We left in the early hours in order to give ourselves plenty of time to search for those pesky nightbirds we were still missing. Well, we didn’t get a sniff of either species until just at sunrise, when we were high up the Alcoa Road and had parked up amongst some conifers, that a Hispaniolan Nightjar responded to the tape and flew over a couple of us before disappearing into the forest. Unfortunately, most of the group were still getting out of the minibus at the time…..! Anyway, this spot seemed like a good place for breakfast and it also had a couple distant Hispaniolan Crossbills and a Hispaniolan Euphonia as well. We were looking for the endemic Golden Swallow, which breeds up here in the abandoned quarries that seem to be everywhere. Despite that we really had to search for this bird and maybe 2 hours later finally found a pair that appeared to be nesting in a hole at the top of a cliff. We were treated to great views as they flew around us and there was much relief all round, especially for yours truly as I was back at the minibus when the birds first appeared! We also saw several Myrtle Warblers up here, as well as another group of Hispaniolan Palm Crows.
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| White morph Reddish Egret |
Dropping back down to the lowlands, we returned to the hotel and picked up our luggage and then drove out to Cabo Rojo once more, but didn’t find anything new. One pool held white-morph Reddish Egret and Little Blue Heron, with a bunch of Snowy Egrets but that was it. Any chance of a Double-striped Thick-Knee would have required a time machine I think! So we drove a few hours up to Barahona and our clifftop hotel, heading out for poorwills once again in the evening drew a blank.
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