With so many talented artists performing on St. John during the winter season, you can be out almost every night rocking and rolling.
 |
| Adelaide's warbler by Lameshur Bay Photo Richard Veit |
Now a new Latin group performing on St. John’s south shore
is causing quite a stir. They are called Adelaide’s Warblers, but back home in
Puerto Rico their group is the Reinita Mariposeras (which loosely translates
into ‘Little Queen Butterfly Hunters’). Not very macho, but I heard they were
flashy looking and knew a lot of sweet songs so my friend Kathy and I drove out
to Lameshur Bay to catch their act.
Okay,
they were just little birds but very handsome and good singers, so we were
happy we made the trip. We did have to hike out into the forest a little way
past Little Lameshur Bay beach on the path towards Reef Bay. It is lovely out
there, but it’s not a good venue for the late night crowd – which is okay
because the birds do most of their singing from mid-morning to early afternoon.
One of the common male songs is a long loud trill increasing
in pitch. We could hear it from a distance up the hill before we saw a couple
of birds flitting back and forth across the path.
The interesting thing about these warblers is that until
recently they were only found on Puerto Rico and Vieques. Now they seem to be
settling in the Virgin Islands as well. I heard about these guys from Professor
Richard Veit who frequently does research at VIERS, the Virgin Islands
Environmental Resource Stations at Lameshur. He is a professor from the College
of Staten Island and the City University of New York Graduate Center.
The Adelaide’s Warblers were first observed on St. Thomas in
2012. Last January Professor Veit and his colleagues found five of them on St.
John near Lameshur, including at least three different singing males that
appeared to be vigorously defending breeding territories. This January they
counted eight. Seems like the band is expanding.
There are some familiar St. John residents also performing
in the same area – including Bananaquits and Yellow Warblers. Though they may
show you a flash of yellow as they flit past, up close these birds sound and
look quite different.
 |
| Yellow warbler Photo Gail Karlsson |
 |
| Bananaquit Photo Gail Karlsson |
The song of the Yellow Warbler is commonly described as
“sweet, sweet, I’m so sweet”, while the Bananaquit keeps repeating “tseet,
tseet, tseet” which is not very melodic.
If you don’t make it to Lameshur, you can check out some of
the trilling tunes of the Adelaide’s Warblers at this website:
http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Setophaga-adelaidae.
