BAHAMAS ISLANDS – where the Atlantic meets the Caribbean

PRICE INFORMATION

Birdquest Inclusions: Our tour prices include surface transportation, accommodations, meals and entrance fees.

We also include all tipping for local guides, drivers and accommodation/restaurant staff.

We also include these flights: Nassau-Marsh Harbour-Nassau, Nassau-Andros-Nassau and Nassau-Great Inagua-Nassau.

Deposit: 20% of the total tour price. Our office will let you know what deposit amount is due, in order to confirm your booking, following receipt of your online booking form.

TO BOOK THIS TOUR: Click here (you will need the tour dates)

The single supplement will not apply if you indicate on booking that you prefer to share a room and there is a room-mate of the same sex available.

This tour is priced in US Dollars. Amounts shown in other currencies are indicative.

Air Travel To & From The Tour: Our in-house IATA ticket agency will be pleased to arrange your air travel on request, or you may arrange this yourself if you prefer.

BAHAMAS ISLANDS BIRDING TOUR: DETAILED ITINERARY

Bahamas: Day 1  Our Bahamas birding tour starts this afternoon at Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, where we will overnight.

Bahamas: Day 2  We will take a short morning flight to Marsh Harbour on the island of Abaco in the northern Bahamas, where we will stay for two nights. we will have most of the day to explore the island.

Bahamas: Day 3  The pleasant island of Abaco is the second largest of the Bahamas (after Andros), stretching about 180 kilometres (120 miles) from north to south. A series of coral cays dot the waters off the east coast, whilst to the west are the many mangrove islands and tidal flats of The Marls. Although Marsh Harbour and Treasure Cay have been developed as tourist resorts, there are not yet the large-scale developments of Nassau or Freeport, and much of Abaco is still very quiet, with large expanses of native pinewoods.

Abaco offers the best birding in the entire Bahamas, with more specialities than any other island, including four of the Bahamian endemics (although the Bahamas Woodstar is easier to see on North Andros).

We shall be concentrating much of our time on the southern part of Great Abaco, as far as Abaco National Park and the quaintly-named Hole-in-the-Wall. The large expanses of pine woodland in this area are the headquarters of Abaco’s remaining Cuban Amazon (here of the endemic Bahamian subspecies, which may be split in future as Bahama Amazon) and we should obtain good views of these noisy birds as they head for their roosts. The endemic Bahama Warbler and the endemic Bahama Yellowthroat can be found fairly easily in this fine area. Endemic Bahama Swallows nest in dead trees and feed over pastures and ponds. We may also find the endemic Bahamas Woodstar on Abaco, although it is uncommon.

Other likely specialities include White-crowned Pigeon, Zenaida Dove, Mangrove Cuckoo, Cuban Emerald, West Indian Woodpecker, Cuban Pewee, La Sagra’s Flycatcher, Grey and Loggerhead Kingbirds, Red-legged Thrush, Bahama Mockingbird, Thick-billed and Black-whiskered Vireos, Golden and Olive-capped Warblers, Bananaquit, Western Spindalis (or Western Stripe-headed Tanager), Black-faced Grassquit, Greater Antillean Bullfinch and perhaps also the attractive but uncommon and rather furtive Key West Quail-Dove. At dusk Antillean Nighthawks hunt overhead.

More widespread species found amongst the pine woods or in more open habitats include Western Cattle Egret, Turkey Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Eurasian Collared Dove, Mourning Dove, Common Ground Dove, Smooth-billed Ani, Hairy Woodpecker, Barn Swallow, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, Northern Mockingbird, Pine, Palm, Cape May and Blackpoll Warblers, American Redstart and Red-winged Blackbird.

Beaches, headlands, small wetlands, mangroves and tidal flats can be checked for Least Grebe, Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Magnificent Frigatebird, Great and Snowy Egrets, Tricolored Heron, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, White-cheeked (or Bahama) Pintail, Clapper Rail, Killdeer, Solitary and Semipalmated Sandpipers, Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Laughing Gull, Royal and Least Terns, and, with luck, the endangered Piping Plover.

Bahamas: Day 4  After some final birding on Abaco we shall take a short flight to Nassau and then a short onward flight to Andros Town on the island of North Andros for a two nights stay. We should arrive in time for some initial exploration.

Bahamas: Day 5  Several specialities that are absent from Abaco can be found on North Andros and in particular we will be concentrating on the endemic Bahama Oriole (now treated as a distinct species, rather than lumped in Black-cowled), as well as West Indian Whistling-Duck, Caribbean Osprey (now treated as a distinct species) and Great Lizard Cuckoo. We can also expect to catch up on the attractive but diminutive endemic Bahama Woodstar if we missed it on Abaco. Other species we may well find here include Pied-billed Grebe, Great Blue, Little Blue and Green Herons, Reddish Egret, Roseate Spoonbill, Black-necked Stilt, American Oystercatcher, Wilson’s and Semipalmated Plovers, and Spotted Sandpiper.

Bahamas: Day 6  This morning we will return to Nassau and catch an onward connection to the island of Great Inagua, where we will overnight. Great Inagua is home to the Bahamas’ latest endemic, the tiny Great Inagua Woodstar, which we should have little difficulty finding. This beautiful ‘desert’ island is a fitting spot for our final, celebratory dinner together.

This evening we will have a celebratory dinner in our little corner of paradise.

Bahamas: Day 7  After some final birding at Great Inagua we will be able to wash and change at our hotel before our return flight to Nassau. Our tour will end at Nassau airport by early afternoon.