Day 1: The tour begins with an introductory meeting and dinner at our hotel in Nassau.

Days 2-4: We’ll begin the morning of Day 2 with a flight from Nassau to Fresh Creek, North Andros Town, and settle into the wonderful Small Hope Bay Lodge. Andros offers a remarkable natural environment. In the north, soft tropical sands sweep back into pine forests. In the center of the island, thick low-lying brush opens to inland waterways and tidal flats. Along the eastern shore, coral rock splits open to underground rivers, and everywhere mangrove marshlands feed a pristine reef, the third longest in the world.

We’ll spend our time birding these three days around the northern part of  Andros Island. In native scrub across the road from our lodge we’ll look for Great Lizard Cuckoo, Loggerhead Kingbird and Thick-billed Vireo. In the pines and coppices we’re likely to see Cuban Emerald and Cuban Pewee. Near Stainard and Fresh Creeks we’ll search for Bahama Swallow, La Sagra’s Flycatcher and the critically endangered Northrop’s Oriole.  We also stand at least a chance of encountering the threatened West Indian Whistling-Duck. Another delight of birding at this season in the northern Bahamas is the chance to observe a number of North American warblers on their wintering grounds; we could possibly see 12 or more species. Finally, as delightful as the birding and weather are likely to be, a great feature of Andros must be our lodge: comfortable, informal and perched under coconut palms on the edge of its own gently sloping sand beach. Those who wish can partake of good snorkeling and superb diving; indeed, most of the lodge’s customers come for these activities. Nights at Small Hope Bay Lodge on Andros Island. 

Day 4: A mid-day flight short back to Nassau should give us time to explore a bit around New Providence, where we will seek out Cuban Grassquit and Caribbean Dove (both introduced into the Bahamas but thriving on New Providence Island).  Night in Nassau.

Days 5-6: We’ll take a morning north to Marsh Harbor on Abaco Island.  Abaco is the second largest island in the Bahamas, and offers the visiting naturalist stands of Caribbean Pine, with a rich understory of Thatch Palms and ferns, thickly vegetated native coppices, mangrove forests and sweeping white sand beaches. Each day will be spent in some part of nearby Abaco. We’ll specifically seek out such Abaco specialties as White-cheeked Pintail, West Indian Woodpecker, Cuban Parrot (a local subspecies which curiously nests in the ground), the endemic Bahama Swallow and Bahama Warbler, and near-endemic Olive-capped Warbler, which are difficult or impossible to find on Andros. Nights at Abaco Beach Resort on Abaco Island.

Day 7: This will largely be a travel day, with birding scheduled when possible, around the flight times.  We should have some time in the morning around Abaco to catch up on any missed species, before heading back to Nassau and then continuing on another flight bound for the southernmost region of the country; the little explored Great Inagua. Night on Great Inagua.

Day 8: Our chief reason for visiting this largely uninhabited island is to seek out the beautiful Inagua Woodstar; a small and spectacular species with a spiked tail that frequents the scrub and gardens around the island.  Happily, it’s a relatively common species in its very limited range, and once we have secured good views, we should have the rest of the day to explore the island.  A large salt lake, dotted with small mangrove islands supports a wealth of wintering shorebirds and herons, as well as a breeding colony of over 30,000 American Flamingos!  Indeed, the wetland is likely the largest and most important area in the country for waterbirds and has been designated as a RAMSAR protected site. We’ll spend some time combing through the masses of birds here, likely turning up a few surprises as the area is not regularly covered by birders.  The island also supports an endemic subspecies of Cuban Parrot and a good population of resident Burrowing Owls. Night on Great Inagua.

Day 9: On this day we’ll leave the remote Inagua behind, arriving back at bustling Nassau with some time for a bit of afternoon birding.  Night in Nassau.

Day 10 (Extension Day 1): Main tour ends this morning with flights home. For those opting to continue on to our Grand Cayman extension we’ll head to the airport midday and then take the roughly two-hour flight over to Grand Cayman, where we will spend the night.

Extension Day 2: We’ll have an entire day to bird around Grand Cayman, doubtless with some time on the well-known Mastic Trail which leads through a wonderful stand of old-growth dry forest growing on an uplifted limestone reef as well as the local Botanic Gardens, with their series of small wetlands and taller stands of trees.  Here we will seek out the newly minted Grand Cayman Bullfinch and the pretty, if understated, Vitelline Warbler, as well as a nice selection of subspecies that are endemic to the Caymans and may well be split out someday (such as the Cayman races of Cuban Parrot and Caribbean Dove) and a few non-endemic species that will be new to us such as Yucatan Vireo, Greater Antillean Grackle and Caribbean Elaenia.  The island also hosts a few special species of reptiles, and we’ll keep an eye out for the jewel-like Grand Cayman Anole, furtive Grand Cayman Curlytail and impressively bulky Grand Cayman Blue Iguana as we travel around the island.  Night on Grand Cayman.

Extension Day 3: The tour concludes this morning with shuttles back to the airport.  

The Bahamas: Andros Island (only) 2006 Tour Narrative

The 2006 tour of Andros Island was exceptional. The relaxed atmosphere of the splendid Small Hope Bay Lodge along with the friendliness and superb service of the staff provided a perfect backdrop to birding this large Caribbean Island. We spent the mornings alternating between searching the heavily vegetated villages of Andros for migrant and wintering North American species and visiting native coppice and “upland” Caribbean Pine forests for the several West Indian species that are rare or unrecorded in the United States. A tour to such a scenic and relaxing place as the Bahamas serves as both a vacation and an opportunity for seeking out a nice assortment of birds. The trip highlights likely are different for every participant, but some of my favorite non-avian memories include the nightly social hour with truly delectable conch fritters, mingling with the varied guests at the lodge, exploring some of the many old backcountry logging roads that bisect the island’s interior, visiting several inland Blue Holes (which give the intrepid scuba diver a unique access to the extensive underwater cave systems that lie below Andros), and simply walking the white sand beaches or watching the amazingly blue sea, with a Pina Colada in hand. The birds did not disappoint with repeated and excellent looks of such range-restricted species as Bahama Woodstar, Cuban Emerald, Cuban Pewee, La Sagra’s Flycatcher, Loggerhead Kingbird, Bahama Mockingbird, Thick-billed Vireo, Bahama Yellowthroat, Greater Antillean Bullfinch and Western Spindalis. Two special treats were our prolonged view of a juvenile Great Lizard Cuckoo, catching and then devouring a large walking stick, and of repeated close studies of the endemic subspecies of Greater Antillean Oriole, which is a prime candidate for full species status and is wholly confined to Andros Island. Some other exceptional finds were an incredible 6 species of Vireos, and an amazing 21 species of North American Warblers including a very rare find for the Bahamas, the Orange-crowned!

Note: For 2013 we have expanded the tour to include the nearby island of Abaco, where we hope to add several more interesting and range restricted species such as Cuban (Bahama) Parrot, Olive-capped Warbler, Bahama Swallow and the insular race of Yellow-throated Warbler. We will have a short time on Nassau at the beginning of the extension, where it’s easier to pick up such species as Caribbean Dove, Cuban Grassquit, and White-cheeked Pintail.