Back Again!

It's been three long months since I last posted. While I wish I could say all of that time was spent birding, unfortunately I was in the States so even though I saw some amazing birds, I couldn't have counted those species anyway. When I got back to beautiful St. Croix, I immediately hit the ground running to catch up. During the past few days, I caught my count up to 55 species! Much of it was rain-induced, and some were just common species that I hadn't captured before.

Before I begin about the recent birding, I promised a few months ago to post a special surprise about some gulls which were rare to the island. One was a Lesser Back-blacked Gull and the other was a Ring-billed Gull. There had been only 4 other sightings of the LBB gulls on record per my birding expert friend at eBird.

Then when I got home, boy were there some treats waiting for me! As soon as the rain subsided, I drove to Cane Bay and captured a pair of Bridled Quail-Doves guarding a nest. The female was careful to sit on the nest while the male stood his ground nearby to keep it safe from Pearly-eyed Thrashers - also known locally as "Crucian Crows" who are known for disturbing and eating other birds' eggs. These little beautiful doves are endangered and extremely rare - only existing in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and scattered throughout the Lesser Antilles (Raffaele et al. 1998). They are also considered territorially endangered (Platenberg et al. 2005).

Then, I drove up the road to an area near Prosperity Ridge, by the Carambola Beach Resort where I was able to capture a pair of Lesser Antillean Bullfinches building a nest in a Saman Tree.

The next day in the rain, I was able to get a Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron and an American Oystercatcher near Cane Bay. Driving back through Salt River Bay, we noticed hundreds of crabs on the side of the road enjoying the fresh mud. It was wonderful to capture.

I finally got to see a Least Tern near the Great Pond, and boy was it different than I expected! Although the guides informed me how small their size is in comparison to the Royal Tern, I wasn't prepared for the tiny bird that kept flying over my head as I walked near its domain. I was careful not to disturb its breeding ground, but was close enough for it to make sure I didn't take any steps further. I also was able to catch a group of Wilson's Plovers eating the tiny crabs the rain brought forth.

Of course the House Sparrow is common throughout the island, but I thought it was cute shot and haven't included one before.Since I hadn't seen Laughing Gulls prior to my long trip, I thought I would include a picture of them as well. Enjoy!