BIRDS of Jamaica.

[mountaingal]

Re: BIRDS of Jamaica.

taking a poetry break, an excerpt from Flame-heart by Claude McKay:

So much I have forgotten in ten years,
So much in ten brief years forgot
What time the purple apples come to juice
And what month brings the shy forget-me-not.
I have forgot the special, startling season
Of the pimento's flowering and fruiting;
What time of year the ground doves brown the fields
And fill the noonday with their fluting.
I have forgotten much, but still remember
The poinsettia's red, blood-red, in warm December.


The common ground dove, Columbina passerina jamaicensis, smallest of the doves, has a scaly patterned throat. It often feeds on the ground. Ground doves are found throughout the Caribbean.

[Q3210]

Re: BIRDS of Jamaica.

On top of the world, MG. You are astute and pretty quick.
Nice Ground dove picture.
Swallows? The first and foremost that comes to mind is what I have not seen in over 30 years.
That is the swift and erratic twists and turns of the `night hawk` aka. `Gimme mi bit`.
These larger than average size birds were seen dipping and twisting as they flew over very close to the ground picking up insects along the way, etching out the erie sound, gimme-mi-bit.
Their wings shaped and carved like boomerangs gave them a sleek look.
What has ever happened to these birds? Or is it I that has taken myself away from such scenes that we once frequented as boys in the hills of St. Ann.

[BirdLady]

Re: BIRDS of Jamaica.

Wish I heard about this thread sooner. Thanks Pepper for alerting me. This is great! Been away again, my hard drive bit the big one and I'm still getting back on my feet - so to speak. Great bird photos, the birds people call patoo we call owls in the US. I go birdwatching everytime I'm on the island. Bird Watching in Jamaica

[Q3210]

Re: BIRDS of Jamaica.

Ho ho! Bird Lady, so intense you are with all those birds on your site.
MoutainG__ you got company.
May I ask?
What is it that causes confusion about the real identities of Gawlings and Egrets?
The Gawling or cow bird they say picks ticks off the hide of cows?
The truth is that they do not. They actually are just piggy-backing. What they do is follow in the path of the bovine hooves and pick up from the earth, insects that are disturbed.

The magnificent Man`O War when mature has a red bill or a red fold of skin that hangs below the beak. Those pictures, MountainG__ seem to be of younsters in a nest.

Agree with me if you like. Poultry or country fowls, the peel-neck, dominic and the common red-hen and Mister Rooster are one of the most interesting of all birds. These guys dwell on the ground during the day and roost on the tree branches at night.
The rooster controls a harem of lady hens and their brood. He looks over them like a guard over gold. The art of scratching is quite unique amongst the fowls. Whatever the rooster scratches he calls his hens and gives the first one to come.
The ritual of `tredding` is also quite unique.
Like a native American dance, the rooster displays his dominance over the more subdued hen.
Rivalry between young cocks and the older rooster is another phenomenon.
The cocks will fight or they will run with the dominant one chasing the intruder like a train.

It was our fellow-member and former Moderator, Lacy who expressed her fascination with the fowls in her yard in western Jamaica. Lacy is an American who eloped to Jamaica a few years ago.

Lacy, are you here with us?

All ye birders keep the wings out and the Earth beneath us. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[mountaingal]

Re: BIRDS of Jamaica.

Originally posted by Q3210:
[qb]Ho ho! Bird Lady, so intense you are with all those birds on your site.
MoutainG__ you got company.
May I ask?
What is it that causes confusion about the real identities of Gawlings and Egrets?
The Gawling or cow bird they say picks ticks off the hide of cows?
The truth is that they do not. They actually are just piggy-backing. What they do is follow in the path of the bovine hooves and pick up from the earth, insects that are disturbed.

MG: Q - I grew up calling that bird the gauling, and yes, I can't say I noticed it picking ticks off of cows. I associate egrets with water, though I think the gauling is a kind of egret.

The magnificent Man`O War when mature has a red bill or a red fold of skin that hangs below the beak. Those pictures, MountainG__ seem to be of younsters in a nest.

MG: Right again, Q. The earlier close up picture was of an immature Man O War. The adult female looks like the youngster, but with a black cap. The adult male Man O War has that red, featherless skin under its beak, that it inflates when courting.


Agree with me if you like. Poultry or country fowls, the peel-neck, dominic and the common red-hen and Mister Rooster are one of the most interesting of all birds. These guys dwell on the ground during the day and roost on the tree branches at night.

MG: My kids were astonished when I told them that. As far as they knew, chickens were landbirds, incapable of flight.

The rooster controls a harem of lady hens and their brood. He looks over them like a guard over gold. The art of scratching is quite unique amongst the fowls. Whatever the rooster scratches he calls his hens and gives the first one to come.
The ritual of `tredding` is also quite unique.
Like a native American dance, the rooster displays his dominance over the more subdued hen.
Rivalry between young cocks and the older rooster is another phenomenon.
The cocks will fight or they will run with the dominant one chasing the intruder like a train.

MG: Hmmm...sounds like a lot of human behaviour to me, lol!

It was our fellow-member and former Moderator, Lacy who expressed her fascination with the fowls in her yard in western Jamaica. Lacy is an American who eloped to Jamaica a few years ago.

Lacy, are you here with us?

All ye birders keep the wings out and the Earth beneath us. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [/qb]

Yes, Lacy, c'mon by. And welcome, BirdLady - thanks for that link to your site.

[mountaingal]

Re: BIRDS of Jamaica.

For Afer:

The bird list I work from names the tree swallow and barn swallow and a couple of martins (related to the swallow). The only one with the deeply forked tail is the barn swallow - a northern bird that winters in hot climes. That's the one I think I used to see. It's not nocturnal, but apparently flies and feeds from before dawn until after dusk:

The barn swallow, Hirundo rustica, is found throughout much of the world, and, is resident on all the continents except Australia. It is easily distinguished from other American swallows by it's deeply forked tail and rust colored underparts. The barn swallow's aerial maneuvering is unexcelled. It can effortlessly make sharp turns while flying at high speed, enabling it to catch flies and other insects on the wing and in great numbers. When feeding young, the swallows fly from before dawn until after sunset while taking only infrequent rests.... Most of their hunting is done near ground level, over open fields and especially near water. However, often, on late summer afternoons, they can be seen hunting high in the air. They simply follow the insects, which, in turn, may be reacting to differences in air temperature. (from http://www.americanartifacts.com/smma/per/b4.htm)

this photo shows the lovely metallic colours of the barn swallow:


here's their flight silhouette:

[BirdLady]

Re: BIRDS of Jamaica.

Mountaingal!! Thanks for the great thread. Being a birder who enjoys every opportunity I can get to bird in Jamaica, this warms the cockles of my heart. Great info and great pics! Thanks to Pepper for turning me on to this thread.

Bird Watching in Jamaica

[BirdLady]

Re: BIRDS of Jamaica.

sorry about the duplicate post - thought the original got lost somehow LOL
Anyway - I found a great book on Jamaican birds that gives both the local (Jamaican) names as well as the world-wide recognized names along with some interesting stories on how the birds got the "local" names. The book is out of print, it's titled "Bird-Watching in Jamaica" by May Jeffrey-Smith. It was published by the Pioneer Press in Kingston, Jamaica and includes some wonderful drawings that the author made. My husband found it for me on eBay and got into a hot bidding war, but won - luckily for me.

On the subject of gaulins the author states "Our gaulins all belong to the family Ardedae in which are included the herons, egrets and bitterns, but locally they are distinguished only by colour, and are known severally as the Blue, the White and the Red Gaulin (the Red is very rare). But even this nomenclature is vague, for we have several white gaulins."

"Fishermen in Runaway Bay have a special name for white gaulins and for blue gaulins. They call the former Yaller-Tail, and the latter Hamlin and the Hamlet-Bud Dem because they say that when the birds fly in flocks the fish that bear these local names are then running."

Like I said, it's a really great book.

[mountaingal]

Re: BIRDS of Jamaica.

thanks for the warm words, BirdLady. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Believe it or not, I've never been birding in Jamaica. I was a member of the Natural History Society when I was out there working a few years ago, and our field trips were more wide-ranging, not really limited to birds. some members of the society simultaneously belonged to BirdLife Jamaica, but I never heard them mention any field trips organized by that particular group. It's something I definitely want to look into.

Thanks for the lead on that book - sounds right up my alley. Next time I'm in Jamaica I'll check out a couple local bookstores - I might get lucky!

As for the gaulin thing, I don't think I'll ever be able to call them egrets, lol!

[mountaingal]

Re: BIRDS of Jamaica.

dbls.

[mountaingal]

Re: BIRDS of Jamaica.

Originally posted by Q3210:
[qb]The first and foremost that comes to mind is what I have not seen in over 30 years.
That is the swift and erratic twists and turns of the `night hawk` aka. `Gimme mi bit`.
These larger than average size birds were seen dipping and twisting as they flew over very close to the ground picking up insects along the way, etching out the erie sound, gimme-mi-bit.
Their wings shaped and carved like boomerangs gave them a sleek look.
What has ever happened to these birds? Or is it I that has taken myself away from such scenes that we once frequented as boys in the hills of St. Ann.[/qb]

I'm not sure of the fate of the "Gimme-me-bit" (aka the Antillean Nighthawk, Chordeiles gundlachii. It's apparently a secretive bird by day, and its colouring allows it to be well camouflaged. So they could well be there, and if you may still hear them if you go out at night in St. Ann's. They're from the family of "nightjars", so-called because of their "jarring"sound.

[bandido1]

Re: BIRDS of Jamaica.

Bwaay mi a tell yuh! Wen we dun wid dis it affi goh pan de "best of" archive.

Great work MG!

[mountaingal]

Re: BIRDS of Jamaica.

thanks bandi. I'll take this through to the weekend and end it on Sunday.

[Q3210]

Re: BIRDS of Jamaica.

That `gimme-mi-bit` pictured in the tree is almost unseen.
`memba when chicken merry hawk deh near, yu betta beware`.
That hawk can be seen hovering up above with the john crows.

The line birds, those that perch on lines and those that do not.
Petcharries and Loggerheads are renowned line birds.

Now that you birders have mentioned it, there are indeed many gawlings in Jamaica, the white being the more predominant.
I was told that these white cow-birds migrated from Africa, flying with the wind across the Atlantic.
These birds can be seen in droves as well as the solitary fellow picking lizards out of residential hedges.

btw. Any Budgerigar birder here? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]