Out west birding is great

Tue, Apr 1st 2014, 10:41 AM

GRAND BAHAMA - A recent field trip by the Grand Bahama Birding Group to the western end of the island resulted in several "lifebirds" for members of the group.
Derek Gape, director at the Ginn development at West End, had opened up the property to the birders to survey the many ponds in the area. Among the 40 species recorded that morning, a Northern Harrier Hawk was one of the new birds to be recorded swooping low over one of the ponds!
The group then became mesmerized by a pair of rare Swallow-tailed Kites perched side by side in a Casuarina tree, allowing everybody to get excellent views for at least 15 minutes. One of the birds circled slowly over the birders, then returned to the other bird.
A large number of Royal Terns were observed along the West End shoreline and the unusual sighting of so many birds of that species was even questioned by Cornell University when the group later submitted its observations into the eBird database of that institution. Several photos taken of the terns substantiated the sightings!
To round off a wonderful morning of birding, everybody enjoyed lunch at Old Bahama Bay's restaurant on the beach. Ericka Gates presented two of her annual "Basic Birding Class" students with certificates for accomplishing birding milestones. Marian Chamberlain's life list had reached 101 species and Michael Flowers recorded 55 to date. The program is sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism and encourages residents as well as visitors to get out there and record as many birds as possible while visiting or living in The Bahamas.
If you are interested to know all 40 species recorded that morning, please check with eBird (www.ebird.org/caribbean) for submitted observations on March 15 for the Holmes Rock Wetlands and West End. eBird is a real-time, online checklist program which has revolutionized the way that the birding community reports and accesses information about birds. Launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, eBird provides rich data sources for basic information on bird abundance and distribution. If you are not a member of eBird yet, just ask to be registered when you go on the site. eBird will add a new dimension to your birding experiences.
Also, we invite you to get out there, enjoy our beautiful environment, make new friends and learn about birds, just join us on our next field trip on Saturday, May 3. We will explore Grand Bahama Nature Tours' trail along Gold Rock Creek as well as Gold Rock Beach and enjoy a light picnic lunch afterwards, compliments of Grand Bahama Nature Tours. Meet at Garden of the Groves at 8 a.m.

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