Dominican Republic, Return to the Botanical Gardens

Dear all,
after I returned to Santo Domingo my birding was limited to a half day at the Botanical Gardens. (I know its hard to believe that I spent several days doing normal sight seeing!) I was more than happy to return to the gardens. I got Michael, the driver who picked me up at the airport, to pick me up at the hotel early. The gardens normally charge admission, and don't formally open until 9:00 AM, but they let birders and walkers in early for free. What a great concept! I asked Michael to return at noon and took off down the path. Kate and I had spent a little over two hours here and I was looking forward to staying even longer.

The gardens are really beautiful, with a great mix of natural habitat and some manicured areas. I tried to remember the trail Kate and I took, but got it wrong, big surprise there! Luckily it was still a good area. I found a Bananaquit singing loudly. This is one of the most common birds in Santo Domingo, but I still enjoyed the opportunity to see it in full song and caught a couple of ok photos. The Hispaniolan Lizard-cuckoos were very entertaining. I also was very happy to see both the Antillean Mangos and the Vervain Hummingbirds. The Vervains are so tiny, the second smallest bird in the world. Unfortunately they are also boogers to photograph!

My main target this day was West Indian Whistling Duck. This is one of the rarest ducks in the Americas. They have been badly effected by hunting, habitat loss and predation by introduced mongoose and rats. We had looked for them unsuccessfully on my first visit. I finally found the La Canada area, where Kate has showed me the stream where they are usually found. She had mentioned a park worker who always seemed to know where they were. I slowly walked the trail along the creek, searching along the banks and in the water. I saw the Least Grebe family, an adult with four downy stripey chicks. I also kept my open for a Limpkin, which is usually in the same area. I was almost to the end of the creek, with no success, when I saw a park worker sweeping the trail with a huge palm frond. I stopped and asked him in my extremely bad Spanish about the ducks. I consider it almost a miracle that he understood me, as my request involved a lot of jestures and me quacking. (seriously, I am not kidding!) After he quit laughing he took me back up the way I had come.

We stopped at a small dam, where I finally got my Limpkin. He said that the ducks nest in this area, at least I think thats what he said, as he mentioned huevos. (Or maybe he was asking me to breakfast.) Any way, I told him I would hang around that area and see if one came in. He pointed up, letting me know I needed to check the trees, as well. Whistling Ducks used to be called Tree Ducks, so they are many times perched up above. I slipped him a tip for his help and settled in to wait. He walked back down the hill to finish his sweeping. He was just out of sight when I heard him clapping. I turned around and he was coming up the hill, motioning for me to come. I ran down the hill and he pointed to a dark area, across the creek. There, almost invisible on the dark bank, sat the duck! It was a beautiful thing, so well camouflaged I had probably walked right by it. I took a few pictures, but they are a little dark. I was still extremely happy! On my way back up the bank I found a neat lizard, a Large-headed Anole.

I felt a lot more relaxed after seeing the duck. I wasn't going to get any new birds, but I was hoping to pick up some butterflies. I worked the trail back up to an area where we had seen a lot of bugs before. I did see a number of warblers: Ovenbird, Cape May Warbler, Northern Waterthrush and a beautiful male Prairie Warbler. Its always fun to see "our" spring birds in their winter habitat. I came to the Japanese Gardens, one of the more manicured areas. I wanted to check for dragonflies, so I walked down to the small lake. I found a couple of bugs, Spot-tailed Dasher and Thorn-bush Dasher, both of which I see in Texas. Calista butterflies were thick. Calistas are a group only found in the Caribbean. There are forty five species and they all look alike. I did photograph a few, but I started going crosseyed trying to figure out if they were all the same species, or different. Gray Kingbirds were twittering around the pond. A couple of really flashy butterflies flew through, but only gave teasing looks. I walked back to the entrance through an area of large old trees. A Red-legged Thrush hopped along on the ground, reminding me of an American Robin, but with a bit more flash. Michael was waiting for me when I got to the gate.

I really like these gardens! If you happen to be in Santo Domingo they are well worth a morning, even if you are not a birder. They are beautifully maintained and very relaxing. There is a little train that runs through; I saw large groups of school children on them. I recommend skipping that and just walking. If you are a birder you can pick up a number of good birds here.  I really enjoyed the Dominican Republic. I would highly recommend it. If you have any questions please feel free to email me. Now, on to Peru! (I hope)

Here is a link to my photographs:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sngcanary/sets/72157623512520478/

Here is my list for the day:
Least Grebe
Snowy Egret
Green Heron
West Indian Whistling-Duck
Common Moorhen
Solitary Sandpiper
Limpkin
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Hispaniolan Parakeet
Mangrove Cuckoo
Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo
Antillean Palm-Swift
Antillean Mango
Vervain Hummingbird
Hispaniolan Woodpecker
Gray Kingbird
Black-whiskered Vireo
Red-legged Thrush
Northern Mockingbird
Palmchat
Black-crowned Palm-Tanager
Bananaquit
Black-and-white Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Ovenbird
House Sparrow

 

Sheridan Coffey
San Antonio, Tx
http://sngcanary1.blogspot.com/
www.flickr.com/sngcanary

Dominican Republic, Day 3 and 4. A list for a new country!

After a surprisingly chilly night filled with the cry of Red Junglefowl (actually common roosters to be more prosaic) I got up for a 5:00 AM departure to the Parque Nacional Sierra de Bahoruco, in the mountains on the border of Haiti. Kate warned me to wear a jacket, as we would be gaining some altitude. To be honest, I needed a jacket at her camp! Kate's camp is technically outside of the park, but still part of the same biosphere. The road up is rough, and despite being relatively close, its probably a two hour drive to where we were heading. Many birders who visit this area stay in Baharona, which requires leaving at 2:00 AM. It was worth sleeping in a screened shelter for the extra three hours sleep alone.

As I said the road was rough, but I have been on worse. It does require high clearance. Parts of it are an old river bed. I was a little disappointed to not have any night birds along the road. Least Paraque are in that area, but Kate said they are not likely to sit on the road like our Paraques. We reached the Aguacate Army post while it was still quite dark. The road was blocked with large stones and logs. Kate honked and a couple of solidiers came dragging out, looking very sleepy, and cleared the road so we could pass. Kate is well known in this area and they waived us through. We worked our way up to a corner in the cloud forest where our main target birds are found. We arrived as the sky was lightening. Hispaniolan Nightjars were calling.  I definitely needed the jacket.  Kate pointed up the hill and said "That's Haiti". It was only a few steps away. The road actually criss crosses the border on the way up. Its not even marked here. Even in the early light I could see the de-forestation. The lovely discordant calls of Rufous-throated Solitaire rang out around us.

A dark bird flew into a small tree a few yards in front of me. In the pre-dawn light I could see it was a thrush, looking  somewhat like a very dark American Robin, a La Selle's Thrush! This species  is classified as endangered by Bird Life International.  The rapid loss of habitat in both Haiti and the DR has put it under extreme pressure. Parque Nacional Sierra de Bahoruco is probably the best place to look for it, particularly the corner we were standing on. At dawn the thrushes will come out on the road, giving good views. I could have gone back down to camp and been happy at this point! Then we heard a Western Chat-Tanager singing behind us. It flew down and made a brief appearance in a near by tree. Since it came in from Haiti, it made two country lists! Several more thrushes flew down to the road and back up into the brush and trees. A Red-legged Thrush, a very common bird in the DR, but one I had not seen yet, joined a La Selle's. Two small dark birds hopped out, two Black-faced Grassquits.

Kate said the Grassquits were a new species to that area. Unfortunately this is not a good thing.  They had moved in in response to the rampant de-forestation. The destruction of the forest was not quite as obvious at first glance on the Dominican Republic side. The Haitian side of the border had obviously been stripped of almost all usable trees. The DR side still had a lot green. It even looked lush, but when I looked closely I could see that most of the large trees were gone. Kate said there was a big problem with people cutting the trees for charcoal. The charcoal is used in Haiti for cooking. Its difficult to be upset with people who are barely surviving, but great damage is being done. Kate said that there had been the same problem in the DR, but it was solved fairly easily; propane stoves were distributed and propane gas was subsidized. I am not sure how propane would be provided in Haiti, particularly now, but it does seem like a good idea. The problem was given a very personal face when we saw a Dominican soldier pushing an Haitian man, barefoot and ragged. He had been caught cutting wood. The soldier stopped to talk to Kate. He jestured towards his prisoner and then smacked him on the back of the head. I have wondered ever since what happened to that young man.

We continued working the road and added Hispaniolan Trogan, both Green-tailed Ground-tanger and Hispaniolan Highland Tanager. Pairs of Hispaniolian Parrots flew over, calling loudly. As the weather warmed we watched for Golden Swallows. Finally I picked one out over the Haitian hills. It was high up, but banked and I saw the beautiful golden color on the back. Hispaniolian Emeralds were feeding in the native fuschias. I was totally in love with the Hispaniolan Spindalis. Another Black-faced Grassquit appeared in some seeding bamboo. We got a great look at a Narrow-billed Tody and a Hispaniolan Pewee. Kate suggested we move a bit higher into the pine forest. A endemic form of Pine Warbler is found there, which we quickly picked up. It was an excellent morning! The clouds started to roll in, which would lead to reduced visibility, so we started back.

We were hoping to pick up a few more birds lower down. Interestingly, we moved through more pine forest below the broad leaf cloud forest area. We came to a park house where we saw the solider that we had seen earlier, along with another, and about a dozen Haitian prisoners. Normally Kate would have stopped here, but it didn't seem wise. We went further down to the Aguacate post house and did stop. This is where I walked into Haiti. I didn't go far, but I can say that I have been in the country. A flock of a dozen or so Greater Antillean Grackles popped up and down the field below us. Kate said a Loggerhead Kingbird sometimes hung around behind the house, but we had no luck calling it in. I did see several fabulous butterflies, which I photographed. We drove back to camp, stopping several times to try for one of the "biggies", Bay-breasted Cuckoo. Unfortunately we dipped on this one, but I was still more than satisified.

I slept very well that night. We birded around the camp until about 10:00 AM, trying to find White-fronted Quail Dove, again with no success. We did hear Antillean Piculet twice, but had no luck in seeing it. We had the same luck with Flat-billed Vireo. We were getting ready to get in the car, when Kate heard an Antillean Euphonia. I was thrilled to pick it out in the back of a tree. We decided to head to a beach near Baharona called San Rafael, for lunch. The drive down was very interesting. I loved the little villages with brilliantly colored houses build of curved boards from palm trees. I saw a bird in a palm tree that I thought was a Palm Crow. We made the mistake of turning around and it turned out to be dark Rock Pigeon. This actually was a stroke of luck. We ended up driving down to the beach on a different road. The view was stunning! Kate said she had never driven in that way, but would start doing so in the future.

San Rafael is east of Baharona. The beach has a long slow curve, between two cliffs. The beach is stony and there are wicked rip tides. It was the most beautiful stretch of water I have ever seen. the water is a mind bending turquoise. The foam on the waves is whiter than white. A group of small shacks sits in the shade of palm trees, where a small river comes into the see. Stone walled pools have been built, catching the river water, enabling people to swim. Unfortunately the stone wall of the final pool was broken, so the water levels were really low. It looked like it was being rebuilt. We walked up to one of the shacks and Kate asked what they had. The woman who was cooking pulled out two huge lobsters. We asked the price and decided it was a bit more than we wanted to pay. She then showed us a sea bass and told us the price. We decided that was exactly what we needed. We sat in the shade at one of the tables and watched the sea for birds. I was extremely surprised at how few there were. The only species we saw were Brown Pelicans and Royal Terns. There wasn't a single shorebird on the beach A guy with a parasail floated down from the cliffs above us, drawing the local children in. It almost made up for the lack of birds. Our fish arrived, flanked by rice and pigeon peas and fried plantains. It was very hard to leave.

We drove back to Santo Domingo and saw a few more birds. We added Turkey Vulture and Magnificent Frigate-bird. We went by the rental car place and they took me back to the Mercure. This day was a bit shorter on birds, but I throughly enjoyed it! Kate had made my trip, not just with the birds, but with all the information about the Dominican Republic and its people. I highly recommend her. Her web site is www.todytours.com.

Photos for the two days:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sngcanary/sets/72157623499809820/
Bird list:
Least Grebe
Magnificent Frigatebird
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
American Kestrel
Common Moorhen
Royal Tern
Rock Pigeon
Scaly-naped Pigeon
Plain Pigeon
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-dove
Hispaniolan Parakeet
Olive-throated Parakeet
Hispaniolan Parrot
Hispaniolan Lizard Cuckoo
Hispaniolan Nightjar-heard
Antillean Palm Swift
Antillean Mango
Hispaniolan Emerald
Hispaniolan Trogan
Broad-billed Tody
Narrow-billed Tody
Hispaniolan Woodpecker
Antillean Piculet-heard
Hispaniolan Wood-pewee
Stolid Flycatcher
Gray Kingbird
Flat-billed Vireo-heard
Golden Swallow
Rufous-throated Solitaire
La Selle's Thrush
Red-legged Thrush
Northern Mockingbird
Palmchat
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Pine Warbler
American Redstart
Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Bananaquit
Green-tailed Ground-tanger
Hispaniolan Highland-tanager
Black-crowned Palm Tanager
Western Chat-tanager
Hispaniolan Spindalis
Black-faced Grassquit
Greater Antillean Bullfinch
Greater Antillean Grackle
Hispaniolan Oriole
Antillean Euphonia

The Dominican Republic, Day 1 and 2, a Trip of Firsts

Dear all,
I returned yesterday from a week long trip to the Dominican Republic. My bird reports will be briefer than my usual ones as I only spent three days seriously birding. Despite the brief time I did extremely well, getting 21 endemics and 41 life birds, including a couple of heard only birds. I really loved the DR and enjoyed my entire trip. I will be very happy to share any and all information that I have.

I titled this a trip of firsts for several reasons. Of course there were the birds that I saw for the first time, but all of my birding trips have those, hopefully. The big firsts are that this is the first time I have done an international trip totally alone. It was also my first trip to the Caribbean. Martin and I had been talking about going to the Dominican Republic for over a year. As most of you know, I am a corporate travel agent. I was lucky enough to win a set of tickets on American Airlines good for the Caribbean in a contest at work. In December when I was able to get vacation dates we set up our flights. Then a couple of serious things happened. On January 12 Haiti suffered the catastrophic earthquake. We did some research and found that the DR was not effected. We decided that we wanted to cut back on our expenses and do a simpler trip, donating what we would save to Doctor's Without Borders. Then Martin had to back out due to work issues. My initial reaction was to completely cancel. After mulling it over and talking to one of the clients I deal with at work who is from Santo Domingo, I decided to do the trip on my own. Needless to say it was a little scary, but also exhilarating!

I did not want to drive on my own, as I knew that traffic can be brutal in Latin America and traffic laws are more suggestions that anything else. I contacted Kate Wallace, a former Peace Corps worker, now doing bird tours and arranged for her to guide me for 3 days. I modified the hotel arrangements that I had done for Barahona in the SW and Samana in the NE. I was going to stay in Santa Domingo for the other 4 days and just do tourist stuff. I packed my bags, tried to learn Spanish in a week and kept telling myself that I wasn't crazy to do this.

I arrived in Santo Domingo on February 13. I was totally blown away by the spectacular coast line when we landed. The water was the most delectible shade of turquoise blue. Kate arranged for a driver, Mike, to pick me up at the airport and take me to my hotel, the Mercure, in the Zona Colonia in Santo Domingo. On the drive to the hotel Mike entertained me with stories of life in Santo Domingo. He speaks excellent English, having lived in New York for a number of years. I was constantly scanning the sky on the drive in for gulls, terns, frigatebirds, or any other water birds. I was a bit surprised that I didn't see a single bird of any kind! The road skirts the shoreline, and despite the lack of birds, I enjoyed the beauty.

We arrived at the Mercure and Mike gave me his mobile number, in case I wanted to do a tour later that day, or anything on my days after Kate and I went birding. The Mercure sits on the corner of El Conde and Hostos, just down from Parque Colon. Its a lovely small French hotel with a restaurant and bar. I checked into my room and immediately went wandering. Hispaniolan Parakeets were roosting about a block away. Antillean Palm Swifts swooped by over head constantly, giving me my first two life birds. After checking out the park and some of the shops, I returned to the hotel for a dinner of lambi (conch) and a glass of white wine.

Kate picked me up at 7:30 AM and we headed to the Botanical Gardens. This is an excellent birding spot. If you ever do a cruise and Santo Domingo is a port of call, its a great place to pick up some local birds. Almost immediatly after walking in we saw Hispaniolan Woodpecker. I had been concerned that I would miss this bird. Boy, was I wrong! They were very common every place we went! We heard the incessant song of Black-whiskered Vireos all through the garden. I assured Kate that we didn't have to spend any time trying to see them, as I had seen them both in Florida and Texas. Hispaniolan Lizard Cuckoos were in several places and easy to see, but hard to photograph. We quickly picked up both hummingbirds found in the gardens, Antillean Mango and Vervain Hummingbird. The Vervain is not much of a looker, but charming none-the-less, being the second smallest bird in the world.

Palmchats were common. This is a very interesting bird. Its the national bird of the Dominican Republic. It is the only member of its genus and family, endemic to Hispaniola, not being found anywhere else in the world. They build an "apartment" type nest of twigs in palm trees, with each family having its own entrance. The nests are used year round, not just for breeding. The birds seem to constantly be doing improvements. It was fun to watch them carrying sticks three or four times their length to the nest site.

We were unsuccessful in finding West Indian Whistling Duck, one of our main targets, so I decided I would come back later in the week. After a stop for coffee and a pastry, we headed to Kate's camp in the south-western part of the country. The drive out there was really interesting. Kate has lived in the DR since her days in the Peace Corps. She shared her perspective on the culture along with a good dose of local history. We passed through a number of small towns and villages. Kate educated me on the agricultural going ons and gave me a good over view of what was being done in the country to educate the people on environmental issues. I enjoyed talking to her tremendously!

We arrived at her camp mid afternoon and almost immediately we found a Broad-billed Tody. I am not terribly fond of the word cute, but this bird forced me to use it! We soon heard a Narrow-billed Tody, which is even cuter, if thats possible. Her camp is one of the few places where both species can be found. I took my things to the screened shelter that would be my home for the next two nights and took a quick cold shower. The camp is primitive, but very comfortable. I would have been happy staying there for the entire week. There is a free standing bathroom with flush toilets. The showers are cold, but its hot outside, so they felt good. You can also bathe in a spring fed canal, but I didn't bring my bathing suit. I don't think skinny dipping is an option!

We walked the road by the camp and found a gorgeous Key West Quail Dove. A pond had Least Grebes with chicks and Common Moorhens. White-necked Crows made an incessant racket. Probably the biggest surprise for me was an Antillean Siskin. I was more than delighted to see several male Black-throated Blue Warblers, a rarity in Texas. Bananaquits were "trash birds". We had a nice dinner of chicken, rice and pigeon peas and salad, washed down with copious amounts of Presidente beer. Kate told me we would be leaving at 5:00 AM sharp in order to get up into the mountains for our targets in the morning. I was more than ready to hit my cot!

Photos from the two days
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sngcanary/sets/72157623490715938/

Bird list:
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
American Kestrel
Common Moorhen
Solitary Sandpiper
Rock Pigeon
Plain Pigeon
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-dove
Key West Quail Dove
Hispaniolan Parakeet
Mangrove Cuckoo
Hispaniolan Lizard Cuckoo
Smooth-billed Ani
Antillean Palm-swift
Antillean Mango
Vervain Hummingbird
Broad-billed Tody
Narrow-billed Tody -heard
Stolid Flycather
Black-whiskered Vireo
White-necked Crow
Northern Mockingbird
Palmchat
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Northern Waterthrush
Bananaquit
Greater Antillean Grackles
Antillean Euphonia- heard
Antillean Siksin
Village Waver-heard

Sheridan Coffey
San Antonio, Tx
http://sngcanary1.blogspot.com/
www.flickr.com/sngcanary