Category Archives: Birdwatching

Bananaquit Rescue

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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

 

 

Reddish Egret

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This beautiful Reddish Egret struck a beautiful pose for me.

The Reddish Egret is probably the most typical heron in the Turks and Caicos Islands. This one was seen in Flamingo Lake perched on a tree branch in the water. These birds have a pinkish base to their beaks, a a beautifully reddish neck.

Something must have caught his eye.

 

They wade in search of small fish in the shallows of the lake

Flamingos on Flamingo Lake

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Such fun watching these beautiful birds.....Oh the colours are magnificent!

A call from a friend that the flamingoes were fairly close to the road sent me rushing down to take some photos. They were just past the narrows on Flamingo Lake and up the road from our villas at Harbour Club Villas. I was fascinated and took photos for over an hour. They seemed to all be sleeping and it’s not a myth – flamingos actually DO stand on one leg. It appears to be a comfortable resting position. Occasionally they would rouse, scratch themselves such as the one above and then go back into their one legged position.

Resting on one leg is the preferred position for sleep.

My favourite photo of three preening flamingos

Flamingos are pink or orange or white depending on what they eat. Flamingos eat algae, crustaceans, small fish and brine shrimp when they’re available most of which contain pigments called carotenoids. These ones were sporting some amazingly brilliant red, hot pink, coral and orange plumage.

A flock or "flamboyant" of Caribbean flamingos performing a water ballet!

Tall, wading birds with webbed feet. Flamingos have elongated, slender necks and legs that are longer, relative to body size, than any other bird.

 

The West Indian flamingo has a beak with a black tip, pink to red/orange middle, and pale yellow base near the eye. The upper bill is often lighter in colour.

 

Such beautiful birds and I was lucky to be able to watch and photograph them.

 

These two had a brief altercation as they faced each other with outstretched necks and sometimes with growling vocalizations.

 

Look at the leg positioning! How do they balance like that?

Preening and ruffling their feathers.

How lucky we are to be able to have the opportunity to observe and enjoy these gloriously colourful birds in their natural habitat. Hope to see all you birdwatchers and birders here on Providenciales. Happy bird hunting and here’s hoping you’ll get to see our flamingos.

 

Marta

 

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

 

 

 

Yellow Crowned Night Heron

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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

 

 

 

 

Humming Birds at Harbour Club Villas Part 2

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The hummingbird nestlings are hungry all the time and have tripled in size.

Our little baby hummingbirds are growing so fast and are now fluffy and always hungry. Mama hummingbird spends her days flying back and forth feeding them and they fill up the nest with scarcely room for her now.

Little hummingbirds almost fill up the nest but Mama still manages to squeeze herself in.

 

Mama hummingbird feeding her babies

 

Beautiful little hummers all soft and feathery and look how they fill up the nest now.

 

More sweet nectar as the mother hummingbird feeds her little ones

Poolside hummingbird nest and I'm amazed at how it has survived some pretty strong winds.

Beautiful irridiscent feathering on the Bahama Woodstar hummingbird

Hungrily this little one opens up his beak just as it waits for some food.

 

I'm hoping I'll get to photograph them as they start trying their wings ready to fly.

The palm frond is sagging quite dramatically and turning yellow so it won’t last too much longer. Enough time though for these two little ones to start trying their wings. The nest has survived some brutally strong winds and rain plus a lot of sun making for a real hot spot with not enough shade. We did put up some shade cloth but after the wind ripped it down a couple of times, we just gave up.

Hoping to have more photos as the week goes on.

 

Marta

 

www.harbourclubvillas.com

 

Hummingbirds at Harbour Club Villas

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She built her little nest in the pygmy palm right at the entrance to the pool at Harbour Club Villas.

A Bahama Woodstar hummingbird built her tiny nest right at the entrance and walkway to the pool at Harbour Club Villas and Marina. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve walked by there and not noticed anything until that one time when I looked straight at her sitting on her nest. It is such a joy for me to be able to photograph these tiny little birds and right on our doorstep. Can’t imagine what possessed her to build a nest on a main walk through though! On May 28th morning, we discovered the nest and that same afternoon she laid her first tiny egg followed by the second a day later. Today, the second baby hummingbird hatched.

She is so tiny and has beautiful colours on her wings.

 

Flying in for a landing as she returns to her eggs.

Look at the irridiscent green of this little hummingbird's head and wings.

 

Here she is in flight.....so difficult to catch as my camera has a delayed shutter and I frequently miss those great shots.

 

The first little baby hummingbird hatches and it won't be long before the next one arrives.

 

It has been so hot and the pygmy palm is a little lacking in full on shade for the Mama hummingbird.

Note the piece of egg shell caught on the nest. She must have pecked it out so the baby birds would have room in the nest.

 

Can you see that she is actually standing in the nest......probably because of the heat these last two days while the eggs were hatching.

They are so tiny and ever so cute waiting for mama hummingbird to return

 

Feeding time for the little ones!

 

Perched on the side of the nest with one baby visible

A closer view of the two little hummingbird chicks and check out their soft, downy looking bottom of the nest

 

The proud mama hummingbird..........not too much rest for her in the days to come!

Hopefully I’ll be able to do a part 2 as the baby hummingbirds grow. I’m a little worried as the palm frond is already yellowing and has a definite downward droop to it. It’s also really hot and not an awful lot of shade.

Enjoy the photos,

 

 

Marta

 

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

 

 

West Caicos Beach All to Ourselves

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Shadow dancing on a deserted West Caicos beach

About two weeks ago and a smooth, calm sea found us heading for West Caicos. The boys dropped us off and left us to do a spot of fishing. It was an incredible sight to see this long stretch of deserted beach that had become much wider as Hurricane Irene swept in tons of sand. It was low tide and the water was shallow for a ways out. The waves had created ripples and sand bars and pools of water with shells and interesting bits of debris. We had the beach to ourselves with only a few pelicans that swooped in occasionally to land and shared it only with the pelicans as they dive bombed for fish. What glorious entertainment for the afternoon!

The husbands head off for some fishing and look at those ripples and as a small sand bar forms

Sand ripples formed by the wave action made for interesting patterns in the sand

There were so many bird tracks along the ripples of sand and I was fascinated with all the patterns.

A beautiful shell lies in one of the ripplesand there were lots of bird tracks in the sand

 

The brown pelicans were amusing to watch and photograph but were a little leery of my presence

Probably one of my favorite shells, the sunrise tellin shell lying at the edge of the water, made for a beautiful photo.

Me and my shadow, strolling down a beach avenue!! Just me and my shadow, all alone and feelin' good!!

 

What a glorious day and a wonderful afternoon. We’re going to return to West Caicos as soon as the weather clears………GO AWAY MARIA!!!!

 

 

Marta

 

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

 

Flamingo Sunsets

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Glorious sunset just after Hurricane Irene paid us a visit

Quite the two weeks since Hurricane Irene came calling! All’s well and we’ve been treated to fair, calm weather and some beautiful sunsets over the lake by Harbour Club Villas. The Flamingos are also back again in Flamingo Lake….they did the same thing after Hurricanes Ike and Hanna.

Beautiful flamingo stretching gracefully like a ballerina as it wades through the water.

 

Soft sunset fusion of pink shades over Harbour Club Villas as a flamingo wades the lake waters searching for crustaceons in the silty bottom.

The flooding has all but disappeared, clean up after the hurricane is all done, the bush has been cleared of debris and trimmed and new foliage is sprouting once again.

The wonder of nature.

 

 

Marta

 

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

Hummingbird Re-Cycles Nest

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A new hummingbird appeared and began adding a second storey to the old existing nest

Can you believe it?  A week ago, we were surprised to see that our old hummingbird nest in the cactus beside the walkway to our house, had grown taller. It wasn’t a few minutes later, that I heard her! A new hummingbird mama had seen the nest and decided to re-use and re-cycle the old nest. She was busily adding a second storey to the old nest to build it up a little more.

Here's the nest showing the new portion between the two stars.

The nest is totally about 1 3/4 inches and the addition is almost a half inch. Still pretty tiny all things considered. Mama has laid her second egg (yesterday) and is now sitting on the nest leaving periodically to feed.

Here's the nest from the back side showing all the fine strands of cobwebs used as "glue" to secure the nest.

 

I wanted to show you the new materials and fluff that has gone into recycling the top of the old nest.

 

A backside view of the Bahama Woodstar hummingbird sitting on a nest with two little eggs

 

Nesting hummingbird ... how sweet she is!

So here I go again!  I’ll keep taking more photos………….I can’t tell you how many I already have but there’s tons!!

 

Marta

 

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hummingbirds Getting Bigger Part 2

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The two baby Bahama Woodstar hummingbirds are squished into the tiny nest as they continue to grow.

The above photo was taken a month ago and as you can see, the little birds are growing very fast. The nest is glued and held together with cobwebs and this enables the babies to compact and stretch the nest to hold the both of them. Clever little birds they are and when they just get too big, they are ready to fly.

Please check the previous blogs.

 

From building the nest..http://myturksandcaicosblog.com/?p=2601

 

To laying the eggs…http://myturksandcaicosblog.com/?p=2616

 

To the chicks hatching…http://myturksandcaicosblog.com/?p=2699

 

The chicks getting bigger…http://myturksandcaicosblog.com/?p=2745

One little baby sits almost on top of the other.

At a different angle, the baby birds are definitely getting too big for the nest and sure enough the day after the photo, we missed one flying out of the nest

What excitement as we managed to catch the one baby leaving the nest and making his first flight. The other little one must have been hidden in the bushes and trees.

Here it is.....ready to fly off into the big world!

 

It's first flight was from the nest to a nearby Opuntia cactus where he perched for a few minutes

Here the baby hummingbird lifts off and flies up into our large bouganvillea

It has been such a joy to take all these photos from start to finish…………right from when we discovered the nest just being built to seeing the eggs hatch and the birds grow and fly away. Nature is so wonderful !!

 

Now just when I was getting used to leaving my camera behind…………..we have another event unfolding!!!!

 

Marta

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com