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?

Harbour Club Villas and Marina

Posted on January 12, 2014 by marta

Our little piece of paradise overlooking Flamingo Lake and our Marina at Cooper Jack.

Harbour Club Villas and Marina……a gem of a place on the South Side of Provo with Flamingo Lake on one side and our Marina leading out to beautiful Cooper Jack Bay on the other. It’s a new year and past time to tell you a little about our piece of paradise, our location, surrounding area and all the beautiful out of the way spots and things you will find when staying with us.

A kite cam view of our six rental villas. Thank you to our neighbors Polly and Byron for this sensational photo.

Fifteen years ago, we built six , one bedroom villas overlooking the lake on 2.2 acres in an area that is called Turtle Tail. It is a unique place to call home while visiting Providenciales. A place where you can look out sometimes and see bonefish tailing, watch the hummingbirds, doves, bananaquits and a green heron or two that drops by the pool daily for a drink and squawks at you if you intrude on his space. A walk down into the marina and you are greeted by our neighbour’s two potcakes, Effie and Gemma who love coming by for threats from our guests. Can you believe that our guests actually bring treats, and premium cuts of meat with them to feed these two dogs?

A perfectly still, calm day….we call it a French Cay day.

Take out our complimentary kayaks and spend a few hours paddling close to the shore in a foot or two of water exploring the hidden coves, Delou’s beaches and even some of the small cays to see the iguanas and snorkel.

A bird’s eye view of the lake, villas, marina and channel out to Cooper Jack Bight

Delou’s beaches across the channel and accessible by our complimentary kayaks

Many of our guests take out the kayaks and explore the shoreline…..beautiful little coves and tidal beaches, some coral heads to snorkel and some of the little cays have green iguanas. A delightful way to spend an afternoon on a beach just made for two.

Out kayaking making for one of the cays.

Visit one of the little cays with the kayaks and see our local iguanas.

One of the tiny tidal coves along the shore line

Kayak on Delou’s beach and Cooper Jack Bight

We have scuba dive boats just waiting to take you out to West Caicos or French Cay

Walk down to the Marina in the evenings and here’s where you will find all the dive operators….Flamingo Divers, Ocean Vibes, Caicos Adventures, Provo Turtle Divers and Jodi, the Snuba lady too. Our marina is the shortest distance to the amazing dive sites at West Caicos and French Cay. We’ll help you book some scuba diving, snorkeling or snuba so just let us know what you’d like to see and do.

Here’s Snuba TCI heading off for a wonderful day of snuba and snorkeling.

I’ve spent many hours on this small beach.

We have gorgeous sunsets which you can enjoy from the Marina

Flamingo Lake and one of our guests bonefishing

Bonefishermen love staying at our villas. All they have to do is walk out their villa door and be bonefishing in the lake within minutes. Sometimes you can even see the bonefish tailing from the villas. There are several areas where you can wade the flats too.

Bonefish churning up the lake waters at sunset.

Reflections on Flamingo Lake right by our villas.

Sunset and a flamingo on Flamingo Lake with Harbour Club Villas in the background.

A beautiful early morning calmness on the lake.

A Reddish Eagret looking for fish in Flamingo Lake.

Birdwatchers, birders and wild life lovers will enjoy watching the many water birds that fly in to enjoy the lake. As you walk from Harbour Club Villas along the Lake and Juba Salina, you’ll see all kinds of Herons, ducks and even flamingos.

Often we see small groups of Flamingos

Taking a look at the beautiful fishing flat close to Harbour Club Villas

Bonefishing on the flats of the south side of Provo.

Juba Salina is further down Turtle Tail and often you’ll see flamingos down this way.

Marta’s little beach or Dog beach at sunset….it’s tucked away so you’ll have to ask me where it is!!

This celebrity’s mansion overlooks the waters of the south side just down the road from the villas.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these photos of the south shore line close by Harbour Club Villas. It’s a wondrous area that’s quiet and tranquil, great for fishing, bonefishing, kayaking, walking and bird watching. For those that want to scuba dive, we are available to make the arrangements for you. Come and enjoy our piece of paradise……..the south side of Provo.

Marta

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

Hummingbirds

Posted on December 14, 2009 by marta

A male Bahama Woodstar Hummingbird perches for a while as I took his picture

The pool area at Harbour Club Villas is the place to birdwatch and frequently we see these beautiful tiny creatures as they hover from flower to flower especially liking the flowers on my firecracker bushes. The Bahama Woodstar is the only hummingbird that is found regularily in the Turks and Caicos. They are generally green on the top of the body with a brown underbody. The female is rather dowdy and drab where as the male has that magnificent irridiscent purple throat which shimmers and glints as the sun catches it.

This tiny female takes a rest on a vine under our palm tree.

This tiny female looked like a baby not quite used to flying as she takes a rest on a vine under our palm tree.

The only time I manage to snap a photo is when they perch and rest for a while. These little guys can fly every which way…up, down, left, right and backwards too. When they hover their wings flap at about 50 times per second. Humming birds have a very fast heart and breathing rate and therefore they need to feed every ten minutes or so throughout the day.

A humming bird sits on her small nest built on a forked branch.

One of our guests at the villas was an avid bird watcher and she discovered a nest with only one egg in it. I can’t believe how tiny hummingbird nests are. This one was precariously built in the fork of a three foot tree which was more like a twig. The cup shaped nest is built out of plant fragments and silk from spiders’ webs which is all glued together with her own saliva.

A female sits on her eggs.

A female hummingbird will usually lay two white eggs which take about two weeks to hatch. A further three weeks in the nest and then the young are ready to fly. Unfortunately this twig like branch was bent over in a strong wind and the egg flew out and broke. I would have loved to have seen the young but this was not to be.

Enjoy nature around you and watch for the colourful Bahama Woodstar hummingbirds while you enjoy your vacation here on Provo.

Marta

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

Osprey

Posted on June 23, 2009 by marta

An osprey on our walk out along the beach to the North West Point

We went for a long walk along the beach towards the North West Point where we spotted a magnificent osprey. He had just caught a fish which is what they feed on exclusively.

Ospreys will soar along the coast line as they search for ripples made by fish

The osprey is found throughout the Turks and Caicos Islands where it is a year round resident. Every time we head out to the North West Point, we always see them. This time, I managed to get up fairly close and was happy at how well the photos turned out.

A great beach for beachcombing and an added bonus was to see this osprey.

The osprey was a little agitated as I got closer and he didn't want to stop feeding on the fish

The osprey that breed in the Turks and Caicos Islands are a distinct sub-species that have a faint stripe behind the eye. Ospreys that are not from the region have a pronounced black stripe. If you enjoy bird watching you’ll definitely see ospreys as you wander some of the beaches.

Marta

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

Night Heron

Posted on June 20, 2009 by marta

Last night we had a late night visitor at Harbour Club Villas.......this Yellow-crowned Night Heron surprised our guests.

This heron is frequently seen in the Turks and Caicos Islands and its main food is land crabs. I think the one at the villas roosts in one of our neem trees as he has surprised us several times. On one of my trips out to Blue Hills it was low tide and I spotted a Yellow-crowned Night Heron. Apparently they will go into the sea at low tide in search of marine crabs.

Low tide at Blue Hills shows a night heron searching for something to eat.

The Yellow-crowned Night Heron is usually grey with prominent black and white head. It is primarily nocturnal but as you can see from the photo, they will come out during the day and stalk their prey.

Close up of a night heron.............the tide was out and he was probably looking for crabs.

On your next visit to Provo, keep your eyes open as you are sure to see a variety of birds. Birdwatching is great in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Marta

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

Blue Hills and Pelicans

Posted on February 2, 2009 by marta

What fun this little guy was having as he ran in and out of the water.

This little guy was having so much fun on the beach by the pier out at Blue Hills. The pier is a favourite perch for numerous brown pelicans and terns. Birdwatching is fun down in Blue Hills.

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

We often see Brown Pelicans and a good place for birdwatchers and birders to see them is down in Blue Hills. They glide along the water’s edge looking for fish and plummet from above down into the water as they dive for fish.

: This pelican was not too worried as I took his photo.

Blue Hills is one of our local communities right on the ocean and one of my favourite spots for taking photos. Visitors are encouraged to take some time to enjoy the beauty of this part of Providenciales.

See you in Blue Hills!

Marta

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

Green Heron

Posted on January 21, 2009 by marta

Doesn't look like there's any fish here!!!

The Green Heron is one of the smallest herons in the Turks and Caicos Islands and this one keeps coming back to our pool. He has made himself at home and complains loudly when guests disturb him. It’s local name is the “Kow Kow” because of the loud call he makes. Birdwatchers and birders enjoy the variety of birds they can see around Harbour Club Villas.

Birdwatching is great in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Marta

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

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MyTurksAndCaicosBlog.com

Turks and Caicos Vacation, Travel, Fishing, and Diving

Tag Archives: Birdwatching

Blue Hills

Nesting Mourning Dove Part 2

Harbour Club Villas and Marina

More Birds at Harbour Club Villas

Birds at Harbour Club Villas

Hummingbirds

Osprey

Night Heron

Blue Hills and Pelicans

Green Heron