respects for the forest, and regeneration is remarkably rapid. Links to previous posts on the topic are shown below. Many, or most, are (allegedly) started by hunters clearing scrub and undergrowth so that the dogs can chase the hogs. The rights and the wrongs are debatable, but what is beyond doubt is that a change of wind can cause fires set in forest on the unpopulated west side to jump the Highway across to the east side. There are farms and settlements there, and these are regularly put in peril. The Delphi Club has had a couple of close calls when the thick coppice between the house and the pinewoods failed adequately to deter the flames (in theory, it should!); Crossing Rocks had some nights last year when the whole community united to protect the settlement. Now it’s the turn of Bahama Palm Shores, where the fire service and volunteers have spent the last few days – and nights – trying to prevent fire reaching the houses. So far, so good. Abaco is a wonderful place, but the fires can be powerful and scary, spreading rapidly in the wind.

Luc Lavallee is one of the volunteers, and hasn’t had a lot of sleep recently. He has posted regular bulletins during the night on the BPS Facebook Page to keep everyone informed of the situation and the work in progress – for example creating firebreaks. Here are some of his photos over the last few days; the aerial shot is by photographer David Rees, who takes wonderful ‘drone’ photos.

This photo captures the fire raging in the middle of the night, making an almost abstract image

FOREST FIRES – BURNING SENSATIONS

FOREST FIRES – TOO CLOSE TO DELPHI

FOREST FIRES – REGENERATION

INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY AT SAWMILL SINK REVEALED BY FIRE

Finally, here is a shot I took last year from the Delphi balcony looking west to the sunset. The fires had burned for several days, and the suns rays in daytime had to penetrate clouds of smoke and ash. The effect was striking.

Credits: Header & last pic- RH at Delphi 2013; aerial shot – David Rees; other images – Luc Lavallee

ENJOYING THE POOL: YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERONS ON ABACO

October 26, 2013 by Rolling Harbour

ENJOYING THE POOL: YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERONS ON ABACO

The Yellow-crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violate) is a smallish heron, and avian counterpart to the Black-crowned Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax). The clue to the main difference between them is in the names. The juveniles of both species are similar. The ‘night’ part of the name refers to their preferred time for feeding. They have broad appetites that include crustaceans, molluscs, frogs, fish, and aquatic insects.

At Delphi, these lovely birds are regularly seen in gardens round the pool; drinking from the pool; standing hopefully waiting for prey to show itself in the water; and occasionally getting a bit confused by the whole thing (see below).

Looking right

Looking wet and ruffled

Looking hungry Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Abaco 9

Looking contented

The YNCH will stand motionless, waiting to ambush its prey. So a human, wandering to the pool laden with towel, book, iWotsit™, sun stuff and a cool Kalik, may easily not spot the bird at first. It will have seen you first, anyway, and moved away quietly if it isn’t too sure about you. However, they can be surprisingly tame if not startled. You may settle down, and suddenly sense that you are being watched from the other side of the pool…

Peter Mantle managed to capture a wonderful moment when a juvenile YCNH made a bit of a mistake early one morning while the pool cover was still in place… It looks embarrassed and slightly apologetic.

Usually, these birds are to be found in marshy areas, or by brackish ponds where (unlike the pool) there is a ready supply of food for them. A few miles south of Delphi is an excellent pond for birding near Crossing Rocks, where there is always the chance of seeing an unusual or rare species. Herons and egrets often use the landing stage as a vantage point for scoping out the feeding opportunities. The next pictures are of a juvenile (?teenage) YCNH doing just that – and fortunately, the pond does not have a cover to cause discombobulation of the species.

Black-crowned night heron for comparison 220px-Black-crowned_Night_Heron_RWD7

Photo credits: All RH except the across-pool-starer (David Rainford); the confused juvenile on the pool cover (Peter Mantle); and the last 2 comparatives (Wiki)

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK: ROCK POOLS ON ABACO

September 29, 2013 by Rolling Harbour

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK: ROCK POOLS ON ABACO

Here’s a promising-looking rocky outcrop a short distance south of Crossing Rocks. The action of the sea over centuries has eroded and pitted it – ideal for the formation of pools in which marine life can thrive.

Time to clamber up to see if the theory holds good… the prospects are encouraging. There are certainly plenty of sea urchins here.

Let’s zoom in on the nearest pool. There are clearly 2 different-coloured sea urchins here, but I’m not sure if that’s an age thing or a species thing.

Apart from the sea urchins, there are some shells and other things that need a closer look…

At the bottom of these photos, you can see that a zebra-marked nerite is quite happy to share a hole with an urchin. There are two brownish accretions on or in the rock. My tentative suggestion is that these are the shells of some sort of worm, perhaps petaloconchus.

UPDATE Rick Guest helpfully comments “Yes, it’s quite the invertebrate hotel mostly due to the urchin’s talent for scouring out protective “rooms”. Of interest is the Magpie shell (Livona pica) in frames 4 and 5. The rather ubiquitous Livona’s very thick shell, (Up to 5″ diameter) and ability to withstand most attempts at removal by predators, including Homo sapiens, assures their continued presence on littoral shore lines. They are edible, but not particular tasty to my palet. All these “Condo” residents “party” at night and will even leave the rock in search of food and perhaps romance, so a flash pic of the condo at night would be an interesting contrast to a daylight shot”.

In a snug little cave (top right) just above the water-level of the pool is a primitive-looking chiton, a species that has been around for millions of years. Below, there’s a clearer image of one from a different pool. These creatures always remind me of school projects on prehistoric trilobites.

The rough rocky surfaces close to the pool are covered in shells. The stripey nerites are small, the grey shells really are miniature. They are mostly littorines/ periwinkles and perhaps ceriths, I think.

Close-up views of nerites showing their distinctive markings and spirals

OUT FOR A DUCK: FINDING WHITE-CHEEKED (BAHAMA) PINTAILS ON ABACO

August 7, 2013 by Rolling Harbour

OUT FOR A DUCK: FINDING WHITE-CHEEKED (BAHAMA) PINTAILS ON ABACO

Hunt them. Then when you have found them, shoot them. But only with a camera, obviously… These attractive dabbling ducks are far too pretty for anything more controversial than watching and enjoying. Many moons ago I posted about them HERE, but I’m a bit cannier since then, and even have my own photos now…

NOTE Within hours of posting this, I was alerted (thanks, Tony W) to the inadvisability of (a) using the word ‘hunting’ in the title; and (b) the opening 2 sentences. (a) has been changed to the neutrally vanilla ‘finding’. (b) remain but with this warning: “It is illegal to shoot white-cheeked pintail in the Bahamas“. While I don’t imagine the readers of a blog like this will already have rushed to the gun cabinet, packed up a cartridge bag, added a couple of Kaliks and headed off with extreme pintail population decrease in mind, I expect a g**gle search for ‘hunting & shooting sweet small ducks’ could indeed provoke the odd (to very odd) person to assume it is open season for pintails. It isn’t. It never is.

The white-cheeked pintail Anas Bahamensis is also known as the Bahama Pintail. It is a gregarious species, often found in large numbers on lakes and ponds. An excellent place to see them on Abaco is at the pond by Hole 11 at Treasure Cay golf course. Don’t all rush at once – and if you do follow up the hint, check in at the Clubhouse to get permission – there may be a competition in progress… You’ll see many other waterbird species there, and I will do a follow-up post about them. Do mind your head – if someone yells ‘fore’ they will probably not be counting duck species.

The male and female of the species are very similar. However, in the image below there’s one bird that stands out from the others… and I don’t mean the American Coot. Near the bottom right is a LEUCISTIC variant of the Bahama Duck, a genetic condition similar to albinism.

Here is a close-up of the same duck on dry land. These variants are known as Silver Bahama Pintails. They are worth more than the standard version. You can see some good comparative pictures and find out more at MALLARD LANE FARMS

Here is a more extreme wiki-example of a silver bahama pintail

Another excellent place for pintails is in the Crossing Rocks area of South Abaco. Strictly, it is on private land. And legally too, for that matter. So I won’t pinpoint these pintails publicly. There is a wonderful variety of waterbird life there. I have seen great egrets, little blue herons, yellow-crowned night herons, belted kingfishers and elegant BLACK-NECKED STILTS there, besides several duck species. I have also seen a sora there (twice), a small, furtive rail that skulks in the reeds and foliage at the edge of the water, profoundly hoping that you won’t notice it… If you are birding on Abaco from Delphi, ask Peter or Sandy for the location. Or else contact me. White-cheeked Pintail, Abaco 6

“On Reflection…”

“ROCK & ROLLING WAVES”: ROCK EROSION ON ABACO

April 5, 2013 by Rolling Harbour

“ROCK & ROLLING WAVES”: ROCK EROSION ON ABACO

On 26th October 2012, the ‘roof’ of the geological feature at the southern tip of Abaco known for centuries as Hole-in-the-Wall was blasted apart by Hurricane Sandy. The combination of huge waves and powerful winds proved too much for a structure that had existed since the last ice age. I posted in detail about this event last year HERE so now I will concentrate on some geological aspects.

The photo below shows the Hole a year or so before its destruction. At the left-hand end of the bridge there is a paler area underneath where limestone rock had recently fallen into the sea, suggesting an underlying instability. At close quarters there were plenty of cracks in the apparently solid structure. (I’ve no idea why I didn’t straighten the image. Let’s say… Artistic Perspective)

This photo was taken a few days after the collapse, the first to be published of the new view. The clean white rock at either end of the ex-bridge is clearly visible. The section on the left became a new islet at the southern extremity Abaco, separated from the mainland for the first time in history. I proposed various names for it (not all serious) – Sandy Cay (or Isle) was the clear, indeed obvious, winner…

Hole-in-the-Wall Abaco- the new gap Nov 2012

This close-up of the south side of the bridge shows the detail of the rock fragmentation. Tara’s photographs are (as far as I know) the very first of the new gap and of Abaco’s new islet, predating John Haestad’s by a day.

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

We recently went to a beach near Crossing Rocks that we had never explored before (plenty of interest there for later posts). We were struck by the fragmented and pitted nature of the limestone rocks on the shoreline. We noticed some pale exposed rock surfaces, similar to those at Hole-in-the-Wall. We watched the incoming waves scouring and undercutting the rocks, leaving overhangs (see video below). Erosion is increased by the double action of the waves. The immediate area hinted that there may even have been a very small Hole at one time. On the day we were there, the sea was gentle. It’s easy to imagine how the hugely destructive force of the wind and crashing waves resulting from hurricanes such as Sandy can eventually shatter solid rock that has been gradually eroded and destabilised over centuries by wave action.

Photo credits as shown / RH. You have Mrs RH to thank for a shorter (50 secs) video than the one I originally made (75 secs). Now I’ve redone the thing, I agree – one wave does look very like the next…

ADDENDUM Just remembered that I took an aerial photo of HitW from the plane the other day. It’s a phone photo through BahamasAir window glass, and I’ve had to tweak it a bit. It shows the relevant area…all the blurry dark stuff is part the pine forest of the National Park

ADDENDUM 2 In response to a comment about the power of hurricanes, here is an image I have posted previously of a large rock some way out from the Delphi beach. Before Hurricane Irene in 2011, it was a solid rectangular slab. This is what it was like after Irene had moved on northwards

ABACO LAND CRAB vs RICKY JOHNSON: ROUND 2 (VIDEO)

August 15, 2012 by Rolling Harbour

A few weeks back, I wrote a post called ‘LAND CRABS: HOW TO STALK & WRESTLE THEM‘. It features stills of famed Abaco nature guide Ricky Johnson in a face-off with a land crab at Bahama Palm Shores. I noted that the large, heavy claw of these crabs is in fact the less worrying one, being used to intimidate and to grip. It’s the small claw that you need to watch out for…

I have now sorted out an annoying camera card v Mac format incompatibility problem (well, $30 of software has dealt with it. Dear Apple, please make friends with the Panasonic Lumix asap) and to my great surprise I find that I took a video of Ricky and a land crab that perfectly demonstrates the claw point. He did mess with the large claw, but he wisely left the small one well alone…

The footage starts with Ricky’s trademark laugh to get you into the right spirit (it’s impossible to go on one of his Eco-Tours and not have fun while learning). The volume of the commentary drops off a bit halfway through. I haven’t found the gizmo for changing the audio during the video: it’s all or nothing, I’m afraid

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/47535538]

If you want to find out more about Land Crabs on Abaco – including Hermit Crabs – you won’t do much better than to check out the comprehensive account by ‘Bob H’ on Yahoo! Answers ABACO LAND CRAB FACTS

Ricky the guide? Here he is in full-on enthusiastic guide mode, ‘pishing’ for male Bahama Woodstar hummingbirds in low open coppice near Crossing Rocks. He has just had a responding call and is keeping us quiet while he locates the bird

ADDENDUM Tragically in the second half of 2012 Ricky developed a horrible disease that spread rapidly and unstoppably. Within 6 months he was dead, not yet 50. His sad passing, and the cruel manner of it, made me wonder if I should take down some of the many posts in which he features. But he would not have wanted that, so I have left them unaltered.

MUSICAL DIGRESSION

Those who braved the video may have wondered about the guitar chord at the beginning and end. A few – of a certain age – may have thought it familiar. One or two may have recognised it as the opening chord of A Hard Day’s Night (Beatles 1964). It is one of the most controversial and interesting chords in modern music, with more theories about its exact construction than you can shake a Rickenbacker 12-string at (as played by George Harrison). There have been more than a dozen claimed ‘correct’ chord identities. According to Harrison, it is in fact simply an ‘F add 9’ chord augmented by Macca’s crucial 5th fret, A string ‘D’ on his Hofner bass. Trouble is, there are half a dozen ways to play ‘F add 9’ at various points on the neck, and most of them don’t sound quite right… But that’s enough about that. Anyone who wants to follow this musical meander further – much further – should click HERE===>>> THAT CHORD