Bird Watching on Andros

Come find birds truly unique to the Bahamas

More than 300 species of birds have been recorded in the Bahamas. One hundred and nine species breed in the Bahamas, 169 species are migrants or winter here, and 45 species are endemic. Some, like the Greater Flamingo and the Bahama race of the Cuban Parrot, can only be found in the wild on one or two of the islands.

Most of the breeding birds are part of the West Indian rather than North American avifauna, a fact that harkens back to the last Ice Age, when Andros was a mere five miles from what is now Cuba.

The best birding locations near Small Hope Bay Lodge and around Central Andros, Bahamas include:

• The Mangroves between the beach and the road from Calabash Bay to Davis Creek offers great birding, especially for waders, rails, bitterns, ibis, and ducks in winter.
• The grounds of the Lighthouse Club and Androsia are great for most landbirds, doubly so in the winter (roughly September to May).
• The Nature Trail offers chances to see some of the shy denizens of the coppice, like the Key West Quail Dove, the Great Lizard Cuckoo, the Bahamas Yellowthroat, the Greater Antillean Bullfinch.
• The settlement of Staniard Creek, a bit further afield, is one of the best birding locations in the Bahamas. It is home to a host of landbirds, including Black-cowled Orioles, Bahama Woodstar hummingbird, Bahama swallows, Bahama Mockingbirds and Bahama yellow throats.
• The Mangrove flats behind Kamalame Cove (Staniard Creek) are great for shorebirds, and sometimes Roseate Spoonbills.
• The San Andros Airport is a must-see. The airport pond always has goodies in winter, including migrant ducks, Sora, occasional Purple Gallinule, grebes, and migrant land birds, including warblers and sparrows (which are uncommon in the West Indies in winter). Residents around there include Bahama Swallows and several Limpkins, large prehistoric sounding and looking birds.
• During the summer, (late May through August) there are few winter resident species, although there are many permanent resident birds to sight, and many summer resident terns.

Small Hope Bay Lodge hosts several birding groups throughout the year. For highlights of past birding trips see our historic birding reports for 1998 and 2000-2005. What follows is a list of birds sighted by a recent birding group at Small Hope Bay Lodge. "Key To List" shows areas in which birds were found.

Birds of the Bahamas

Least Grebe                      TP, SAP
Pied Billed-Grebe                TP, SAP
Brown Pelican                    SHBL Beach
Least Bittern1                   SHBL mangroves
Great Blue Heron                 SHBL mangroves, FC boat ride, roadsides
Great Egret                      SHBL mangroves, FC boat ride
Little Blue Heron                SHBL mangroves, FC boat ride, SC, DC
Tricolored Heron                 SHBL mangroves
Reddish Egret                    FC boat ride
Cattle Egret                     SC
Green Heron                      SHBL mangroves, LHC, SA ponds
Yellow-crowned Night Heron       SHBL mangroves
White Ibis                       Davis Creek mangroves
Glossy Ibis                      SAP
Gadwall (BD)                     SAP
Blue-winged Teal                 SAP, MPP, TP
Turkey Vulture                   Everywhere!
Osprey                           DC, SC, FC boat ride
Merlin                           along road
American Kestrel                 SC, SHBL mangroves
Clapper Rail                     SHBL mangroves Sora SA pond
Common Gallinule                 TP, MPP
American Coot                    TP, MPP
Limpkin (BD)                     SAR
Black-bellied Plover             LHC beach
Semipalmated Plover              LHC beach
Lesser Yellowlegs                SHBL beach
Spotted Sandpiper                SHBL beach
Ruddy Turnstone                  SHBL beach
Common Snipe                     TP
Royal Tern                       SHBL dock
Rock Dove                        SC, FC
White-crowned Pigeon             LHC
Eurasian Collared Dove           SC, SHBL, LHC
Mourning Dove                    SC, SAR
Zenaida Dove                     Along road
Common Ground Dove               Everywhere
Mangrove Cuckoo                  SAR
Great-lizard Cuckoo              SHBL
Smooth-billed Ani                Everywhere
Burrowing Owl                    FC
Bahama Woodstar                  SC
Cuban Emerald                    Pine forest
Belted Kingfisher                SHBL, FC boat ride
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker         SAR, SHBL
Loggerhead Kingbird              Along the road
LaSagras Flycatcher              SC, SHBL
Cuban Pewee                      Pine forest, SC, SHBL
Bahama Swallow                   FC bridge
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher            pine forest
American Robin (BD)              SC
Gray Catbird                     Everywhere
Red-legged Thrush                Everywhere
Northern Mockingbird             SAR, along road
Bahama Mockingbird               SHBL, SAR
White-eyed Vireo                 SAR
Thick-billed Vireo               Everywhere
Yellow-throated Vireo            SHBL, SC
Black-and-White Warbler          SHBL
Worm-eating Warbler              SHBL, SC
Northern Parula                  Everywhere
Yellow-throated Warbler          Everywhere
Yellow Warbler                   SC
Black-throated Blue Warbler      SC, FC
Magnolia Warbler                 SHBL
Cape May Warbler                 Everywhere
Yellow-rumped Warbler            SAP
Pine Warbler                     Along road
Palm Warbler                     Everywhere
Black-throated Green Warbler     SHBL
Ovenbird                         SHBL, TP
Northern Waterthrush             SHBL
Common Yellowthroat              Everywhere
Bahama Yellowthroat              SHBL Maidenhair coppice
Hooded Warbler                   SHBL
American Redstart                    Everywhere
Bananaquit                       SHBL, SC
Red-winged Blackbird             SHBL
Black-cowled Oriole              SC
Baltimore Oriole                 SAR
Northern Stripe-headed Tanager   Everywhere
Indigo Bunting                   SAR, SC
Painted Bunting                  LHC, SHBL
Greater Antillean Bullfinch      Everywhere
Black-faced Grassquit            Everywhere
Savannah Sparrow                 Everywhere

Key to List

FC = Fresh Creek
SC = Staniard Creek
DC = Davis Creek
SAR = San Andros Airport Road (25 mi from SHB)
SAP = San Andros Airport Pond (25 mi from SHB)
TP = Tarpon Pnds (near Lighthouse Club)
MPP = Mastic Point Ponds (35 miles from SHB)
SHBL = Small Hope Bay Lodge
LHC = Lighthouse Club