Tuesday 18 December 2012

Saint Kitts and Nevis - Part II

 BIRDING PAL WORKS!
Let me introduce you to PERCIVAL HANLEY. Birding Pal, Banker, Caribbean and Fantastic Bloke. It was he who met us from the ship, straight into his car we were 'in the field' within minutes. Our days experience need little in the way of words so I'll let the pictures tell the story.
CATTLE EGRET
PIED-BILLED GREBE
GREAT EGRET
GREY KINGBIRD
Adult LITTLE BLUE HERON
 
Juvenile LITTLE BLUE HERON
MONARCH BUTTERFLY
COMMON MOORHEN
Another Butterfly?
YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON
GREAT BLUE HERON
Great Colorful CATERPILLAR 
SNOWY EGRET
COMM0N GROUND DOVE
ZENADA DOVE
One of c2 OSPREYs one of which had a fish.
 MILKWEED
SPOTTED SANDPIPER
RING-NECKED DUCK
AMERICAN WIGEON
CATTLE EGRET in Breeding Plumage (part of a colony of 200 or more).
WHITE-WINGED DOVE
One of 5 species that were on our 'hit list' today
PEARLY-EYED THRASHER
NORTHERN PARULA
Fruits of the BLOOD TREE
Second of the 'hits' SCALEY-BREASTED THRASHER
and the PEARLY-EYED started to break cover. Now came the real challenge, as the day was rapidly coming to an end the Hummers started their pre-roost feed and traveling at the Speed of Sound made capturing an image almost impossible.
First in was a GREEN-THROATED CARIB (number 3 of the days 'target' birds),
quickly followed by No4 ANTILLEAN CRESTED HUMMINGBIRD. Note:- We missed number 5 but it's very much in our sights for another day!
Old Harry Coloured Beard trying to persuade me to colour mine.
The old AQUEDUCT that fed the Sugar Cane Factory
 This SAABA TREE is said to be 300 years old.
Another CARIB
Here's me with Shelagh, Percy and Brian breaking the cardinal rule, NO ALCOHOL, but I was in safe company. Thank you Percy for your help, entertainment and good nature!