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Wednesday 28 March to Monday 9 April 2012 with Stuart Elsom and William Suarez as leaders. The delightful Bee Hummingbird, a Cuban endemic and the world's smallest bird. Photograph by William Price.
Cost: £2460 plus about £720 for flights (2012)
Please click here for details and an explanation of the price breakdown Maximum group size: 12 participants and 2 leaders.
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Cuba is attracting a lot of attention these days from the tourists eager to sample its tropical beaches and the salsa bars of Havana. However for birdwatchers the attractions of this, the largest of the Caribbean islands, extend far beyond the tourist hotspots to the fantastic wildlife and in particular, the array of endemic birds to be found there. Cuba remains a timeless, sleepy, tropical island with pleasing contrasts of golden beaches, dense forests, and rolling hills. It is also blessed with a unique avifauna, being home to more than twenty endemics, and it has achieved ornithological fame as the last possible refuge of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. In addition to the island's endemic species there are also a number of distinctive races of mainland forms, and of course it is the only place to see the smallest bird in the world, the delightful Bee Hummingbird. Our tour is designed to offer the best chance of seeing the majority of the endemics and is also timed to coincide with the remaining wintering North American species and passage birds on spring migration. Day 1: The tour will start with a flight from London to Havana. On arrival we'll be met by our local guide and drive the 1.5hr journey to our hotel in the foothills of the 22,000 hectare Guira National Park. Night in San Diego de los Baños. Day 2: Western Cuba is blessed with some of the most spectacular scenery on the island. The Cuban national tree, the Royal Palm, is everywhere and gardens grow bananas and other fruits in abundance. This is also an area of tobacco estates and rice plantations. We'll spend the morning walking around Hacienda Cortina, one of the largest estates in Cuba, where a lush mix of tropical forest, interspersed with small stands of pine is home to many species including several endemics such as Cuban Trogon, Cuban Solitaire and Cuban Tody. We also expect to see Scaly-naped Pigeon, Olive-capped and Yellow-headed Warblers, and Western Spindalis. Here we also have a very good chance of seeing Gundlach's Hawk and, nearby, the endemic Cuban Grassquit. After lunch we’ll drive, just over 4 hours with birding stops along the way, to Guanacahabibes National Park - the largest forest reserve in the country. Night in Guanacahabibes National Park. Day 3: We’ll make an early start this morning to spend the day visiting some restricted conservation areas with their amazing landscapes and ecosystems. The habitat here includes coastal scrub and low to moderate-growth forest. Our target species will include more endemics such as Cuban Green Woodpecker and Cuban Pygmy-Owl as well as numerous neo-tropical migrants and West Indian and Caribbean residents. Night in Guanacahabibes National Park. Day 4: We’ll spend today around the Guanacahabibes peninsula. As Cuba is uniquely located between the forests of Central and South America, and the southeast coast of the United States, this reserve has recorded at least 23 species of neotropical migrant warblers. Following lunch, we’ll travel east to Havana. Night in Havana. Day 5: After an early breakfast we’ll return to the airport for our morning flight to Cayo Coco, an island lying off the northern coast. We’ll spend the day birding the mangrove areas in this delightful coastal location searching for such specialities as Zapata Sparrow, a threatened and localised endemic, Oriente Warbler, Thick-billed Vireo, Bahama Mockingbird, and Cuban Gnatcatcher, as well as a waterbirds such as Magnificent Frigatebird, Anhinga, Tricolored Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, and a variety of waders. We also have a good chance here of seeing West Indian Whistling-Duck. Night in Cayo Coco. Day 6: We’ll spend the day birding in Cayo Paredon Grande with its two square miles of beach and the beautiful wrought iron lighthouse built in 1857. Cuban Gnatcatchers, Oriente Warblers, and Thick-billed Vireos should be present alongside recently arrived neotropical migrants such as Palm Warbler and Northern Waterthrush. We also stand a good chance of finding a Thick-billed Vireo before we travel Cayo Guillermo where we should see our first Bahama Mockingbirds and be able to enjoy excellent close views alongside Northern Mockingbird for comparison. Night in Cayo Coco. Day 7: We’ll have an early breakfast followed by more birding in Cayo Coco in the morning to catch up on any species we may have missed yesterday. Leaving Cayo Coco we’ll drive to the south-central town of Camagüey. We’ll stop along the way to give ourselves a chance to search some grassy fields where we should get superb views of Eastern Meadowlark and an assortment of hirundines including Northern Rough-winged Swallow. We‘ll also see a few resident birds including the distinctive Cuban race of American Kestrel and the rather shaggy-looking Smooth-billed Ani. Night in Camagüey. Day 8: We’ll spend the morning near Najasa, where we’ll look for one of the scarcer endemics – Giant Kingbird – and we’ll also seek out other special birds of the area including Plain Pigeon, Palm and Cuban Crows, Cuban Parakeet, and Cuban Parrot. This is a rich area, and other endemic birds we expect to find are Cuban Green Woodpecker and Cuban Vireo. After lunch we’ll visit Sierra de Cubitas, where we’ll search the forest for Great Lizard Cuckoo and the brilliant Cuban Emerald, and have another chance of seeing the Cuban Trogon. Night in Camagüey. Day 9: Leaving Camaguey we’ll drive south across the island to another coastal site, the Zapata Peninsula, Cuba’s most prolific birding region which contains the largest wetland complex in the West Indies. Here excellent local guides will escort us through protected areas and to locations off the beaten track. This is a fantastic area for birds and should be the ornithological highlight of the tour. It is here that we’ll look for species such as Fernandina’s Flicker, Cuban Screech-Owl, and the world’s smallest bird, the Bee Hummingbird, a real avian gem. Quail-Doves are also well represented here and include Gray-headed, and the sensational, endemic, Blue-headed, though these shy forest creatures are never easy to see. We will also explore the area’s vast network of waterways looking for Limpkin and Green Heron, although our main aim will be to catch site of the rarely seen Zapata Wren, which occurs nowhere else in the world. After our evening meal we’ll be able to search trees in the garden with a spotlight looking for the superb Stygian Owl and the Greater Antillean Nightjar. Night on the Zapata Peninsula. Day 10: A morning of birding at an area of the park adjacent to the small village of Bermejas will give us our best opportunity to see the endemic Fernandina’s Flicker. Cuban Parrots, Cuban Emeralds, and Great Lizard-Cuckoos (endemic subspecies) are also very likely here. The forest is home to both endemic Blue-headed and Grey-fronted Quail-Doves, and if we walk quietly we may see these shy birds. After lunch we’ll make our way along the coast, and in the evening we’ll go out in search of night-birds with another chance to find a Stygian Owl. Night in Playa Larga. Day 11: An early breakfast will be followed by a morning walk along a dry roadway in the swamp at La Turba, reminiscent of the Everglades, where we’ll have a chance of finding Cuban Blackbird, Zapata Wren, and Red-shouldered and Tawny-shouldered Blackbirds among others. In the afternoon we’ll head for Las Salinas Wildlife Refuge to look for a variety of waterbirds such as Reddish Egrets, Wood Storks, spoonbills, and flamingos, as well as endemic Cuban Black-Hawks. Night in Playa Larga. Day 12: After breakfast we’ll head for the Rio Hautiguanico trail where Zapata Wren and Zapata Sparrow are possible. We’ll then start the two hour drive back to Havana with lunch at a traditional restaurant followed by a walking tour of Old Havana. Later in the afternoon we’ll transfer to the airport to catch our return flight home with the tour concludes on Day 13.
E-mail or phone +44 (0)1767 262522 for availability.
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Cuban endemics include the superb Cuban Tody...
Yellow-headed Warbler... and Cuban Grasquit, whilst... the spectacular Western Spindalis adds a Caribbean flavour.
In addition to the endemic species, many migrant North American warblers are seen on their northward migration, including this Black-throated Blue. Photographs by William Price and Stuart Elsom. |
Bird List
