Well, make that two camera days… I finally took out the super-zoom camera for a walk in the bush and all is right with the world. There are trails that transverse Long Island from bank to ocean side that turn out to be good for birding, not to mention insects, vegetation, reptiles and the occasional goat. Who needs a jungle?!
Many of the birds are residents of the Bahamas, like the Wilson’s plover that are seen often on the beaches.
Thick-billed vireo also live here and resemble a small flycatcher.
A few, like the Cape May warbler, are migrating through the Bahamas in the spring months.
Northern mockingbirds are easy to find by their loud and energetic singing!
Bannaquits also give themselves away with a chirp that ends in a distinctive buzzing noise.
I’ve seen the Greater Antilles bullfinch twice, once without a camera.
I couldn’t get a good photo, but love his red eyebrows.
My most exciting find was a mangrove cuckoo. I flushed a bird out of the low brush and thought oh, a ground pigeon… So, I followed where he landed and was thrilled to see this guy! I’ve only seen a cuckoo once before in Guatemala.
I might have interrupted his search for food, since cuckoos are usually elusive and after he left a brown anole skittered away in the same brush.
The blue-tailed lizards are much more skittish…
Gulf and Mexican fritillary butterflies are still around looking for nectar. There was another hairstreak that I photographed and later realized that it was different than the Bartram’s scrub-hairstreak with only one hindwing tail and different markings… a Mallow scrub-hairstreak butterfly.
There were also quite a few skimmers and other unidentified types of butterflies with beautiful color schemes.
Walking slowly with the camera, the best way to spot things is to listen for sound and look for movement. The occasional insect crosses my path and poses. It’s amazing what details they too have under a macro view.
