Set out early on the long drive to Pedernales, down in the south-west corner of Dominican Republic and very close to the border with Haiti. Our first stop was a bit of a mess as we ended up falling foul of the local park ranger at Laguna Rincon for not purchasing entry tickets. Who knew? Shame as it looked a decent area and we heard Spotted Rail, saw flocks of Village Weavers, Belted Kingfisher, a Green Heron and a bunch of other previously seen species. So we got out of there and visited Laguna Oviedo, deciding to take a boat trip out onto the lake despite the windy conditions. I’m honestly not sure if it’s worth doing this boat ride again as it takes a good hour’s journey across the lake to get to the best birding area.
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| American Flamingo |
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| Royal Terns & Laughing Gulls |
Still, it’s a good place for American Flamingo, with over 75 seen, along with Reddish Egret, Little Blue Heron, Common, Caspian and Royal Terns, and a few Laughing Gulls. Flocks of shorebirds were present and it was a little tricky manoeuvring the boat to get a decent view of them but eventually and with some persistence we were able to see Short-billed Dowitcher, Semipalmated Plover, Stilt Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Least and Western Sandpipers, and a Red Knot. I must admit I was grateful when we returned to the small quay and continue driving…!
We then headed to Cabo Rojo and we wanted to be in position for a seawatch in the evening as this is where Black-capped Petrels sometimes congregate before flying inland to their nesting burrows – some of them breed up at Zapoten, high up in the Sierra de Bahorucco. Well, we eventually worked out how to get up to the headland as you can’t drive up there due to a barrier across the road. Once at the right spot we set up scopes and…….well there were distant pteradroma-types constantly breaking the horizon but you couldn’t really say they were Black-capped Petrels so we’ll have to save that one for another trip! There were Brown Pelicans, White-tailed Tropicbirds, Magnificent Frigatebirds, Brown Boobies, and cliff nesting Cave Swallows and Antillean Palm Swifts to keep us entertained, with a very confiding Hispaniolan Mango feeding on the cactus flowers right next to us.
All that was left was to drive 25 minutes into Pedernales to a nice little hotel and it was in walking distance of a great restaurant where we enjoyed some nice cold cervezas and a delicious meal.
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