Merti Rittgers (above from left) of Delray Beach, Derik Bowen of Coconut Creek and Kari Longshore of Montana came to Boca Raton on Nov. 12 to catch a glimpse of a rare and beautiful bananaquit (Coereba flaveola), which was feasting on firespike nectar in the butterfly garden at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.
Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Rich Pollack
For all intents and purposes, the small bird camped out in the butterfly garden at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton shouldn’t have been there.
But then in late October, a lone bananaquit, a sugar-loving bird that usually stays in the Bahamas, made its first appearance and well, the birding community went bananas.
“The first few mornings, no less than two dozen birders showed up with binoculars and large cameras,” said David Anderson, Gumbo Limbo’s sea turtle conservation coordinator. “They came from all over.”
How the bird got to southern Palm Beach County’s coast is a bit of a mystery, with enough theories flying around to fill a small aviary.
“If you talk to 10 people, you’ll get 10 theories on why it got here,” said longtime birder Al Pelligrinelli, who is sure of one thing. “It didn’t fly here on purpose.”
Pelligrinelli, who first saw a bananaquit in the United States on New Year’s Day 2011 at Spanish River Park in Boca Raton and hadn’t seen one anywhere since, says that birds sometimes get off course or get confused and end up where they don’t belong.
Others say it could possibly have followed other species by accident or gotten blown off course in stormy weather.
One thing is for sure, once the bananaquit landed in the Gumbo Limbo garden and found nectar-rich firespike, it wasn’t leaving anytime soon.
It was still being seen at Gumbo Limbo as late as the middle of November and still attracting birders like Aidan Rodriguez, who came all the way from Athens, Georgia.
“The bananaquit is only there because it found an island of food for itself,” said Rodriguez, who was planning on a birding trip to Florida later in the year but moved the visit up when he learned of the bananaquit’s arrival.
Knowing that sightings of the species are rare, he said he didn’t want to take a chance of missing the bird.
“It’s not predictable,” he said. “It’s not something you can rely on.”
Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola)
Although it looks very much like a warbler in size, the bananaquit is actually a member of the tanager family. It uses its long pointed bill to probe into flowers in search of nectar, acting much like a hummingbird.
Why have so many birders and photographers flocked to Gumbo Limbo to see the bananaquit? It’s rare in South Florida, but it’s also especially attractive and bold.
“They are a very colorful bird and they’re easy to see,” said Pelligrinelli. “They’re not shy at all.”
The host of Gumbo Limbo’s Early Birding with Al — a free birding adventure one Thursday a month — says he wanted to be sure he had a chance to see the bananaquit before it flew off.
“It’s a life bird for many birders,” he said. “I just wanted to put it on my list again.”
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