Sun, March 25 - Birding the Camagüey Area

We met for breakfast at the bar of one of the hotels in our neighborhood at 6 AM and were served good platters of fruits and then cheese and ham omelets. 

Fancy Cappuccino!

Cuban Martins were flying around the church across the street as mass was being conducted.  We had to walk a short way to find Arturo and the bus as he can’t park on our narrow street.  This city is really charming with flowers and murals and old historic buildings everywhere and the streets seems to be cleaned every night!

Cuban Martins on the Cathedral Cross

We set off, heading south from the city.  There was virtually no traffic, partly due to it being Sunday, and partly due to the lack of autos. 

We quickly got out into the countryside consisting of many small farms with horse-drawn carts transporting people back and forth.  We stopped at a few places and birded in the lovely cool early morning air, and saw the Plain Pigeon, a rather lovely purple brown bird with white edging to its wings.

Cuban Cowboy

We arrived at Rancho La Belén, once a large horse ranch, and now a park but still with horse stables, the best horses we’ve seen and quite a few cowboys leading horses here and there.  We had lunch at a nice restaurant next to a pool full of noisy Sunday holidayers   I’m not sure how this upscale operation fits in with this society, but it as very pleasant and a nice place to bird.

  

Malachite Butterfly

We took a walk for about a mile along a dirt ranch road between horse paddocks and  finally spotted the rare Gundlach’s Hawk which flew over a ridge top and was identified by acting like a Cooper’s Hawk which doesn’t exist here!  We also saw the rare Palm and Cuban Crows which look very similar, except that the Palm is often seen on the ground, and has a raspy Craaah voice.  The Cuban is seldom seen on the ground and has a variety of high-pitched warbles and parrot-like calls.

Royal Palm

 We decided to return to Camagüey, as we have a busy schedule planned for the rest of the day, but the bus inexplicably stopped, turned around and we all got off to look for a better view of the Cuban Parrot!  It was very hot by then, but we walked about half a mile, and did get a good view, but whew! 

Cuban Parrot

We returned to our hotel at 4 PM, and in ten minutes dashed off with Gonzalo to a shop he knows that has good cigars, coffee and rum for us to buy.  We then met to do the List.  Bob and I ordered Piña Coladas which were the best we’ve ever had - just delicious!!  At 5:15 the 14 of us climbed onto 7 Bici-Taxis, all colorfully painted, and started off to explore four of the city’s beautiful historic plazas.

Our Bici-Taxis

We started with the regal Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Merced opposite the brilliant blue convention center. 

We then rode to Cathedral de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, a pink and cream church where the national anthem was being played very loudly as the flag was being lowered.  Everyone, including little children, stood at attention.

  We next stopped at a plaza with a simple green and white church and finished up at the Plaza de Carmen that contains a grander church, art galleries and a restaurant, El Paso, where we had a dinner of basically the same ingredients as we have had elsewhere, but very well prepared.

  A charming young woman and a guitarist serenaded us, and even played “Alleluia” for Jon, a devoted Leonard Cohen fan!  We walked home through car-empty streets, but with lots of people wandering about.  Back at the hotel, we listened to Dr. Luis Díaz, our naturalist guide, give us a power point presentation on the fauna of Cuba which was very interesting.   

A great 60s rock band was playing on the plaza outside our hotel - great music that thankfully ended at 9:30!

Sat, March 24 - to Camagüey

We all climbed onto the bus at 6 AM, having consumed the bananas we had been told to pick up at dinner last night as the hotel couldn’t  provide breakfast that early again.  We drove a short distance to Cueva de Javali, a tourist site with a cave.  The owners have dripping water and put out seed to attract the doves.  Jon said that last year before the hurricane the vegetation was lush but now it’s very straggly and sparse.  But the Key-West Quail-Doves, that we were looking for, appeared  along with Zenaida and Common Ground Doves, so at least some of them have come back.

Key West Quail-dove

Cuban Tody  - just like a plush toy!

We returned to our hotel for the big breakfast spread and had omelets, fruit, cheeses and guava juice.   We then left again for the local beach, Playa Coco, and checked out the shorebirds which were continually being disturbed by joggers coming upon them. 

The ocean was spectacular with ribbons of deep blue, turquoise, and surf.  There were several kite surfers sliding back and forth through the water.  A beautiful scene.

The bus took us back to  Sol Cayo Coco at 11:30 so we could put our luggage outside our rooms for staff to transfer to the lobby.  Most of us returned the the lobby bar for our last free drinks!!   Bob and I had Piña Coladas and the others quite amazed me by having several!!  At 12:30 some of us went in to the dining area for lunch, but as we had recently had breakfast and cocktails we weren’t too hungry!!

At 1:15 we had our blue bracelets cut off - meaning that all our freebies were cut off from us as well!   We set off on the bus on the long ride to the third largest city of Cuba - Camagüey, founded in 1514 and located in the interior of the country as a protection from pirates.

We passed through farm land collectives, sugar cane fields, and small villages.  The universal poverty was pretty shocking, but everyone seems to be living at the same level.  When we finally arrived in Camagüey, Arturo, our bus driver had to navigate through its narrow streets which he did amazingly well.  There wasn’t much traffic, mainly bikes and horse carts, but still it was tough maneuvering through the cobble stone alleys.  We finally arrived at a small square full of pretty historic-looking hotels.  They are all run by the same government people; we were scattered through three hotels. 

Courtyard of  our Hotel Avellanada

 Bob and I are in Hotel Avellanada, a one-story hotel of rooms with high ceilings and a beautiful courtyard.  We had only a few minutes to dump our bags and then head to the Hotel Santa Maria where we did the List in the open air courtyard with Cuba Libres.  We then headed up to the fifth floor for dinner.  The buffet was mediocre, but the room had a beautiful stained glass window and a pleasant band.  Jon arranged for breakfast at 6 AM tomorrow for our last day of birding.

Evening in Camagüey

Fri, March 23 - Birding Cayo Coco

Cuban Dawn

The Sol Cayo Coco serves its big breakfast buffet at 7:30, but they kindly brought out coffee, omelets, rolls and fruit for us at 6 AM and we left in the bus well fortified at 6:30. We were joined by a young, enthusiastic local birder, Ron, and drove down the east side of Cayo Coco.  Jon Dunn, our leader, who has birded here for the past five years was particularly interested in the  number of species and their quantities so he could calculate the damage done to the avifauna from Hurricane Irma.  

Hurricane Damage

Most of the shrubs were denuded and just beginning to re-leaf, except for the small palm trees which seemed unharmed.   We stopped several times and saw the Cuban Gnatcatcher and the Oriente Warbler, both endemics. 

Passiflora species

The narrow road had a lot of construction traffic on it as the government sees a golden goose in the tourism on these lovely keys, but, I hope, they will leave some habitat intact.   We stopped by a large marsh and saw the West Indian Whistling Duck.

Western Spindalis

We crossed some causeways to Cayo Romero and onto the small island of Cayo Paredón Grande where we saw an old lighthouse built by the Spanish in 1859.  We walked along a dirt road and saw some interesting wildflowers, but in very small numbers - just coming back, I assume.  And then our guides called out a very rare Thick-billed Vireo which survived the storm and, I hope, can find a mate soon!!

We returned to our hotel at 1 PM and had lunch and beer.   Our hotel has been repainted and the large open-air lobby/bar has been rebuilt and the gardens replanted.  The Cuban government seems to have accomplished miracles here whereas the US can’t get electricity and water for its citizens in Puerto Rico!

The plan was to drive out to a key west of here where Hemingway hung out and, of course , see more birds.  I elected to stay put and relax, so Bob left with the rest of the group at 3 PM.

I walked down to the beach. I had planned on swimming but the air was a cool low 70s and the wind was whipping up some surf, so I thought it was wise not to swim alone in unfamiliar water and instead walked for an hour up the beach, wading in the warm water and looking at the turquoise colors.  I returned and brought my computer to the lobby and braving the loud music managed to catch up on email a bit and send off a blog post.

The others didn’t return until seven (so glad I stayed behind!).  I got two Cuba Libres from the bar and joined Bob at The List.  Afterwards we had a good dinner with another custom pizza and marshmallow cake for dessert.

Thurs, March 22 - To Cayo Coco

As today is a driving day, we were allowed to sleep in and have breakfast at 7 AM, much to the relief of our cook, I’m sure!  We are staying in a casa particular, a privately-owned small B&B run by the family who lives there. This is a fairly new development in Cuba as all hotels are owned by the government.   We had our usual lavish breakfast spread of fruit, crepes (with sprinkles!) jam, cake, & eggs, before saying goodbye to our gracious hosts and joining the others on the bus.  

Cuban Street Scene

We drove north back to the Autopista Nacional, the highway that runs east-west through much of the country, and continued our way east.  We stopped at a small cafe for coffee and pastries and then drove on another hour until we stopped for lunch near Santa Clara at a large open-air restaurant that had a buffet set up, so we weren’t presented with huge platters of food!  I just had some black beans & rice and yuca with a beer.

Lunch!

Band-headed Anole, A. lucius

Cuban Green Anole, A. porratus

We walked down to a nearby stream and saw two lovely anoli lizards, and then got back onto the highway.  The traffic on all the roads on which we have traveled has been rather light.  Not that many people own cars and gasoline is $5 a gallon.  Many of the old restored American cars have newer, more efficient engines installed and a lot of loving care is put into maintaining them.  Along all the major roads is a dirt track for the horse-drawn carts used for hauling wood or hay, or used as taxis for transporting people.  It is very charming for us first-worlders to be able to frequently hear the the clopping of hooves on the pavement!

We turned north once again and headed for the other coast of Cuba where the horrendous Hurricane Irma hit last fall.  We passed through a forest of blow-over trees and then crossed over a long causeway about 30 KM long reaching Cayo Coco, Cuba’s fourth largest island.  The island plus the others in this chain were uninhabited until 1992 when the government established a single hotel and then a continuous stream of more.  Cubans aren’t allowed to stay here, just to come for work - it is just set up for tourists.  At five we arrived at our hotel, Hotel Sol Cayo Coco, a large noisy beach-oriented all-inclusive resort.  We received blue wrist bands, which allow us to eat and drink as much as we want! 

Hotel Sol Cayo Coco

Before the hurricane we could have easily seen our target birds, but now who knows?  Everything looks in good repair, but most of the trees are without many leaves and many birds have been driven away.

Hotel Beach

We took a quick bird walk and then returned to the hotel for The List and a crowded noisy buffet of an amazing variety of foods.  The staff are very well trained and friendly and cooked us pizzas to order, or cracked crab, roast beef, etc..   with an ice cream sundae bar for dessert!

I tried the wifi...but had problems - I’ll try again tomorrow.

Wed, March 21 - Visiting Parque Nacional Cienga de Zapata

After breakfast at 6:15 we joined the others in the bus along with Frank, our local guide.  

The endemic bird species are mostly endangered, but the local guides know exactly where they are, so we have a good chance of identifying them.  We also have a representative of the Cuban Conservation Trust along and our Cuban naturalist guide, Dr. Luis  Diaz, who is  one of the top herpetologists in Cuba and has been pointing out a wide variety of beautiful lizards for us. Gonzalo manages the logistics for our trip and gives us lectures on Cuban culture.  With all this assistance, its no wonder that of the 48 possible birds Bob was hoping to add to his life list, he already has 37!

Zapata Sparrow

Our driver, Arturo,  turned off a main road onto a narrow dirt one and very slowly drove down it in the dark.  It has been frustrating as we were told not to bring a GPS to Cuba (not sure why) so it is very difficult to tell where we are especially in the dark!  We figured out later that we had been traveling through the huge marshy area north and west of Playa Larga.  The ground fog lifted and we found ourselves in a lovely swampy area with open water and scattered islands, called La Turba.  Frank quickly called up the Zapata  Sparrow and other local species.  

Two Greater Flamingos & A Roseate Spoonbill

Black-necked Stilts

Arturo somehow managed to turn the large bus around on this one-lane road and we drove to Las Salinas, an area of open shallow water with some platforms from which we could see beautiful Black-necked Stilts, a favorite Santa Barbara bird, but lovely to see in such numbers, White Pelicans and gorgeous, dark pink Flamingos and one Spoonbill.

View from the Tiki Hut

We went back to town and stopped at the Tiki Hut Restaurant for lunch on an open-air terrace overlooking the bay.  Most of us had Pina Coladas and then a platter of red snapper, squidZS()  and shrimp.   Not the obvious beverage for an afternoon of serious birding, but Jon, our Wings leader, suggested it, so why not?

After lunch we drove to the little village of Palpite and stopped at Bernabe’s house. 

Bernabe’s House

 The lady greeted us and took us to her back yard where she has set up several hummingbird feeders.  We took turns holding the feeder and experienced having the world’s smallest bird, the Bee Hummingbird at 2.5” in length, inches away from us!  This tiny creature zooms around and looks even  smaller than its size!   It has a iridescent red throat, white underneath, and an iridescent blue back—just gorgeous!    The Cuban Emerald Hummingbird, at 4”, that we have been seeing these past few days, was there also so we could compare their sizes,

The Bee Hunmingbird!

We returned to Casa Kirenia for several hours of relaxation!  I grabbed a shower and then walked the one block to the town beach with lovely views due south to the Caribbean Sea.  I waded in the bath tub-warm water!    We gathered together at 6:15 for the List and mojitos and then return to our guest houses where our host served us local lobster tail, huge grilled split tails, which I’m afraid I couldn’t finish. 

We are going to have to cut down on eating on this trip or we won’t be able to roll ourselves onto our jet next week!a

My wrist, elbow and leg bump are a little better today, so I guess I'll survive!

Our Room at Casa Kirenia - with Swan Towels!

Tue, March 20 - Exploring the west side of the Bay of Pigs

We got up at 5 AM, got ourselves organized, and joined our four other house mates for a delicious breakfast of fruits, cheeses, bread pudding and eggs.  At 6:40 Arturo arrived with the bus and we joined the others for a ride in the dark.  Eventually we could see bits of ocean through the shrubs as daylight appeared.  We drove down the east side of the narrow Bay of Pigs.  We turned inland to the community of Bermejas where we parked at the side of the road next to an unmarked path.  We walked a short ways to a crude fence-like bird hide and immediately began seeing the beautiful Blue-headed Quail Doves, along with Grey-headed Quail Doves feeding on the ground.  The light was still pretty dim so photography was difficult, but the doves were very cooperative and even scurried around the blind and joined us!

Blue-headed Quail-
dove

We continued on to La Cuchilla, a lovely marshy area and saw quite a few rare Red-shouldered Blackbirds - similar to our Red-wing Blackbirds in appearance and song, but duller. 

We then saw a very cute, tiny Bare-legged Owl glaring at us from its nesting hole.

Bare-legged Owl

Cuban Pygmy Owl

We turned around and stopped at a little snack shop where Bob and I bought a half liter of chocolate/vanilla ice cream as it was the smallest size.  There was a large monument to the Cubans who died fighting off the CIA-sponsored Cuban exiles.  We walked along the roadside looking for birds and Bob called to me; I turned and managed to trip over a chunk of limestone and fell in a turning roll, hitting my right elbow and wrist and leg in front of everyone!   Several people dashed over and picked me up and I hobbled off.

Cuban Parakeet

The bus took us back to the coast where the water was amazingly turquoise and beautiful!  There were a few souvenir and dive shacks.

  We walked over to a cenote, Cuevas de Los Peces (cave of the fishes) a limestone sinkhole, that was filled with saltwater.  Busloads of French and other tourists were descending on the area and jumping into the water.   We had a good lunch of crocodile and fish which I had difficulty eating as my arm was so stiff by that time. Then we had a little time to go swimming in the ocean if we wanted to. 

The changing room turned out to be a tiny toilet cubical and I figured I should take it easy anyway, so Bob and I walked over to the shore.  There was no beach just undercut sharp limestone descending into the water so I’m glad I passed on that opportunity.

It was in the 90s and the birding was quite quiet, but we took an hour and a half stroll through some woods and didn't see much.   At 4 PM we returned to Casa Kirenia where I got a bag of ice and iced my wrist and elbow and napped a bit.  At 6:15 we walked to the Hostal Enrique and joined the others on their rooftop terrace for the list, fortified with delicious mojitos.

We enjoyed a dinner of roast pork back at our hostal; everyone except me went out on a night drive to look for nightjars .  My arm was getting better, so I decided to rest.

Red-headed Brown Anole Lizard