Download Bird Species Basic ID - Bahamas Protected Areas Funds

Bird Species - Basic ID
Predensa Moore, Science Research Officer, BNT
Bahamas Nature Tour Guide Certification Workshop
Black Point, Exuma Cays
June 26, 2012
Why are Birds
Important?
Birds are beautiful and they inspire us! And they also
perform many important functions in the environment:
• Most land birds are herbivores - eat seeds and berries - distribute these as
they fly and replenish our forest - same is true of waterfowl who distribute
the seeds of water plants.
• Pollinators - nectar sippers like hummingbirds help pollinate flowering
plants.
•Insect eaters like the woodpeckers keep down large populations of insect
pests.
•Birds of prey are important in the food chain - they can be important
environmental indicators – Osprey; Peregrine Falcon; American Kestrel.
•Scavengers like the Turkey Vulture/Laughing Gull eat dead animals - they are
the sanitation engineers of the bird world.
Migrant Birds
We have two types of migrants:
• Fall/Winter migrants = non-breeding
(numerous species) begin arriving around
end August - max. October and they leave
March – April.
• Summer migrants = breeding (3 land bird
and many seabird species) begin arriving
April and leave by September.
Land Bird Species
(Resident and Migrant)
Hummingbird, warbler, vireo, grassquit,
swallow, flycatcher, dove, pigeon, thrush,
mockingbird, woodpecker, parrot, cuckoo,
owl, hawk etc…..
Food supply:
nectar, buds, berries, fruit, seeds, insects,
lizards, rodents and smaller birds!
Bananaquit
Thick-billed Vireo
Bahama Mockingbird
White-crowned Pigeon
Gray Kingbird
Water Bird Species
 Wetlands:
• Wading birds = heron, egret, ibis, spoonbill,
flamingo, stilt, limpkin
• Waterfowl et al = duck, coot, gallinule/moorhen,
grebe, cormorant
 Shore/Marsh: plover, sandpiper, rail
 Sea: gull, tern, booby, pelican, tropicbird,
magnificent frigatebird, shearwater etc…
Green Heron
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Juvenile
Black-necked Stilt
West Indian Whistling Ducks
Common Gallinule
aka Moorhen
American Coot
White-cheeked Pintail Duck
Blue-winged Teal Duck - pair
Pied-billed Grebe
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Osprey - West Indian race
Killdeer
Ruddy Turnstone
Piping Plover
Winter non-breeding
Summer - breeding
Laughing Gull
Least Tern
Bridled Tern
White-tailed Tropicbird
Audubon’s Shearwater
Bahamas 5 Endemics
An endemic is a bird that is only found in a
specific region, island or area.
• Bahama Woodstar – All islands
• Bahama Swallow– Grand Bahama, Abaco, Andros
• Bahama Yellowthroat– Grand Bahama, Abaco,
Andros, Cat Is - uncommon on NP and Eleuthera
etc.
• Bahama Warbler– Grand Bahama, Abaco
• Bahama Oriole – Andros only
Bahama Woodstar
Hummingbird
Bahama Yellowthroat
Bahama Swallow
Bahama Oriole
Bahama Warbler
Threats to Birds
• Loss of habitat: land clearing, filling in
wetlands, coastal development.
• Chemicals: pesticides/fertilizer run-off from
golf courses or farms, spraying to control
bugs/pests, DDT.
• Predation: nesting birds/chicks killed by
domestic cats and dogs.