Puerto Rico Day 4: Mountains to the Coast

We spent the night of day 3 at Hacienda Juanita, a lodge in the mountains on a banana and coffee plantation. It was a bit rustic, but comfortable enough. On the hotel grounds, we listened for the endemic Puerto Rican Screech Owl and heard multiple individuals. One was so close but it was straight up a rock wall that butted against the lodge. There was no way to see it.

The view from the Hacienda Juanita

We woke the morning of day 4 to find that our breakfast was slightly delayed. The cook wasn’t there yet, so we’d have to wait a little. We took the opportunity to do a little birding around the property and saw some of the same species we’d already seen. Breakfast was worth the wait. I had a great omelet and some hot harina cereal. Tasty! We also had good views of a female Puerto Rican Emerald (a hummingbird) from the breakfast table. After breakfast, I was buying coffee in the office when I heard one of the leaders call from outside, “Antillean Euphonia!” While not an endemic, it’s a much sought-after Caribbean species. We all had amazing looks at a male and female checking out bromeliads (that’s where they nest) in a large tree in the parking lot. What luck!

Antillean Euphonia

We packed up and left Hacienda Juanita for another shot at the Lesser Antillean Pewee at the nearby fishery. Luck was with us again and it was there, flycatching from a perch over a creek. Neat bird! Too small and far for photos though. The late breakfast turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

We packed into the minivan again and made our way to the coast, specifically Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge. On our way there, the leader saw an odd animal cross the road. We did a u-turn to see what it was and it turned out to be… MONKEYS! Macaques to be exact. There are no native monkeys on Puerto Rico. These are apparently escapes from a feral colony on a nearby island. No one knows how they got to the mainland, according to one local.

Cabo Rojo is a GORGEOUS area in the southwest corner of PR with the turquoise waters of the Caribbean beating against red cliffs that give Cabo Rojo (the red coast) its name. It’s much drier than the rest of the places we had visited. We saw cacti and succulent plants all around.

We got our first taste of shorebirds for the trip at Cabo Rojo with side-by-side Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstone, Dunlin, and Spotted Sandpiper. A group of Royal Terns lounged atop a group of pilings as well.

Royal Terns

The whole time, the Los Morillos Lighthouse loomed high on a cliff watching over us.

We walked up to the lighthouse to get a good view of the sea. The view was breathtaking.

A Brown Booby soared right over our heads and joined a dozen of its brethren on a large rock in the sea. I had distant views of these birds in Australia, but these views were fantastic, although the light was harsh and my photos reflect that.

We left Cabo Rojo and continued to Laguna Cartajena NWR, a large marsh and home to Caribbean Coots and West Indian Whistling-Ducks. This was one of my favorite stops on the trip. I love waterfowl and wading birds and this place was chock full of them. Caribbean Coots were plentiful along with Common Moorhens, a few Purple Gallinules, Ruddy Ducks, White-cheeked Pintails, and 9 species of waders. We even had a chance to compare American Coots to Caribbean Coots. The Caribbean’s fast shield extends further up the head than the American’s. We looked for the West Indian Whistling-Duck, but didn’t see one. So we planned to return the next day, since we had something big waiting for us.

We left Laguna Cartajena and headed to the town of Parguera, looking for the endangered and endemic Yellow-shouldered Blackbird. They live in the mangroves, but come to a local feeder next to a little store each afternoon. Our timing was a bit late and the birds were already in the mangroves. After much waiting, we did see a few birds silhouetted in a bare tree in the mangroves. These would have to wait for another try the next morning as well.

In the evening, we went to Guanica State Forest, the stronghold of the Puerto Rican Nightjar. Unfortunately, we didn’t hear or see this rare species. It was incredibly windy and perhaps this kept the birds down. After much waiting, we decided to pack it in.

My friend Mike shows the most comfy way to look for PR Nightjars

At dinner, we agreed to wake up extra early to try again for the nightjar. More on that in our next installment and more photos from Laguna Cartajena.

Go to Day 5

Puerto Rico Day 3: Rare Birds and Bacalao Ice Cream

Note: This is my first attempt to post with Windows Live Writer so I hope it doesn’t look like garbage.

We woke at an ungodly hour and had the equivalent of a NJ diner breakfast (not a bad thing) before departing for the Cambalache State Forest. This is a small, and I mean SMALL, plot of tropical forest that holds a surprising number of Puerto Rican endemics. Upon exiting the minivan, we immediately were hearing and seeing birds.

The first was the sing-song-y Puerto Rican Vireo which gave us great looks. He was followed by the cardinal-like call of the Puerto Rican Bullfinch which also gave stellar looks. The birds were coming quick. We heard the short bzzt of the Puerto Rican Tody, but he remained out of sight. A loud call from around a bend was that of the Puerto Rican Woodpecker – a Melanerpes unlike any I had seen before. We had brief looks at one, but better looks were to come. A raucous rattle was that of the Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoo, one of the birds I most wanted to see on the trip. It spent time high in a tree giving us views of just pieces of the bird at time. A nearby fart-like sound led us to crippling, eye-level views of the Puerto Rican Tody. As one person said, it looks like a lollipop and the bill is the stick. So true! It looks like it would taste good if you licked it. My photos of this one stink, but there were more to come later on the trip.

A Common Ground-Dove

We got crippling looks at the Puerto Rican Woodpecker in a hole in a telephone pole. This bird was too cool.

Puerto Rican Woodpecker

Digiscoped shot

We then headed over to the Rio Abajo area in search of Puerto Rican Parrots. With less than 40 wild birds left, this came down to a matter of luck. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the birds, but did add Loggerhead Kingbird, Broad-winged Hawk (pretty rare in PR), and Scaly-naped Pigeon to our tally. We also saw the gorgeous flowers of the Poma Rosa or Rose Apple.

On the road near Rio Abajo, we also spied Shiny Cowbird. An attractive blackbird, this bird has caused problems for the endemic Yellow-shouldered Blackbird.

Shiny Cowbird

We stopped at a famous ice cream shop in the town of Lares. They are known for having hundreds of different flavors of ice cream including many non-traditional flavors like rum, ginger, garlic, rice & beans, carrot, and the one I tried… SALT COD (AKA Bacalao). Even being a vegetarian, I couldn’t resist trying fish-flavored ice cream. You know how they say that things are an “acquired taste?” I don’t know how anyone could acquire a taste for it. Blech. I ended up getting one scoop of peanut and one scoop of sweet plantain. It was great.

We were back on the road again heading to Maricao State Forest, home of the recently discovered (well, 1972) Elfin-woods Warbler. It was late in the day. We paced up and down the road listening for its chip note (it doesn’t sing). After some time, we heard that chip and the diminutive bird gave us terrific, although brief, views. What a feeling to know that we were seeing a bird that is relatively new to science and limited in range. We ended the day looking for a Lesser Antillean Pewee at a nearby fishery, but were skunked. We would try again in the morning! Look for my Day 4 report in the next few days. I guarantee photos of boobies.

Go to Day 4

Puerto Rico Day 1 & 2: Caribbean Gems

The view from the hotel beach

My friend Mike and I arrived the evening before our birding tour in Puerto Rico to avoid any potential weather-related events that might have caused flight issues. He and I toured around Old San Juan, ate some great local food thanks to a cab driver's recommendation, and drank VERY locally at a dive bar - $1.50 Medalla Light! Bird-wise, we only saw the ubiquitous Bananaquit that first day.

We awoke the next morning and, as I opened the blinds of our balcony, a bird took off from the deck. A Greater Antillean Grackle had brought a chicken bone to our balcony and had been eating it there.

Greater Antillean Grackle

We birded around the hotel a bit where we saw more grackles, a Brown Pelican, Red-legged Thrush (the Puerto Rican version of a robin), and Zenaida Dove.

Zenaida Dove

At 12:30, we met our leaders Kevin and Lena from Wildside Nature Tours and the two other tour participants. After a brief food and fuel stop, we headed west from San Juan toward the town of Hatillo. We made our first birding stop at Laguna Tortuguero, a small woodland area next to a large lake. We immediately started hearing and seeing some of our sought after Puerto Rican endemics.


The first endemic we saw was Adelaide's Warbler - a gorgeous bird, but uncooperative for a photograph. Pearly-eyed Thrashers called from the undergrowth and several female Puerto Rican Spindalises (Spindali?) flitted in the limbs of an Orchid Tree. Luck was with us and a splendid male Spindalis joined the party. He stayed just out of view for a while, but then came down ridiculously close to feed on the flower petals of the Orchid Tree.

PR Spindalis with a piece of petal in his mouth

A hummingbird made itself known by buzzing over the canopy of the tree. It was a female Antillean Mango - a specialty of the Caribbean.

Antillean Mango - the leaf is not really stuck to the end of his bill, just bad positioning in the photo

We also saw some familiar birds like Osprey and Northern Parula and less familiar ones like the introduced Orange-cheeked Waxbill. We ended our time there and continued to our hotel for the night. I had a great dinner of some eggplant dish with a delicious side of rice and beans, along with some flan de vanilla for dessert. Yum. We were off to a terrific start! Day 3 was filled with tremendous birds. More on that later.

Go to day 3

Off to Puerto Rico

For those who didn't see it on Twitter or Facebook... I'll be leaving for Puerto Rico tomorrow for 5 days of birding adventure. The actual tour doesn't start until mid-day on Wednesday. Where connectivity is available, I will be tweeting and blogging about the trip. It should be a blast. Thanks again to the guys from 10,000 Birds for sponsoring the contest. Endemics, quite a few exotics, and neat West Indian birds await!

Would you count it? A CBC conundrum.

John from A DC Birding Blog and I were conducting our part of the 75th Long Branch, NJ CBC on Saturday, a count that I compile. We were on a small trail along a frozen lake (like most of the water in our count area that day) and we ran into a gentleman putting up a Screech Owl box. He mentioned that he worked for The Raptor Trust, giving him some good credentials. He didn't know of any Screech Owls around, but did mention something very interesting. Earlier in the day, he ran into a hunter who showed him a photo taken that day of an injured Barred Owl on land within our count area. The owl box guy went to look for the bird, but did not find it. He planned to return later in the day with dogs to see if he could find it and then bring it in for rehab.

So, do I count it as a bird seen on our CBC? My plan is to count it unless someone has a good reason not to.

For a full write-up of our day and the birds we saw, check out A DC Birding Blog.

Top 10 Birds of the Decade

A few bloggers have started posting Top 10 Birds of the Decade lists (here and here). I think David's is a little more meaningful, but this will be a fun exercise. Although I had been birdwatching many times as a kid, I didn't really start actively birding on my own until 2001 or so. I didn't chase much for the first few years.

My Top 10 US Birds in no particular order (it's easier to limit it to a US list):

1. Green Violet-ear in Navasink, NJ - showed up on my birthday and I got to see it at sunrise the next morning. It flew off a short time later never to be seen again.
2. Long-billed Murrelet - this is the only bird on the list that I didn't actually see, but I missed this extremely rare bird TWICE. I missed the one at Sandy Hook because I was at a meeting drawing pictures of my annual accomplishments. LAME. I chased it a few days later and missed it. Then I missed another at Lake Nockamixon. Boo.
3. Great Gray Owl - one of the more impromptu acts of my life was hopping on a plane to Minnesota in February 2005 to see the owl invasion there.
4. Northern Hawk Owl - one of my favorite birds, obviously. I first got to see one in Minnesota and then saw another last year in New Hampshire.
5. Ivory Gull - Not one, but two!
6. Bicknell's Thrush - one of my most enjoyable birding experiences was hiking up Wakely Mountain to see Bicknell's Thrush with fellow bird bloggers.
7. Western Reef-Heron - chased twice in NY and both times I was joined by my wife. It was her first rarity chase and we had a lot of fun. Saw it on the second try.
8. Swallow-tailed Kite - seeing a bunch of these along with a throng of Mississippi Kites in Georgia was a real highlight for me and my wife
9. Green Jay - How can you not love this bird?
10. Hoary Redpoll - only because I froze my butt off in the town of Embarass, MN and had my parents think that I died in a car crash just to see one. My cell phone had cut out while on the phone with my mom and I didn't get service back. When I got service back an hour or two later, I had 11 voicemails.

I'm sure I missed some good ones. What are your top 10?

Birding on a Soap Opera

My wife is addicted to Days of Our Lives, a US soap opera. I will admit that I do watch and enjoy the ridiculous story lines. Ok, stop laughing. In any event, we were watching it today and two of the characters were birding! Here's a snapshot:

The character on the left remarked that the American Goldfinch was "much too far north for this time of year." The guy on the right responded, "To me they're just rats with feathers." That's a Peterson Field Guide in his hand, the 5th edition. Pretty funny.

A gull of the Ivory variety

In case you haven't heard, an immature Ivory Gull was found in Cape May, NJ on Friday. This is the 5th record of this species for NJ - 1940, 1955, and 2 in 1986. So, as you can imagine, the NJ birding scene and much of the mid-Atlantic is buzzing about the bird. As you may recall, I saw my first Ivory Gull in Piermont, NY in 2007. That didn't stop me from going to see this one in my own state. So, down I headed the 2+ hour drive very early on Sunday. I got to the marina that it favors and only had to wait 15 minutes or so before the gorgeous white creature appeared. I was joined by friends from VA and NJ and we spent a long while photographing and observing the bird. It was insanely accommodating, doing circuits over the crowd of birders, perching close by for photos, and picking from the water. It was nuts. Here are some photos.

Cape May Ivory Gull Photos - Nov. 29, 2009

Oh and did I mention it was a spectacularly sunny and warm day for late November? After viewing the gull, we hit some of the other Cape May hotspots. We got word of a Selasphorus hummingbird at a local feeder which we got to see. We also saw Eurasian Wigeon, Common Eiders, a few lingering Baltimore Orioles, a Bald Eagle or three, and a few lovely Red-shouldered Hawks. We struck out on the Swainson's Hawk that's been down there for nearly a month. All in all, it was a great day to be out. The gull is still being seen as of today. So if you didn't see one of the Massachusetts birds last year, you get a second shot. Although not an adult, this bird is still a beauty and it's a chance to see a bird that is not only rare in the US, but becoming more rare globally.