Birding with Jerry Hall: A lot to like about bird-friendly Bermuda

By Jerry Hall

Bermuda — You’ve got to love a country that features an eastern bluebird in full color on its two-dollar bill and a white-tailed tropicbird on its quarters.  That country is Bermuda, a British overseas territory located in the Atlantic Ocean about 640 miles east of Cape Hatteras, N.C.

I visited there recently with a group of 14 folks on a Wimberley Birding Society trip. We attended a charter Elderhostel (now called Exploritas) program at the park-like, 15-acre campus of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences. It was a wonderful week.

The Bermudan currency, by the way, is pegged to the U.S. dollar at parity and both can be used interchangeably. 

Finding birds on the currency was just one thing I liked about this island — actually, make that islands plural, since Bermuda consists of some 138 islands with a total area of just over 20 square miles. Population is about 65,000.

The major islands are connected by bridges and people drive on the left side of mostly narrow roads and steering wheels are on the right side of vehicles, just as in jolly old England. Fast ferries also provide transport on calm days.

I enjoyed the sub-tropical climate with highs in the 80s and lows in the 70s, and while occasional light showers raised the humidity, they also provided a steady supply of colorful rainbows. Each evening, tree frogs sang a delightful serenade, sounding like high-pitched bells.

The islands have broad areas of manicured green lawns and verdant bushes, trees and vines, punctuated with blooming oleanders and hibiscus, plus all manner of colorful flowers. Houses painted in pastel hues of yellow, pink, blue and white dot the landscape.

The ocean all around is a turquoise color and is crystal clear down to about 150 feet. Much of the coast is rocky, but the best beaches have soft pink sand and feathery waves that whisper ashore with a velvet sigh.  What a lovely place.

We spent most of our time tramping around ponds, beaches, golf courses, cliff tops and an abandoned railroad right-of-way, looking for birds.  We heard some interesting talks on Bermuda history, Bermuda bird life, and ocean research, and we also managed a bit of sight-seeing. We took a sea cruise to Paget Island Nature Reserve, visited the Bermuda Arboretum and took a ferry to the Royal Navy Dockyard to see the Commissioner’s House and Craft Market.  We also visited Hamilton, the capital city.

One free afternoon, I saw dolphins perform at Dolphin Quest, heard Quincy Jones rehearse for a concert at the Arts Centre and bought three different flavor rum cakes, traditional, coffee and swizzle. They come in 11 flavors, with free samples, and along with hot sauce, are one of the few island-made products.

We also toured the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo, enjoying the 145,000 gallon coral reef tank and seeing fish, birds, animals and amphibians from the world’s oceanic islands. 

Our quest for birds, by the way, was quite successful. We saw the national bird of Bermuda, the endangered and elusive cahow.  We missed seeing this bird on a long boat ride, with flying fish leaping all about, but were successful on an evening visit to Turtle Bay and Cooper’s Island. What’s more, we saw the cahow in company with Dr. David Wingate, the famous naturalist who helped re-discover the bird in 1951, after it was presumed to be extinct for hundreds of years. A spry 74 years old, Wingate led us on birding walks all around Bermuda.

In addition to seeing the cahow at a great distance, we were fortunate to see the island’s most recent celebrity bird, a purple swamp hen, evidently blown over from Africa. We saw this bird up very close as it fed in a grassy area across from a school playground. It looked a lot like a big purple gallinule and was a first sighting for Bermuda.

Some 375 bird species have been recorded in Bermuda, most being migrants passing through in spring and fall. Only two birds are endemic to the island, the cahow and the Bermuda white-eyed vireo. We saw them both.

We spotted a total of 59 species, ranging from warblers to gulls and shorebirds to ducks.  Two of my favorites were a European goldfinch and a black and white warbler.  I also liked the brilliant yellow kiskadees, probably the most common birds on the island.

Whether you’re looking for birds or beaches, rum cakes or rainbows, I highly recommend Bermuda, a truly beautiful island.