The group portion of my Cuba trip went from March 18th to the 25th. However, before the trip, I worked with Holbrook Travel to secure an extension, allowing me to stay in the country longer, visit different parts of the country, and do more birding.
I know that comes as a big surprise. Me, wanting to do more birding! As it turned out, the cultural guide that was with us for the group trip, was also an excellent birder, and he was my bird guide for the extension.
Our route would hug the southern coastline of Cuba for serval hours before gradually turning north. We had a small list of target species we were hoping to see enroute, and we made frequent birding stops. Our first target was a Cuban Palm Crow, an endemic that we hadn’t seen in the prior week.
My guide did some reconnaissance and had a tip on where we might find them. In a very rural area, we stopped at a spot where there were a number of Royal Palm trees. My guide spoke to the property owner and got permission for us to go onto his property. Within minutes I had Cuban Palm Crows in my scope. Check! Another endemic species on my life list!
After maybe another hour of driving we stopped again—this time we were looking for Giant Kingbirds. My guide had an uncanny ability to take us to the exact spot where we could find new birds—and we did. Check! Another new species for my life list.
Late in the day, after being on the road for almost ten hours, we pulled into the city of Moron. This would be our base for the next three days. Each morning, we left when it was still dark and we’d drive north, about an hour, crossing a causeway to get to a series of Cayes, (or Keys, think of the Florida Keys) in the Caribbean, on the outer banks, on the north shore of Cuba.
We had several target species—additional endemic species, and near endemic species that we hadn’t seen in the prior week. Endemic species were species only found in Cuba whereas near endemic species were birds found in the West Indies that also reside in Cuba.
In addition to having my Holbrook Travel guide, I also had a local guide. I was very spoiled to have two birding guides all to myself. The causeway took us to Cayo Coco, a tropical island with beautiful white-sand beaches. There were additional causeways that connected to other islands such as Cayo Guillermo, and Cayo Paredon.
The habitat for each of these islands is characterized by low mangrove vegetation with a series of lagoons and marshes that favor wading birds such as ibis, herons, egrets, shorebirds and flamingos. I was in heaven.
In the previous week our group saw 143 species. In the three days I birded in the Cayes, I saw 117 species. I added a number of new species to my life list including Cuban Gnatcatcher, Oriente Warbler, and Key West Quail Dove. What a thrill!
There was some overlap in this region with species I had seen in the Zapata region of southern Cuba such as Cuban Blackhawk, and Zapata Sparrow. Using my spotting scope, and my iPhone, and a new digiscoping adapter that we sell in the store, I was able to capture some really stunning pictures and videos of the birds we saw in the Cayes.
Shifting gears, here in the Prescott area, spring migration is in full swing. It is time, right now, to get out your hummingbird and oriole feeders. More on local bird activity next week.
Until then, Happy Birding!
