BUNTING(S) FOR AN ABACO CHRISTMAS: AN OLD TRADITION

December 19, 2018 by Rolling Harbour

BUNTING(S) FOR AN ABACO CHRISTMAS: AN OLD TRADITION

**BUNTING /ˈbʌntɪŋ/ (Noun)**

[A Christmas gift of a puntastic avian / festive double-meaning]

A small New World songbird of the cardinal subfamily
Flags and other colourful festive decorations

PAINTED BUNTING Painted Bunting, Abaco (Erik Gauger)

One of the Winterval traditions at Rolling Harbour HQ – that haven of unreliable natural science powered by lazy insouciance and characterised by a regrettably unserious approach – is to break the rule that (mostly) forbids reposting old material without good reason (which there occasionally is). This means marking the imminence of Christmas with bunting. And indeed buntings, those lovely birds beautifully painted by nature. Nothing says ‘Happy Christmas’ better than a flock of PABU!

It’s hard to imagine a more Christmassy little bird than the Painted Bunting. Bright blue, red, green primary colours straight from a child’s paintbox make for a spectacular bird to grace the festive season. These are migratory winter residents, and the first reports of the bright and beautiful males on Abaco started to appear in late October. Some will stay around until March.

A female & a male PABU feeding together, and a male with a pair of black-faced grassquits Painted Buntings (M & F), Delphi, Abaco (Keith Salvesen) Painted Bunting, Delphi, Abaco (Sandy Walker)

The two wonderful photos below are by Tom Sheley, a major photographic contributor to THE BIRDS OF ABACO. They were actually taken in Texas, but I include them because of Tom’s strong connection with the birdlife of Abaco; and also because they are fantastic shots…
Painted Bunting reflection, Laguna Seca.South TX Tom Sheley Painted Bunting dip reflection LR.Laguna Seca.South TX. 4.16.13.Tom Sheley

This is my opportunity to wish a very Happy Christmas or [insert preferred seasonal appellation] to everyone who visits Rolling Harbour and especially those who, having done so, return for more! There could of course be anything from 600,000+ individuals who called in once, were put-off and never came back… to one sadly crazed person who has been pressing the ‘read’ button 600,000+ times over the last few years. If the former, thanks for trying, sorry to disappoint. If the latter, keep up the good work, buddy.

Credits: Tom Sheley (1, 7, 8), Erik Gauger (2), Tara Lavallee (3, 4), Keith Salvesen (5); Sandy Walker (6); Birdorable Cartoons

BEHOLD! SOME BUNTING(S) FOR AN ABACO CHRISTMAS

December 20, 2017 by Rolling Harbour

BEHOLD! SOME BUNTING(S) FOR AN ABACO CHRISTMAS

BUNTING /ˈbʌntɪŋ/ (Noun)

[A Christmas gift of a puntastic avian / festive double-meaning]

A small New World songbird of the cardinal subfamily
Flags and other colourful festive decorations

PAINTED BUNTING Painted Bunting, Abaco (Erik Gauger)
Painted Bunting, Abaco (Tara Lavallee)

It’s hard to imagine a more Christmasy little bird than the Painted Bunting. Bright blue, red, green primary colours straight from a child’s paintbox make for a spectacular bird to grace the festive season. These are migratory winter residents, and the first reports of the bright and beautiful males on Abaco started to appear in November. Some will stay around until March.

Feeders at the Delphi Club. The first image shows a female & a male PABU feeding together. The second is a male with a pair of black-faced grassquits Painted Buntings (M & F), Delphi, Abaco (Keith Salvesen) Painted Bunting, Delphi, Abaco (Sandy Walker)

The two wonderful photos below are by Tom Sheley, a major photographic contributor to THE BIRDS OF ABACO. They were taken in Texas, not on Abaco, but I include them because of Tom’s strong connection with the birdlife of Abaco; and because on any view they are fantastic shots…
Painted Bunting reflection LR.Laguna Seca.South TX. 4.16.13.Tom Sheley Painted Bunting dip reflection LR.Laguna Seca.South TX. 4.16.13.Tom Sheley

This is probably my last post until after Christmas, what with one thing and another, so it’s a good opportunity to wish a very Happy Christmas or [insert preferred seasonal appellation] to everyone who visits Rolling Harbour and especially those who, having done so, return for more!

Credits: Tom Sheley (1, 7, 8), Erik Gauger (2), Tara Lavallee (3, 4), Keith Salvesen (5) Sandy Walker (6); Birdorable Cartoons

BRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL BUNTING FOR AN ABACO CHRISTMAS

December 16, 2015 by Rolling Harbour

BRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL BUNTING FOR AN ABACO CHRISTMAS

BUNTING /ˈbʌntɪŋ/ (Noun)

[Yay! A Christmas gift of a puntastic avian / festive double-meaning]

A small New World songbird of the cardinal subfamily
Flags and other colourful festive decorations

PAINTED BUNTING Painted Bunting, Abaco (Erik Gauger)
Painted Bunting, Abaco (Tara Lavallee)

It’s hard to imagine a more Christmasy little bird than the Painted Bunting. Bright blue, red, green primary colours make for a spectacular small bird to grace any garden or feeder. There are other bunting species and close relations – e.g. grosbeaks – on Abaco. A common factor is the little fat beak and voracious seed greed…

Feeders at the Delphi Club. The first is of a female & a male PABU feeding together (RH). The second is a male PABU with a pair of black-faced grassquits (Sandy Walker) Painted Buntings (M & F), Delphi, Abaco (Keith Salvesen) Painted Bunting, Delphi, Abaco (Sandy Walker)

The next two wonderful photos are by Tom Sheley, a major photographic contributor to THE BIRDS OF ABACO. They were taken in Texas, not on Abaco, but I include them because of Tom’s strong connection with the birdlife of Abaco; and because on any view they are fantastic shots…
Painted Bunting reflection LR.Laguna Seca.South TX. 4.16.13.Tom Sheley Painted Bunting dip reflection LR.Laguna Seca.South TX. 4.16.13.Tom Sheley

Credits: Tom Sheley (1, 7, 8), Erik Gauger (2), Tara Lavallee (3, 4), Keith Salvesen (5) Sandy Walker (6); Birdorable Cartoons

REMARKABLE FEET: SNOWY EGRETS ON ABACO

February 16, 2014 by Rolling Harbour

REMARKABLE FEET: SNOWY EGRETS ON ABACO

SNOWY EGRETS (Egretta thula) are small white herons of the Americas, similar to the European Little Egret. The first thing you may notice about them is that they have remarkable bright yellow feet. This distinguishes these birds from all other egret and heron species.

Young Snowy Egrets often have yellow markings higher up on their legs.

The feet are so bright that they are often visible underwater.

Snowy Egrets eat fish, crustaceans, insects and small reptiles. They have 3 main foraging tactics: (1) Standing still in or on the edge of water to ambush prey (2) Stalking prey in shallow water, often running or shuffling their feet to flush out prey (3) “Dip-fishing” by flying low over water.

In breeding season, Snowy Egrets grow beautiful plumes – “bridal plumage”. At one time these were in great demand as adornments for women’s hats (as with flamingos, parrots and many other decorative species). This reduced the population of the birds to dangerously low levels, from which they have now recovered. Their IUCN rating is now ‘Least Concern’.

Contemplating the next meal… one of Sandy Walker’s excellent Abaco photos taken this winterPhoto Credits: Sandy Walker, Woody Bracey, Tony Hepburn, Wiki

ALL THINGS BRIGHT… CHEERFUL GARDEN BIRDS AT DELPHI, ABACO

February 5, 2014 by Rolling Harbour

ALL THINGS BRIGHT… CHEERFUL GARDEN BIRDS AT DELPHI, ABACO

It’s not necessary to prowl around the coppice or lurk in the pine forest to see beautiful birds. They are on the doorstep, sometimes literally. Especially if there are full seed feeders and hummingbird feeders filled with sugar water for the Cuban Emeralds, Bahama Woodstars and other birds with pointy beaks (Bananaquits, for example). Here are are a few from the gardens immediately around the Delphi Club.

PAINTED BUNTINGS (f & m)

PAINTED BUNTING (m) WITH BLACK-FACED GRASSQUITS (m & f)

PAINTED BUNTING (f)

WESTERN SPINDALIS (m)

THICK-BILLED VIREO (m)

This is a TBV recording made with my iPhone.

For details how to record birds (or indeed animals. Or people) with a smart phone and embed the results as an mp3, CLICK HERE

CUBAN EMERALD HUMMINGBIRD (m)

A PAIR OF CAPE MAY WARBLERS

These little birds are autumn / winter visitors, though I have seen one at Delphi in June – it must have like it there and decided to stay on. Strangely, though originally named for one found on Cape May in the c19, there wasn’t another one recorded there for another 100 years…

ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK (m)

INDIGO BUNTING (m)

BANANAQUIT (m)

THE DELPHI CLUB, ABACOCredits: Mainly Sandy Walker; a couple from Peter Mantle; DCB by RH

ABACO: A SANDY ISLAND (SANDY BEACHES, A SANDY POINT & A SANDY WALKER)

January 25, 2014 by Rolling Harbour

ABACO: A SANDY ISLAND (SANDY BEACHES, A SANDY POINT AND A SANDY WALKER)

This post features some great Abaco bird photos taken by Sandy Walker, a man familiar to anyone connected with the Delphi Club in any capacity at all, and well-known far and wide from Marsh Harbour to Ireland. Possibly notorious in some places… Sandy doesn’t talk about his photography much, though he has plenty to say on most topics. Here are a few of his photos taken in the last 6 months or so, and deserving a wider audience. The header image, from the Delphi garden, shows a Bananaquit in characteristic feeding mode.

CUBAN PEWEES

A great picture of feeding time, with the huge chick already seeming to have outgrown the parent – apart from its rather stumpy tail

CLAPPER RAIL

These shy birds are reclusive by nature and relatively hard to photograph. They tend to lurk in the undergrowth or half-hidden on water margins. If they are caught in the open, they tend to run in a somewhat cartoonish sort of way. This one was having a good dig in the mud for food.

WILLET

Large birds of the shoreline and mangrove swamps, and classed with sandpipers. In flight, they have eye-catching wing stripes that Sandy has captured with a bit of camera sharp-shooting. You can see more Willets HERE

ANTILLEAN NIGHTHAWK

I was with Sandy when he took this photo during an amazing early evening feeding display of these birds. A hundred or more were swooping and jinking, making the most of an evening fly hatch. Sometimes they flew very close to our heads, make a whirring sound as they passed. Their speed and jagging flight made them very hard to take. I hardly got one in my viewfinder at all, but Sandy is an excellent shot of a different sort, so I guess aiming isn’t a problem for him…

SNOWY EGRET

I love these handsome birds, distinguishable from all other white herons and egrets (in some cases as white morphs) by their astonishing bright yellow feet. These are so vivid that they are often clearly visible when a snowy egret is standing in the water. This one was taken by the jetty at a local pond, a wonderful and secluded place to see water birds of many varieties, including rarities.