Birding while Cruising

I have read accounts of birders who do a lot of birding while on cruises.  They are the first ones off the boat at each stop and try to hit the most likely locations in their alloted time.  This is a great way to lengthen a life list.  For the bird photographer, however, I found it less than ideal.  Without a previous scouting of the area to know where the birds are and how they behave in their local environment,  great images are difficult to obtain.   Although the digital results are often disappointing, it still is exciting since many of the birds seen are new. 

A short cruise to CocoCay and later to Nassau in the Bahamas allowed me to try for a few new species.  Ideally, I would have liked to disembark before sunrise but that is impossible.  By the time you set foot on land you have already missed an hour of the best light with only a couple to go.  Finding a subject before the sun gets too high is a matter of luck in the the remaining time.  

The best stop for avian photography was CocoCay.  After I got off the tender boat I turned to the right and started down the island.  Almost everybody else turned left and headed for the main beach area.  The shoreline was rather windy so I moved into the scrub and more forested areas.  There was a labelled nature trail that produced the most activity. 

Bananaquit

Black-faced Grassquit

Bahama Woodstar Hummingbird

Not all birds encountered, however, are new species.  I was hoping for a Bahama Mockingbird but instead got  a large number of Northern Mockingbirds.

Common Ground Doves were very common everywhere I went.

About ten o'clock the main horde arrived.  After the 5th vactioneer tapped me on the back and asked me what I was photographing I decided it was time to quit. 

Nassau produced very few bird images.  Having been warned not to stray too far with photographic equipment I spent the day as a typical tourist.  We hired a tour guide, Rev. Anthony, who came from a family of 10 children, grew up in the hood, but through perseverance got an education, and now preaches at  his own church, and hustles tours on the side.  According to him he has lost a considerable amount of weight recently through a healthy diet consisting entirely of nuts.  As evidence of this he munched from several bags of nuts the entire trip.  According to the Reverend there is no middle class here.  They are either very rich or very poor.  This seemed to be supported by the places visited.  On the drive through the hood we saw the poverty side.

The contrast could not be greater when viewing the Atlantis complex where the daily rate on some rooms could buy one a brand new car.

Shooting from the boat was an exercise in futility as very few birds were seen at sea.  The only wildlife on board seemed to be the the deck parties.  Not exactly what I had in mind but interesting nevertheless.