Friday was a wash since we left in the afternoon, but we stayed in Jacksonville and first stop in the morning was for the famous Florida Scrub Jay. I didn't have time to go to Merritt Island so I checked eBird and found a little gem just a couple miles from the 95 - Helen and Allan Cruickshank Sanctuary. It did not take long to find this handsome specimen.
Florida Scrub Jay - lifer!
Next stop was TM Goodwin Waterfowl Management area. My target was Snail Kites. Unfortunately it was a hunting day (Saturday) so the Kites were not to be found. It didn't help that I was with my family and they don't like to bird for more than 1-2 hours at a stretch.
American Kestrel.
The flight to Puerto Rico was uneventful and we jumped in the rental car and made the drive to Rincon on the NW Coast by evening, just in time to catch a nice sunset. First bird at the house was a Pearly-Eyed Thrasher! This turned out to be one of two resident birds living in the eves of the house.
Our pad for the first 4 nights! Has to be one of the nicest places I have ever paid for. We split the costs between three families and it was still pricey but worth every penny. Right on the beach near Tres Palmas surf break. The surf was really poor for the next week so it was easy to get some birding in.
First morning I was able to see some usual birds and get some new ones right at the house.
Little Blue Heron playing in the surf.
Resident Pearly-Eyed Trasher. This bird rendered me foaming at the mouth and writhing on the floor.
Venezuelan Troupials were everywhere but would not let me get close. The colors were blinding. Like a Baltimore Oriole on steroids.
Gray Kingbirds were the most seen and heard bird of the trip. They were thicker than mosquitoes and I will not never forget the call now that it has been seared into my brain.
My first venture away from the house was on a trip to the Southwest corner of PR to try and find some endemics. The problem I was having almost every day this trip was it was very hard to get birding time early in the morning because I was with my family and friends of which none bird. However, in the afternoons I was able to find all but 4 of the PR endemics by the end of the trip. Misses included PR Nightjar, PR Screech Owl, PR Vireo and Yellow-shouldered Blackbird.
The first stop on Sunday was Cabo Rojo NWR. It was hot but Luke (my son) and I were able to scare up some of the locals.
Adelaide's Warbler - endemic to PR and the only bird on all of PR that responds to pishing.
Smooth Billed Anis were usually heard before they were seen.
Puerto Rican Woodpecker - another endemic and a really cool looking bird.
This guy was pretty big, amazing that he can hold himself up.
Next stop was Cabo Rojo lighthouse. What an amazing place! The salt flats on the way in had hundreds of Black-necked Stilts. Then from the cliffs at eye level I had this guy fly right by me several times.
Brown Booby.
If you look closely you can see a bunch of specs off the cliffs, they are all Brown Boobies!
White Boobies. My wife had a bad cold but she was a trooper and did several hikes and put up with my birding. The kids always groan when we go on a birding/sightseeing excursion but they usually have fun once we get out.
Monday I convinced the family to try Maricao State Park which is the highest point on the West side of the island and home to the endemic Elfin-Woods Warbler. This little guy has such a small range and is so hard to spot that it was actually not discovered until 1968. It looks similar to a Black and White Warbler but has some obvious differences including a very defined broken eye ring.
The lighting was horrible but we found some birds.
Puerto Rican Tanager
As I was checking out the Tanager, my wife pointed out a small bird in the tree behind us. I found it with my bins and bingo! The Elfin Woods Warbler made a very quick appearance and promptly disappeared before I could get a pic. However, it was a good look.
This Puerto Rican Bullfinch was a little more obliging.
Not even worth posting this pic, but I think it is diagnostic. Puerto Rican emerald. No other HB is so small and with such a small bill in the PR mountains. It was very high up and this photo is heavily cropped. One of two endemic hummingbirds I saw at Maricao.
On our way back down the mountain, we stopped quickly in Maricao the town itself next to a river. There was a ton of bird activity.
Puerto Rican Spindalis - he was posing for me and sat in this bush for 10 minutes. The only reason the photo is not any better was due to light limitations. I also had a Loggerhead Kingbird but the photos were horrible.
Tuesday before a surf in Rincon, I headed to the Rincon lighthouse for some local birding. White-winged Doves were everywhere.
White-winged Dove.
Pin-tailed Whydah - There are probably close to ten introduced species in Puerto Rico and this is one of them. I would go back in the summer just to see the breeding males - huge tails!!
The tree had about 35 of them - flagged by eBird as a high count.
Gray Kingbird.
Greater Antillean Grackle - just as plentiful and noisy as the Boat-tailed in NC.
I scared this Common Ground Dove up from a field but then he posed for me on this branch.
Cave Swallows were everywhere I went. I had fun trying to get photos as they flew by but my camera was not up to the task. This was one of the best out of 20 or so pics.
Iggy the iguana was just chilling eating some greens.
Zoom in and you can see the red bindi on this Gray Kingbird.
Not sure if this was a mating pare or two rivals but they were really going nuts on each other.
Apparently there was supposed to be some barn swallows but all I could see was Cave.
Troupial.
This time I saw a Scaly-Naped Pigeon. Little did I know I would see hundreds later in the trip. A quick rain shower produced the most amazing rainbow I have ever seen while I hid out in a little pagoda.
This photo was taken with my 300mm lens. The colors were so much more vivid in reality.
This photo was with my iPhone and a filter applied to bring out the color a bit more. It was surreal.
After the rainbow, it was back to business. This Zenaida Dove was drying out on top of a pagoda where a local Rican was playing a flute. It was quite a Zen moment, pardon the pun.
I got back to the house and my resident PE Thrasher was washing off in the overflowing gutters.
The last trip on the West side was to Laguna Cartagena NWR. What an awesome place. It used to be a huge lake but now is more of a wetlands due to poor management of aquatic plants that have soaked up all the water.
Some kind of Gecko or Chameleon, sorry I don't know my herps.
Miles and miles of this pond habitat with tons of gallinules - common and purple. My target was West Indian Whistling Ducks but I found none.
When I first saw this bird I thought it was a Black-faced Grassquit female but now I think it might be an Indian Silverbill. Either way it is a introduced bird. I think both are common here. Of course it could also be a female Bronze or Nutmeg Mannikin.
I believe this is a Bronze Mannikin.
Yellow-faced Grassquit.
Yellow-faced Grassquit.
This place was kind of prehistoric looking, lots of iguanas hanging from the trees helped to round out the impression. I could have spent all day here but it was blazing hot and my family was done after an hour.
Smooth-billed Ani - a face only a mother can love.
Common Ground Doves - I was a little disappointed that on this trip to PR I could not find any of the Quail Doves. It was not for lack of trying, I did take many walks through the rain forest. I guess it gives me something to live for.
After Laguna Cartagena, we swung by a town called Parguera so I could try for Yellow-shouldered Blackbird. The YSBB is an endangered endemic and is restricted to the Southwest side of PR. Some trip reports I read said the best place to get them was a courtyard next to a Ferreteria (apparently a hardware store and not a place where Ferrets are sold). We finally found the hardware store but the BBs did not show. Just another example of how birding in the middle of the day was my biggest issue on this trip.
I think this was an African Collared Dove (turtle dove) and not a Eurasian. It was super white including the vent although this picture is deceiving as the light in this courtyard was not great.
My consolation prize - a lifer Shiny Cowbird!
A not so shiny Shiny Cowbird.
A search of the mangroves next to the store bagged me some migrant warblers including Cape May and Northern Waterthrush and then this Puerto Rican Flycatcher. This is the only Myiarchus I saw on the trip.
Anyway that was it for the Southwest side of my trip, the rest of the trip would be spent on the East side of the island in a not so great rental. In fact it was so bad my friend's family left a day early. However, I was able to find some more birds. The place we stayed in was adjacent to Humacao Nature Preserve so naturally I spent some time there. It was a nice preserve with mangroves habitat.
My son Luke found me my first Mangrove Cuckoo and then I proceeded to find many more.
Green-throated Carib.
A closer view.
Spotted SP.
Antillean Crested Hummingbird - I managed to find almost all the possible hummingbirds on the island despite the fact that I did not see one hummingbird feeder on the whole island. I believe the one lodge that is known for its hummers on PR has gone out of business. An untapped market that someone needs to fill. It will not be me though. Although I had a blast and PR is super nice, the sketch factor is what would prevent me from buying a home here. Even the gorgeous rental in Rincon we had had security fences around it. However, on the whole, I was very pleased with the PR people. Especially the older generation. They helped to overturn a bad taste I had in my mouth from an incident when I was younger and got knocked out in NYC by a PR youth. Also, the one place I hate the most in the world is the Bronx and that burrough has the highest concentration of Puerto Ricans outside PR. The main reason I hate the Bronx is that most of my time there has been spent stuck on the Cross Bronx Expressway. There is something about the PR culture that just rubs me the wrong way. I think it is their tendency to be very loud that gets to me. For example, many young Puerto Ricans drive around with their music blasting at full volume. We even saw some vehicles "pimped" out with giant speakers strapped down with the speakers facing outwards which is really unnecessary and obnoxious. Never the less, growing up in New York and traveling the world with parents that are European and African born has taught me to respect the cliche that not all people can fit a stereotype and we met some amazing and generous people in Puerto Rico. One particular PR couple we met at a small restaurant in the mountains sticks out in my mind as some of the most genuine and nice people I have met in a long time. He was a Vietnam Vet which to me was just amazing. To think that a young man would sacrifice himself for what he thought was a defense of an ideology (democracy) even though he was part of a commonwealth and not necessarily a citizen of a USA State was mind blowing to me. If anyone in this world deserves respect, in my eyes it is our veterans. I salute you all.
But I digress.
Caribbean Coot - note the completely white shield with no red.
The main reason we stayed in Humacao and not closer to El Yunque was that all the places were booked. I really wanted to stay at the Ceiba Country Inn where PR Screech Owls can be seen but it was not to be. Next time.....
However, we were able to make some forays up into El Yunque which as the crow flies was very close. The trip ended up being about 45 minutes each time, not bad.
My nemesis bird the Red Legged Thrush. I have been hunting these in Eleuthera with no success for the past couple years. Poor devil had some sort of disease with legs that were blistered and deformed and decidedly not red!
The view from the top of Mount Britton in El Yunque. I think it was close to 2000 ft elevation and the views would open up every so often but most times it was socked in with clouds which is just the way I wanted it. Who wants a rain forest with no rain. I think some places in El Yunque get 200 inches of rain a year.
Mangrove Cuckoo - back in Humacao.
Last full day was spent with the family in old San Juan. I was hoping to get a pic of the introduced Java Sparrow but no dice.
This Magnificent Frigatebird is apparently a resident at the Fort in San Juan.
If you make it to PR to bird, make some time to take a walk through old San Juan. It is a gorgeous place with loads of culture. We ate in a nice little cafe and had the PR version of mariachi come in and serranade us. What an awesome time.
Luke spotted this Merlin - probably why no Java Sparrows.
The last morning I spent some time in the El Meson (fast food chain but good stuff) parking lot because the previous day I noticed a flowering bush that had tons of Hummingbird activity. This grackle posed for me while I waited for the HBs. I love how the background came out in this shot. Most times when I take a decent pic it is a happy accident.
The object of my hunt - Green Throated Carib.
Bananaquits were everywhere in PR. I can just barely here their trilling call.
Last morning before our flight was spent up on El Yunque. Bananaquit.
Not sure if they lap the nectar up like a hummingbird or actual pierce the flower like a Flowerpiercer.
Last minute on our way down the mountain, I just had a feeling and stopped at a small turnout. I looked up and bingo! My last endemic of the trip - Puerto Rican Oriole.
Not the best pic but diagnostic.
Then Luke found this gem which I had seen several times earlier in the trip but the looks this time were perfect.
Puerto Rican Tody - a seemingly impossible bird, part hummingbird, part flycatcher and part warbler (in behavior not taxonomically speaking).
Look at that bill! Mind melding and hypnotizing.
Tody said: "You are under my power!! You will go home happy and bringing good tidings of my home and people. Be good to your fellow humans and change your disgusting ways."
I was not sure what he was talking about but now that it is the new year I think I know. My New Years resolution is to reduce my meat (red meat, pork and chicken) eating to one a month and ride my bike more often. My wife always was a healthy eater and environmentally conscious but when we got back from PR she has added some small differences. This morning she made us Acai Bowls. Acai is a berry that grows in the Amazonian rain forest. It is good for a number of reasons. It is a super food / antioxidant. But best of all it promotes saving of the rain forest and the stopping of slash and burn mentality in the Amazon. The berries only grow on mature trees that are hundreds of years old from what I understand. For those Trader Joe junkies out there, they sell Acai.
Are you kidding me!!!
My favorite bird of the trip hands down.
Unfortunately I did not get to bird on our way back up from Florida. I finally contracted the cold my wife and kids had and was not in any mood.
In between work this week I tried a couple times to get a Pacific Loon that has been reported from Johnny Mercer's Pier in Wilmington but those numb skulls don't post their hours anywhere that I could find and although there was tons of activity in the mornings I could not get out on the pier. While waiting for the pier to open, I birded the Masonboro Inlet area hoping for an Eider or Eared Grebe.
Northern Gannets are so cool. Depending on age they all have different plumage patterns.
I don't think I have seen one with white shoulders like this before, I may be mistaken but this time it really stuck out for me.
A necklace on this one - snazzy.
So long story short, my big year is at an end. 315 photographed species!! Not too shabby but I think I can do better. Just maybe not in 2015. My wife would kill me. I ended up with 326 species seen so that was only 11 species I was not able to photograph. Thats 25 species away from Derb's amazing record. As hard as I tried this year, I was not able to even come close. I still have a lot to learn. As for Ali, I have him to think for inspiring me to do this big year. I wanted to show that with today's technology you can do big years without lying and in fact your can document most if not all of your sightings.
For those of you wondering, I am not planning on closing the blog down. I love writing about my experiences and it helps me to grow as a birder. Also it offers me a way to keep my extended family up to date on my doings. I hope they are reading at least!
This year I will attempt to keep two lists: 2015 photographed birds in NC and 2015 photographed birds in the ABA region. I have a couple trips lined up already for work (San Fran and Calgary) so I am going to try and work in some birding. How cool would it be if that Rustic Bunting stuck around in San Fran. And the boreal owls (Boreal, Northern Hawk, Great Gray etc...) up in Canada!!!
Happy New Year to my readers! Keep it real and don't hesitate to hit me up for some birding if you are in my area.
A fantastic post to round up the year. Yes, we are all lapping it up and looking forward to much more in 2015. The Tody was amazing, and not only do I forgive your pun, I loved it.
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