Birds and Flowers

In addition to our own species list, which you can view anytime from this site (see below), Brett has also been regularly contributing to a South Caicos Master Species List that was started by one of the SFS faculty members. It catalogs all of the species that have been seen and definitively documented by students, staff, significant others, and anyone else here on the island who is so inclined. Brett must be credited with more additions than anyone else is though! (I don't know that for a fact, but it seems like every other day or so he's found another species that wasn't already on the list.) It's one of those hobbies that he has the time to pursue these days, and that he also seems to get a lot of pleasure out of. I have to admit that even if I had more free time, I'm not sure I'd be motivated enough to be constantly checking the list and tracking down all the required documentation for each new species, including a clearly identifying photo, its Kingdom through species classification, etc. That said, I have submitted a few entries of my own, the majority of which have been birds.

Bananaquit

Mourning Dove

Most recently, I identified a Mourning Dove that was singing just outside the staff porch and a Bananaquit that managed to get itself trapped under the roof of our common area. (We helped the Bananaquit find its way out after I took the above photo.) We've also seen an immature Little Blue Heron walking around outside the staff porch a few times over the past few days, but I haven't been able to get my camera out in time to capture it yet. (Plus, that one was already on the species list from when Brett and I added it back in August!)

Now I'm on a mission to identify some of the flowers and other plants around here. So much of our research for SFS-CMRS takes place underwater and focuses on marine wildlife, that nobody here (including the tropical ecologists) seems to know much about the terrestrial species. We don't have a very good plants/trees/shrubs field guide for the TCI region either, but I may look for one while I'm back in the States over the holidays. I'm already starting to collect photos to help with identification though, as it's likely that many of these flowers will no longer be in bloom come January. Here are a few shots I took yesterday: