Lesser Antillean Tanager

The cherry tree today was host to one of my all time favourite birds.
This little beauty is only found here in Grenada. and in
St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
You can find out more here

Mid Morning Break

At 10.15 a.m. the hand bell, from the school across the river, rings for morning break. I move from the beds to the shade of the shed, drink iced water, sit down on the roots of the old golden apple tree and watch the view. Dry season, it is hot. The water in the ravine trickles below Job's Tears to the river below. There is a digger working in the village of Vendome and the horns of the large trucks announce their descent of the winding mountain road. Lesser Antillean bullfinch, bananaquit and butterflies pass by with the cooling breeze that rustles the royal palms.

BP Portrait Awards and the Ripple effect.

While BP is busy painting its' very own 'portrait in oils', and as worthy as the winners of the BP Portrait Awards no doubt are, please spare a thought for those artists who are doing their best to create a Ripple.
( with thanks to Surfrider for the wave photo)

Birds on the wire

Six a.m. the cattle egrets, on their nocturnal perch, preen.
Satisfied with plumage preparations the flock departs,
simultaneously receiving runway clearance,
dispersing towards, separate, bovine assignations.
Come dusk, their appetites for parasites satisfied,
the egrets, in elegant ghostly flight, leave
high hillside garden pasture cow pens,
descend in formation, settle back to the wire.

Green Herons

As seen, yesterday, from the bar of the
Grenada Yacht Club.

Of all the breadfruit trees in all the world and you had to fall out of mine.

These two fell out of the breadfruit tree today. They are
temporarily housed in this little cage, to protect them from
the yard fowl and the cat, but I am hoping their mother will
return to claim them. The nest is not their own. They are,
approximately, 2 -3" long, have black and tan wing feathers
and their bills are slightly hooked. Baby ground doves
perhaps?
What to do? If no birds come to claim them,
what and how to feed them? I like birds, but
not in the house, owing to a bad experience
with next door's budgie, as a child.

Osprey nest at Dyfi junction?

My daughter told me to watch out for this,
on the train journey from Aberystwyth, in Wales,
to Neston, on the Wirral.

(The usual apologies for the quality of the pictures.

The nest is on top of the pole.)

Herring gulls nesting on a garage roof in Aberystwyth.

A Red Kite was seen above the town on Sunday morning.

I am astonished at the seeming influx of magpies, crows
and wood pigeons since I left the U.K. The wood pigeons
seem to be thriving, much bigger than I remember.

Cattle Egret

Bloody hell,

there's a lot

more to this

birding lark,

ha ha,

no pun intended,

than I thought.

Having been

entranced

by Darrel's

superb

photographs

at

Green Withens Birding,

I thought I'd

give it a go,

after all it

can't be that

difficult can it?

Having spotted the birds, which took a while, there was the little

problem of i.d., and as for the shots?

Usually, if close enough, the noise of the lens extending, scared

them off, or, if further away, it took me so long to find the

zoomed in spot, in the camera window, they'd flown long since.

I despaired, this was hard. I was miserable, how the hell some

people manage to actually draw birds is beyond me.

Rescue was at hand. Just as I was about to give up, I read

this at Blyth Birder, made me feel much better.

Birds in Grenada

Today was
weeding
more tomatoes,
fortunately,
there were
plenty of
diversions.

A new
Antillean
hummingbird
and nest







with
apologies
for the
quality
of the
photographs













but,
just to
give some
idea of
the size,
here is an
old,
abandoned
nest,
next to
a Coco Cola
screw cap.







A party
was held
by the
Smooth
billed
Anis
in the
bamboo












and
a
Grenadian
fly catcher,
on the
bamboo
stick.

Click and
zoom please.

All
corrections
on
i.d.
welcome.

Bordering on Birding.

Corn Buck
is situated
above the
waterfalls.
We park
close to the
track that
crosses
the river.
A pair of
blackfaced
grassquits
welcome us.
They are
fascinated
with their
reflection
in the wing mirrors.

Still from
the van,
a pair of
Lesser Antillean
Tanagers,
in the peas
tree.




Honestly.









A male
and female.
















Aaah,

Zooms
has
found
the
zoom.













A male
Lesser Antillean
Bullfinch
















shows
his true
colours.
















In
the garden
a
Zenaida
dove














and an
Antillean
crested
hummingbird.
A
camera shy
Grenadian
flycatcher
was also,
momentarily,
present
and an
unseen bird,
that sounded
exactly like
a phone ringing,
had me
confused.

Eared Dove

Little or Great Blue Heron

Our
time
spent
in
Corn Buck
is
tolerated
by
this
majestic
blue
heron.












He
deigns
to
show
his
appreciation
of
our
efforts
to
till
the
soil











by
gracing
us
with
his
presence,
before
taking
flight
and
voicing
his
territorial
claim.

It wasn't me

I really tried, I really did,

I checked the camera settings,

reformatted the card,

passed down besides the river

and concentrated hard

to focus on my promises

of hummingbird and nest

but Internet deprived me

of giving of my best.

So now, at last, you have it and for those of you in doubt,

location is what hummingbirds, when nest building, seek out.

Blur

I believe this tiny little bird to be, either, a Vervain Hummingbird or, possibly, the smallest bird in the world, a Bee Hummingbird. Either way, I forgot to adjust the setting on my camera so I will return tomorrow to see if I can get a better shot. To give some idea of scale, the diameter of the nest is no bigger than one egg case holder that you get when you buy eggs in the supermarket. I could wrap my finger and thumb around it.

Caught red handed stealing the bananas ready for market is a regular visitor in our

kitchen. A male Lesser Antillean Bullfinch.

Finally, a Cattle Egret I think, taken from the Grenada Yacht Club with no cows in sight.

I love my Canon A530, not the ideal model for birding shots but my constant companion for capturing special moments, think I might treat the lens to a little clean.

Kakakakakakakakaka................

The three acres
of family land, known as
Corn Buck,
is where we
are working at the
moment.
These are today's
'before'

and 'after'
photographs.

We are clearing
the land.
We each have a cutlass.
It is hard work.


This was my
'before' area
today.







and 'after'

it is true,

T helped me.



Whilst the work is hard, creating callouses
and muscle,

(we refuse to use Gramoxone, (Paraquat)
as recommended by the ministry of agriculture,)

it is also rewarding and each day presents
new surprises.















































Such as the machine gun call of this
lizard cuckoo,
in the grapefruit tree, alerting me
to observe,
take a five
and delight in our island paradise.

.......two in the bush.

Having
endeavoured
to
photograph
these
two
birds
for
over
a
week
now







I
finally
succeed,

only
to
fail
at
identifying
them.

Finches
perhaps,
they
are
much
bigger

and more colourful, (with blue, green wings and russet and gold, and dark coloured heads, all caught in a moment as they don't stay still for long) than our bullfinches, enjoy each others' company and flit from the grasses to the trees.

Any
suggestions
please?
Perhaps Darrel at Green Withens Birding can help.

Latest sightings

Being ignorant of so many things , the time is long overdue for me, at least, to try to identify the birds, flora and fauna etc, that we see on a daily basis.

A broad winged hawk, with prey
My first 'action' shot, male Carib Grackle flying from female,

My second 'action shot' female Carib Grackle in hot pursuit.
Together again, but not on speaking terms.

Cuckoo family?

Tropical Mockingbird?

Caribbean Elaenia? Look closely, click to enlarge and there is a delightful little bird that built it's nest in this coconut tree, unfortunately I have no idea what it is.

Again

If the batteries hadn't gone on the camera, I would have caught this Lesser Antillean Bullfinch thiefing ripe plantain in the kitchen.

And finally? Kingbird?

still a way to go yet then, but with thanks to the following website

West Indian Natural History

I am learning.