Day one March 12, 1999

On this trip 3 friends joined me, Jeff Weber, Bruce Purdy and Brian Rapoza. We ended the trip with 76 species, this included one escaped exotic: Orange-winged Amazon. We arrived on the morning of Friday March 12, 1999.  Below is a list of birds seen on this day in the order that we saw them.
These bird were seen from the Airport in Marsh Harbor south to Sandy Point on the south end of the Island.
 
 

Great Egret                                 House Sparrow  Northern Mockingbird  Palm Warbler  Common Ground Dove  Pine Warbler  Prairie Warbler  Yellow-throated Warbler (also the Bahamas race)  Black-faced Grassquit *  Thick-billed Vireo *  Olive-capped Warbler *  Turkey Vulture  Stripe-headed Tanager *(green backed race)  Loggerhead Kingbird *  Cuban Emerald *  Collared Dove  Red-tailed Hawk  West Indian Woodpecker *  Bahama Swallow *  Hairy Woodpecker  Smooth-billed Ani *  Little Blue Heron  Merlin  Cuban Pewee *

Cape May Warbler  Bahama Yellowthroat *  Redstart  Frigatebird  Kingfisher  Red-winged Blackbird  Common Yellowthroat  Northern Waterthrush  Clapper Rail  La Sagra's Flycatcher *  Yellow Warbler * (Cuban Yellow)  Brown Pelican  Ring-billed gull  Herring Gull  Laughing Gull   Royal Tern  Ruddy Turnstone  Spotted Sandpiper  Rock Dove  Orange-winged Amazon ( escaped)  Starling  Bahama Parrot *  Bannaquit *  Blue-gray Gnatcher

 

We finished our day at the south end of the Island.  And then traveled back north and checked into Nettie Symonette's "Different of Abaco."   At Different of Abaco you will find clean rooms and great food.  You will also find Nettie's hospitality and treat you like family attitude.  There is some good birding on her property.  Some of the better birds we saw here included Bahama Yellowthroat, White-cheeked Pintail, West Indian Woodpecker, Olive-capped Warbler. Nettie has seen Bahama Parrots here also.  There are currently about 65 species seen here, I'm sure there will be more to add.
 

Day two March 13, 1999

We birded this day from "Different of Abaco" and south about 10 miles, then north back to Marsh Harbor for our ferry ride over to Elbow Cay.  We had the following species listed below.
 
 
 

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  Tri-colored Heron  Moorhen  White-cheeked Pintail *  Bobwhite Quail  Yellow-rumped Warbler  White-crowned Pigeon  Catbird  Black and White Warbler  Greater Antillean Bullfinch *

Yellow-crowned Night-heron  Osprey (Bahamas race)  Common Snipe  Ring-necked Duck  Pied-billed Grebe  White Ibis (not recorded on Abaco)  Lesser Yellowlegs  Piping Plover  Northern Parula  Bahama Mockingbird *

Day three March 14, 1999

We stayed the night at the Abaco Inn on Elbow Cay, which had clean rooms a good restaurant and a beautiful view of the ocean.  We were on Elbow Cay in search of Key West Quail Dove.  We arrived at a hammock about 1 and half miles north of the Abaco Inn at dawn. After about 1 and a half hours we found two birds which we had decent looks at.  After birding here on Elbow Cay we rode the ferry back to Marsh Harbor.  From here we went north to Treasure Cay and then back to Marsh Harbor for a return flight to Ft. Lauderdale.  Below is a list of species for this day.
 
 

Key West Quail-Dove *  Black-throated Blue Warbler  Least Grebe *  Least Bittern  Green Heron

Blue-winged Teal  Indigo Bunting  Killdeer  Cattle Egret

 
( * ) represents Bahama's specialties.

Look for upcoming tours to the Bahamas, I will have some dates soon!!!!