Posted on 14 March 2023 | 3:49 pm
‘PRESENTING… A LARGE BILL’ The Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga ani) is one of three members of the cuckoo family found on Abaco, the others being the MANGROVE CUCKOO and the YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. Anis range from Florida and the Bahamas in the north down through the Caribbean to South America, where they are widespread. Unlike their shy and […]
Posted on 26 February 2023 | 1:37 pm
OSPREYS: ID GUIDE TO THE BAHAMAS SUBSPECIES I have featured bird comparatives from time to time, not least because scope for confusion meant that I needed to investigate for my own peace of mind. These included the tyrant flycatchers; a number of superficially similar warbler species (mostly with yellow bits); varied vireos; all those heron-y […]
Posted on 6 February 2023 | 12:01 pm
BLUEHEAD WRASSE: PRIVATE LIFE LAID BARE The bluehead wrasse (or blue-headed wrasse) Thalassoma bifasciatum is a denizen of the coral reefs in the tropical waters of the western Atlantic Ocean. This bright little 4-inch fish is… a wrasse with a blue head. No more and no less. Unless it’s a juvenile. Then it is mainly […]
Posted on 23 January 2023 | 11:21 am
FLAMINGO TONGUE SNAILS: DECORATIVE CORAL-DWELLERS FLAMINGO TONGUE SNAILS Cyphoma gibbous are small marine gastropod molluscs related to cowries. The living animal is brightly coloured and strikingly patterned, but that colour only exists in the ‘live’ parts – the so-called ‘mantle’. The shell itself is usually pale, and characterised by a thick ridge round the middle. Whether […]
Posted on 9 January 2023 | 9:44 am
Thanks to all followers, likers, commenters, regular visitors, one-offs, local wildlife organisations, and friends of Rolling Harbour in general. This year we passed 1 million hits over the ten years of this blog. Proving that people love Abaco, the Bahamas, birds, marine mammals, manatees, reef fish, sharks, turtles, shore-life, shells, insects, plant life, bonefishing, lighthouses, […]
Posted on 22 December 2022 | 11:21 am
TUNICATES: SESSILE ASEXUAL SEA-SQUIRTS Painted Tunicates Clavina picta are one of several species of tunicate ‘sea-squirts’ found in Bahamas and Caribbean waters. These creatures with their translucent bodies are usually found clustered together, sometimes in very large groups. One reason for this is that they are ‘sessile’, unable to move from where they have taken […]
Posted on 19 December 2022 | 1:34 pm
WRY ‘CUDA & SARDONIC SMILES, ABACO BAHAMAS There’s no doubt about it, barracudas have a particularly unwelcoming look to them. They exude menace. There’s something about the torpedo shape, the primitive head, and the uncomfortably snaggle-toothed grin-with-underbite that suggests a creature not to be underestimated. And that smiley mouth – rather scornful and derisive, is […]
Posted on 6 December 2022 | 12:46 pm
MANATEE AWARENESS MONTH: BAHAMAS? WE GOTTEM! Manatees are apex ‘gorgeous marine mammals’. Gentle, inquisitive, brave, long-distance-but-rather-slow-swimming, grass-grazing miracle ur-elephant descendants. They never made it out of the sea in the Miocene epoch. Incongruous in a world of fast sharks, snappy ‘cudas, large whales and leaping dolphins, they contentedly mooch around the seagrass beds. No one […]
Posted on 22 November 2022 | 2:58 pm
We are all familiar with some of the collective nouns for birds – flocks, flights, broods, maybe companies (parrots) and so on. There are plenty of lesser known terms for specific birds, of which quite a few seem rather remarkable: a wisdom of owls, a murder of crows, a lamentation of swans, an unkindness of […]
Posted on 14 November 2022 | 4:52 pm
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