ovenbird43
Well-known member
March 27
I hadn't made specific plans for this day - I was destined to arrive at Salinas de Bani in the afternoon, supposedly about a 2-hour drive from Barahona, but that was it. I decided to take this one opportunity to sleep in and quite enjoyed it, sleeping until 8 or so and then heading down for a leisurely breakfast. I tried to do a bit of birding on the grounds behind the hotel afterward - I wandered out to the beach, seeing Laughing Gulls and Sandwich Terns on the water. I looked wistfully at the mangroves stretching south, but there were some guys hanging around in that area so I decided against it. In fact at this point I noticed one of the hotel staff watching me, clearly keeping an eye on me for safety. I stayed in the vicinity, spotting Hispaniolan Woodpecker, Palmchat, Broad-billed Tody, Vervain Hummingbird, and heard Yellow Warbler and Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo - not bad for a little patch of scrub. I returned toward the hotel and was stopped by the hotel staff guy, who told me it wasn't safe to wander off in the mangroves alone - yeah, I had figured as much.
I decided to check out Laguna del Rincon, vaguely hoping for the regional endemic White-cheeked Pintail. I drove through the town of Cabral, watching people still celebrating Easter, and stopped at the guard station for the lagoon. I spoke with the guide and agreed to show me around, and got into my car. Evidently there wasn't much water left in the lake - we drove down a road that is usually flooded, several kilometers in and got out at a big flat, with a stretch of shallow water all that remained of this lake. So much for the pintail... out on the water were dozens of Great and Snowy Egrets and a few Brown Pelicans, but little else. Apparently, due to the current El Nino cycle, the DR has been experiencing a drought lately. It was worth a try and the guide didn't charge me much - IIRC about 100 pesos.
I headed on toward Salinas de Bani, but since everybody else in the DR was also headed that direction (vacationers returning to Santo Domingo) it was painfully slow going, especially through towns where people jammed 5-abreast on two-lane, two-way streets. But eventually I made it to my hotel, Savas Salinas, in the late afternoon. Set right on the bay, this was a pleasant location with quite nice rooms. I relaxed for a little bit, scanning the bay in vain for flamingos, and then decided to go for a walk. The road was surprisingly busy given than it dead-ends in a few kilometers, I guess a lot people were headed the town or beach of Salinas. I grew tired of men on motorbikes whistling or shouting at me and turned around before I really wanted to, but not before seeing a few goodies: white-morph Reddish Egrets (apparently the common morph here), a few shorebirds (Least Sandpiper, Black-bellied Plover), Village Weaver (introduced but a nice-looking bird), and heard-only Clapper Rail.
The hotel cleared out later in the evening, day visitors leaving and only one couple remaining to stay the night, so I enjoyed one of the only truly quiet nights of the trip, Easter festivities over, with fresh red snapper and half a bottle of wine for dinner - and a flyby Black-crowned Night Heron.
I hadn't made specific plans for this day - I was destined to arrive at Salinas de Bani in the afternoon, supposedly about a 2-hour drive from Barahona, but that was it. I decided to take this one opportunity to sleep in and quite enjoyed it, sleeping until 8 or so and then heading down for a leisurely breakfast. I tried to do a bit of birding on the grounds behind the hotel afterward - I wandered out to the beach, seeing Laughing Gulls and Sandwich Terns on the water. I looked wistfully at the mangroves stretching south, but there were some guys hanging around in that area so I decided against it. In fact at this point I noticed one of the hotel staff watching me, clearly keeping an eye on me for safety. I stayed in the vicinity, spotting Hispaniolan Woodpecker, Palmchat, Broad-billed Tody, Vervain Hummingbird, and heard Yellow Warbler and Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo - not bad for a little patch of scrub. I returned toward the hotel and was stopped by the hotel staff guy, who told me it wasn't safe to wander off in the mangroves alone - yeah, I had figured as much.
I decided to check out Laguna del Rincon, vaguely hoping for the regional endemic White-cheeked Pintail. I drove through the town of Cabral, watching people still celebrating Easter, and stopped at the guard station for the lagoon. I spoke with the guide and agreed to show me around, and got into my car. Evidently there wasn't much water left in the lake - we drove down a road that is usually flooded, several kilometers in and got out at a big flat, with a stretch of shallow water all that remained of this lake. So much for the pintail... out on the water were dozens of Great and Snowy Egrets and a few Brown Pelicans, but little else. Apparently, due to the current El Nino cycle, the DR has been experiencing a drought lately. It was worth a try and the guide didn't charge me much - IIRC about 100 pesos.
I headed on toward Salinas de Bani, but since everybody else in the DR was also headed that direction (vacationers returning to Santo Domingo) it was painfully slow going, especially through towns where people jammed 5-abreast on two-lane, two-way streets. But eventually I made it to my hotel, Savas Salinas, in the late afternoon. Set right on the bay, this was a pleasant location with quite nice rooms. I relaxed for a little bit, scanning the bay in vain for flamingos, and then decided to go for a walk. The road was surprisingly busy given than it dead-ends in a few kilometers, I guess a lot people were headed the town or beach of Salinas. I grew tired of men on motorbikes whistling or shouting at me and turned around before I really wanted to, but not before seeing a few goodies: white-morph Reddish Egrets (apparently the common morph here), a few shorebirds (Least Sandpiper, Black-bellied Plover), Village Weaver (introduced but a nice-looking bird), and heard-only Clapper Rail.
The hotel cleared out later in the evening, day visitors leaving and only one couple remaining to stay the night, so I enjoyed one of the only truly quiet nights of the trip, Easter festivities over, with fresh red snapper and half a bottle of wine for dinner - and a flyby Black-crowned Night Heron.
) fair play for scoring such a sought after African endemic while you were there too!:
