Recent trip (1 Viewer)

I've just returned from a birding trip to Cuba which was interesting and rewarding but surprisingly hard work. Considering the habitat, low use of pesticides and heavy farm machinery etc the number of birds encountered was surprisingly low. Most of the endemics are reasonably easy to find, especially with the aid of local guides but, given the time of year, such as Gundlach's Hawk are really pot-luck (we dipped) - better around breeding season. We clocked 137 species including 20 endemics.

The mosquitoes in Zapata are mighty fierce and quite resistant to any repellents but have to be withstood to connect with the key species.

I took a 'scope, having considered the various comments here and elsewhere. It was useful in the salinas at Zapata and also around Cayo Coko but quite superfluous elsewhere. It also provided us with an extra hour's delay at immigration where the local officer found it necessary to take down details of this and the rest of our gear. Apparently if we had been carrying a hard drive this would have taken even longer but they weren't at all interested in a tablet!

A great place to visit with friendly hospitable people and decent accommodation.

Alf King said:

I've just returned from a birding trip to Cuba which was interesting and rewarding but surprisingly hard work. Considering the habitat, low use of pesticides and heavy farm machinery etc the number of birds encountered was surprisingly low. Most of the endemics are reasonably easy to find, especially with the aid of local guides but, given the time of year, such as Gundlach's Hawk are really pot-luck (we dipped) - better around breeding season. We clocked 137 species including 20 endemics.

The mosquitoes in Zapata are mighty fierce and quite resistant to any repellents but have to be withstood to connect with the key species.

I took a 'scope, having considered the various comments here and elsewhere. It was useful in the salinas at Zapata and also around Cayo Coko but quite superfluous elsewhere. It also provided us with an extra hour's delay at immigration where the local officer found it necessary to take down details of this and the rest of our gear. Apparently if we had been carrying a hard drive this would have taken even longer but they weren't at all interested in a tablet!

A great place to visit with friendly hospitable people and decent accommodation.

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Pleased you enjoyed your trip.
Did you visit Cayo Guillermo when you went to Cayo Coco?
Perhaps you found it hard work because it was not the migration season.
We have been the past two Springs when the breeding birds are active and there was a tremendous number of American migrants moving through.
The woods near the Sol Y Lunas in Guardalavaca were buzzing with birds singing and calling.
On neither occasion have the immigration staff bothered about my scope:you must have been unlucky!

How did you do on rails and crakes?

Niels

Yes we visited Caya Guillermo. One drawback there at present is the enormous amount of building work that is going on, including road reconstruction, for the development of new resorts. There are currently (I think) 9 resorts on Caya Coko which will increase to 11 by next year and 19 by 2016. As you can imagine the birds that have previously thrived in these environments are under a lot of pressure now.

I know that spring may have been better but you can't go everywhere in spring can you? (Not at my advancing age anyhow.) We actually connected with quite a few N American warblers as well as all of the target species on the Cayas, except for Gundlach's Hawk. One of the trickiest at this time of year proved to be WI Whistling Duck as there was a lot of water around providing plenty of cover.

Clapper Rail was the only one that we connected with, aside from Coot and Moorhen that is.

The developments are mainly on Cayo Coco as far as I know.
Apart from a new hotel at Pilar there are no further developments on Cayo Guillermo at the moment.
There are plenty of mangrove swamp areas and lagoons next to the established hotels on Guillermo where the birds have been living side by side with the tourists for many years.
Fortunately the rest of the island is 80% mangrove swamp,lagoons and dense forests with little land left, close to beaches, which could be earmarked for hotels.
There are also many swamps and lagoons on Cayo Coco beyond the western end of the island going east which are inland and hopefully too far away from the beaches to attract hotel developers.Cayo Coco is also blessed with miles of dense forest and woods inland,again too far from the coast to be attractive for building resort hotels.

I hate to disagree Pratincol but there is a large water-treatment facility currently being constructed on CG and the main road at Pilar is being rebuilt and strengthened to allow for further development.

There are plenty of area that will remain untouched, you are correct, but the infrastructure is being developed considerably to facilitate more development.

Lets' hope that it remains a prime birding location - and, yes, I do realise that people like me are also a part of the problem.

Alf King said:

I hate to disagree Pratincol but there is a large water-treatment facility currently being constructed on CG and the main road at Pilar is being rebuilt and strengthened to allow for further development.

There are plenty of area that will remain untouched, you are correct, but the infrastructure is being developed considerably to facilitate more development.

Lets' hope that it remains a prime birding location - and, yes, I do realise that people like me are also a part of the problem.

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Unfortunately they are building a hotel at Pilar and I believe they are thinking about building a hotel west of the Sol Cayo Guillermo.
On the plus side the well established hotels on Guillermo all border lagoons which attract more birds than you would normally see at a place like Leighton Moss.The number and variety of waders and wildfowl in April, was astonishing.
Generally the guests have no interest in the lagoons and their attention is attracted seawards, on the beach.A further disincentive are the flies and midges around the watery areas.Most guests have a quick look,get bitten to death,and don't return!
I spent many a happy hour bird watching on the lagoons at the edge of the Sol Cayo Guillermo grounds without ever seeing many other guests anywhere near there.So the birds were generally undisturbed.
Like the Luna Y Mares hotel in Guardalavaca,these two well established hotels have area of mature shrubs and trees which attract many different species of birds.I saw a Cuban Emerald nest where the adult was feeding its young at the Sol Cayo Guilllermo.There were breeding birds on the island at this hotel as well as some good birds such as Cuban Blackhawk and American Kestrel.
The trees and shrubs were full of American warblers passing through.
A Merlin was living on site at the Luna Y Mares.It emerged every night at 7 pm to catch the bats emerging from the entertainment pavilion.It was just another All Inclusive guest!
A 15 minute walk west of Pilar takes you to Zona De La Punta,a wonderful bird rich area.There are no beaches and the mangrove forests go right to the edge of the sea.No beaches hopefully will mean no developments!
As you drive towards Pilar there are endless lagoons,marshes and mangrove swamp and forest areas mainly on the inland side of the road well away from any potential hotel developments.

The area around the Luna Y Mares in Guardalavaca holds more hope for the future.
It is separated from the upmarket well disguised Paradius hotel by a massive lagoon crossed only by a bridge.
Behind the hotel,inland, there is a huge woodland area bordering a large bay which fortunately, is beachless.Apart from the inevitable dolphinareum in the middle of this bay, there is little scope for future development hopefully because of the lack of beaches.The dense scrub and forests edge the bay with only a few narrow strips of sand here and there.When the tide comes in even they disappear.

Both hotels have been established for many years and I cannot foresee any more hotel construction since they only seem to build them where there is access to a substantial sandy beach.
The Luna side of the hotel is very pleasant and the Paradius is very tastefully landscaped[so much so you cannot hardly see it!]
It makes for a great birdwatching holiday as you have the lagoon,the bay, and the woodland area, all close at hand.
You can just about get away with taking your scope Alf,since the lagoon and bay birds are fairly close.You only need your binoculars in the forest.

Yep, the sand flies will certainly deter all but the hardy, although the mossies were pussies compared with the Zapata mob.