South Abaco Christmas Bird Count

Bahama Woodstar picture from http://www.birdforum.net

In an email from Woody Bracey:

South Abaco 2011 CBC is a Bahama Bird Bonanza

Intermittent rain failed to dampen the efforts of the 16 participants of the 12/17 2011 Christmas Bird Count led by Reg Patterson to census the birds of Southern Abaco. Three teams covered the Abaco National Park, Crossing Rocks and Maillis Ponds, and the Sandy Point area and recorded 75 seperate species. All the endemic(found nowhere but the Bahamas) and native Bahama birds were seen – Bahams Swallow, Bahama Woodstar(Hummingbird), Bahama Warbler, Bahama Yellowthroat, Bahama Mockingbird and Bahama Parrot – except for the Bahama Oriole which only exists on Andros. The last one seen on Abaco was deep in the pine forest in 1993. The record number of species for this count of 87 was set in 2005 followed closely by 86 last year. The weather and number of participants influence the results as well as the number of birds to be counted. Hurricane Irene may have had some influence on our fewer number this year.

The North Abaco count will begin at 7am on Monday, January 2nd (official New Year’s holiday) at the junction of the Great Abaco Highway and Treasure Cay Road. All participants are welcome.

Elwood D. Bracey

…….

Also I came across this nice post by Samantha Whitcraft on last years count.

By Craig Layman| 2017-12-01T14:05:37+00:00 December 19th, 2011|Categories: Birds|6 Comments

About the Author: Craig Layman

My lab’s interdisciplinary pursuits provide for a multi-faceted understanding of environmental change in the coastal realm. We are ecologists, asking questions that span population, community, ecosystem and evolutionary sub-disciplines. We often use a food web based perspective, exploring top-down (e.g., predation) and bottom-up (e.g., nutrient excretion) mechanisms by which animals affect ecosystem processes. All of our efforts are framed within a broader outreach framework, directly integrating science and education, using approaches such as this website.

6 Comments

Rolling Harbour December 21, 2011 at 4:35 pm

Would you mind if I re-posted this as ‘bird news’ in my wildlife blog, especially as it is South Abaco based, duly credited and hyper-linked? Best, rh (Delphi)
laymanc December 21, 2011 at 4:38 pm

Of course!
craig nash December 21, 2011 at 9:22 pm

Was Kirtland’s Warbler in the count?
laymanc December 21, 2011 at 9:34 pm

I am not sure – I will find out tonight.
laymanc December 23, 2011 at 4:15 pm

Regarding the Kirtland’s Warbler question, here is a response from Anita Knowles:

There was a confirmed sighting of a female Kirtland’s earlier this month and they have also been seen in previous years, but not during a CBC.

The confirmed sightings were further south at Hole In The Wall, outside of the Audubon designated circle and time frame.

There has also been a confirmed sighting in the Treasure Cay area last year.
Rolling Harbour May 4, 2012 at 9:57 pm

Hi Craig – in fact, to both Craigs
I’ve been looking into this too. The TC sighting (in 2009) is the only one listed on Cornell’s eBird. It was photographed (see Flickr). Maybe someone needs to keep an official Abaco KW sighting register – they seem rare enough, even anecdotally! Best, RH