|
Bare-legged Owl |
October
24 – November 21, 2015
INTRODUCTION
This trip to
the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean was
undertaken immediately after a 3-week birding tour
of Panama (report here
http://www.surfbirds.com/trip_report.php?id=2628 and following blog post)
with Glenn Scherf, Bill Watson and Sandra Watson. Our intention was
to mix birding with cultural, culinary and various pursuits,
and our destinations lived
up to expectations. We
did very
well with the endemics and regional endemics on the four islands. Of
the 90+ species we were chasing, we
dipped (inexplicably) only on
Chesnut-bellied Cuckoo
on Jamaica and for Bill, West Indian Whistling-Duck and
Antillean Euphonia
(both of which
I had seen in the Dominican Republic). We
managed this impressive result while birding mostly in the mornings,
freeing up the afternoons for travel and other activities.
We
opted to self-drive in
Puerto Rico for our 6-day
visit, as the distances are
relatively short, the roads are good and the sites are easy to find
and bird. We elected not to
try for the endemic parrot as the site was out of the way and
requires prior arrangement with the authorities. Our focus on the
island was in the south-west, where most of the specialties can be
readily
found.
For
7 days
in
Jamaica, we hired Wayne Murdock
of
Attraction Links (
http://www.attractionslink.com/)
to
drive and provide the vehicle; driving around Jamaica can be
challenging so this was a good move. Wayne is not a professional
birding guide but knows the sites; beware that you will need to pay
for his meals and costs not in
the contract. We were on Grand Cayman Island only in transit, but
with enough time to find the single endemic.
In
Cuba for 15 days, we were
again self-driving but arranged
for Andy
Mitchell in London (kingbird@cubabirdingtours.com)
to organise a package with
Havanatur that
included car hire and the more expensive hotels. Andy also lines up
local guides, organises
for them to book your remaining accommodation in rural casas, and
provides detailed directions for finding your way around. The
directions
proved to be accurate, easy to use and useful in
Cuba, where road signs can
be
absent or easy to miss.
Hiring Andy did
not add much to the cost if
we
had
arranged
everything
ourselves.
Cuba
proved to be a most impressive destination, from both cultural and
birding perspectives.
ITINERARY
October
24. We
flew from Panama City to the capital of Puerto Rico, San Juan, via
Bogota. After a long travel day we stayed overnight at the convenient
but expensive Airport Hotel. (See here for Puerto Rico bird pics).
|
Mary-Lees-By-The-Sea |
October
25.
We picked up our car up from the airport early in
the
morning and drove 2 hours across the island to the south-west town of
Guanica,
booking into Mary Lees By The Sea, a self-contained apartment complex
on the water a few kilometres from town. In the afternoon we drove
west a short distance to Parguera
where
we saw a flock of Yellow-shouldered Blackbirds at a traditional site
by a small seaside store.
|
Maricao State Forest |
October
26.
We drove north into the mountains to Maricao
State Forest,
where the wet forest contrasts
with the dry scrub around Guanica. In the early morning a Puerto
Rican Nightjar flew
across the road. Our efforts at Maricao centred on trails and the
roadside around
the state forest administration
centre.
Many
island endemics showed
including
Puerto Rican Emerald, Puerto Rican Tody, Puerto Rican Woodpecker,
Puerto Rican Vireo, Puerto Rican Spindalis and Puerto Rican
Bullfinch. The Puerto Rican Tanager – expected
to be given its own family - was
common and frequently a flock leader. Elfin Woods Warbler is one the
island's more difficult targets but we found it in 2
spots, including
the turnoff from the main road to the park centre.
Other
birds included
a couple of fly-by Green Mangos
and
a Key
West
Quail-Dove on a trail. When we returned to Mary-Lees-By-The-Sea we
found Pearly-eyed Thrasher to be common.
|
Guanica State Forest |
October
27.
Before
dawn
we went back along the road towards Guanica, where we had good looks
at Puerto Rican Nightjar at the 3.5km mark. We drove
a
few
kilometres
east along the scenic coastal road to
a track that heads
north
up
a slope into the Guanica
State Forest.
In the dry thorny scrub
we found Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoo, Puerto Rican Flycatcher,
Caribbean Elaenia and Adelaide's Warbler. Another
Key West Ground-Dove was seen.
|
Coast near Guanica |
October
28.
Back in the state forest on a trail at the road's end, a Puerto Rican
Pewee was seen briefly in the morning. We left our comfortable
apartment to travel across the island to the
Humacao Reserve on
the east coast. We found Antillean Crested Hummingbird and
Green-throated Carib quite easily in flowering trees along levy banks
in the wetland. We headed north for our overnight accommodation in
the Ceiba
Country Inn. In the hotel grounds after some effort we scored nice
views of Puerto Rican Screech-Owl.
October
29.
We saw
the last of our targets, Puerto Rican Oriole, in the hotel grounds in
the morning before departing for San Juan, where we stayed in the
Coral by the Sea Hotel. In
the afternoon we visited the Del Morro Castle and San Juan Old City.
|
Del Morro Castle |
October
30.
We flew to the Jamaican capital of Kingston via Fort Lauderdale in
the U.S. We were met at the airport by Wayne (he was late) and it was
dark by the time we were leaving suburban Kingston. It took a
couple of hours on a slow, windy road to reach our accommodation,
Starlight
Chalets,
near Section. The hotel was ordinary and the food highly overpriced,
but the place is very birdy, with
superb
views across the valleys. See here for Jamaica bird pics.
|
With Wayne Murdock, Hardwar Gap |
October
31.
The day began around the hotel grounds with
(Red-billed)
Streamertail, Sad Flycatcher, White-chinned Thrush and Orangequit. A
party of Yellow-shouldered Grassquits was spotted along the road to
Section.
We
spent the morning
on the higher slopes of the Blue Mountains-Hollywell
National Park around Hardwar
Gap,
especially the forest within a few kilometres of the Gap
Cafe
on
both sides at
about 1500m.
A
feast of endemics included
Ring-tailed Pigeon, Jamaican Woodpecker, Jamaican Oriole, Jamaican
Becard, White-eyed Thrush (much scarcer
than White-chinned),
Jamaican Vireo and Jamaican Euphonia. We saw a Greater Antillean
Pewee, a difficult-to-find species.
|
View from Starlight Chalets |
Blue
Mountain Vireo is another of the island's trickier birds but we found
several. Arrowhead Warbler proved to be quite common. In the
afternoon we birded around the chalet gardens, scoring an unexpected
Jamaican Mango and to top the day off, close views of a Crested
Quail-Dove on the road near the hotel.
November
1.
We again birded Hardwar Gap, this time going a little further to
Woodside Road. We saw Jamaican Tody, Jamaican Elaenia and
Greater Antillean Bullfinch, with
brief views of a Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo. In the afternoon we visited
Dennis Coffee, a farm where the famed Blue Mountain coffee is grown
organically by a community of dope-smoking Rastafarians.
|
Dennis Coffee Farm |
November
2.
We were up well before sunrise to try for Jamaican Owl and were not
disappointed. A pair called for a while before an owl flew in very
close in response to playback of a juvenile begging call; it perched
briefly a couple of metres above us. As the sun rose we found
Rufous-tailed Flycatcher in the garden. We left the mountains to head
to the north coast town of Port
Antonio,
where we checked into the pleasant Bay View Eco-Resort.
|
Port Antonio |
November
3.
We headed east for a 45-minute drive to the Ecclesdown
Road
in the John Crow Mountains. We easily
found
our main targets after being confined to the car for a couple of
hours by heavy rain. Good numbers of Yellow-billed Parrots
and Black-billed Parrot swere
encountered along the road along with an obliging Jamaican Crow,
which responded to playback of an Australian Raven call. We saw
(Black-billed)
Streamertail, lumped by Clements with Red-billed. In the afternoon we had nice views of Jamaican Mango in Port Antonio and took time out to absorb the beautiful coastal scenery.
|
Coast near Port Antonio |
November
4. We searched the well-vegetated hills around Port Antonio for
our sole remaining targets – Chesnut-bellied Cuckoo and Jamaican
Lizard-Cuckoo, which I had seen briefly at Hardwar Gap. We saw the
lizard-cuckoo well but the other cuckoo frustratingly eluded us.
|
Bob Marley Museum |
November
5. We left the hotel, calling into the Castleton
Botanic Gardens, where we had a pair of Jamaican Crows, and in the
outskirts of Kingston we visited the Bob Marley Museum, where you
need to be wary of overbearing guides. We stayed at the Port Royal
Hotel near the airport.
November
6. We departed Jamaica for Cuba via George Town on Grand
Cayman Island. During the brief transit stop, when you need to
purchase your Cuban tourist cards, we left the airport and walked to
scrub close by where a Vitelline Warbler, the Caymans' only endemic,
duly emerged. We flew to Havana, dealt with paperwork complications
and picked up the vehicle at the airport. We drove 2.5 hours to our
destination – the town of San Diego de los Banos in western
Cuba in the dark, but Andy's directions ensured there were no
problems. For Cuba bird pics see here and also here.
|
Cueva de los Portales |
Our
guide, Caesar Hernandes, met us at a prearranged spot (after some
complications not worth detailing here) and escorted us to our
accommodation – Casa JulioyCary. Casas are rooms attached to
private homes, usually with en suites. The food and ambience of
inexpensive casas in rural areas makes them are a more attractive accommodation option than the run-down government-owned hotels.
|
Casio JulioyCary |
November
7. Caesar was booked with a tour group in the morning (another
mix-up) so we found our own way to La Guira National Park, a
30-minute drive from town. We saw nice specialties including
Great Lizard-Cuckoo, West Indian Woodpecker, Crescent-eyed Peewee and
Puerto Rican Emerald as we ascended a rough road towards the Hacienda
Cortina. In a grove of pine trees we found a pair of Olive-capped
Warblers. Higher up in the limestone gullies we heard Cuban
Solitaires calling and saw one up close.
|
La Guira |
We
were delighted to find a sub-adult Gundlach's Hawk perched a few
metres above a trail; this is probably Cuba's hardest endemic other
than the near-mythical Zapata Rail. Other goodies included Cuban
Bullfinch and Yellow-headed Warbler. In the afternoon we hooked up
with the now available Caesar to visit the Cueva de los Portales, a
beautiful limestone cave complex used as a bolthole by Che Guevara
during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. The solitaire was again present
along with La Sagra's Flycatcher and good numbers of two bat species.
In the late afternoon we found a party of Cuban Grassquits in fields
near San Diego, along with Cuban Blackbird and Tawny-shouldered
Blackbird. Less endearing was a boisterous wedding party near the
casa which went all night.
November
8. A travel day with a very long (10 hours, including a
successful negotiation of Havana's suburbs) drive to the
livestock ranch of La Belen in eastern Cuba in the Sierra de
Najasa. The
economic challenges facing Cuba become apparent as you travel around.
Farming is often done by plough, either by hand or with livestock.
Ancient vehicles lumber along the roads along with horses and carts.
The people were nonetheless invariably polite and engaging. We arrived at our basic accommodation just on dark and none
too soon, as the last 40 kilometres of road are seriously rough.
`
|
Near La Belen |
November
9. We birded along the road into the ranch, seeing an exquisite
Cuban Trogon (surely the classiest of its family with that tail),
Cuban Parakeet and Cuban Green Woodpecker. Cuban Tody was bigger than
todies on other islands. Cuban Palm Crow was interesting to compare
with the more common Cuban Crow. Several Giant Kingbirds were in the
mix and a Cuban Pygmy-Owl showed nicely. Later in the morning we met
our prearranged guide, Camillo, but by then we had seen the local
specialties.
November
10. A party of Rose-throated Parrots at the hotel was a good
start to the day, then another long drive (4.5 hours) to the seaside
resort of Cayo Coco, where we booked into the Hotel Sol Cayo
Coco. Everything is included in the cost for these extravagant resort
hotels including alcohol, but be warned - the cocktails are heavily
watered down.
|
Cayo Paredon Grande |
November
11. We drove east to Cayo Paredon Grande, birding tracks
in the vicinity of the old lighthouse. Oriente Warbler and Cuban
Gnatcatcher were found easily in the dry coastal scrub. Thick-billed
Vireo was co-operative in mangroves nearby, where Cuban Oriole and
Cuban Black-Hawk were also found.
November
12. Today we headed west to Cayo Guillermo, where Bahama
Mockingbird proved to be much skulkier than the more numerous
Northern Mockingbird. We believe we had a small party of Cuban
(Zapata) Sparrow (race varonai) in the coastal scrub, which
showed briefly before flying away. We looked unsuccessfully for West
Indian Whistling-Duck around Melia Cayo Coco, supposedly a good site
for the species.
|
Angel Garcia at Soplillar |
November
13. Another long
drive (5.5 hours) to Cuba's top birding destination – Playa
Larga in the Bay of
Pigs, where we met our guide, Angel Garcia (angelczcuba@gmail.com), who escorted us to our
accomodation - another casa, the delightful Villa Rio-Mar
(moticacuba@gmail.com)
overlooking the
historic bay. Our host,
Daniel, was charming and helpful.
|
At Villa Rio-Mar |
November
14. We headed off early with Angel to Soplillar, an area
of forest close to Playa Larga. On the road in the early
morning we had success with 2 close Grey-fronted Quail-Doves,
followed quickly by 3 not-so-close Blue-headed Quail-Doves. On the
scrub edge we had a pair of Fernandina's Flickers putting on a show,
while the world's smallest bird, Bee Hummingbird, perched on a dead
branch in a the tree top.
In
the afternoon we visited the Cuban Revolution Museum in Soplillar.
|
La Turba |
November
15.
An early start to
La
Turba and
Cuban Nightjar performed well on the road into the huge Zapata
wetland. We were in luck when a Zapata Wren perched on a reed close
by and sung vigorously
in full view; this species, endemic to the wetland, can be easy to
miss. We had a pair of Cuban (Zapata) Sparrows on the road, these
birds much closer
than the ones on Cayo Guillermo. On the way back near Palpite,
a pair of Red-shouldered Blackbirds took some coaxing before
appearing, while a Northern (Cuban) Flicker was more co-operative.
|
Bay of Pigs, Playa Larga |
November
16.
Our focus here was owling in the very early morning. We heard a
Stygian Owl in scrub on the edge of Playa Larga and eventually
tracked it down. Unfortunately it flushed and although close, we had
to make do with a reasonable
flight
view. Better luck was in store with a Cuban Screech-Owl which perched
by the road in the open, with a couple more calling in the scrub.
|
Cueva de los Pecas |
November
17.
With all the specialties in the bag, a day for
relaxation and sight-seeing.
We visited the Bay of Pigs Invasion Museum in Playa Giron and
La
Ceuva de los Pecas,
an impressive 70m sinkhole linked to the ocean by an underground
cave. Blue-headed Quail-Doves are fed here and a group of 6 was
very
tame. A spot of snorkelling offshore was a pleasant diversion.
|
Havana Old City |
November
18.
As we left Playa Larga for Havana,
we called in at a home in Palpite known for its trees favoured by Bee
Hummingbirds. We saw several hummers (the males not in breeding
plumage) before undertaking the 2.5-hour drive to the Hotel Armadores
de Santander in La Haba Vieja (Old City).
|
Baroque Catedral de San Cristobal |
November
19.
A day around the Old City, visiting the Castille del Morro and Che
Guevara's former home by taking a ride in one of the ancient
automobiles
that abound throughout Cuba.
America's inhumane and vindictive embargo, imposed in the wake of the
ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, continues to inflict a huge
economic toll on this impoverished country.
|
Street art - human statue in Plaza Vieja |
November
20.
More sight-seeing, absorbing the cultural and historic ambience of
places like the Plaza de la Cathedral, Plaza Vieja, Baroque Catedral
de San Cristobal and Paseo del Prado.
|
Havana Harbour |
November
21.
Depart Havana.
|
Sight-seeing in Havana |
For an annotated list of species, see here for the full trip report on Surfbirds.
I really enjoyed taking an armchair vacation to these lovely tropical islands. You saw some really great sites and wildlife. Cuban Trogon and the todies are a few of the species that are really spectacular.
ReplyDeleteI do feel the need to state that the USA's inhumane and vindictive trade embargo against Cube is a bit of a red herring. Cuba's poverty is mostly caused by its own policies against free enterprize. It is Cuba that prohibits public internet access, cell phones, elections, freedom of the press etc. Cuba could easily end the embargo tomorrow if they chose to make a few humane changes like freeing political prisoners and allowing free speech etc.
Besides the US trade embargo has no effect on the ability of other nations to do business with Cuba.
Thanks for the comments John. I agree that Cuba is not a perfect regime and they have got many things wrong. However, I think we disagree about the impacts of the embargo. The US embargo does in fact have implications for companies in other countries wanting to trade with Cuba. Moreover, I doubt it would be as easy as you suggest to convince the Americans to lift it, although this will happen eventually. The Cubans have already made many (belated) reforms to no avail. So we agree to disagree. Greg
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