Islands Birds

We've been home from the Islands for a week now, and it's snowing again, so it's time to make another post about our trip. I would definitely NOT recommend St. Thomas as a birding destination. You would expect to see plenty of gulls on a tropical island, but we didn't find any. We did see Frigatebirds overhead though.

I got some great photos with the new Canon of Brown Boobys as we boated to the British Virgin Islands. This guy in particular enjoyed following us after he pulled this little fish out of the water.

I know dolphins will surf on the bow wave of a boat. This Booby seemed to be surfing on a lift of air provided by our boat. Is that possible? I've never seen one from below before.

As we pulled into harbor, another Booby just rested on the buoy. They seem to take the place of gulls in the Virgin Islands.

Despite the small number of species, we did find two new life birds. The Pearly-eyed Thrasher was the noisiest bird at the Bluebeard Beach Club. We kept walking under trees looking for the source, and finally found this bird. At first, I thought it was some juvenile Robin, then noticed the light colored eyes.

We also found the native Zenaida Dove, which has a rosy tinge to its breast.

My goal bird for the trip was the Bananaquit. They are most often are encountered in pairs or in small family groups, according to the field guide. With a diet of nectar and fruit, Bananaquits frequent flowering trees and shrubs where they often cling to flowers, so we looked around all the flowering trees and flowers. Once, I thought I saw a yellow flash crossing the road, but that's not enough to count a life bird sighting. Sigh. We had much better luck seeing tropical fish, which will be my next post.