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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Puerto Rico in spring (1 Viewer)

Larry Sweetland

Larry Sweetland

Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'
Might just get a chance to do a quick couple of weeks in Puerto Rico before the summer kicks in. Eagerly following Peter C's report as he now writes it!

Any more gen gratefully received. Been scanning a few reports, and looks like a few birds can be pretty tricky, so very grateful for ANY gen,(and views on April/May birding), especially:-
PR Parrot
Plain Pigeon
W I whistling Duck
Elfin Woods Warbler
Antillean Nighthawk (anyone see this on PR?)
PR Nightjar
PR Screech Owl
C Coot
Anything else that might be useful

many thanks o:)
 
Larry Sweetland said:
Might just get a chance to do a quick couple of weeks in Puerto Rico before the summer kicks in. Eagerly following Peter C's report as he now writes it!

Any more gen gratefully received. Been scanning a few reports, and looks like a few birds can be pretty tricky, so very grateful for ANY gen,(and views on April/May birding), especially:-
PR Parrot
Click to expand...

I'll give you a quick 'spoiler' - PR Parrot is, basically, impossible. |=(|

(Shhh! Don't spoil the suspense for everybody else.) ;)

Unless you have some extraordinary "in" with somebody in the U.S. Forest Service (which manages the birds' sole habitat, a restricted area in El Yunque), there's simply no way to get anywhere near them. Sorry.

Peter
 
Here is a link to my own report for PR in end of April: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=36763

I have been back on a second, guided tour for which there is no report, but as result, I can say that if you are in for example Guanica Dry Forest by the end of day, the Antillean nighthawks are easy if you are there late enough that they have started displaying. They do seem to migrate away, look at Ebird to see when they come back. The same area is good for PR nightjar (I heard but did not see it on my initial visit, confirmed when I caught up with it on my second visit), but you may need a guide to gain access. The sound reminds me a little of the calls sometimes given by (female?) Eur nightjar, rrryyp with an increasing pitch. Use of a guide may be necessary to get info on the Owl.

In my report, I have a possible heard PR Parrot at El Yunque, that sound got confirmed when I heard them on the second visit. They are doing much better in the second (more lowland) breeding area, which when we visited was closed to the public.

For many of the other species, Ebird will be your best friend

Niels
 
I went to PR many years ago. The Owl was our first endemic, photographed on roadside wires through El Yunque when we arrived after dark on our first day. They seemed quite common.

I agree on the Amazon; all the best areas are closed to visitors. I'm told people have seen "wild ones" sat on top of the captive breeding cages, but even that requires trespass I think. These "wild birds" are also likely releases in any event. The chances of seeing wild ones anywhere are very close to zero.

cheers, alan
 
If you want to see reintroduced, free-flying parrots (plus lots in cages!), my book tells you the contacts you need to make in order to do that. No guarantees, but I had no insider track and managed it without much difficulty in 2009. For now, I'd forget El Yunque, although they were still there when I made my first visits in the late 1990s, and we included some tips about the (former) best places in the book.

Your other targets are all easy in the appropriate spots, with the exception of Black Swift (which I have never managed to see on Puerto Rico; easy on Jamaica and harder, but far from impossible, on mainland Cuba). The coot I increasingly don't believe in as a species.
 
I had a single Black Swift in what looked more like a fly-by than a place where they would be frequently.

They are easy in Dominica in the right season!

Niels
 
Guy, do you know anything about recent breeding success? When I visited (a couple of years before you, I believe) the released birds had started successful breeding if I recall correctly.

Niels
 
njlarsen said:
I had a single Black Swift in what looked more like a fly-by than a place where they would be frequently.

Niels
Click to expand...

I think it was reading this in your report that put the sp on my radar for PR Niels. I wondered whether there was a known site for them that most visiting birders don't bother fitting in, as maybe a high proportion of visiting birders have seen them in the USA. Guy's post hasn't given me much hope in that department!
 
njlarsen said:
Guy, do you know anything about recent breeding success? When I visited (a couple of years before you, I believe) the released birds had started successful breeding if I recall correctly.

Niels
Click to expand...



Yes, they were breeding pretty well at the time of my visit, indeed I saw several nest-holes near Ricardo Valentin's house. But, like all such projects, it has been a lot of work to reach this point.
 
Ok, sent off for Guy's book, and now looking hopeful that we'll go in early May (our first birding trip with 9 month old baby).

Not sure if there are sites for these in Guy's book, so:-

Yellow-breasted Crake? Do visiting birders ever see this? (Any sites?)

Bridled Quail-Dove? Any sites on Vieques? (and what are the chances?)
 
Easiest place for that quail dove I know is in Guadeloupe, so a bit off your route ;) One of my friends saw (if I recall correctly) Key West QD in the dry forest in PR. I have never seen the crake.

Niels
 
Thanks Niels,

Since last post I've found a trip report of someone seeing the crake in 2007 at Humacao. Also a report of 3 x Bridled Quail-Dove on Mt Pirata, Vieques.

I think if I see either though it would be a miracle, and there will be much shocked whooping.
 
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