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Hello, From Phoenix!
My husband and I will be visiting the Virgin Islands the second and third weeks of June, for a wedding. The ceremony will take place on St. Croix, but we also wish travel to St. Thomas, St. John, and Virgin Gorda. Beside general "tourist things" we would be most interested in birding these four islands.
Could any local birders give me information on:
Birds endemic to the VI?
Best places to bird on each of the above locations?
Pelagic birding from each of the above locations?
I do have Raffaele's Birds of Puerto Rico & the Virgin Islands, which we used in PR several years ago, but only Mangrove Lagoon (St T), Mary Point Pond (St J), and Little Dix Bay (V Gorda) are (briefly) mentioned. Are there other locations for good birds? VInow.com mentions, under local fauna, hummingbirds and parrots, but does not specify which species or where they may be found. Are the parrots indigenous or feral?
Many thanks in advance for any information you may be able to give me!
Zill
Hello Zill,
The Virgin Islands National Park has a Bird Watching hike but the dates I have say until April 30th, 2004. You might contact them and see if they will have it when you are planning to visit - 340 776 6201
Here are some of the birds, taken from a VI Fish and Wildlife Brochure; Great Blue Heron and Little Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Cattle Egret, Soldier Bird, Black-necked Stilt, Sandpipers, ducks like the Green Winged Teal; many of these shore birds are migratory. Some seabirds include; terns, noddy, laughing gulls, frigatebird, brown pelican, Brown, Masked and Red footed boobies. Some Landbirds; bananaquit (USVI's territorial bird), pearly eyed trasher, hummingbirds including Antillean Mango, Green throated Carib and Antillean Crested), doves (rock, zenaida, ground and the most rare bridled quail dove), pigeons. Birds of Prey; red tailed hawk also called chicken hawk, american kestrel, peregrine falcon, osprey (large sea hawk, also called fish hawk). Some threatened and endangered species include; Brown Pelican, VI Screech Owl, Antillean Mango, White-tailed tropicbird, Roseate Tern, Great Egret, Black-crown Night Heron, Brown-throated Parakeet, Bridled Quail Dove, White crowed Pigeon, Ruddy Duck, Bahama Duck, Snowy Plover)
There is a good article at http://birding.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa042697.htm
Also try http://www.audubon.org/affiliate/vi/vi/birding.html
Lots of pictures of birds in the VI at http://www.stjohnlinks.com/Birds/
I hope that helps a little with your research.
--Islander
Islander:
Thanks for your response and the links. Printed all the information that popped up. I tried to request a sample Audubon newsletter, The Bananaquit, but the contact address, %[email protected], bounced back.
Does anyone do short (several hours) birding boat trips from STT or STX? Would really like to see the Noddy and Masked and Red-footed Boobies, but expect they are only found over open ocean.
Thanks again,
Zill
Awesome as usual Islander - I've wondered quite alot what birds I'm seeing.
Red-footed Boobies.......I seriously wonder if that's what the pair (seemingly a pair as they are always together) comes visiting here usually later in the afternoon. Crying loudly when no one is anywhere nearby or threatening them!
Great - as I continue to live here I will study more about which bird is which. I have for sure seen the Chicken hawks and seen them with a mouse in the grasp. Awesome. Brown Pelicans, Pete and Brenda and the others that I recognize on sight, frequent here often, flying within a couple of feet of my front porch on their way along the beachfront.
Always loved Pelicans.......ka-splooosh....swalllow!
Hello Zill and Paul,
I don't know of any birding boat trips, most of them focus on snorkeling. Perhaps someone else might know of something and share that information.
The note I read on the boobies says that the red-footed booby prefers to nest in trees while the brown and masked booby nest on the ground. As for the noddy terns, they mostly nest on cliffs and in tree branches.
There is a kayak eco-tour in a mangroove lagoon and around mangroove islands where many birds live and nest on St. Thomas and also one on St. Croix. You might consider doing this; although the trip doesn't focus completely on birds if you enjoy kayaking, birding, ecology and shore life then you will enjoy the tour.
--Islander
