Blue Hills

Posted on May 20, 2020 by marta

Blue Hills with its Caicos sloops is a fun place to explore.

Blue Hills is hands down, the most quaint and colourful part of Providenciales. Take an hour or two and meander along the beach road where you’ll find small eating establishments, many churches and cemeteries right on the ocean.

The pier in Blue Hills is a scenic spot for photographs

Caicos Sloops are being built on the shore.

Some say that Blue Hills was the former name for our island of Providenciales and named for the blueish tinge of the hills and ridges as sloops neared the island from the sea. Life centered around the sea, sloop building , fishing and conking. Sloops would sail out towards West Caicos and French Cay to collect conch which would be dried and then traded with neighboring islands for materials and other food products.

Beach has coral formations close to the shore

Blue Hills on Providenciales in theTurks and Caicos Islands

Looking down the beach towards the Blue Hills pier.

Chasing the birds on the beach in Blue Hills.

Beautiful conch shells are sold down on the beach.

This handsome pelican was perched on one of the pillars on the pier at Blue Hills

Harbour Club Villa guests and others such as this paddleboarder drop in for a conch lunch at one of the eateries in Blue Hills

Da Conch Shack is a beautiful ocean side eatery

Delicious conch salad, fritters and rum punch too

Our guests at Harbour Club Villas and Marina are often seen having lunch or dinner down in Blue Hills as it is a quaint and charming part of Providenciales not to be missed. The road rambles along the shore line and was the first paved road on the island. Work started on Front Road in 1956 at a time when there was no heavy machinery. Much of the work was done by local residents and by hand and took some ten years to complete.

See you soon enjoying the local flavours, sights and sounds of Blue Hills.

Marta

www.harbourclubvillas.com

Nesting Mourning Dove Part 2

Posted on June 19, 2016 by marta

This little Mourning Dove set up her nest in the rafters of the Tiki Hut at Harbour Club Villas and Marina. I’ve been photographing the nest and the parent doves for several weeks now. Here are the photos taken up until today, June 19, when I caught all the action of the little birds spreading and fluttering their wings and leaving the nest for the big wide world.

Fluffing out those feathers so I was pretty sure the flight day was pretty close

Feeding time as the little dove returns to the nest to feed his/her little ones.

Getting big and ready to fly

Time to spread those wings

I’m watching you!!

Away we go as the little birds leave the nest and head along the rafters

Everyone safely down from the rafters of the Tiki Hut and onto the gravel in the parking lot

both parents are watching out for the chicks

They scuttled across the parking lot and the parents tucked them safely into a little sheltered spot off the drive way leading down to the marina

They finally flew into the vegetation on our hill

Sad to see them go…what am I going to photograph now?

Bananaquits Bath Time

Posted on August 15, 2014 by marta

Bananaquit enjoying the water droplets.

Harbour Club Villas has quite a few birds now and this is an never ending source of photos for me. Another hot, sunny day on island and so I sprayed down our pepper and tomato plants. Within minutes all kinds of birds showed up to enjoy fluttering about in the droplets on the small palms and Washingtonians. They would fluff up their feathers to expose bare skin and rapidly flick their wings in the droplets collected on the fronds. Tough to try and get photos that are in focus because they were moving so fast. Here’s a selection of bananaquit photos.

A Washingtonian palm frond makes a perfect bird bath.

A lot of hopping about from frond to frond

Two little bananaquits enjoying a bath on a hot Provo day

Love this photo of a bananaquit on a palm frond

Fluttering wings picking up water droplets

A natural bird bath

Providenciales has numerous birds and the bananaquit is perhaps one of the more colourful small birds. I love to watch them especially around Harbour Club Villas pool area where many of our guests and bird watching guests can sit, enjoy and capture them in their photographs.

Call us for more information.

Marta

Birds at Harbour Club Villas

Posted on March 11, 2014 by marta

A beautiful Bahama Woodstar hummingbirds flies to the Dwarf Poinciana flowers for nectar.

Activity around the pool at Harbour Club Villas has been amazing. I sit there often trying to capture all our birds coming in to feed from the variety of flowering plants. Our villa guests too are taking photos of the Hummingbirds and Bananaquits that are always there twittering and flying from perch to perch. Our resident Green Heron often comes for drinks and preens himself by the pool. He’ll squawk at you if he doesn’t like you enjoying “his” private pool!! We have Mourning Doves that peck at the gravel under the neem trees at the top of the driveway. They must be finding food there and also seen this week was the Northern Mockingbird.

Pretty little bananaquit sitting in our Tamarind tree…see the fruit…….found in my favourite Worcestershire Sauce.

We see Mourning Doves every day pecking at something underneath the neem trees.

The Northern Mockingbird is locally called “Preacher Bird”

Our resident Green Heron preening and grooming by what he thinks is his own private swimming pool!

The Island Honeysuckle attracts many birds to our pool area at Harbour Club Villas.

My first sighting of a Cuban Crow in one of our Palm trees……uncommon to see on Provo and has a bizarre gobbling cackle which is how I tracked him down at the villas.

A baby Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher just learning to fly……….so cute!

The Gray Kingbird comes to the Turks and Caicos to breed in the summertime.

The American Kestrel known as Sparrowhawk is commonly seen here year round.

The Yellow Warbler male has reddish brown streaks and lives and breeds in the Turks and Caicos year round.

And just because I love them so much, another photo of the Bahama Woodstar hummingbird that guests can watch daily by the pool at Harbour Club Villas.

Birdwatchers have so many birds they can see when on holiday and staying at Harbour Club Villas. The surrounding area has other water birds as well so have those cameras ready!

A Beautiful Leeward Afternoon

Posted on August 8, 2013 by marta

Ripples on the rocks, ripples in the sand, gentle waves and calm, turquoise waters.

An afternoon spent on the beach at Leeward brought many interesting sights and things to photograph. This island is rich in natural beauty and you don’t even have to look for it. Here are some of the photos taken in just a few hours.

A group of Black-Necked Stilts dropped by for a visit.

Elegant, long pink legs and quite noisy as they circled and dive-bombed .... not sure if there was a nest nearby??

Stilts are a common breeding resident of our islands.

Leeward rocks with patterns created by the clear waters

A small crab scuttles along the rocks and disappears quickly from the camera's view.

A grinning potcake with no collar was happily taking a cooling swim.

A beautiful starfish and look at that water....spectacular!

Ten or so starfish but why were quite a few floating? I'm hoping it wasn't that they were dying. Anyone know?

Washed up on the shore.

Brown Pelican sits on his favourite perch at Leeward

Constant entertainment watching the pelicans as they dive into the water for fish.

So that’s it, a lovely afternoon at Leeward and many photos later.

Marta

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

More Birds at Harbour Club Villas

Posted on May 17, 2013 by marta

Sweet little fledgling just learning to fly.

All kinds of twittering going on today and I left my computer to go and investigate. There were two baby Blue-grey Gnatcatchers learning to fly while the mama flew around from one to the other. They are fairly common breeding residents on all islands of the Turks and Caicos.

He was pretty tiny as he peeped and called for mama to feed him.

Cuban crows are not often seen on Providenciales.

He flew from Coconut tree to coconut tree as the mocking birds attacked him.

This was a first for me and these Cuban Crows are more often seen on North and Middle Caicos. Now I have to catch photos of that pesky Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that is leaving holes throughout our coconut palms!! He’s really fast though and hard to capture in a photo.

Happy birdwatching.

Marta

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

Birds at Harbour Club Villas

Posted on March 12, 2013 by marta

Bananaquits are usually just too fast to photograph but this one posed prettily in our tamarind tree.

All of a sudden there seems to be lots of singing, chirping, cooing and squawking going on around Harbour Club Villas. I’ve managed to photograph quite a few birds in the last week that seem to like this area……….Bananaquits, Doves, a Green Heron that tries to catch fish and drinks from the pool, the Northern Mockingbird locally called “Preacher Bird” and many Bahama Woodstar Hummingbirds.

This little Mourning Dove doesn't seem to be afraid of me as it pecks away at something in the gravel under the neem trees.

There are several doves here in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Every morning quite early, we hear the Zenaida Dove cooing. The Mourning Dove has more of a melancholy voice and has a long tail that fans out on take off and landing. We also have the Common Ground Dove and the White-winged Dove.

The Northern Mockingbird is a songbird, sometimes called the Nightingale or more locally 'Preacher Bird' because of their talkativeness and singing.

Every day the Green Heron visits the pool for a cooling drink. He'll squawk at guests to let them know this is his private drinking pool.

The Green Heron likes to fish and stays low to the water craning his neck out as he searches for food. Often, we can hear him in the trees grumbling to himself and making ‘skuk skuk’ noises. Heaven forbid if you disturb him as he will fly up complaining loudly and this has given it the local name of the ‘Kow Kow’.

Stalking a lizard on a Coconut frond.

A Mockingbird perched high on a branch and singing away.

A little Bahama Woodstar Hummingbird let me get really close one night as it perched on a branch.

Bananaquit with beautiful yellow breast preens on a branch of the Tamarind tree.

I managed to get a photo of this dove as it sat on a barrel.

I caught this Great Egret walking down the road from Rickie's or Flamingo Bar.

He was not about to let go of his lunch...a curly tailed lizard.

I’m glad that I have my camera with me most days. It was pure luck to sight this Great Egret just walking down the road. He must not have liked what was on the menu at Flamingo’s. Enjoy these photos and we hope all you bird lovers , birders and birdwatchers will visit our islands soon.

Marta

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

Bananaquit Rescue

Posted on January 19, 2013 by marta

Tiny little bananaquit nestling found safe in its nest on the ground.

This afternoon, we found a nest lying on the ground and it had a little nestling inside. I saw a bananaquit perched in the Neem tree and we figure the nest had dislodged from the tree and fallen to the ground. Barry went to get a ladder while I snapped off a bunch of photos. He brought some twine which he threaded through the nest and secured it to the tree right above where he found the nest.

Bananaquits build their own globe-shaped nests with a side entrance.

Bananaquits build their nests using leaves, grasses, and plant fibers. The distinctive nests have a side entrance hole and are lined with bits of smaller matter such as thread, paper, feathers,
spider webbing, etc.

Hungry little one..........no idea how long the nest had been lying on the ground.

Pretty scrawny looking!

Barry ties the nest up in a branch hoping the Mama bird will return.

All secure with baby bird safe inside.

Bananaquits have a black back, down-curved bill, white eyebrow stripe, white wing spot, and yellow breast, belly and rump.

We’re definitely hoping this little bird will survive …… we’ve done the best we can.

Marta

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

Yellow Crowned Night Heron

Posted on September 11, 2012 by marta

This juvenile yellow crowned heron came for a visit and a drink from the pool.

It’s been so hot of late and this juvenile, yellow crowned night heron has been visiting the pool at Harbour Club Villas to cool off and to get a drink. Juvenile night-herons have different plumage from the adults. The juvenile is grayish-brown overall with thin spotting on the back and upperwings. This heron is a year round breeding resident in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The adults look quite different and are dark gray over all, with black on the face and a large, white ear patch. The crown is also white. In breeding season, they get white, thread-like plumes on the back of the head and long, plumes of feathers on the back.

The adult night heron has a thread like plume on the back of its head

Yellow-crowned night herons acquire adult plumage by two years of age. It makes a living catching crabs and especially likes land crabs, and will even dig into their burrows to catch them. Although primarily nocturnal it does sometimes hunt in the day, and can be found quietly stalking through the dry bush looking for a meal. They’ve been seen eating cockroaches too.

He didn't like me approaching him and kept making warning noises.

Juvenile night heron with gorgeous brownish grey spotted feathering

Piercing yellow-orange eye

Preening yellow crowned night heron sitting on the pool fence at Harbour Club Villas.

looks pretty fierce here as he gets ready to fly off.

Love the long plumes from the back of his head.

Our guests at Harbour Club Villas are frequently surprised by both Green Herons and Yellow Crowned Night Herons as they fly in to drink water from the pool. It’s lovely to see and watch them as they squawk and make their presence known. It’s almost like the pool belongs to them and how dare these non flying creatures be allowed to lounge around at will!!

Happy bird watching……….the Turks and Caicos Islands has many species of birds and this is just one of them.

Marta

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

Hummingbirds Getting Bigger

Posted on July 13, 2011 by marta

Here's the MaMa hummingbird feeding one of the babies that I managed to catch on camera.

Ten days ago, the little baby hummingbirds were tiny and scrawny with hardly any feathers. I spent hours trying to get photos of her feeding them but she was really edgy if I got up too close. The last few days or so she doesn’t spend as much time sitting on the nest as the little ones are growing fast.

A baby opens his bright yellow beak wide ready for a meal.

They are now filling up the nest and are all feathery.

Often when I walk past the cactus, all I see is two little beaks sticking up out of the nest.

The mother will feed the nestlings on small insects and nectar by inserting her bill into the open mouth of a nestling and regurgitating the food.

A close up shows the little ones nestled together with beaks resting on the edge of the nest.

The Mama Bahama woodstar humming bird watches me from a nearby branch

The hummingbird mother pushes the food down the chicks’ throats with her long bill directly into their stomachs. The little chicks are brooded only the first week or two, and left alone after about 12 days – probably due to the small nest size. The chicks leave the nest when they are about 20 days old.

Twin beaks peaking out of the nest which is made of silks and apparently expands a bit as they grow.

The young hummingbirds are beginning to show some greenish tinged feathers as you can see in the photo

They are growing fast and so small and downy looking. The first baby hatched June 29 so they are about two weeks old.

Marta

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

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MyTurksAndCaicosBlog.com

Turks and Caicos Vacation, Travel, Fishing, and Diving

Tag Archives: Birds

Blue Hills

Nesting Mourning Dove Part 2

Bananaquits Bath Time

Birds at Harbour Club Villas

A Beautiful Leeward Afternoon

More Birds at Harbour Club Villas

Birds at Harbour Club Villas

Bananaquit Rescue

Yellow Crowned Night Heron

Hummingbirds Getting Bigger