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| Ovenbird, Garden of Grand Bahama Birders B&B, Grand Bahama, Feb 7, 2017 |
The second part of our recent vacation started with a ferry ride on Tuesday the 7th from Fort Lauderdale over to
Freeport, Grand Bahama. My main targets for the trip over to Grand Bahama were the
two endemic warbler species (Bahama Warbler and Bahama Yellowthoat) plus another
near endemic warbler (Olive capped Warbler...also found on Cuba). Sadly the two endemic warblers have not
been reported since Hurricane Matthew devastated Grand Bahama back in October so
I would really have my work cut out for me in finding them. The first afternoon produced a number of warblers at our B&B including Palm Warbler, Northern Parula, American Redstart and a couple of very tame Ovenbirds.
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| Olive capped Warbler, Owl Hole Rd, Grand Bahama, Feb 8, 2017 |
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| Olive capped Warbler, Owl Hole Rd, Grand Bahama, Feb 8, 2017 |
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| Pine Warbler, Owl Hole Rd, Grand Bahama, Feb 8, 2017 |
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| Yellow throated Warbler, Owl Hole Rd, Grand Bahama, Feb 8, 2017 |
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| Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Owl Hole Rd, Grand Bahama, Feb 8, 2017 |
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| Cape May Warbler, Garden of the Groves, Grand Bahama, Feb 8, 2017 |
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| Northern Waterthrush, Garden of the Groves, Grand Bahama, Feb 8, 2017 |
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| Cape May Warbler, Garden of the Groves, Grand Bahama, Feb 8, 2017 |
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| Black throated Green Warbler, Garden of the Groves, Grand Bahama, Feb 8, 2017 |
On Wednesday the 8th I hired a guide (Erica
Gates) for the entire day to try to track down the above mentioned targets and
had some success as well as a few misses. We started out in the pine lands on
the way to Owl's Hole looking for pine specialties and after a bit of walking
we ran across a mixed species flock that contained at least two Olive capped
Warblers. Although we tried to turn up the other two endemic warbler we had no
luck here (or any of the other spots we checked over the course of the day). I
was certainly happy to get to see, hear and photograph the Olive capped Warbler. The pine lands also produced a number of other warblers including Common Yellowthroat, Pine Warbler, Palm Warbler (western), Yellow rumped Warbler (myrtle) and Yellow throated Warbler. After an entire morning out in the pine lands
we headed over to Garden of the Groves for lunch and a few hours around the park
where we ran across a few more new species of warblers for the Bahamas including Northern Waterthrush, Hooded Warbler, Cape May Warbler and Black throated Green Warbler. Erika is a great guide and knows the island extremely well and I would recommend her to anyone visiting the island.
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| Bahama Warbler, Pine lands east, Grand Bahama, Feb 9, 2017 |
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| Bahama Warbler, Pine lands east, Grand Bahama, Feb 9, 2017 |
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| Bahama Warbler, Pine lands east, Grand Bahama, Feb 9, 2017 |
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| Bahama Warbler, Owl Hole Rd, Grand Bahama, Feb 9, 2017 |
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| Bahama Warbler, Owl Hole Rd, Grand Bahama, Feb 9, 2017 |
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| Olive capped Warbler, Owl Hole Rd, Grand Bahama, Feb 9, 2017 |
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| Olive capped Warbler, Owl Hole Rd, Grand Bahama, Feb 9, 2017 |
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| Hooded Warbler, Garden of the Groves, Grand Bahama, Feb 9, 2017 |
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| Pine Warbler, Pine lands east, Grand Bahama, Feb 9, 2017 |
I decided to make a slight change from my original
plans of hiring a guide for a second day and instead rented a jeep for a couple
of days to explore some areas on my own. With Sherri doing some other
activities on Thursday I had the entire morning into the afternoon free to
explore the pine lands east of Freetown in search of the two endemic warblers I
missed the day before. As mentioned before these two species (Bahama Warbler and
Bahama Yellowthroat) have apparently become very tough to find following
Hurricane Matthew that hit the island last October but I was determined to track
them down. I headed out just before sunrise to start looking east of Lucayan NP
and after one minor missed turn I was on my way (the toughest part was driving
on the left...a throwback to the English roots of the Bahamas). The area past
the national park was somewhat quiet and there were not any good spots to
penetrate into the pines so I decided to head back to a series of old logging
roads which had some sightings of both of my target species before the
hurricane. I started on a road north of Owl's Hole Road and one of the first
birds I noticed was a Bahama Warbler crawling its way up the side of a
pine much like a nuthatch. I was really not expecting it to be so easy to find
the bird after a lot of looking yesterday but luck was with me I guess. The
area to the north of the main highway would eventually produce at least four
individuals of this species plus I added two more individuals later on in the
morning along Owl's Hole Road. Glad to see several individuals made it through
the storm and continue to occupy the area. I ran across lots of other expected
species but I had no luck finding a Bahama Yellowthroat north of the highway. I
then decided to try my luck south of the highway in an area we spent some time
in yesterday along Owl's Hole Rd. This proved to be a great decision as I ran
across a Bahama Yellowthroat about a half mile down the road. I was pishing and
had a yellowthroat scolding from the deep undergrowth but I was fully expecting
to find another Common Yellowthroat. I tried a little playback and the bird
immediately popped up giving me brief but decent looks at a female Bahama
Yellowthroat that promptly dove back down and would not show itself
again so no luck getting a photo. The only other new warbler for the Bahamas for the trip was a Black and White Warbler. At this point it was midday and after all
morning out in the hot sun I was ready for a break so I headed back to Garden of
the Grove to try my luck there and although I didn't find anything new I got
much better looks at a Hooded Warbler there compared to
yesterday.
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| American Redstart, Lucaya NP, Grand Bahama, Feb 10, 2017 |
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| Black and White Warbler, Owl Hole Rd, Grand Bahama, Feb 10, 2017 |
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| Ovenbird, Garden of Grand Bahama Birders B&B, Grand Bahama, Feb 10, 2017 |
Our last full day on Grand Bahama dawned much cooler
than previous days with temps in the low 60's but the sun quickly warmed us up
into the 70's. We took the jeep out to Lucayna NP to walk on some of the trails
there before the crowds appeared. The winds was
picking up on our way out there and it they would continue throughout the day
which made finding birds a bit tough. Our next stop was over to Owl's Hole Road
where we walked for about an hour down through the pine lands. No luck
finding a Bahama Yellowthroat there despite a lot of effort but did have a lot of the same species I had the day before including more Bahama Warblers and Olive capped Warblers.
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| Black and White Warbler, Garden of Grand Bahama Birders B&B, Grand Bahama, Feb 11, 2017 |
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| Palm Warbler (western), Reef Golf Course, Grand Bahama, Feb 11, 2017 |
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| Ovenbird, Garden of Grand Bahama Birders B&B, Grand Bahama, Feb 11, 2017 |
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| Prairie Warbler, Garden of Grand Bahama Birders B&B, Grand Bahama, Feb 11, 2017 |
Our last day in the Bahamas was
spent relatively locally and I started the day just before dawn at the Reef
Country Club checking the various ponds and edge before the golfers showed up
for the day. Nothing too unusual but large number of western Palm Warblers were around. After about an hour and a half at the country club I headed
back to our lodging and the gardens right outside our back door which produced more warblers but nothing new. Yesterday our host (and guide) asked if I wanted to go I here to a couple of
other nearby golf courses to try to get some other new birds and I figured, why
not? We headed out late morning to the Emerald Golf Course where we found a
number of new species but no new warblers. This golf course has been closed since a
couple of severe hurricanes back in 2003/2004 and the area has become overgrown
providing some great bird habitat. We walked along some paths through the dense
vegetation and had a very intriguing yellowthroat that may have been a Bahama
Yellowthroat but we never got good enough looks to be sure. The rest of the early
afternoon I spent more time exploring the gardens at our lodging as well as
packing for the trip home. We made it to the port to await the ferry and while
there got a message that our flight was already cancelled for Sunday due to
another big snow storm back home.
Overall for the trip I managed to find a total of 20 species of warbler with Florida producing 15 species and the Bahamas producing 17. The trip added three more species of warblers to my list (Olive capped Warbler, Bahama Warbler and Bahama Yellowthroat) bringing my total to 67.
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