Birds of Aruba (Ornithology)

[Schnauzerjoy]

Most of us that go to Aruba regularly might think of Aruba as a Paradise but with very few birds. At least that was my opinion. I have been here quite a few times and been all over the Island, but when my father asked about the bird life here, my answer was that there were very few birds and only a very few species.
He is a biologist with a special interest in ornithology and I was trying to convince him to do his first really long trip since we went regularly to Greenland in the 70'ties .
But never the less I got him convinced to come here to our house in Aruba, and he opened my eyes to the real bird life here.
In just the two weeks he saw at least 40 different species and a lot of them from our house looking out over the Salina. He also informed me that Aruba officially has 50 something different kinds of birds but in reality you have a chance to see over 100 different species as they fly over from Venezuela.
I also just found this great site with birds of Aruba http://www.arubabirds.com/ which gives a lot of valuable info.

I know this subject probably is not in the interest of the majority of people here, but good to know for the people who is going and are interested in ornithology, that unknown to most, Aruba has a vast bird life which is worth pursuing if you are interested.

Carsten

[cindyo]

Carsten, cool info...thanks

[silverfox82]

I think you might be surprised how many people are interested in all the creatures here. Unlike some islands we have visited there seems to be a real intrest in the wildlife by locals as well as tourists. Thanks for the site, I now know the birds we have been calling "finches" are the grassquits, I have to watch where I'm walking in the grass because they are hard to see and are not shy of humans. Saw a mockingbird beating up a crab on the beach this morning, very cool. (the crab won)

[Cheryl]

We see lots of birds at our place in Aruba. In fact, a few of them have repeatedly made nests in our yard. One persistent mama makes her nest right on our patio a few times a year. I have watched the development from when she put her eggs in, to the hatching, to the baby birds flying off. We have lots of hummingbirds that love the aloe when it is in bloom in our yard. We have little birds with yellow bellies that I also thought were little finches. A small dove had a nest in one of our palm trees and every morning, a flock of what look like little green parrots flies by. Will study that website you provided to learn the names of the various birds that visit us in Aruba. Thanks....Cheryl

[silverfox82]

We now have a mockingbird that visits daily that has weird feet, it looks like fur on them. Its unlike all the others here, very strange. I almost got a picture of it but I wasn't quick enough.

[Linda VH]

We're on the 5th floor at Costa Linda overlooking the trees on the public beach as well as the ocean. We see alot of birds. Thank you for the link - I didn't know our "little cutie pies" were called Blackfaced Grassquits. We have two couples (male and female) . They know we have birdseed (we don't put it out alot because the doves are pesky) and this a.m., for instance, they were standing on the back of the balcony chairs peering in the window at us cheeping away. When I didn't respond right away (I was headed out there) the female clung to the edge of the glass on the door so I couldn't miss her. They crack us up!!! We see grackles, occasionally troupials, mockingbirds and, of course, frigates, pelicans, etc.

[Tom and Karen]

Very nice!!!! Thanks for posting.

[Jacki]

Thanks for the post - very interesting

[linda744]

Now I know what bird I will be looking at when I see them. We have TS at the Playa Linda and every year we see a "family" of birds in one palm tree. I now know that they are Caribbean Parakeets. I thought they looked very much like a Quaker Parrot as they had the similar markings and traits. Interesting site, thanks for posting.

[Arubalisa]

Originally Posted by ladylm

I now know that they are Caribbean Parakeets.

All beautiful birds...

Brown Throat Parakeet


Bananaquit


Bare Eyed Pigeon


Trupial


Ground Dove


Ruddy Turnstone