February 2000 Table of Contents

Please pass this along to Woody Bracey as a matter of information:

I was most interested in your article in the January issue of Abaco Journal. We had similiar observations at our home here in Marsh Harbour. It was amazing that so many birds actually did survive the devastating winds of Floyd. As soon as we realised how desperately hungry they were, We put out extra feeders with nectar, seed and fruit. Birds came from all directions, hummingbirds, bananaquits, red-wing blackbirds, doves and woodpeckers. There were other small birds we couldn't identify. And there was a lone mockingbird which we suspected had lost its mate.

They all flocked round the feeders, so intent on feeding (trusting us, we wanted to think) that they'd let us approach to within a few feet of them. We could imagine a certain camaraderie between us; we had survived the Storm of the Century together.

Our guests put on a good show for us and our too-lazy- to-hunt cats as they jockeyed for position at the feeders. The woodpeckers, three young birds and an adult, were the stars as they hung from the humming-bird perches guzzling nectar. At one point we counted 50 hermit crabs waiting on the ground for dropped seed, and the lizards discovered that tiny slivers of cheese were a passable substitute for live bugs.

Gradually, as their natural food became available again, the numbers of refugees decreased, except for the red-wing blackbirds who seem to have taken up permanent residence with us. But not long after Irene, a little flock of painted buntings appeared, and then one morning we were awakened by the chittering of eight Abaco parrots in a tree top outside our window.

Jack Turner,
Marsh Harbour.