Cuba seis – Viñales NP, February 17, 2018

Matt French gets after a Cuban Tody

The Nope Tree

Cuban Bullfinch Melopyrrha nigra

Cuban Bullfinch Melopyrrha nigra

Cuban Bullfinch Melopyrrha nigra

Great (Cuban) Lizard-Cuckoo Coccyzus merlini

Crescent-eyed (Cuban) Pewee Contopus caribaeus

Crescent-eyed (Cuban) Pewee Contopus caribaeus

Loggerhead Kingbird Tyrannus caudifasciatus

Loggerhead Kingbird Tyrannus caudifasciatus

Yellow-throated Warbler Setophaga dominica

Yellow-throated Warbler Setophaga dominica

American Redstart Setophaga ruticilla

American Kestrel Falco sparverius (sparveroides)

American Kestrel Falco sparverius (sparveroides)

Cuatro amigos

Brown Anole Anolis Sagrei (I think...)

Habana Anole Anolis homolechis

  A few welcome new species at the base of the mogotes on the 17th, on a much longer session, with just Matt French. I was chuffed to finally cross paths with a Cuban Bullfinch in the wild – an absolutely charming bird, we had a few calmly foraging right next to the trail. I saw several kept as cagebirds in town.
  The Great Lizard Cuckoo was a nice way to end the walk...my spidey sense was going off, and I insisted we push a final 200 feet in the blazing sun - we saw the bird right where we turned around to head back.
  On the way out, thrilling close encounters with Prairie and Yellow-throated Warblers, two species that had overshoots show up in Québec last summer. The wood-warblers (and most other species) in Cuba were much more confiding, sluggish even, when compared with their counterparts encountered on migration in Canada. Cuba is a pretty laid back country, I guess it rubs off on all visitors. On that note, time for a siesta.

Green Heron-1
Great White Egret-2
Snowy Egret-3
Cattle Egret-8+
Turkey Vulture-10+
American Kestrel-3 (all light phase, no sign of yesterday’s reds)
Killdeer-6+
White-winged Dove-2
Zenaida Dove-2
Mourning Dove-5+
Common Ground Dove-10+
Smooth-billed Ani-7
Great Lizard-Cuckoo-1
Antillean Palm Swift-20+
Cuban Emerald-1
Cuban Tody-6 to 8
Cuban Pewee-4
La Sagra’s Flycatcher-6+
Loggerhead Kingbird-3
Cuban Solitaire-2
Red-legged Thrush-10
Gray Catbird-1
Northern Mockingbird-12
Northern Parula-8 to 10
Black-throated Blue Warbler-1 heard
Yellow-throated Warbler-1
Prairie Warbler-1
Palm Warbler-25+
Black-and-white Warbler-1
American Redstart-4
Ovenbird-2
Common Yellowthroat-1
Western Spindalis-5
Indigo Bunting-1 female
Yellow-faced Grassquit-35+
Cuban Bullfinch-14
Cuban Blackbird-20+
Greater Antillean Grackle-30+