S a icds in hamian Archip I ,nd ad' c nt t rs: Tr ,nsi nt, Xx,int rin ndR,r N stin S ci s Turks and Caicos Islands. The Bahama nor and Loftin (1985) and Budcn(1987). The AnthonyW. White Islands lie as close as 92 km (50 nautical statusof nonbreedingseabirds, on the other miles)to theFlorida coast, and so, as a prac- hand,has never been reported comprehen- 6540Walhonding Road tical matter,all recordsca. 46 km or more east sivelyand is sometimesdescribed in general of Florida between Palm Beachand Miami are termssuch as "reportedand to be expected Bethesda,Maryland 20816 consideredtobe in Bahamianwaters. To pre- occasionally"(Brudenell-Brucc 1975) or "at servethe relative accuracy of thereports, dis- seaamong the Bahamas"(Bond 1993). The (email:
[email protected]) tances arc citedas givenin sources,rather presentpaper compiles published and unpub- than converted into metric units. lishedreports of transientand wintering Ihc birdlife of the BahamaIslands has been seabirdsin theregion in orderto provide a bet- ABSTRACT studiedsporadical13z Landbirds have received ter understandingof theirstatus; several rare The statusof mostnonbreeding seabirds in themost attention recently, owing to increased breedingspecies are included herein as well. the BahamianArchipelago and its adjacent interestin winteringNeotropical migrants. Manyreports are foundin relativelyobscure watersis poorly understood.Much of the Breedingseabirds have also been fairly well publicationsor in personalarchives, which availableinformation isbased on sight reports documented.Sprunt (1984) provides a com- hasmeant that evenmodern-day observers unsupportedby specimensor photographic prehensivereport of breedingseabirds; Lee lackcontextual information on seabirdsthey evidence.This paper reviews published and andClark (1994) cover seabirds nesting in the seein theregion.