Showing posts with label birds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birds. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Belly Beach bird hike

Fort Belly

The real reason I wanted to stay overnight at Belly Beach was to go birding. Get up early and head up the stairs to a rocky road that sits above the bay. There are unique rock formations, a nice view of the bay, and a little fort my guide called Labadee Fort, and google maps labeled Fort Belly. There are typical birds – kingbirds, Antillean mangos, warblers. And also white-crowned pigeons which I have only seen once in Haiti, in the south.
Lichen

Walk up the stairs from the hotel

Rocky road

Spanish moss

Cruise ship at Labadee

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Casa Cubuy Puerto Rico

I took a week off from Haiti to attend a BirdsCaribbean shorebird workshop in Puerto Rico, and ended up staying an extra 4 days as political protests in Haiti grew and shut down the country. The stay included 2 nights at a really cool lodge called Casa Cubuy on the south side of the El Yunque National Forest. I didn’t have much time to research my extra stay in PR, and am glad I ended up here. The owners were kind enough to email and call me with directions. The narrow windy road up to the lodge is scenic. Follow the directions on the website, and look for the last yellow building on the right. There is parking on the downhill side of the lodge, but no sign with the name. When I arrived a bit frazzled from deciding to head back to the US instead of Haiti, the owner Michael invited me into the kitchen and offered me a glass of wine and sliced up a mango for me.

My room was spacious, with 3 beds, 2 little desks, a ceiling fan, and a bathroom with hot water. The balcony overlooked the forest and cascade that sits below the lodge, and had a little table and chairs. It was very relaxing to hear the coqui frogs and cascade at night. I brought food for my lunch and dinner as the closest place for meals was 20 minutes away (the town of Naguabo off Hwy 53 has gas, grocery store, and restaurants). The kitchen has a large refrigerator for guests to use. They will make lunches for guests for $10, either to take on a hike or eat at the hotel.

Breakfast isn't served until 9am, so I missed it the first morning as I hired a guide for birding. The 2nd morning I got to see what I missed out on – a family-style breakfast with the other guests, with lots of fruit, juice, and coffee, and wonderful oatmeal, eggs, and hash browns made by the owner.

Casa Cubuy is in the national forest and has a short path to the cascade below that has pools deep enough for swimming. The road past the lodge gave me a chance to do some birding, and I heard that at the end of the road are paths into the forest. Unfortunately my stay wasn’t long enough to explore those.

The only drawback to Casa Cubuy was the 40 minute drive back to the area that had beaches and more parks and tourist attractions (around Fajardo). A longer stay at the casa would have been ideal, with a couple day-trips to other attractions. Also I am an early morning person so waiting until 9am for breakfast was inconvenient, so worth a longer stay to have mornings to enjoy that.

Here are the birds I saw just from the road, with links to eBird. Also, I was told the guesthouse downhill has hummingbirds.






Wednesday, February 6, 2019

List of UCNH birds

45 species of birds seen on and around UCNH campus as of 24 Apr. 2019.
Helmeted Guineafowl
Plain Pigeon
Common Ground-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Smooth-billed Ani
Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo
Antillean Palm-Swift
Antillean Mango
Vervain Hummingbird
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Glossy Ibis
Red-tailed Hawk
Broad-billed Tody
Antillean Piculet
Hispaniolan Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Hispaniolan Parakeet
Gray Kingbird
Stolid flycatcher
Loggerhead Kingbird
Black-whiskered Vireo
Palm Crow
White-necked Crow
swallow sp.
Northern Mockingbird
Palmchat
Black-crowned Palm-Tanager
Ovenbird
Louisiana Waterthrush
Northern Waterthrush
Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Cape May Warbler
Northern Parula
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Bananaquit
Yellow-faced Grassquit
Greater Antillean Bullfinch
House Sparrow
Village Weaver
Scaly-breasted Munia

Saturday, January 26, 2019

Birding along the Bay of Acul

The gravel beach at the end of the road
If you want to see shore birds and waders, including glossy ibis and black-necked stilts, travel the road that runs along the west side of the Bay of Acul. It leaves National Rt. 1 less than 2 miles from UCNH in Haut Limbe as you head toward Cap Haitien, or about 9 miles west of Cap Haitien. The road ends at a gravel beach that has restaurant stalls. We were there early in the morning so didn’t get to see how many people come to use the beach, or how many food stalls operate. The only birds were English House Sparrows and a passing Great Egret and Cattle Egret.

The hub of bird activity is in the rice fields along the bay. Stop along the road and follow a path towards the bay. You should have a Haitien friend escort you into the fields, to ask permission to pass and explain to the local people why you are there. We drew a little crowd. We saw many glossy ibis, killdeer, lesser yellow legs, and cattle egrets. We also saw 13 bird species on the walk along the road between St. Louis and St. Michel, including a grassquit and 2 red-tailed hawks. If you enter your birds into eBird, be sure to mark the shore and rice field/mangrove survey as part of the Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC)!

Rice fields and mangroves - there are many birds out there!


Walking the road between St. Louis and St. Michel



Thursday, December 13, 2018

UCNH - birding and academic hotspot!


Hispaniolan parakeet - endemic, threatened
One hour west of Cap Haitien, off of Rt 1, sits a university whose founders and subsequent presidents prohibited cutting of trees (directions here). Today Université Chrétienne du Nord d'Haïti (UCNH) and the surrounding area of Haut Limbe is home to over 30 species of birds, and is a relaxing place to enjoy large trees full of lianas, bromeliads, and other life you’d expect to see in a tropical forest. Parakeets fly by every day and sometimes hang out on campus, warblers make it their winter home, and woodpeckers, palmchats, red-tailed hawks, and banaquits raise their families here. If you are up for a hike, there are great views from the surrounding hills and you might see a loggerhead kingbird, merlin, or plain pigeon. See here for list of birds.

UCNH also has a snack shop, copy center, bookstore (academic books in French), and library. Agronomy students have a plant nursery on campus, and you can visit a cacao grove and learn about chocolate. Perhaps while visiting you’ll get to see a performance by the fine arts students. Contact me if you’d like to set up a tour and a budding ecotourism student can show you around and take you birding, or to see cacao and plantain/banana groves.

Red-tailed hawk on campus

Plain pigeon - endemic, threatened

White-necked crow - endemic, threatened

Louisiana waterthrush
Hispaniolan lizard-cuckoo - endemic

Thursday, December 6, 2018

A sisal factory!

Plantation Dauphin is an old sisal plantation and factory, built in the 1920’s across the bay from Fort Libertie on the north coast of Haiti. Not only is it a piece of Haiti’s booming sisal history (#1 in the western hemisphere in the 1940s), there are birds, as well as fish and other coastal life, such as sea urchins and jellyfish. It is an easy walk around the old buildings, and a cement wall allows you to get close to the sea life.


male and female kestrels

jellyfish and fish

warbler



Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Tragedy and history at Caracol


I recently visited Caracol Haiti, east of Cap Haitien, with other birders to see all the shore and water birds that still visit the mangrove that has been mostly cut down.  Now salt flats sit where a lush tropical ecosystem once grew.  Yet a variety of birds use the salt pools – we saw 21 species in less than 2 hours, plus unidentifiable warblers.  How many more were there before the mangroves were destroyed?  FoProBiM is an NGO trying to restore the trees, yet it seems like a futile task if people aren’t educated about the importance of mangroves, which I am now more resolved to do in my university and school classes. 

In additional to the surprising variety of birds is the evidence of the history of the area. Conch shell midens, evidence of native pre-Columbian activity, were unearthed where the salt pools were dug, as well as broken pottery from the colonial era.  There is also a canon sticking out of the mud!

Mangroves reduced to salt pools and cow grazing
Trying to reforest the mangroves


Exposed midens of conch shells (all those white things)

Plate shard



Canon in mud

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Bird lessons at the new UCC preschool

PSI
UCC in Caiman opened a preschool in Bohoc by the market, so the little kids don’t have to walk so far.  I took me 35 minutes to walk to this school from Caiman.  My translator Louiders and I had a 15 minute program for each class, PSI, PSII, and PSIII.  We taught the parts of the birds by having kids act them out, pretending they had beaks, wings, and tails.  As the kids age additional grades will be added to the school.

PSII

PSIII


Monday, December 7, 2015

Birding with the cave children

Antillean Mango posing for the kids.
Last year I taught in a small village that sits away from any roads and is a 20 minute walk from my house.  I don’t know if any foreigners pass through except to go to a nearby cave.  I forget how we fell into teaching in the yard of Goyo, the man who owns the cave (JeanJean always mentions that he owns some of the cave too!), but last year Louiders and I went to his house weekly to give one hour-long ecology lessons to the kids.  We recently began lessons again, and I decided to do something that seemed likely to be chaotic – take the random assortment of 30 kids, aged 2 to 18(?) years old, birding!  We had been taking the orderly elementary school classes at UCC out birding, so had some practice (see this post).  Birding at three in the afternoon also seemed risky, but we tried it anyway with great success.  The children shared the seven binoculars (thanks to everyone who donated them!).  We didn’t see many birds, but a hummingbird hung out with us long enough for us to see its curved beak indicating it was an Antillean mango, and black stripe indicating it was an immature male.  These pictures show the kids having fun!
Showing the little one how to use binoculars. The 2-holer in the background is what you think it is!


Stripe showing that this is a young male Antillean Mango.



Monday, February 16, 2015

2014 Christmas Bird Count

This is cross-posted from the Audubon Center of Les Cayes website.  

The 2014 Christmas Bird Count of the Les Cayes area has been tallied!  Here are the results presented with previous years.  The 2014 count included three new species not previously observed in the Cayes CBC.  These were:  Ruddy Quail-Dove (Geotrygon montana) seen in the Maniche area; Cave Swallow (Perochelidon fulva) which nest beneath the wharf in Cayes; and a Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) observed two days before the count date by Peter Rudenberg.  This is only the third record of this species recorded on the southern peninsula of Haiti.  Species observed in the count circle three days prior to and three days after the count day can be recorded with an "x" as "observed" during the count week.


Despite having the lowest participation in three years, the number of individuals and species observed was still quite high, due to the experience of the field observers and the diverse habitat represented by the five teams in the field.  Those habitats include low mountains, lakes, rivers, mangrove, beach, urban, and agricultural fields.

The low water level at Etang Lachaux eliminated an important habitat for diver ducks.  Additionally, there were locals hunting at Etang Laborde the day of the count, which drastically limited bird numbers from an area that is normally very productive.  Warbler numbers were lower this year, but the numbers for most other expected species were consistent with the number of participants in the count.

Visit the Cornell eBird webpage for Haiti to see all birds recorded from Haiti.  


Nom anglais Nom latin 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Canard / Oie
West Indian Whistling Duck Dendrocygna arborea
Gadwall Anas strepera
Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope 1
American Wigeon Anas americana 49 8 138 120 145 3
Blue-winged Teal Anas discors 5 386 120 2
Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata 1
White-cheeked Pintail Anas bahamensis 6 1
Green-winged Common Teal Anas crecca 50
Canvasback Aythya valisineria
Redhead Aythya americana
Ring-necked Duck Aythya collaris 21 3 26 180 2
Lesser Scaup Aythya affinis 7 1 3
Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis 56 14 12 4 10 2
Plonjon
Least Grebe Tachybaptus dominicus
Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps 66 63 55 31 6 7
Les Oiseaux du marécage
White Ibis Eudocimus albus
Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus 100 90 420 286 200
Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax 1
Yellow-crowned Night Heron Nyctanassa violacea 1 17 7 x
Green Heron Butorides virescens 3 16 13 25 12 12
Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis 194 311 763 1450 394 850
Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias 26 2 12 9 5
Great Egret Ardea alba 18 23 7 12 9 4
Tricolored or Louisiana Heron Egretta tricolor 3 x 5 17
Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea 16 21 12 18 19 58
Snowy Egret Egretta thula 9 20 8 20 54 17
Black-necked Stilt Himantopus mexicanus 38 32 296 327 264 388
Les Oiseaux de la mer
Red-billed Tropicbird Phaethon aethereus
White-tailed Tropicbird Phaethon lepturus
Magnificent Frigatebird Fregata magnificens
Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis 2
Neotropical Cormorant Phalacrocorax brasilianus
Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus
Malfini
Turkey-Vulture Cathartes aura 12 6 30 16 41 8
American Kestrel Falco sparverius 17 8 17 25 27 13
Merlin Falco columbarius 1 2 1
Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus
Osprey Pandion haliaetus 2 3 2 3 1 2
Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis 3 2 1 1
Poul de l'eau
Purple Gallinule Porphyrio martinica
Common Moorhen Gallinule Gallinula chloropus/galeata 32 9 48 22 19 8
American Coot Fulica americana 10 35 5 16 7 18
Caribbean Coot Fulica caribaea 63 71 57 37 18 11
Northern Jacana Jacana spinosa 7 14 16 1 2
Pluvier
American Golden Plover Pluvialis dominica
Black-bellied Plover Pluvialis squatarola 40 11 37 3 28 31
Semipalmated Plover Charadrius semipalmatus 1 18
Wilson's Plover Charadrius wilsonia 2 1
Killdeer Ardea alba 4 5 6 12 3
Piping Plover Charadrius melodus
Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus
Bécasseaux
Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago 26 5
Short-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus griseus 5
Long-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus scolopaceus
Hudsonian Godwit Limosa haemastica
Marbled Godwit Limosa fedoa
Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus
Upland Sandpiper Bartramia longicauda
Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca 1 7 2 35 4
Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes 1 57 32 49 14
Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria
Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius 24 1 7 8 17 18
Willet Catoptrophorus semipalmatus 3 8 12 16 30
Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres 14 8 38 1 58 18
Red Knot Calidris canutus
Sanderling Calidris alba 33 46 39 12 3
Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris pusilla 2
Western Sandpiper Calidris mauri x 1
Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla 1 37
White-rumped Sandpiper Calidris fuscicollis
Baird's Sandpiper Calidris bairdii
Pectoral Sandpiper Calidris melanotos
Dunlin Calidris alpina
Stilt-Sandpiper Calidris himantopus 15 x 1 20
Buff-breasted Sandpiper Tryngites subruficollis
Ruff Philomachus pugnax
Wilson's Phalarope Phalaropus tricolor
Red-necked Phalarope Phalaropus lobatus
Goéland / Sterne
Ring-billed Gull Larus delawarensis 1 1 1
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 2 1
Herring Gull Larus argentatus
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus
Bonaparte's Gull Larus philadelphia
Laughing Gull Larus atricilla 52 14 7 4 1 16
Franklin's Gull Larus pipixcan
Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla
Gull-billed Tern Sterna nilotica x
Caspian Tern Sterna caspia
Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvicensis 3 2 x 2 5
Royal Tern Sterna maxima 5 13 4 1 4 1
Roseate Tern Sterna dougallii 20
Common Tern Sterna hirundo 68 3
Forster's Tern Sterna forsteri
Least Tern Sterna antillarum 5 1
Bridled Tern Sterna anaethetus
Sooty Tern Sterna fuscata
Black Tern Chlidonias niger
Brown Noddy Anous stolidus
Black Skimmer Rynchops niger
Pigeon / Ramier
Rock Pigeon Columba livia 50 1
White-crowned Pigeon Columba leucocephala
Scaly-naped Pigeon Columba squamosa 5 18 4 3
Plain Pigeon Columba inornata
Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura 8 17 17 32 44 56
Zenaida Dove Zenaida aurita 4
White-winged Dove Zenaida asiatica 9 13 10
Common Ground Dove Columbina passerina 5 14 22 11 20 10
Gray-headed Quail-Dove Geotrygon caniceps
Key West Quail-Dove Geotrygon chrysia
Ruddy Quail-Dove Geotrygon montana 1
Tako
Black-billed Cuckoo Coccyzus erythropthalmus
Yellow-billed Cuckoo Coccyzus americanus
Mangrove Cuckoo Coccyzus minor
Hispaniolan Lizard Cuckoo Saurothera longirostris 4 1 12 20 13 9
Smooth-billed Ani Crotophaga ani 17 4 48 74 51 77
Hibou/Chouette
Barn Owl Tyto alba 1 1
Ashy-faced Owl Tyto glaucops
Burrowing Owl Athene cunicularia
Stygian Owl Asio stygius
Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus
Petonvwa
Northern Potoo Nyctibius jamaicensis
Common Nighthawk Chordeiles minor
Antillean Nighthawk Chordeiles gundlachii
Least Pauraque Siphonorhis brewsteri
Chuck-will's Widow Caprimulgus carolinensis
Greater Antillean Nightjar Caprimulgus cubanensis
Martinet
Black Swift Cypseloides niger 4
White-collared Swift Streptoprocne zonaris 1 11
Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica
Antillean Palm Swift Tachornis phoenicobia 7 27 16 35
Ouanga Négresse
Antillean Mango Anthracothorax dominicus x 6 11 4 15 6
Hispaniolan Emerald Chlorostilbon swainsonii 1 1 4 3
Vervain Hummingbird Mellisuga minima 7 3 4 10
Pipirit Rivye
Belted Kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon 3 7 6 6 3 5
Kolibri
Broad-billed Tody Todus subulatus 3 4 9 2
Narrow-billed Tody Todus angustirostris 1 5
Charpentier
Antillean Piculet Nesoctites micromegas 6 3
Hispaniolan Woodpecker Melanerpes striatus 16 24 40 84 53 38
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Sphyrapicus varius x 1
Pipirite
Greater Antillean Elaenia Elaenia fallax
Hispaniolan Pewee Contopus hispaniolensis 1 1 3
Gray Kingbird Tyrannus dominicensis 14 8 22 26 30 21
Loggerhead Kingbird Tyrannus caudifasciatus 3 3
Great Crested Flycatcher Myiarchus crinitus
Stolid Flycatcher Myiarchus stolidus 1
Vireonidae
White-eyed Vireo Vireo griseus
Thick-billed Vireo Vireo crassirostris
Flat-billed Vireo Vireo nanus
Yellow-throated Vireo Vireo flavifrons
Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus
Black-whiskered Vireo Vireo altiloquus
Corneille
Palm Crow Corvus palmarum 29 5 30 3
White-necked Crow Corvus leucognaphalus 17 2 26 47 47 75
Zwazo maske
Cedar Waxwing Bombycilla cedrorum
Zwazo palmis
Palmchat Dulus dominicus 9 x 59 31 85 26
Hirondelle
Bank Swallow Riparia riparia
Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor
Golden Swallow Tachycineta euchrysea
Purple Martin Progne subis
Caribbean Martin Progne dominicensis
No. Rough-winged Swallow Stelgidopteryx serripennis
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica 4
Cliff Swallow Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Cave Swallow Petrochelidon fulva 15
Ti zwazo
Bananaquit Coereba flaveola 20 21 47 81 63 41
Moqueur / Grive
Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos 3 2 4 10 22 6
Red-legged Thrush Turdus plumbeus 3 9 2
Madan Sara
Village Weaver Ploceus cucullatus 3 12 11 45 128 83
Estrildidae
Nutmeg Mannikin Lonchura punctulata 2 2
Black-headed Munia Lonchura malacca
Ti Kikit / Paruline
Golden-winged Warbler Vermivora chrysoptera
Blue-winged Warbler Vermivora pinus
Tennessee Warbler Vermivora peregrina
Nashville Warbler Vermivora ruficapilla
Northern Parula Parula americana 4 x 4 2 7 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler Dendroica pensylvanica
Yellow Warbler Dendroica petechia 2 2 4 1
Blackpoll Warbler Dendroica striata
Bay-breasted Warbler Dendroica castanea
Blackburnian Warbler Dendroica fusca
Magnolia Warbler Dendroica magnolia
Cape May Warbler Dendroica tigrina 5 1 11 8 10 5
Black-throated Blue Warbler Dendroica caerulescens 2 3 9 5 7 10
Yellow-rumped Warbler Dendroica coronata
Black-throated Green Warbler Dendroica virens
Yellow-throated Warbler Dendroica dominica
Prairie Warbler Dendroica discolor 1 2 2 2 1
Pine Warbler Dendroica pinus
Kirtland's Warbler Dendroica kirtlandii
Palm Warbler Dendroica palmarum 1 7 3 1
Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia x x 5 7 10 2
American Redstart Setophaga ruticilla 8 5 13 12 25 12
Prothonotary Warbler Protonotaria citrea
Worm-eating Warbler Helmitheros vermivorum
Swainson's Warbler Limnothlypis swainsonii
Ovenbird Seiurus aurocapilla 3 x 3 5
Northern Waterthrush Seiurus noveboracensis
Louisiana Waterthrush Seiurus motacilla 7 1 3 1
Kentucky Warbler Oporornis formosus
Connecticut Warbler Oporornis agilis
Mourning Warbler Oporornis philadelphia
Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas 1 6 2
Green-tailed Warbler Microligea palustris
Hooded Warbler Wilsonia citrina
Wilson's Warbler Wilsonia pusilla
Canada Warbler Wilsonia canadensis
Yellow-breasted Chat Icteria virens
White-winged Warbler Xenoligea montana
Icteridae
Greater Antillean Oriole Icterus dominicensis 1
Shiny Cowbird Molothrus bonariensis x
Tawny-shouldered Blackbird Agelaius humeralis
Greater Antillean Grackle Quiscalus niger 7 10 19 2
Zwazo kann / Bruant
Yellow-faced Grassquit Tiaris olivaceus x 14 45 56 23
Black-faced Grassquit Tiaris bicolor 3 2
Greater Antillean Bullfinch Loxigilla violacea 5 1
House Sparrow Passer domesticus 3 8 1 4
Tangara
Summer Tanager Piranga rubra
Scarlet Tanager Piranga olivacea
Western Tanager Piranga ludoviciana
Gray-crowned Palm Tanager Phaenicophilus poliocephalus 4 5 2 6 7
Western Chat-Tanager Calyptophilus tertius
Eastern Chat-Tanager Calyptophilus frugivorus
Hispaniolan Spindalis Spindalis dominicensis
Antillean Euphonia Euphonia musica 2 2
total individuals 1195 1025 2664 3621 2496 2427
total species count day 65 60 72 63 83 81
total species count week 68 64 72 69 84 82
# of Field Observers 10 13 21 23 15 14
Minimum teams at one time 3 4 3
Maximum teams at one time 5 5 5
Miles driving 113 128 45
Hours driving 6 5 5.75
Miles on foot 15 9 14.25
Hours on foot 29 32 22.25
Hours owling 1 1 0.5
Miles owling 1 2 2