WHAT IS THE RAREST BIRD IN THE BAHAMAS, AND CAN IT BE SAVED?
Arguably, the Brown-headed Nuthatch might be considered the rarest nesting bird in the Bahamas. The nuthatch occurs only in the Caribbean pine forests of Grand Bahama Island. James Bond, the famous ornithologist and actual namesake for Ian Fleming’s spy character, first described this bird in the 1930s, and considered it to be a subspecies (“insularis”) of the Brown-headed Nuthatch of the United States. Grand Bahama Island is the only place outside the U.S. where Brown-headed Nuthatches occur. Recent studies of this bird on Grand Bahama by Prof. William Hayes of Loma Linda University, California, and Prof. Gary Slater of the Ecostudies Institute, Mount Vernon, Washington, suggest that the bird may be a full species, distinguished from its continental relatives by its longer bill, shorter wings, whiter belly, and distinctive voice. Unfortunately, the bird is threatened with extinction, with only 1,000 individuals thought to exist on Grand Bahama. The nuthatches are at risk from accelera
