If there are any birders checking this page who need convinced to go to Bonaire, please e-mail me.

You sure don't have to convince me - I'm there! (at leaset, I wish I were!) Did you see the crested caracara? Do tell, what winged its way to you?

Traci I would love to hear as well

Traci,
Please tell us what birds you saw on Bonaire and where. We were just there and saw the parrot and parakeet, troupial,(both kinds) stilts, 3 pigeons,
flamingos, pelicans, terns and the mockingbird and chibi-chibi. It was very dry so there were several birds in town and of course the park was good. I saw 2 kinds of hummingbirds.

I will list off everything I saw and try to include where I saw that individual bird. I just got my pictures back today and got totally excited again. I am going to try and scan some in this weekend. Some of the pictures turned out really good, including one of a Yellow Warbler eating out of this womens hand, (that was at Wash-Slag. Park)
Wash-Slag:
Brown Pelican;Flamingo(also on the road to Gotomeer);Snowy Egret; Bahama Pintail;Black-winged Stilt; Least Sandpiper;Yellow Shouldered Parrot, only one;Yellow Warblers, Bannaquit;troupial.

Miscelaneous:
Pigeons/doves(little tiny ones); Pearly Eyed Thrasher;Ruby Topaz Hummer/Blue tailed Emerald;Black Faced Grassquit.

We do have a picture of a giant hawk/eagle? We have a good picture, but it doesn't match whats in the book.

Hazel, I don't think I saw a crested caracara? Please describe.

I was amazed by the Ruby Topaz Hummers, I would just sit at Captain Don's parking lot and watch them around the flowers.

Katherine, Domenica, Hazel, I was wondering if you would describe what type of birders you are and let me know if you are involved with any of your local birding organizations. I feel as though I am a novice. I enjoy birding very much and feel like I am constantly in my back yard or at the local park/trail looking around. I live in Charlottesville, VA, and we have a couple of local birding groups. I have only lived here a year but am considering joining a group. I did take part in the internet back yard bird count by Cornell University this spring. Please, share your thoughts.

oh please,

birders of a feather?

;-)

is nothing sacred?

ps - i will remember to fil the feeder in the morning, i promise;-)

Traci - Was that what kind of bird we are, or what kind of birders??? LOL! I do it for fun. I took an ornithology class when we lived in Minnesota and found it to be fabulous. Growing up in central Idaho, I thought the only birds around were robins, black ones, and brown ones. I am certainly not a serious birder with the hat and the Leopold binoculars and parabolic microphone, but I do enjoy keeping track of the migrants that pass through. My students and I have a chart in the classroom and whenever they see anything unusual, we record it.

We have participated in the Cornell Feeder Watch for the last three years. I love doing it, and my students feel like they are contributing to some huge database somewhere, which they are! Our feeders are located right on the prairie in Wyoming, near a big bend in the highway. Alot of deer are killed on the big bend. Last year, during the Cornell count, we were able to include both Bald and Golden eagles as part of our count because we could see them feeding on road kill when we watched the bird feeders.

A crested caracara is a hawk/eagle type bird, black crest on the head, cream-colored body (can't remember about distinctive stripes, bars, or spots) and a beautiful, light-blue beak. We saw one in W-S Park while on Bonaire. Very shy bird, it did not hang around to allow us to take its picture.

As far as joining a birding group - they can indeed be a wealth of information. Our local group visits my school on occasion. Let them know you are a novice, and they will probably be happy to give you tips about what you may see in VA. Watch out for the fanatic ones, though. Some of them are as hooked on birding as...well... as I am hooked on this BonaireTalk board! My husband called BonaireTalk a "cult" last week - the nerve!

Thanks for the info. Your husband doesn't understand this board, obviously. This is just our little connnection to one very cool place.

Speaking of that bird hawk/eagle. This one kind of looked like a large red tailed hawk, if that helps, but it did not totally have a hawk face. (you know that kind of pushed in/broad bill?)But it did have a lavender looking bill. I think the feathers on its back were brown though and the chest was whitish.

Anyway, I was really just inquiring about your birding status because I was thinking about the birding situation on Bonaire and how that is really not promoted there.

Traci, we used to see more birds when a wonderful photographer named Ellen Mueller could bring them to the boards. You could look in the Archives (under the Bonaire wild life section) for her pix of baby Flamingo, Yellow Warbler, Frigate Birds, Doves and Troupials etc. Hopefully she will be back with us. And Linda Richter posted some Lora and others. Really, it sort of depends on what people are asking about, or what they saw on their vacation. I have no doubt you'll have an audience for your bird pix. And maybe it will encourage others to post some (Hazel?)

Saw the caracara on way to Rincon from Karpata dive site in March
Some great bird identification books for sale at Park entrance and in town @ bookstores
love snorkeling out to mooring on back and have flamingos fly overhead..about 3 feet over your head!
fish eagles (osprey) and Pelicans always down south too
find alot of young gray flamingos in southern part of island walking in the road.....watch out for those donkeys though one tried to eat my MX10 camera !