Fast Friday Review: Bahamas Outdoors - Birding Tour Nassau
I love living close to Port Canaveral. I love being able to throw together spontaneous 3-night cruises and just pack a quick bag and go. But…one can only dock in Nassau so many times before you start to look for off-the-beaten path things to do.
As a novice birder, I was thrilled to find Bahamas Outdoors and the lovely Carolyn Wardle on my last trip there in 2018. I emailed her through her site and she quickly responded and confirmed a half-day birding tour for my partner and I. Carolyn met us at the port in her Jeep and we were off to find some birds! She provided water, use of guidebook to the birds of the island that she’d actually written herself, and loaner binoculars. She even patiently gave my non-birding partner a crash course in using them so he wasn’t clueless!
We went all around to see different habitats and types of birds. Our first stop was near a dock and conch vendor on the beach where we watched gulls, pelicans, and shorebirds trying to steal some poor fisherman’s catch. We took some silly pictures “blowing the conch” and
Then we went into a residential area where I saw one of my lifers - a whole tree full of Smooth Billed Ani’s! This is also where we saw something that didn’t quite belong…a Pied Imperial Pigeon! These beauties are native to Thailand and no one really knows how a small flock ended up in the Bahamas, but I’m glad they did!
Pied Imperial Pigeon — Image Credit: 10000birds.com - Mike Bergin | Corey Finger
Next we drove over to a small National Park where we saw another great find - the endemic Bahama Mocking Bird. I also watched a cheeky little Red Legged Thrush chase some bugs around a banana tree. Near the visitor’s center of the park there was a line of hummingbird feeders and you could stand in the middle of them and they’d practically land on you! A very cool experience!
Our last stop was a small pond off a busy road on the way back to port. We saw a gorgeous egret in full breeding plumage and various ducks (ducks are my weak spot when it comes to identification - I’m sorry! I just wrote “ducks” on my list).
My eBird list from this day, which is not a complete list, has the following: White Crowned Pigeon, Pied Imperial Pigeon, Bahama Mocking Bird, Eurasian Collard Dove, Rock Pigeon, Smooth Billed Ani, Cape May Warbler, Red Legged Thrush, Thick Billed Vireo, American Redstart, Bananaquit, Bahama Woodstar). I did not log the shorebirds at the first stop or the birds at the pond.
Smooth Billed Ani | Image Courtesy of eBird
Carolyn is incredibly knowledgeable (I mean, she literally wrote the book on the birds of the Bahamas) and an excellent tour guide. Technically her tours are group tours, though the day we booked her we only had 1 other guest. My only word of advice however would be to clarify to Carolyn if you’re specifically there to do photography. The other guest in our group was a photographer and we weren’t and we were often at odds with each other. She wanted to stay in one spot and wait for a shot, her camera was loud and scared off flightier birds, and we found ourselves getting exasperated by the end of the day. Still though - a great day, and it definitely beats going to Atlantis or the Straw Market for the 100th time!
Practical Information: Carolyn’s price as of 2018 was $79 per person for a half-day tour which included pickup and return to the cruise port, bottled water, loaner binoculars, and use of her guidebook and maps. A copy of the guidebook could be purchased for a small cost (I think $15?). Private tours and multiday tours to other islands can be arranged.
Website: http://www.bahamasoutdoors.com/
