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Cuba: Caribbean Birding at Its Best February 1 - 13, 2014

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Cuba: Caribbean Birding at Its Best February 1 - 13, 2014 http://birdingecotours.co.za [email protected] Cuba: Caribbean birding at its best February 1 - 13, 2014 By Chris Lotz What an amazing country! Not only is it full of endemics, wider Caribbean specials, and North American migrants, but these birds can be cleaned up on quite easily, while enjoying the pleasant climate, vibrant culture, 16th century Spanish architecture, stylish old American cars from the 50’s, and some of the world’s best snorkeling during lunch time siestas. The top handful of birds: Bee Hummingbird, many brilliant views of the smallest bird on earth, weighing less than the water in half a teaspoon (1.6 – 1.9 grams), Blue-headed Quail-Dove, Fernandina’s Flicker and other magnificent woodpeckers, Stygian Owl, fabulous views of this as well as the two Cuban endemic owl species, Cuban Tody, Cuban Trogon, Cuban Gnatcatcher, many great warblers including three endemic beauties. Above is our usual Caribbean tour – on the current trip we did not do Jamaica but went further west in Cuba than usual – right to the westernmost tip of the island (Guanahacabibes Peninsula). From 2015 onwards, we’re adding the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, and Saint Lucia Our planet’s smallest bird, Bee Hummingbird (photo Ken Borrie) Our hotel in Havana (photo Ken Borrie) st Day 1, February 1 . Havana to San Diego de los Baños After spending the previous day (before the trip itself started) in the incomparable old part of Havana, we had a relaxed start, heading westwards to San Diego de los Baños, looking for common birds en route. Before we even left Havana, though, we spent some time looking at Cuban Martin, Red-legged Thrush, Cuban Blackbird, Royal Tern, the absolutely abundant Turkey Vulture, and others. Enjoying the pleasant coastal drive as we headed out of the capital city and eventually into the mountains of the Sierra de los Órganos, we made several productive birding stops, adding our first water-associated birds, such as Least Sandpiper, Brown Pelican, and many others. Arriving at the Hotel Mirador (where we would overnight) in time for lunch, we enjoyed our first Antillean Palm Swift and Cuban Emerald hummingbird, both of them up close and personal (the former were flying around their roosts in the thatch above the lunch table, and the latter were all around the hedge in front of us as we enjoyed beers during our lunch-time “siesta”). After our lunch-time break, we checked our Cuban Grassquit spot, finding Gundlach’s Hawk nice and early in the trip – this is one of the toughest Cuban endemics to find and usually needs loads of time and effort (plus a large dose of luck) – finding the bird on the first day of the tour bought us time! We also found West Indian Woodpecker and some other nice birds here. We then headed out to the well-known Hacienda Cortina/La Güira National Park. Like a great many areas in Cuba, the ruins and sprawling, well-wooded estate of the wealthy politician José Manuel Cortina is not only a brilliant birding site, but also a beautiful and fascinating historical place. Walking around the vast, overgrown estate generated great birds. We found Least Grebe, lots of Smooth-billed Anis, our first of many Cuban Trogons (this bizarrely unique and fabulously gorgeous trogon is Cuba’s national bird and is common and easy to see throughout the island), Cuban Green Woodpecker, Cuban (Crescent-eyed) Pewee, La Sagra’s Flycatcher, Loggerhead Kingbird, stacks of Red-legged Thrush, the endemic Olive-capped Warbler (in a tiny patch of pines), our first pretty little Yellow-faced Grassquit, Cuban Oriole, dazzling Western Spindalis, and loads more. We also found our first picking of overwintering wood warblers, starting with the common ones, such as the abundant Palm Warbler and American Redstart. Not too rough a day in paradise – loads of great birds while simply having fun. Cuban Oriole (photo Alan van Norman from a previous tour) nd Day 2, February 2 . La Güira and the Guanahacabibes peninsula After an early breakfast we headed for the picturesque Cuevas de los Portales. Here we visited Che Guevara’s hideout cave, where we also found the absolutely tiny Gervais’s funnel-eared bat as well as the much larger Jamaican fruit bat, and loads of Cave Swallows. Near the cave we found our main avian target with its beautiful, haunting song, Cuban Solitaire. The woods proved excellent for warblers, including Cape May Warbler, very attractive Black-throated Green Warbler, and our first of many Northern Parula. Scaly-naped Pigeon, the quite abundant yet characterful and massive Great Lizard Cuckoo, our first Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (another northern migrant), and the immaculate Cuban subspecies of Northern Flicker were also seen here. We found or first of numerous Cuban Pygmy Owls. After a successful session at the caves, we eventually headed back to our Cuban Grassquit site and soon got saturation views of this beautiful little stonker. Unfortunately, it has become very rare and localized because of the cage bird trade. We then drove to the westernmost extremity of Cuba, the Guanahacabibes peninsula, adding star birds en route, such as loads of herons (all kinds of species from tiny to massive), Northern Jacana, Cuban Black Hawk, and American Kestrel (really common, both the beautiful white morph and the red morph). A short walk at the Guanahacabibes National Park office was incredible: here we had our first of many sightings of Cuban Tody (what a dazzlingly gorgeous, tiny little bird, a representative of a whole family endemic to the Caribbean), and a Blue-headed Quail-Dove on the trail in front of us! This unique dove is one of the toughest Cuban endemics to find! A fascinating series of caves – near here is where Che Guevara made his hideout, and Cuban Solitaire can be heard from where the photo was taken. We arrived at our next hotel, María la Gorda in Pinar del Río, just before dark, and were lucky enough to be serenaded by our first Cuban Crow. Cuba actually has remarkably low numbers of crows compared to many other parts of the world, and one can go for days without seeing any. rd Day 3, February 3 . Guanahacabibes National Park, transfer to Zapata Birding in the national park was excellent! We visited the park office again to try and re-find the Blue-headed Quail-Dove, but a couple of us were instead rewarded with close-up Magnolia Warbler (all of us caught up with this species later) and perhaps the best views of Bee Hummingbird of the trip, the bird feeding almost on the ground on some low flowers right in front of our feet. We also drove into the park itself and saw the beautiful Cuban (Rose-throated) Amazon (Parrot), American White Ibis, the endemic Yellow-headed Warbler (a Cuban endemic genus), Cuban Bullfinch, Magnificent Frigatebird, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Semipalmated Plover, and other new trip birds. After a good morning session of birding we embarked on a long drive to Cuba’s premier birding site, Zapata Swamp and the “Bay of Pigs”, stopping for a break at an excellent orchid sanctuary, where Ken and Anne did a guided tour and the rest of us did some birding. It was a long drive that took the rest of the day – we had to travel back through the outskirts of Havana, then eastwards, eventually through the one-horse town of Australia (!), and finally southwards to Playa Larga, where we would spend five nights. th Day 4, February 4 . Birding Zapata – La Turba, Soplillar, and Las Salinas An early morning start to the swamp itself at La Turba for some of Cuba’s tougher endemics did not disappoint! Zapata Wren worked us hard, but we eventually all obtained brilliant views of it. Zapata Sparrow took a little searching for, but after a while we were rewarded with very close views of an individual restfully feeding besides us. Red-shouldered Blackbird also took a little patience, at least to get views of a stunning male instead of the duller females. We were left with adequate time to visit Soplillar before lunch and were richly rewarded with a series of new trip birds, including Bare-legged Owl (Cuban Screech Owl), Stygian Owl at its day time roost (Cuba is a surprisingly easy place to find this otherwise tricky owl), White-eyed Vireo, Cuban Vireo, Grey Catbird, bright yellow Prairie Warbler, lovely Black-and-white Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, and a lot of others. As on most days, we took a break for a couple of hours during the heat of the day – for snorkeling, swimming, or sleeping! A pleasant afternoon drive out to Las Salinas Wildlife Sanctuary and its mangroves yielded American White Pelican, white and blue morph Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, all three of Cuba’s Egret species (Great, Reddish, and Snowy), Tricolored Heron, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, exquisite Roseate Spoonbill, large flocks of equally spectacular American Flamingo (particularly beautiful in flight), Blue-winged Teal, American Wigeon (a “write-in”), Northern Shoveler, a surprise Red-breasted Merganser, Western Osprey, Peregrine Falcon, Grey (Black-bellied) Plover, Black-necked Stilt, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, Least Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Caspian Tern, Royal Tern, Gull-billed Tern, and Black Skimmer. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker performed well at its usual tree. In the evening, back in the very birdy hotel grounds, we obtained brilliant views of a roosting Cuban Nightjar and also saw Yellow-crowned Night Heron. American Flamingo (photo Ken Borrie) The endemic Yellow-headed Warbler was seen at many different sites during the tour.
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