Jamaica: Birding the Land of Wood and Water (1 Viewer)

[lgonz1008]

If you are an international birder, the Caribbean is a contrasting jewel of specialties that is only outdone with some of the outlandish number of endemics found in the hundreds of islands in Indonesia. Each of the major Caribbean island is home to over a dozen endemic species and have a representative endemic bird family or two. Jamaica decided to take up this challenge in spades by being the second smallest of the main islands, yet somehow being home of 28 endemics, a couple of potential splits and some sought-after rarities that are not easy anywhere in their range. The trip gave me and two friends an overall total of 105 species within 3 days of proper birding, that included most of the specialties previously mentioned with the exception of West Indian Whistling-Duck and Plain Pigeon (as both of these species are found further west in isolated pockets of the island). A huge thanks needs to be given to Ranger Lyndon Johnson (email here) who was a resourceful wealth of knowledge and driver during our birding time in the island.

It should be noted that birding this island is pretty straightforward if you know the overall sites and targets, especially since eBird does not list any of the crucial targets of the island as sensitive and we could easily change our itinerary to target these species. Driving is a bit hazardous in parts of the mountains (with trucks and other vehicles sharing the winding roads with you) and a bit of a lunatic's game when driving around Kingston, but nothing you wouldn't see while driving elsewhere in the world. Lodging was booked prior through our own methods and most Jamaican stores/restaurants accept the US dollar, but the conversion rate is all over the place and outside of one restaurant that got really close to it, most times you were losing some money if you had no Jamaican currency (highly suggest going to an ATM if you have the time and are choosing to do this trip on your own).

Detailed Itinerary:​

• March 14-15 (Flight to Kingston and birding around the capital)​

The trip began with a short and relatively painless flight to Kingston from the Miami airport. Once in Jamaica, we managed to pass extremely fast through immigration, only to be greeted by the slowest baggage carousel we've seen in our lives. From there, a quick pickup took us to our main base for the trip, a nice Vrbo home in one of the nicest neighborhoods of Kingston. From there, my friend who booked the place was taken through a tediously detailed rubric of how the house works by the owner, while we unpacked in our rooms and enjoyed dinner. The only hiccup of the night was a problem with opening one of the luggage bags as the lock became faulty and it was a fun game of finding the right person to get some pliers and break the lock.​

​

Early the next morning, we met up with Lyndon, who would be our guide and driver for the following 3 days and a great company all around. The first stop of the trip were in the well-known (for birders) Hellshire Hills, we walked the Parochial Road and managed to connect with nearly 40 different bird species, these included the main targets of the region Stolid Flycatcher and Bahama Mockingbird, but we also managed to see a good set of endemics like Jamaican Mango, Jamaican Oriole, Yellow-shouldered Grassquit, Sad Flycatcher and Jamaican Vireo, the first three being really attracted to the flowers and fruits from the cacti that dotted the landscape. This was also the only site that we encountered White-collared Swift and (Caribbean) Cave Swallow, and our only mammal of the trip, the horribly invasive Small Indian Mongoose.​

​

From there, we moved to our Westernmost point of the trip with the goal of seeing a widespread but always difficult, Masked Duck. The name of the hotspot on eBird is simply listed as Masked Duck Wetland, but in reality it's a set of retention ponds by a chicken farm that seem to be one of the main makeshift wetland areas of the region. Outside of the highly sought-after Masked Duck (which we saw four of them), the area was also the only site we had wintering waterfowl like Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon and Lesser Scaup throughout the trip, we also had a single (White-shielded) American Coot, Northern Jacana and a flyover flock of wintering Northern Rough-winged Swallow.​

​

Our final stop before lunch was in the Caymanas Reserve, this is an unmarked roadside trail that had more cows than birds at times, but it is worth noting that this forest habitat was good for a variety of forest species, even in the midday heat. Some of the standouts of this quick stop was our first Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo, Jamaican Tody, Jamaican Woodpecker and Rufous-tailed Flycatcher; it was also the only place we saw Solitary Sandpiper in a roadside canal, and it was interesting coming to terms with how widespread and common Red-tailed Hawk is in the island.​

​

After a quick lunch break in the Jamaican chain of Tastee Patty, we moved to Hope Botanical Gardens for our final stop of the day. Almost as soon as we parked, one of our first targets were heard squawking above us in the form of Yellow-billed Parrot and on a nearby branch we had our first of five roosting Northern Potoo for the trip around the gardens (Lyndon's new personal record). For the next two hours, we simply walked around the gardens hoping to connect with other easy regional endemics to narrow down our target list in the mountain tomorrow. Some of these included the Zenaida Dove, (Jamaican) Olive-throated Parakeet, Antillean Palm Swift, Vervain Hummingbird, (Cuban) American Kestrel, Loggerhead Kingbird, White-chinned Thrush, Greater Antillean Grackle and Jamaican Euphonia. However, the standouts resulted in Lyndon doing a happy dance by a bamboo patch as we saw a day roosting Jamaican Owl (second time Lyndon had one in the gardens) and two pairs of the sadly endangered Black-billed Parrot, the birds around the garden could have dubious origin as the nearby zoo has them in their collection, but we would eventually connect with these beauties later in the trip, so no harm in seeing them in multiple places.​

​

Our final stop of the day was at the Vrbo, where we just relaxed in the backyard as we reconnected with a few of the birds seen on the way to their roost sites, but we also had our first views of Red-billed Streamertail as it foraged in the flowers closest to us in the fading light. Tomorrow was going to be our longest day and we were tired of all the walking done in the hot Jamaican sun, so after a quick and delicious Chinese dinner, we called it a night.​

 

[birdboybowley]

Well done on the Masked Ducks, we never had a sniff of them there in December

 

[rkj]

it was interesting coming to terms with how widespread and common Red-tailed Hawk is in the island.​

I am reminded that the Latin name for Red-tailed Hawk is Buteo jamaicensis.

 

[lgonz1008]

• March 16 (Blue Mountains and Port Antonio Area)​

The Blue Mountains are easily the most iconic landmark of Jamaica, the beautifully forested hills, complete with views of the coast in clear mornings and where the famous Blue Mountain coffee is grown. These mountains are also the best place to see most of the endemics of the island, including highland trifecta of Blue Mountain Vireo, Jamaican Blackbird and Crested Quail-Dove. Our trip today started by leaving Kingston in the early hours of the morning ensured we had plenty of time for some owling on our drive up through the Blue Mountains. On our way up, we stopped in the road near the town of Red Light, a Northern Potoo was briefly seen as an outline and we managed to hear three different Jamaican Owls (including a fledgling), but views of both species left a lot to be desired and we ended up very thankful for the roosting birds we had yesterday.​

​

As we continued up the mountain, we would make stops as the birds came, without a clear site in mind, this gave us a variety of wintering warblers including Louisiana Waterthrush, Ovenbird, American Redstart and Black-throated Blue Warbler, on the endemics front, we managed to see our first White-eyed Thrush while combing through dozens of the common White-chinned Thrush.​

​

Eventually we reached the famous stretch of the mountain known as the Hardwar Gap, once here, the birds came fast and boldly, starting with the ethereal calls of the Rufous-throated Solitaire and seeing mixed flocks that included Arrowhead Warbler, Orangequit and Bananaquit. The biggest target of our first stop however was a pair of Jamaican Blackbird, these Icterids decided to not settle down for the lifestyle of begging the scraps from people and instead became one of the most specialists birds on the island, to the point that if you are not in an area with plenty of bromeliads, you might as well try elsewhere, because these rare birds will not settle for less. While walking through back roads, we eventually connected with close-up views of Ring-tailed Pigeon, Jamaican Spindalis, Jamaican Becard and Jamaican Elaenia, while getting photo-ops for Rufous-tailed Flycatcher and Red-billed Streamertail. We had a fleeting view of Crested Quail-Dove, which would be resolved later, and the trio of Jamaican vireos (Black-whiskered, Blue Mountain and Jamaican) while searching for a different target, that's considered by many as the hardest Jamaican specialty (and future endemic) the Greater Antillean (Jamaican) Elaenia.​

​

Around 10, we made a brief stop to try some Blue Mountain coffee and enjoy the birdy gardens of the Old Tavern Coffee Estate, we also bought some bags because this is a must for the coffee enjoyer (only coffee that calms me down as I drink more of it). At this point, we were well into the wet side of the mountain and this was obvious as we would soon realize how far we were willing to go to get good views of Crested Quail-Dove, the answer? Three wet birders in the rain.​

​

While waiting for the rain to pass, we had lunch in the Blue Patio cafe near the Springhill Falls and soon after the rain stopped, we were on our way out, only to stop again as a Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo came out in the open to dry its feathers in the afternoon sun. From here, the drive to Port Antonio was uneventful and we reached the San San Police Station Road around 3 for our last proper birding of the day. This road is popular as an easy access site to see most of the dove species found in the island, outside of the more widespread species, we were finally able to connect with Caribbean Dove and Ruddy Quail-Dove, the latter is probably the most skittish bird we had the whole trip. At this point, most of the birds we encountered were seen earlier in the day or the day before, but two of our missing targets soon came out to show their beautiful colors. First was a male Black-billed Streamertail, followed by a pair of Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo, neither bird cooperated for photos, but the views were good enough to cozily go into our life lists.​

​

From there, we checked in for the night at Mockingbird Hill Hotel, and while the roosting Jamaican Owl was a no-show, but we did hear it during dinner time, alongside the dozens of frogs and Croaking Lizards that call the property grounds their home. Tomorrow was our last day of birding and we were going to make it count.​

 

[lgonz1008]

Well done on the Masked Ducks, we never had a sniff of them there in December

Based on the reports, it seems like they appeared out of nowhere in mid-January, nobody has any clue where these birds go most of the year, but they don't think it's outside of the island.

 

[lgonz1008]

I am reminded that the Latin name for Red-tailed Hawk is Buteo jamaicensis.

Jamaica was one of the big collection sites back in the day, like Mexico, so many species have jamaicensis in their name, even if many of them don't match it. In this case, the bird fits well, as it is the only hawk found year-round on the island and we managed to see them every day, at every elevation and habitat.

 

[raymie]

If you are an international birder, the Caribbean is a contrasting jewel of specialties that is only outdone with some of the outlandish number of endemics found in the hundreds of islands in Indonesia. Each of the major Caribbean island is home to over a dozen endemic species and have a representative endemic bird family or two. Jamaica decided to take up this challenge in spades by being the second smallest of the main islands, yet somehow being home of 28 endemics, a couple of potential splits and some sought-after rarities that are not easy anywhere in their range. The trip gave me and two friends an overall total of 105 species within 3 days of proper birding, that included most of the specialties previously mentioned with the exception of West Indian Whistling-Duck and Plain Pigeon (as both of these species are found further west in isolated pockets of the island). A huge thanks needs to be given to Ranger Lyndon Johnson (email here) who was a resourceful wealth of knowledge and driver during our birding time in the island.

It should be noted that birding this island is pretty straightforward if you know the overall sites and targets, especially since eBird does not list any of the crucial targets of the island as sensitive and we could easily change our itinerary to target these species. Driving is a bit hazardous in parts of the mountains (with trucks and other vehicles sharing the winding roads with you) and a bit of a lunatic's game when driving around Kingston, but nothing you wouldn't see while driving elsewhere in the world. Lodging was booked prior through our own methods and most Jamaican stores/restaurants accept the US dollar, but the conversion rate is all over the place and outside of one restaurant that got really close to it, most times you were losing some money if you had no Jamaican currency (highly suggest going to an ATM if you have the time and are choosing to do this trip on your own).

Detailed Itinerary:​

• March 14-15 (Flight to Kingston and birding around the capital)​

​

The trip began with a short and relatively painless flight to Kingston from the Miami airport. Once in Jamaica, we managed to pass extremely fast through immigration, only to be greeted by the slowest baggage carousel we've seen in our lives. From there, a quick pickup took us to our main base for the trip, a nice Vrbo home in one of the nicest neighborhoods of Kingston. From there, my friend who booked the place was taken through a tediously detailed rubric of how the house works by the owner, while we unpacked in our rooms and enjoyed dinner. The only hiccup of the night was a problem with opening one of the luggage bags as the lock became faulty and it was a fun game of finding the right person to get some pliers and break the lock.​

​

Early the next morning, we met up with Lyndon, who would be our guide and driver for the following 3 days and a great company all around. The first stop of the trip were in the well-known (for birders) Hellshire Hills, we walked the Parochial Road and managed to connect with nearly 40 different bird species, these included the main targets of the region Stolid Flycatcher and Bahama Mockingbird, but we also managed to see a good set of endemics like Jamaican Mango, Jamaican Oriole, Yellow-shouldered Grassquit, Sad Flycatcher and Jamaican Vireo, the first three being really attracted to the flowers and fruits from the cacti that dotted the landscape. This was also the only site that we encountered White-collared Swift and (Caribbean) Cave Swallow, and our only mammal of the trip, the horribly invasive Small Indian Mongoose.​

​

From there, we moved to our Westernmost point of the trip with the goal of seeing a widespread but always difficult, Masked Duck. The name of the hotspot on eBird is simply listed as Masked Duck Wetland, but in reality it's a set of retention ponds by a chicken farm that seem to be one of the main makeshift wetland areas of the region. Outside of the highly sought-after Masked Duck (which we saw four of them), the area was also the only site we had wintering waterfowl like Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon and Lesser Scaup throughout the trip, we also had a single (White-shielded) American Coot, Northern Jacana and a flyover flock of wintering Northern Rough-winged Swallow.​

​

Our final stop before lunch was in the Caymanas Reserve, this is an unmarked roadside trail that had more cows than birds at times, but it is worth noting that this forest habitat was good for a variety of forest species, even in the midday heat. Some of the standouts of this quick stop was our first Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo, Jamaican Tody, Jamaican Woodpecker and Rufous-tailed Flycatcher; it was also the only place we saw Solitary Sandpiper in a roadside canal, and it was interesting coming to terms with how widespread and common Red-tailed Hawk is in the island.​

​

After a quick lunch break in the Jamaican chain of Tastee Patty, we moved to Hope Botanical Gardens for our final stop of the day. Almost as soon as we parked, one of our first targets were heard squawking above us in the form of Yellow-billed Parrot and on a nearby branch we had our first of five roosting Northern Potoo for the trip around the gardens (Lyndon's new personal record). For the next two hours, we simply walked around the gardens hoping to connect with other easy regional endemics to narrow down our target list in the mountain tomorrow. Some of these included the Zenaida Dove, (Jamaican) Olive-throated Parakeet, Antillean Palm Swift, Vervain Hummingbird, (Cuban) American Kestrel, Loggerhead Kingbird, White-chinned Thrush, Greater Antillean Grackle and Jamaican Euphonia. However, the standouts resulted in Lyndon doing a happy dance by a bamboo patch as we saw a day roosting Jamaican Owl (second time Lyndon had one in the gardens) and two pairs of the sadly endangered Black-billed Parrot, the birds around the garden could have dubious origin as the nearby zoo has them in their collection, but we would eventually connect with these beauties later in the trip, so no harm in seeing them in multiple places.​

​

Our final stop of the day was at the Vrbo, where we just relaxed in the backyard as we reconnected with a few of the birds seen on the way to their roost sites, but we also had our first views of Red-billed Streamertail as it foraged in the flowers closest to us in the fading light. Tomorrow was going to be our longest day and we were tired of all the walking done in the hot Jamaican sun, so after a quick and delicious Chinese dinner, we called it a night.​

Was there any reason for you to specifically suspect the Black-billed Parrots to be escapees, or is that just a random guess given your proximity to the zoo? Zoo escapes are generally rare and birders all around the world attribute far too many birds to this rare phenomenon.

 

[lgonz1008]

Was there any reason for you to specifically suspect the Black-billed Parrots to be escapees, or is that just a random guess given your proximity to the zoo? Zoo escapes are generally rare and birders all around the world attribute far too many birds to this rare phenomenon.

Outside of the gardens, the nearest reliable site for the species is on the east side of the Blue Mountains, adding to that, one of my friends is Jamaican and one of her closest friends in the island used to work in the zoo and he always found the parrots of dubious origin, especially since they were usually 1 or 2 birds, when we went, we saw 4 individuals, but apparently that's not common. We still counted them, but we wanted to see them elsewhere to not have any doubts (similar thing happens in Georgetown Botanical Gardens, Guyana with some of their parrot species and Toco Toucan).

 

[lgonz1008]

• March 17 (Happy Grove and Ecclesdown Road)​

Once again, we had a departure before sunrise, complete with a morning shower. How goal for the morning was to visit the cliffs around Happy Grove in the eastern point of the islands to see the White-tailed Tropicbird colony and have a field breakfast (which was appreciated, since yesterday some of us had no breakfast, just coffee).​

When we first arrived, the birds were few and far off in the distance, but we could tell what they were. As we decided to focus on breakfast, we began noticing them come closer and eventually spent over 20 minutes seeing 13 of these beautiful seabirds riding the waves around surrounding the bay. As a family lister, this was a bonus highlight, since I've never been in tropicbird territory, so Jamaica gave me 2 new families (todies being the other one). Driving out of the area, we noted an aerial dogfight between a Peregrine Falcon and a Red-tailed Hawk, before going to our last crucial stop of the trip, Ecclesdown Road.​

​

Ecclesdown Road competes with the Blue Mountains as the best place to see the most Jamaican endemics and in our 2 hour trip through the road, we manage to see/hear 22 of the 28 endemics, including our two missing targets, the "Jabbering" Jamaican Crow and the Jamaican Pewee (yes, this widespread flycatcher was the last lifer of the trip). Other highlights of the road included seeing large flyover flocks of White-crowned and Ring-tailed Pigeon, hearing the seeing deep calls of the Crested Quail-Dove, Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo calling at eye level and encountering all three native parrot species and a bonus flock of the exotic Green-rumped Parrotlet. Attempts were also made to try and photograph some of the missing endemics, but unfortunately the bus of a large birding group made sure that our skulky targets were no show, so we drove out and went back to begin the drive to Kingston.​

​

A brief stop at the Mockingbird Hill Hotel ensure we returned the field breakfast containers and it gave us a much needed photo-op with a cooperative male Black-billed Streamertail. From there, we went on celebratory route for the trip, having ice cream and eating jerk pork while watching the Caribbean sea, after all, successful birders deserve a treat. This time the drive to Kingston was done through the junction, instead of the Blue Mountains. This route is faster overall and not many opportunities to bird since you can get most of your targets easier elsewhere. The one exception to this is the Jamaican Crow, they are sadly becoming rarer in Ecclesdown road and we were really lucky to see two faraway birds in the morning. With that said, Castleton Botanical Gardens, is a stronghold for the species in this route and we had two birds calling from the top of a palm tree right by the main road, so this is a must backup site if you are limited in time and Ecclesdown was a no-go for these birds.​

​

By 4, we were back in the Kingston Vrbo and outside of seeing a pair of frisky (Jamaican) Olive-throated Parakeet making in the ackee tree, not much else was seen as we began to reminisce about the trip. One of my friends, the one who put the trip together, is a proud Jamaican, so she spent the evening catching up with her close friends, but by 9 I was already in bed and happy to call it a day.​

• March 18 (Departure)​

The final morning of the trip was here, we had nothing to do, except sit in the back porch and watch the birds we've become familiar with fly-by. Around 10, we were picked up to briefly see the old town of Port Royal and somehow, we even managed to add a couple of common trip birds that we had missed so far in the forms of Laughing Gull and Royal Tern.​

​

Once at the airport, the process was quick and painless to get through and we enjoyed ourselves until the afternoon flight took us back to Miami, and then we all had to enjoy the rush hour traffic to get to our homes.​

 

[birdboybowley]

Jamaican Crow.....rent a place in Pyramid Point, Ochos Rios......over 25 here every evening and showing well all over the area. Also Stewart Town had a few that showed well

 

[lgonz1008]

Jamaican Crow.....rent a place in Pyramid Point, Ochos Rios......over 25 here every evening and showing well all over the area. Also Stewart Town had a few that showed well

Agreed, very easy bird the further west you go on the island, but if you want to do the traditional eastern loop for the endemics, Ecclesdown Road was the traditional site for this bird, but nobody is sure why they are disappearing from that area.

 

[lgonz1008]

Some of my favorite shots from the trip:

1. Jamaican Mango
2. Masked Duck
3. Jamaican Tody
4. Yellow-billed Parrot
5. Northern Potoo
6. Jamaican Owl
7. Rufous-throated Solitaire
8. Jamaican Blackbird
9. Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo
10. Black-billed Streamertail

 

[foresttwitcher]

Nice report, hopefully I'll have reason to refer to it at some point in the future.

 

[lgonz1008]

Nice report, hopefully I'll have reason to refer to it at some point on the future.

Definitely the easiest of the main Caribbean islands to explore if you are limited on time or don't have Spanish at the ready. Plus, the birds are incredibly tame, outside of some pigeon species (none of which were endemic), every bird on the island was cooperative and easy to get decent shots of (that owl is the closest I've ever been to a wild one, I was standing less than 10ft from it!).