Comprehensive trip to the island over an extended Thanksgiving weekend; participants apart from myself included Wei, Maude and (for the most time) WenFei.
The trip started out with light birding around the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) on the first afternoon until all participants had gathered, followed by a quick walk around Hope Botanical Gardens (HG) and a drive up the Blue Mountains (BM) to the Gap Café area around Hardware Gap (BM-HW), where most habitat is in a sad state of disturbance.
Most of the first full day was spent around BM-HW, with a quick dusk excursion to a less disturbed roadside forest patch at Section (BM-S) and a subsequent night drive to a French backpacker hotel near Manchioneal (north-east coast). During this drive, somewhere between Morant Bay and Manchioneal, we got lost on a side road that took us through good woodland and town habitat at midnight and provided our best nightbirding.
The morning of the second full day, we started out early to spend time along birdy Ecclesdown Road (ER) and then proceeded to a sobering lunch at the Mockingbird Hill Resort (MH) in Port Antonio. Throughout the best part of the afternoon, we carefully worked through the “certified wildlife habitat” in their gardens, where not much new was added. A long evening drive then took us to Lionel Town in the far south (where dinner was enjoyed in a loud disco atmosphere) and – for lack of accommodation – back up to May Pen.
On the third full day, we arrived at the Portland Ridge (PR) early and birded this area for the best part of the morning (having an authentic Jamaican fishermen’s breakfast in the process) and then headed to the road from Kingston to BM-HW. We worked this road through the whole afternoon by stopping at increasingly higher elevations, until we ran out of daylight at the Gap Café. We here secured a room for the night before driving back down to Kingston to see off WenFei and back up the mountain yet again.
The fourth full day saw us roadside birding at BM-S in the early morning, followed by a mountain hike through the Hollywell trail system at BM-HW at noon time. In the afternoon, we embarked on the adventurous trip to Hagley’s Gap, far inside the mountain range, where we hired two pleasant Jamaican fellows to take us up the slope towards Portland Gap (BM-PG) with their 4WD jeep. We reached the end of the track at mid-afternoon, but despite little remaining daytime we hiked all the way up to the Gap and even higher onto the ridge to approximately 2000m, not far below the highest peak of Jamaica. Our descent was in the dark, with mobile phones and iPods illuminating our sense of direction. Back down at Hagley’s Gap, we bade farewell to our new Jamaican friends and shared a spicy jerk gutter chicken with them. The latter tasted delicious at the time, but would create unpleasant surprises on the following day. We drove back down to Kingston and fell asleep as soon as we reached the hotel, or even slightly before then.
During our dawn promenade through HG on the last morning, we were privy to bizarre conversations with the white section of Jamaica’s population: an Amazona aficionado told us about his struggle to keep Jamaica’s parrots and society pure and good at heart, while we felt less comfortable with our interaction with what must have been Jamaica’s camera-shy First Lady, or possibly First Grandma. As intriguing as our Botanical Garden experience proved, it was abruptly cut short by a serious incident of toilet alarm, a scary episode of this trip that was henceforth known as “the Revenge of the Jerk”. On the way to our plane, we soaked in some final avian delights in the mangroves around NMIA, which provided a fitting end to an unforgettable trip to this island paradise.
Trip List:
Site abbreviations as above; cm – common (=many sites)
1. Magnificent Frigatebird – NMIA, Port Antonio
2. Brown Pelican – NMIA, Port Antonio
3. Laughing Gull – NMIA
4. Royal Tern – NMIA c. 20
5. Sandwich Tern – NMIA c. 3
6. Little Blue Heron – PR 5-10, NMIA 1, HG 1-2; BM-PG 1 (en route)
7. Tricolored Heron – PR c. 20
8. Cattle Egret – cm
9. Snowy Egret – HG 2-3; PR hundreds in rookery
10. Great Blue Heron – PR 2-3
11. Great Egret – NMIA 1; PR dozens in rookery; HG 2-5
12. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron – 3 ad. 1 juv. PR
13. Green Heron – PR c. 5; HG 1-2
14. Semipalmated Plover – PR c. 30
15. Killdeer – Port Antonio c. 5
16. Ruddy Turnstone – NMIA 3
17. Wilson’s Snipe – PR 1-2
18. Spotted Sandpiper – 1 NMIA
19. Greater Yellowlegs – 1 PR
20. Black-necked Stilt – PR c. 30
21. Common Moorhen – HG c. 10
22. Blue-winged Teal – PR c. 5
23. American Kestrel – cm
24. Red-tailed Hawk – BM-HW 1-2; BM-S 1
25. Turkey Vulture – cm
26. Ring-tailed Pigeon – ER c. 5; MH c. 2
27. White-crowned Pigeon – c. 3 in HG and Kingston
28. Crested Quail-Dove – superb! 1+2 ER; 2 BM-PG; after fruitless searches at BM-HW, we all had a distant brief view of one on the road at ER, followed by excellent and close perched views of one individual (with a second flushed individual nearby) equally at ER (courtesy of Wei). My best sighting was on the ascent to BM-PG, when I walked ahead and flushed one individual from the trail, with a second bird refusing to fly away and bobbing up and down in front of me until I decided I needed to press on. Unfortunately, the others were far behind and only obtained flushed views of one at this site.
29. White-winged Dove – NMIA, HG, Kingston
30. Common Ground-Dove – ER 1; PR dozens
31. Zenaida Dove – HG; BM-PG (en route)
32. Caribbean Dove – 1 PR; this species – which is easily seen by most people – put up a real fight; we heard many at PR in the early morning and expected them feeding on the road at any moment, but failed to see them. In the late morning, after the main targets had been seen, we decided to pursue this species, but it was probably a bit late by then. After stalking several individuals with tape, Wei and I finally managed a brief 3-sec view of a bird walking into the thick scrub; this individual remained nearby and responded to tape, but continued stalking by Maude and WenFei only resulted in the flushing of goats.
33. Yellow-billed Parrot – c. 15 ER, c. 15 HG; as we learned, the birds at HG are descendants of released birds; the gene pool of the HG population is currently infiltrated by a single interbreeding Black-billed Parrot individual, and on our first visit to HG we very possibly saw one of its hybrid descendants mingling with the pure Yellow-billeds
34. Black-billed Parrot – ER 5-10
35. Olive-throated Parakeet – HG c. 10
36. Green-rumped Parrotlet – PR c. 20
37. Northern Potoo – exquisite! 1 near Manchioneal (en route); this individual perched on an electricity pole while occasionally sallying out for insects and provided great photo opportunities and walk-away views; we spotted it from the car while being lost and trying to find our way to Manchioneal; it was possibly the Bird of the Trip for various participants
38. Jamaican Owl – 1 seen & c. 5 heard near Manchioneal (en route), also 1 flushed BM-S; the brief (10-sec) and distant (30m) perched Manchioneal encounter of this big red owl at the potoo stop (see previous species) was not thrilling, but remained the best sighting; we tried for better views at BM-S in the morning but only obtained flushed views before we ran out of night time; unfortunately we couldn’t get ourselves to more owling on the last night
39. Barn Owl – 1 en route around Bull Bay (bad night-time flight views from the car by Wei and myself)
40. Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo – ER 1+1
41. Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo – ER 1, MH 1
42. Smooth-billed Ani – NMIA, MH, PR
43. White-collared Swift – small groups at BM-HW on several days
44. Antillean Palm-Swift – c. 10 en route to BM-HW; c. 5 HG; not as common as purported in many reports, it took us a long time to find our first ones; we also completely dipped on the Black Swift, the biggest loss of our trip…
45. Vervain Hummingbird – 2 NMIA; m. 2 PR; 1 male HG; Maude’s biggest target, she finally obtained her first picture-book views at PR and then even better ones at HG; “…the second smallest bird in the world – did you know that?...” (quote Amazona aficionado at HG)
46. Black-billed Streamertail – many at ER & MH
47. Red-billed Streamertail – many all over BM
48. Jamaican Mango – PR c. 5-10
49. Jamaican Woodpecker – cm
50. Jamaican Tody – BM, ER
51. Rufous-tailed Flycatcher – 1+1 ER, 1 MH, 1 BM-PG; the one at BM-PG was at a surprisingly high elevation (c. 1500m); this is a spectacularly colored Myiarchus
52. Sad Flyctcher – 1 ER, 1 BM-S; reported to be one of the commoner birds of Jamaica, we were surprised at the scarcity of sightings
53. Stolid Flycatcher – 2-3 PR; our whole group was infatuated with this aptly named Myiarchus
54. Jamaican Becard – 1 BM-HW & 1 ER (both apparently subadult males with remaining female tinge to body); 1 BM-S (black male); also one heard only at BM-PG
55. Western Loggerhead Kingbird – cm; one of the most common birds on the island; taxonomy: Tyrannus caudifasciatus jamaicensis; this species is no longer considered to include Puerto Rican or Hispaniolan populations, which are split off as T. taylori and T. gabbii, respectively (Garrido et al. 2009; Wilson Journal of Ornithology)
56. Blue Mountain Elaenia – Elaenia fallax (here considered monotypic): 1-2 BM-PG; on our trip, habitually called the True Elaenia (as opposed to Jamaican Elaenia Myiopagis cotta – the False Elaenia). This bird turned out to be the major obstacle to a relaxed trip pace. A high-elevation endemic of the Blue Mountains, this bird has been shown to be highly differentiated from the Hispaniolan taxon cherriei (Rheindt et al 2008, BMC – Evolutionary Biology; www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/8/193) and should probably not be lumped in the same species. As such it may turn out to be more distinct than the “Jamaican Elaenia” Myiopagis cotta, which is very likely nested within the Greenish Elaenia complex – quite ironical, considering that many people put so much effort into chasing the latter while almost ignoring the former in their trip reports. Using a great recording provided by Paul Noakes, we constantly trawled for it around BM-S and BM-HW and even as low as ER after most other target birds had been seen well. This bird is usually seen in the breeding season (April – July) and becomes “invisible” throughout the rest of the year, allegedly dispersing throughout the mid-elevations and lowlands of the island. However, talking to Lyndon (birder / park ranger at Hollywell) and a couple of Peace Corps US birders, we quickly gained the impression that this bird is best seen higher up, no matter which season. Therefore, we invested a lot of energy on the last afternoon to get to 2000m at the Blue Mountain Main Peak at BM-PG. I trawled with a tape far ahead of the others and had a lucky single individual come in to my recording at about 1800m, not far above the gap itself. The bird vocalized back but only stuck around for a few seconds and disappeared before the others caught up. At c. 1900m, we had another likely run-in with an individual briefly coming in to tape, showing itself well to Wei, less well to me but eluding Maude. This individual did not call and I only saw its underparts but it was likely the Elaenia as well. The species appeared less yellow on the underparts than shown in various books, but the clear wingbars and distinct Elaenia shape make it unmistakable among Jamaica’s flycatchers. Birders with a desire to have a good chance to see this species should definitely include Portland Gap in their itineraries.
57. Jamaican Pewee – BM-HW 1-2, BM-S 2-3
58. Jamaican Elaenia – 1+1+1 BM-HW, 1 ER, 1 BM-S; the False Elaenia! Expecting this bird to be hard to find, we were surprisingly successful in tracking down so many individuals at rather high elevations; key to finding it is recognizing its high pitched trill and playing it back with a tape; whenever its call was heard and its recording played back, the bird would eventually come in, although sometimes with a time lag of a few minutes; the olive panel on its wing and lack of clear wing bars make this species unmistakable
59. Rufous-throated Solitaire – BM-HW m. 5; BM-S m. 1; BM-PG m. 1; heard only at ER
60. Bahama Mockingbird – 1 PR; not so hard with a tape
61. Northern Mockingbird – cm
62. Catharus spec. – 1 BM-S; brief views of a bird on the road near dusk, but this was probably a Bicknell’s Thrush, based on distribution and time of year
63. White-eyed Thrush – 1 BM-HW, 1 BM-S; surprisingly hard to see well, probably because we didn’t have a tape; I eventually managed two brief good views (with Maude also seeing the one at BM-S)
64. White-chinned Thrush – many, BM & ER
65. Blue Mountain Vireo – BM (2-3 at each BM-HW, BM-PG and BM-S)
66. Jamaican Vireo – BM-HW c. 5; ER 1-3; BM-PG 1
67. Arrowhead Warbler – many BM & ER
68. Black-and-white Warbler – BM-HW, BM-S, PR, ER (a few each)
69. Northern Waterthrush – PR 1, ER 1
70. Ovenbird – many ER & BM
71. Prairie Warbler – many at NMIA, BM, ER and HG
72. Palm Warbler – many NMIA, MH, Port Antonio and PR
73. Cape May Warbler – 1 female BM-HW; exceptional eye-level walk-away views of 2-4 (both males and females) at HG
74. Black-throated Green Warbler – BM-HW c. 3
75. Kentucky Warbler – 1 ER
76. Common Yellowthroat – total of c. 10 at NMIA, BM-HW and Port Antonio
77. Mangrove Warbler – c. 3 NMIA; this local taxon eoa seems to have an identical plumage to taxa in Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the Caribbean, and is not too spectacularly different from North American “Yellow Warblers” either
78. Northern Parula – many at ER, HG, BM-HW, PR, NMIA
79. American Redstart – cm (one of commonest birds of the trip)
80. Black-throated Blue Warbler – cm (one of commonest birds of the trip)
81. Swainson’s Warbler – 1 BM-PG
82. Worm-eating Warbler – 1 BM-S
83. Jamaican Euphonia – only a few at BM-HW and MH
84. Orangequit – cm
85. Bananaquit – cm
86. Jamaican Spindalis – total of c. 20 at BM and ER
87. Jamaican Oriole – total of c. 20 at BM, ER, HG and MH
88. Jamaican Blackbird – fascinating! 1 BM-HW, 1 BM-S, 1 BM-PG; intriguing epiphyte-feeding behavior; one individual at BM-PG may have died as a consequence of a rock projectile propelled in its direction by a skilled stone-throw by one of our guides, who thought this was funny
89. Greater Antillean Grackle – MH, HG, Kingston
90. Yellow-shouldered Grassquit – 2+2 BM-HW; a pair on each sighting at two distant spots near BM-HW; definitely not a common bird
91. Yellow-faced Grassquit – c. 5 PR
92. Black-faced Grassquit – total of c. 20 throughout BM
93. Rose-breasted Grosbeak – 1 BM-HW
94. Jamaican Crow – 1+1 ER
95. Greater Antillean Bullfinch – 1 male BM-HW, c. 5 females PR, 1-3 males BM-PG; we expected more sightings of this supposedly common bird; strangely, we only ended up seeing a few males in elfin-like forest and a bunch of females in dry coastal scrub
96. Grasshopper Sparrow – 1 PR; an exquisite early-morning sighting of a perched singing bird, presumably male, in undisturbed grassland; walk-away views