Cuba 2018

So, last month, my girlfriend, Lindsey, and I took a vacation to Varadero, Cuba.  It wasn't a bird watching trip, but I still got to see lots of cool birds.

We stayed at a resort called Muthu Playa Varadero.  We didn't arrive to the resort until well after dark, but that didn't stop me from getting my first bird.  As we explored the resort in the dark, we spooked a Short-eared Owl, who started barking at us.  We got a very crappy look at it too when it flew off. This was definitely one bird I was not expecting to get here!

I woke up bright and early to explore the resort for birds.  There were birds calling left and right but none of them were visible.  Then, I looked up and four Magnificent Frigatebirds were flying over! Here's a bad photo of one of them:

Magnificent Frigatebird

It quickly became apparent that House Sparrows, Northern Mockingbirds and Greater Antillean Grackles were going to be the abundant species.  I also got a distant flyby Wood Stork, two Yellow-throated Warblers, a Zenaida Dove, some Neotropic Cormorants, a Cuban Blackbird, a few Eurasian Collared-Doves, some Laughing Gulls, Antillean Palm-Swifts, Cuban Martins and Cave Swallows.  Ten lifers in just over an hour!

Later in the morning while down at the beach, a Royal Tern went flying by.  After lunch, we went for a walk at the nearby Varahicacos Ecological Reserve. Here I got Cuban Emerald, Yellow-headed Warbler, Gray Kingbird, and Cuban Vireo.  My last lifer of the day was Brown Pelican, back down at the beach.

Day two was a bus trip down to the Zapata Peninsula to a beach and crocodile farm.  I figured I'd get some cool birds down there, as it's one of the prime birding locations in Cuba.  If only I was able to actually concentrate 100% on birding!  The first lifer of the day was a Glossy Ibis flying in front of another resort.  On the ride there, I saw countless Cattle Egrets in the fields, as well as a Cuban Crow. 

Our second spot was a place called Cueva de los Peces.  Here I got Blue-headed Quail-Dove, Cuban Green Woodpecker, Cuban Pewee, and Red-legged Thrush. Not bad for a 20 minute stop!

Terrible photo of a Red-legged Thrush and Cuban Green Woodpecker

Blue-headed Quail-Dove

The next stop was at a beach.  We hung out here for almost two hours.  There wasn't much for birds, but I did managed lifers White-winged Dove, Little Blue Heron and Loggerhead Kingbird here.  We headed back north towards the crocodile farm and we passed a Swallow-tailed Kite sitting on the wore along the road. Neat!

The crocodile farm, Criadero de Cocodrilos, was a birding hotspot.  I really wish we had more than half an hour of free time here.  I got Common Gallinule, Purple Gallinule, West Indian Woodpecker, Cuban Oriole, Red-shouldered Blackbird and Tawny-shouldered Blackbird, among a bunch of other birds I'd already seen before.

Cuban Oriole

West Indian Woodpeckers

Red-legged Thrush

Common Gallinule

Great Egret

Cuban Pewee

Green Heron

Purple Gallinule

Cuban Emerald

Our last stop of the day was at some place that also had quite a few birds, but the only lifer was a few Smooth-billed Anis

Smooth-billed Ani

Just before we got back to the hotel, we saw a few Anhingas sunning themselves on the rocks along the shoreline.

On day three, I took a walk off the resort in search of birds.  It ended up being pretty successful!  The highlight was definitely seeing another Swallow-tailed Kite, and getting photo proof this time, although very distant shots.  I also got Gundlach's Hawk, Cuban Black Hawk, Common Ground-Dove and Western Spindalis, plus some great up close look at some Cattle Egrets.

Swallow-tailed Kite

Cattle Egret

Anhinga

Cuban Black Hawk

Gundlach's Hawk

Common Ground-Dove

Western Spindalis

Upon returning to the resort, I got photos of a Yellow-throated Warbler, Cuban Blackbird, Royal Tern, plus a lifer Prairie Warbler.

Cuban Blackbird

Prairie Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler

Royal Tern

Day four didn't produce any lifers as we just hung out at the resort.  On day five, we took a boat tour out to an island called Cayo Blanco.  There was a Reddish Egret right at the beach when we got off the boat, a lifer.  There was some great gull photo ops here.  Plus I got my only shorebirds of the entire trip here, two Ruddy Turnstones.  On the ride home, there were 43 Magnificent Frigatebirds over a little island.

Reddish Egret

Reddish Egret

Laughing Gull

Magnificent Frigatebirds

That was a wrap on the new birds for the trip, but I did get some good Brown Pelican photos over the last two days.

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

In total, I observed 76 species over the course of a week in Cuba, 44 of which were lifers.  Here is the complete list of birds I saw:

Helmeted Guineafowl

Wood Stork

Magnificent Frigatebird

Neotropic Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

Anhinga

Brown Pelican

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Little Blue Heron

Reddish Egret

Cattle Egret

Green Heron

Glossy Ibis

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

Swallow-tailed Kite

Northern Harrier

Gundlach's Hawk

Cuban Black Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Purple Gallinule

Common Gallinule

Ruddy Turnstone

Laughing Gull

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

Gull-billed Tern

Caspian Tern

Royal Tern

Rock Pigeon

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Common Ground-Dove

Blue-headed Quail-Dove

White-winged Dove

Zenaida Dove

Mourning Dove

Smooth-billed Ani

Short-eared Owl

Antillean Palm-Swift

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Cuban Emerald

West Indian Woodpecker

Cuban Green Woodpecker

American Kestrel

Cuban Pewee

Gray Kingbird

Loggerhead Kingbird

Cuban Vireo

Cuban Crow

Purple Martin

Cuban Martin

Tree Swallow

Bank Swallow

Barn Swallow

Cave Swallow

Red-legged Thrush

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Waterthrush

Black-and-white Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

American Redstart

Cape May Warbler

Northern Parula

Palm Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler

Prairie Warbler

Western Spindalis

Yellow-headed Warbler

Cuban Oriole

Red-shouldered Blackbird

Tawny-shouldered Blackbird

Cuban Blackbird

Greater Antillean Grackle

House Sparrow