Ecclesdown Road

Back on track this morning, rattling off another 8 endemics in a cracking 3 hour session on Ecclesdown Road, leaving me just Jamaican Euphonia, Jamaican Mango and Olive-throated Parakeet (not endemic) to find. So the day began a little after 6.15am with groups of Jamaican Crows flying across the valley with one individual perched out on a prominent dead tree calling for several minutes. A calling Jamaican Becard only showed briefly but I needn’t have worried as just a short distance up the road I heard another one singing and jumped out of the car to find a female attending a nest. 

Jamaican Lizard Cuckoo

The first of 3 Jamaican Lizard Cuckoos was then seen and they all showed really well but in the gloomy weather (it was drizzling on and off for an hour this morning and very overcast) I failed spectacularly to get a good photo! A cracking Crested Quail-Dove walking along the road in front of my car was superb, and I saw another one doing the same thing on my return later. 

Crested Quail-Dove

Next up was a Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo skulking beside the road, whilst more endemics followed in the shape of numerous Black-billed Streamertails, Orangequits, Jamaican Woodpecker, Jamaican Vireo, 2 Arrowhead Warblers and a few Jamaican Tody’s, plus Greater Antillean Bullfinch. 

Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo

By now it was 8.45am and I was getting concerned that none of the distantly calling amazons were coming closer. But I needn’t have worried as all of a sudden I saw some movement in a roadside tree and there were 3 Black-billed Amazons sitting quietly. They flew off but only for 50 metres or so and joined a few more in a bare tree, where I managed to fire off a few record shots. 

Black-billed Amazon

Shortly after a couple Yellow-billed Amazons flew over and I had a couple more flight views later in the morning in much better light. Walking back to the car I was just about to get in when a bird flew into some tall bamboo next to me. Getting my binoculars on it, I was blown away when it proved to be a Yellow-shouldered Grassquit – a bird I was expecting to dip on to be honest. And that was me done for the day, with some more business stuff to do and people to meet. Oh and another siesta! Dinner tonight was at the strange Italian restaurant in Port Antonio.....