BIRDING NEWS :- In St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, two female LESSER ANTILLEAN BULLFINCHES were seen in Red Hook on 27 March and a single female on 24 March; a pair had apparently been seen intermittently during the past month and a female reportedly was seen once flying out of a BANANAQUIT nest. There appear to be only a few previous sight records (details lacking) of this species from St. Thomas, where it is expected to spread given its ubiquity in neighbouring St. John. At Red Hook, 18 WHITE-WINGED DOVES (highest count for St. Thomas) were tallied on 24 March but only eight were seen on 27 March. Drought conditions are drying up the small ponds on the west side of the island, where only four LEAST GREBES were tallied on 27 March, but five others were found the same day in a newly ""discovered"" small, freshwater pond at Red Hook. Other noteworthy birds recorded on 27 March include: a WHITE-CHEEKED PINTAIL with two yellow nasal tags and ring #915-08097, presumably ringed in Puerto Rico or Culebra, at Sapphire Bay Condominiums; 13 BLUE-WINGED TEAL at four sites; the first LAUGHING GULL of the year at Hull Bay; and three WILSON''S PLOVERS and nine STILT SANDPIPERS at Perseverance Bay. The YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER at Magens Bay was still present on 22 March. The immature female YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER was relocated at Turpentine Run on 8 March. A male RING-NECKED DUCK was found at Mahogany Run on 7 March.

We received word that the OSPREY found ill at Fortuna Bay, St. Thomas, on 15 September and found dead on 17 September was ringed as a nestling near Barnegat Light, New Jersey, on 2 July 1994; its death from an unexplained illness just might have been from the West Nile Virus, which has recently reported from birds in the Dominican Republic, but unfortunately the bird had been dead too long for testing.

The small offshore cays surrounding St. Thomas provide suitable nesting habitat for a variety of birds, especially seabirds. A brief hike along the east side of Cockroach Cay on 20 March produced a dead AUDUBON''S SHEARWATER (no active nests found), 15 adult and five young MASKED BOOBIES, and 12 RED-BILLED TROPICBIRDS including eight on nests. Also on 20 March, ten nesting RED-FOOTED BOOBIES (nine brown and one white morph) at Dutchcap Cay were visible from a boat and three RED-BILLED TROPICBIRDS flew off the coast of Water Island. A pair of WILSON''S PLOVERS was noted at Dog Cay on 26 March.

In St. John, US Virgin Islands, a short hike at Cinnamon Bay on 24 March produced a male BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER (only report for the season), two BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLERS, two AMERICAN REDSTARTS and a NORTHERN PARULA. To correct an earlier report, the two Yellow-throated Warblers at Francis Bay on 19 January were actually YELLOW-RUMPED (MYRTLE) WARBLERS, which apparently staged a major southward invasion this winter into Central America, the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles (reports from St. Martin, Anguilla and Guadeloupe chronicled in earlier alerts).

In the northern range of Trinidad, a hike to the OILBIRD caves at Aripo on 26th Mar produced WHITE BELLIED ANTBIRD, BEARDED BELLBIRD, 4 YELLOW LEGGED THRUSHES, SPECKLED TANAGER and 3 BLUE CAPPED TANAGERS. On 29th March, in the forest between Morne Bleu and Las Lapas an adult ORNATE HAWK-EAGLE flew south down the valley and the first SWALLOW TANAGERS of the year (a male and 3 females) were found. Also seen were COLLARED TROGON, BLUE CROWNED MOTMOT, 2 CHANNEL BILLED TOUCANS, RED RUMPED WOODPECKER, STREAKED XENOPS, OCHRE BELLIED, 2 SLATY CAPPED, EULER'S AND 3 DUSKY CAPPED FLYCATCHERS.

From the north east corner of Trinidad, a 2 hour seawatch from Galera Pt on 25th March did not produce a single migrant seabird ! Obviously mid March is too early ! However, roadside TROPICAL SCREECH-OWL and SWALLOW TAILED KITE at Balandra made the trip worthwhile.

ORNITHOLOGICAL TIDBIT: The following abstract is from: Heath, M., and M. Hansell. 2002. Weaving techniques in two species of Icteridae, the Yellow Oriole (Icterus nigrogularis) and Crested Oropendola (Psarocolius decumanus). Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Occasional Paper 11:144-154. African weaverbirds (subfamily Ploceinae) use a variety of weaving stitches in nest construction, which suggests that in these woven nests building behaviour is particularly complex. However, birds in several other families also make hanging nests of entangled vegetation, the most impressive being nests made by the New World orioles and oropendolas (family Icteridae). Examination of nests of the Yellow Oriole (Icterus nigrogularis) and Crested Oropendola (Psaracolius decumanus) in this study demonstrates that a similar range of stitches are used by these species compared with the Ploceinae. The nests of both species, however, make particular use of two simple stitches, the half hitch and simple loop; both species also use a simple weaving technique. Spiral binding is shown by both species, but was at its highest density around the entrance of the nests of the Crested Oropendola. The difficulty of weaving compared to other techniques and the extent of its occurrence among birds are discussed.