With sunrise not until 06:45 it felt like a lie-in not meeting at the minibus until 06:30 and a short 25 minute drive to Rio Abajo was over before we knew it. This is a fantastic birding site and incredibly we found at least 4 Puerto Rican Parrots quite easily as they were calling and constantly moving over the road and perching to feed on fruits in plain sight. Ok so one had a radio transmitter and one definitely had some rings/bands but this is the main reintroduction site for this incredibly rare species and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing them.
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| Puerto Rican Parrot |
In fact our couple of hours was a bird fest from start to finish as we had our first Puerto Rican Tody perched up and calling right beside the road – it was just a shame it was tOo gloomy at this early hour to get a record shot. Oh well….! After the amazon experience we stayed for quite a while at a clearing where we saw several Puerto Rican Vireos, a Puerto Rican Emerald put in a couple of appearances, Lars found an Adelaide’s Warbler, we saw another Northern Parula and an American Redstart was seen, Puerto Rican Spindalis glowed in the canopy, and lastly a Puerto Rican Flycatcherwas seen well. We’d also had a Broad-winged Hawk perched up too. Just around the corner we glimpsed our first Puerto Rican Bullfinch high up in the canopy, but then found several more with one particularly obliging individual being seen just before a Puerto Rican Lizard Cuckoo decided to appear right next to Lars! This beast then started to sun itself with outstretched wings and a fanned tail whilst we drooled over the views. The only slight disappointment was a Puerto Rican/Lesser Antillean Pewee never stayed around long enough for everyone apart from me to see.
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| Puerto Rican Lizard Cuckoo |
Leaving here we returned to the hotel, had a nice breakfast and then packed up the minibus and drove around 20 minutes to some cliffs where the hoped-for White-tailed Tropicbirds performed admirably. En-route a flock of Cattle Egrets, some Glossy Ibis, Killdeer, Red-tailed Hawk and a Sharp-shinned Hawk were all nice padders. At the cliffs we saw up to ten tropicbirds flying over the ocean, with a few coming reasonably close. With our eyes to the skies we scored a few Caribbean Martins amongst the numerous Cave Swallows, as well as huge Brown Pelicans and Magnificent Frigatebirds, plus a pair of American Oystercatchers flew by.
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| White-tailed Tropicbird..... much better photos to follow... |
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| Cave Swallow |
Following this, a quick stop to collect our picnic lunch and a fuel stop were made before the 90 minute drive to our next hotel. This was when we hit a tropical downpour that lasted most of the rest of the day. Roads became rivers and the winding route through the hills became a little torturous to say the least. I was mightily relieved to arrive at our wonderful accommodation in the hills not far from Bosque Estatal Maricao.
Upon arrival we headed into the restaurant for coffee as the torrential downpour still hadn’t abated, much to everyone’s frustration. We were reduced to scanning from the restaurant veranda until the rain eased and we could actually pick out a few Scaly-naped Pigeons perched up in the forest below. Fortunately the rain did stop briefly, allowing us to offload the luggage from the minibus without getting drenched, but we had to endure several more showers. We were actually getting quite good at dodging them! In between bursts of rain we found a much-wanted Puerto Rican Tanager that allowed fine scope views but it didn’t make it look any prettier! A pair of Venezuelan Troupials positively glowed in the canopy of a cecropia, a Green Mango gave repeated views beside the restaurant, a Magnolia Warbler was found and we ended the day with a Puerto Rican Owl. Nice!
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| Puerto Rican Screech Owl |
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