Duck, Duck, Coot :)

The past two weeks have been great for birding! Believe it or not, I have lived here 2.5 years, and only in the last year, have I become fascinated with the birds of the island, but this has also caused me to look in places I never noticed prior to this challenge. Although I realized that many of the wetlands were important to the ecology of the island - it never occurred to me to actually visit them, until the past few months. So now, I am seeing birds that are actually considered common here for the first time, and it's wonderful! I spent the past few days shooting near the ponds of The Buccaneer Hotel and encountered 8 new species to add to my list, which brings me up to a great big 36 species on the island of STX. How great!

Another aspect of birding that is so fun for me, is the time involved in researching each species, (i.e., their scientific names, nesting breeding habits, etc.) but I've also found that birding is much more complicated than I originally thought. For example, in two cases since I started this blog - I named the wrong species - simply because I didn't know the subtle differences between them. Take for example, the American Coot. The bird looks very similar to the Caribbean Coot, with the exception of an all white frontal shield (as opposed to a white frontal shield with red extending into the crown). The white-shielded 'Caribbean' Coot has been spotted in several parts of North America, leading to questions about whether or not it is really a distinct species.

David Sibley makes a great point on his website about this debate, stating "Since white-shielded male coots occur throughout North America, the conclusion that these birds are merely variants of American Coot (and not visitors from the Caribbean) is inescapable."  Retrieved from:

http://www.sibleyguides.com/2011/03/the-caribbean-coot-in-north-america/

However, for the purpose of this blog, I have listed both versions since the red-shielded and white-shielded were both spotted. 

Next week, I hope to post some hummingbirds if I can get some good shots; otherwise, plan on some more fun facts and at least a shot or two of some of my favorite flying insects.