Here's an OLD (1960's) Eleuthera picture (not at Calypso), by the society photographer Slim Aarons. ( Well, it got censored! - obviously somebody is scanning the web for illegal posting even of old pictures; you can see the picture at this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vieilles_annonces/8633046876/). Not sure where the pool was located - possibly French Leave or the Potlatch Club. And here's a much more recent photo (today!) taken at the Rockery at Calypso.

The 2 striking orange bromeliads are Aechmea blanchetiana. The blue flower is plumbago. The central palm is a Pseudophenix sargentii. The pink flower is Bougainvillea, one can also see oleander, frangipani, ruellia etc.

Great Lizard Cuckoo Sighting

On Jamie's last full day on Eleuthera, he saw a white cheeked pintail and a pair of great lizard cuckoos here at Calypso. They were within a few feet of us, and as usual quite tame. The GLC gave us a very nice specimen of his almost human call. And at one point he caught and ate...  a lizard. Jamie agrees with me that this is a really unusual, fascinating bird. Then after this early morning success, he went up to Surfer's Beach (the wind has shifted offshore) and caught some nice, though rather small waves.

Here is his list for today. Note that "south pond refers to Calypso Pond (i.e. the pond south of our causeway) and north pond to the larger pond north of the causeway (not fully visible from Calypso).  Overall in 7 days he saw 61 different species, 15 of them new!

Comments:     Around calypso
23 species

Blue-winged Teal  50     mostly south pond.
White-cheeked Pintail  3
Lesser Scaup  3
Pied-billed Grebe  2
Little Blue Heron  1
Green Heron  1
White Ibis  1     This bird has been associating with glossy ibis for past week on south pond.
Glossy Ibis  1
American Coot  65     Mostly north pond
White-crowned Pigeon  3
Common Ground-Dove  1
Great Lizard-Cuckoo  2
Smooth-billed Ani  5
Gray Catbird  3
Northern Mockingbird  1
Louisiana Waterthrush  1
Common Yellowthroat  1
American Redstart  1
Palm Warbler  4
Prairie Warbler  1
Bananaquit  1
Greater Antillean Bullfinch  1
Indigo Bunting  3

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13180559

Jamie's list for today, almost all seen on or near the ponds around Calypso.

American Wigeon  15     Seen with scope at north side pond at Calypso,  have seen similar numbers past several days.
Blue-winged Teal  75     By far the most plentiful bird on trip so far.
Least Grebe  10     These birds are plentiful, and I was able to get some good shots.
Pied-billed Grebe  4
Great Egret  4     Mostly at ponds on Banks road north of settlement
Little Blue Heron  2     blue morph and white morph
Tricolored Heron  1
Green Heron  3
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  1     Calypso in buttonwood
Glossy Ibis  1     This same bird has been in South pond Calypso 3 days straight.
Common Gallinule  4     Both ponds at Calypso
American Coot  50
Killdeer  10
Ruddy Turnstone  1     seen later at Double Bay
Rock Pigeon  2     In settlement - Palmetto point.
White-crowned Pigeon  3
Eurasian Collared-Dove  3
Common Ground-Dove  2
Smooth-billed Ani  12
Bahama Woodstar  5
Belted Kingfisher  1
Thick-billed Vireo  8     Extremely plentiful and tame. Probably more but this is best estimate as it seems these birds will follow a birder around.  Some would come within feet of me, responded to pishing.
Gray Catbird  2
Northern Mockingbird  3
Black-and-white Warbler  1
Bahama Yellowthroat  2     These seem to love the buttonwood around ponds.  Two birds is not high.
Palm Warbler  7     These can be seen anywhere on Eleuthera, see on beach, around ponds, in villages.
Yellow-rumped Warbler  7     Seen numbers like this consistently for past several days.
Prairie Warbler  1
Bananaquit  8
Black-faced Grassquit  2
Greater Antillean Bullfinch  3
Indigo Bunting  2     Male still not fully blue but almost there.  Hangs out next to Woodstar.

Birding and Fishing at Calypso

My son Jamie is here for the week. He recently became an avid and expert birder. Here is his list for the first full day. Most of these were seen on the grounds of Calypso, but a few were seen along the Banks Rd and at the entrance to the Levy Preserve. See also our old list at http://calypsocalypso.com/birds.htm

In previous stays he has focussed more on fishing. The above image shows a giant bonefish he caught.

American Wigeon  X
Blue-winged Teal  X
Ring-necked Duck  X
Least Grebe  X
Pied-billed Grebe  X
Great Egret  X
Little Blue Heron  X     White morph
Tricolored Heron  X
Green Heron  X
Glossy Ibis  X
Osprey  X
American Coot  X
White-crowned Pigeon  X
Eurasian Collared-Dove  X
Bahama Woodstar  X
Belted Kingfisher  X
Thick-billed Vireo  X
Northern Mockingbird  X
Palm Warbler  X
Yellow-rumped Warbler  X
Prairie Warbler  X
Bananaquit  X     several at hummingbird feeders.
Black-faced Grassquit  X
Greater Antillean Bullfinch  X     Leon Levy pavilion
Indigo Bunting  X

View from SeaStar front porch. Of course this only shows a small part of the ocean view, which is panoramic.

Very little damage from Sandy!

We have had a couple of reports from Eleuthera about the impact of Sandy on Calypso. The houses came through fine, and we even appear not to have lost any roof shingles from any of the 3 houses. The grounds are basically fine too, though blasted by salty winds, and there are a couple of coconuts down, and some papaya trees too. Hopefully by the time we get down there late december everything will have greened up. We will post new photos when available. In the meantime, I will resume this blog using images taken earlier this year - sorry for the long gap, we have just been very busy (and we only rent jan-may)!
Here's a random image taken in the back garden, showing a hedge of pandora.

Here's a view inside "Woodstar", the pondfront house we stay when visiting (and which we don't rent) showing part of the living room and the fireplace, which only gets used a few times a season, when the nightime temperature dips below 65!

SeaStar Exterior Continued

Let's resume our tour of the immediate exterior of the larger of our 2 1-bedroom oceanfront cottages, SeaStar. Here's a view that shows the adjacent hammock area. You can just see SeaStar's roof and a glimpse of the ocean.

Here's a slightly more detailed look.

Here's the view from the patio.

In the foreground in the next image is a Desert Rose and behind it an oleander. You are looking towards the other rental cottage, Morningstar, behind the palms, and see a corner of SeaStar's patio.

Here we look at the outdoor shower (cold only) at the back of SeaStar. There's a large almond tree here too, which provides a shady spot to view the ocean.