BAHAMAS/TURKS & CAICOS BIRD REPORT SPRING 2013 This report is dedicated to the memory of Tony Hepburn – beloved husband and father, invaluable Bahamian attorney, and an avid and skilled bird watcher and photographer. He will be sorely missed. The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands each added a new species to its list this spring – Scaly-naped Pigeon for the Bahamas and House Sparrow for the TCI. A count of 25+ Kirtland’s Warblers on San Salvador was unexpected and remarkable. WATERFOWL TO FALCONS The Bird Club of New Providence (BCNP) found a West Indian Whistling-Duck near Grey’s Pt., Acklins I. 27 May. Lingering ducks in the Bahamas included a Northern Pintail at Treasure Cay G.C., Abaco 21 May (EB) and a Red-breasted Merganser at Maillis Farm, Adelaide, New Providence 22 Apr (CW ph.). A dozen Northern Bobwhites near Nassau 12 Mar (EB, TH) were probably recent releases, but one at Bahama Palm Shores, Abaco 12 May (EB) was more likely an established resident. American Flamingos are common on Acklins I. – 35 on 28 Mar (DC) and 19 on 27 May (BCNP) – where they nested in 1976, but there is no sign of current nesting there. Good counts of Audubon’s Shearwaters were 30+ off Green Turtle Cay, Abaco 1 Apr (EB, KK) and 60 off the Berry Is. 3 Apr (VK). A single Wilson’s Storm-Petrel was observed 16 Mar during a transit from Spanish Wells, Eleuthera to Little Harbour, Abaco (PRo). Two Red- footed Boobies nested (one each white and dark morph) on Cato Cay, San Salvador among the 400 Brown Boobies 9 May (EB, BH). Two Neotropic Cormorants on San Salvador 5-11 Mar (BC) and 8 May (BH ph., EB) were the first documented on that island since 1991, when earlier specimens were re-identified and described as a “diminutive” race of Double-crested Cormorant (P. a. heuretus). Another Neotropic Cormorant was seen 23 Mar at Treasure Cay G.C., Abaco where they are rare (EB). The scarcity of fresh water on Abaco may limit colonization by Neotropic Cormorants. Two American White Pelicans, photographed at Great Lake, San Salvador 10 Mar (BC ph.), were possibly the first for that island. Great Egrets congregate before migrating north so a flock 38-40 on Lakeview Pond, Paradise I. 14-15 Mar (CW, LHu) was not unexpected. An American Bittern was at Gerace Research Centre, San Salvador 15, 16 Mar (BC, WH). Few ibises were reported this spring – 4 Glossy Ibises on Paradise I. 14 Mar (LHu ph.) and 6 White Ibis 5 May on N. Bimini where they nest (WP). All the Swallow-tailed Kite reports came from Abaco: 2 Robert’s Nursery, Treasure Cay 7 Mar (EB), 1 Rocky Pt. 9 Mar (DCl), and a late sighting 6 May Marsh Harbour (OP). Northern Harriers were reported from Crooked I. 16-23 Mar (DC, JW) and Treasure Cay, Abaco 30 Mar (EB, HA). A Purple Gallinule was at Hobby Horse Lake, New Providence 10 Mar (FS). A Limpkin on Elbow Cay, Abaco 22 Mar was unexpected (BW). An American Oystercatcher was on East Plana Cay 27 Mar (DC, JW, TW) and 6 were seen at Sandy Pt., Abaco 12 May (EB). An American Avocet was seen repeatedly at United Estates, San Salvador 16 Mar to 9 May (WH, PR, EB, BH). Willets made a good showing this spring. Fifteen were at Sandy Pt., Abaco 6 Apr (EB); approximately 20 flew by Bonefish Pond, New Providence 22 Apr; (CW ph.); 20 were on Acklins I. 27 May (BCNP); and 6 and 7 were at San Salvador 7-8 May (BH, EB). Seventy-five Lesser Yellowlegs on Acklins I. 30 Mar was a good count (DC, JW). An Upland Sandpiper at Bahamas Association for Social Health, Nassau 21 Mar was unexpected (TH, WP). A Whimbrel was at Crossing Rocks, Abaco 14 Mar (HA). Three Red Knots and 70 Short-billed Dowitchers were on Green Turtle Cay 21 Mar (EB, MP). Seven White-rumped Sandpipers on San Salvador 9 May was a good count (BH, EB). A Bonaparte’s Gull was at Treasure Cay Beach, 14, 16 Mar (EB). Four Common Terns were noted off Lubber Quarters Cay, Abaco 6 May (IB, KI). The tern colonies in Graham’s Harbour , San Salvador did well with 50 Brown Noddies, 200+ Sooty Terns, 12 Bridled Terns, all noted 8 May (EB, BH). Bracey and Hallett counted 110 Gull-billed Terns on San Salvador itself the next day. Other high counts were 45 Roseate Terns at Whale Cay, Abaco 25 May (EB) and 26 Sandwich Terns at N. Bimini 5 May (WP). A Scaly-naped Pigeon photographed on Great Inagua 7 May (HN ph.) provided the first documented record of this species in the Bahamas. The species is found on Cuba and Hispaniola that are closer to Great Inagua than any Bahamian island likely to have an aviculturist on it. A single Eurasian Collared-Dove at North Creek, Grand Turk 8 May (GMcC) and three at Cockburn Harbour, South Caicos 18 May (BNM, JH, LZ ph.) provided the third and fourth records for the Turks and Caicos Is. The two earlier records - 2 May 2011 (LS) and 3 Feb 2012 (DECR) were on Grand Turk - making the South Caicos record the first for the Caicos Is. A probable Short-eared Owl was reported at Sampson Cay, Exumas in late April (M&CP, fide WM). The earliest report of an Antillean Nighthawk was one over Lake Killarney, New Providence 27 Apr (CW, WP). Three Common Nighthawks were seen and heard over N. Bimini 5 May (WP). The probable Eastern Whip-poor-will seen on San Salvador in Feb was seen again on 3 and 10 Mar (BC, MA). Peregrine Falcons were noted at the Marls Overlook, near Treasure Cay 16 Mar (EB), 2 on Crooked I. 16-23 Mar (DC, JW), East Plana Cay 27 Mar (DC, JW, TW), and Gerace Research Centre, San Salvador 10 May (EB, BH). FLYCATCHERS TO OLD WORLD SPARROWS An Eastern Wood-Pewee was at Angelfish Pt., Abaco 27 Mar (EB, DG). Single Eastern Phoebes were at Lakeview Ponds, Paradise I. 4 Mar (CW ph.) and Discovery Beach, Grand Bahama 1 Apr (DM). In his surveys of Crooked and Acklins Is. in the 1980s Buden commented on La Sagra’s Flycatcher’s presence on Crooked I. and absence from Acklins I. This spring Currie and Wunderle found 3 on Crooked I. and 3+ on Acklins at 5 different locations; in May the BCNP found 7 on Crooked and none on Acklins. An Eastern Kingbird was at the dump at Sandy Pt., Abaco 6 Apr (EB). The first report of a Gray Kingbird was one heard in downtown, Nassau 11 Mar (AK). Wolck found a White-eyed Vireo on Elbow Cay, Abaco 5 May. Red-eyed Vireos were seen at the Retreat, Nassau 29 Mar (CW) and Bahama Palm Shores, Abaco 6 Apr (EB). The earliest report of a Black-whiskered Vireo was one in the Primeval Forest N.P., New Providence 1 Apr (CW); one 8 May on San Salvador, where they are rare, was also noteworthy (BH, EB). A female Purple Martin was photographed at the fruit farm, Abaco 13 May, a late date for that early spring migrant (BH ph., EB). Sightings of two Bahama Swallows at Arawak Cay, Nassau 13 May (LHu ph.) and one 19 May (WP) suggest that they nested at Arawak Cay for the third straight year. This is the only known nesting site on New Providence. On 16 Mar a House Wren was at the Cooperstown Dump, Abaco (EB, BB). Wolck found a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher on Elbow Cay, Abaco, the first he has seen there one since Hurricane Floyd in 1999. A Wood Thrush at Garden of the Groves, Grand Bahama 14 Apr was a good find (MAF). Single American Robins were seen in different parts of the pinelands on Grand Bahama 11 and 12 Mar (WH). Neither Currie and Wunderle (23-27 Mar) nor the BCNP (25-29 May) found a Pearly-eyed Thrasher on Acklins I. where they were thought to be common. Two Bahama Mockingbirds visiting a home in Winton, Nassau 15 Mar- 8 Apr were unusual in an urban location (LHa). Uncommon to rare warblers found in the Bahamas archipelago this spring included Tennessee Warbler 27 Mar Abaco (EB, DG), Nashville Warbler 10 Mar San Salvador (BC), Hooded Warbler 3, 5, 10 Mar San Salvador (BC) and 27 Mar Abaco (EB, DG), Bay-breasted Warbler 8 May Elbow Cay, Abaco (BW), Black-throated Green Warbler 10, 12 Mar Providenciales and North Caicos respectively (SC) and 13 Mar, New Providence (TW, EB), and Yellow-breasted Chat 4 Apr Coco Cay, Berry Is. (VK). Roberts reported Kirtland’s Warblers on San Salvador 3, 10, 11 Mar and 1 Apr; Bracey found one at Hole-in-the-Wall, Abaco 21 Apr. Researchers specifically looking for Kirtland’s Warblers found 3 on Crooked I. 6-23 Mar, none on Acklins I. 23-27 Mar, 25+ on San Salvador 30 Mar-7 Apr, and 12 on Eleuthera 7-14 Apr (JW, DC, DE). They attributed the lack of Kirtland’s Warblers on Acklins I. to the fact that the bird’s preferred food plants were not in fruit. Pinder encountered a small fall-out of 42 American Redstarts and 16 Common Yellowthroats on N. Bimini 5 May. Kirtland’s Warbler researchers found 4 Western Spindalises on San Salvador 31 Mar – 7 Apr, a high count for that island (DC, JW, DE). Single Lincoln’s Sparrows were seen at the Gladstone Rd.