Virgin Islands Birds

I came across some interesting birds during our St. John vacation this summer.  My favorite photo is of a Yellow Warbler my family and I saw while hiking to Leinster Bay, one of St. John's many beautiful beaches.  The pretty little bird kept flying around this vehicle parked in the woods.  It seemed to be fascinated by its reflection, perhaps thinking it was another Yellow Warbler!  It didn't stay in one spot but for a few seconds so getting good pictures of it was a challenge. 

Black-headed Gulls were bountiful on the shores of this Caribbean island.  Using some treats, I attracted some to my hotel room terrace and soon one gull turned into several.  They raised quite a ruckus with their shrills and shreiks.  I have a video clip of the ruckus on a YouTube video I just produced about our trip (it's at the very end). 

It can be viewed at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izSlqjqifCE

Probably the island's most common bird is the Pearly-eyed Thrasher. They have a vibrant and endearing song and always seemed busy, busy. We'd see them around the resort and everywhere else on the island. 

I see lots of herons back home but not with the coloring of the one spotted a few times in a marsh at the Westin resort where we stayed.   My friend Suzanne helped confirm that this is a Little Blue Heron in the process of changing from white to blue. 

My featured last bird I spotted while snorkeling in Leinster Bay.  It was cruising the waters below for fish reminding me of the Brown Pelicans seen back home.  But I quickly noticed the different profile and thought it may be a Frigatebird.  I had seen some of these large birds over the waters of Puerto Rico during our previous Caribbean excursion.  I took this photo with my snorkel camera.  I was hoping it would fly lower over me but it never did so this was the best I got.  I cropped the original to give a better look at it. Later at the hotel I got on the internet and confirmed it to be the mighty Magnificent Frigatebird.