Blog

Around Playa Larga, with a morning in Zapata Swamp to find the eponymous Wren, some time in the Hummingbird Garden in Palpite, Quail Doves and general birding.

Into the Zapata Swamp

Zapata Wren, finally cooperating

Cuban Trogon

Cuban Pygmy Owl

Killdeer

Ovenbird, the American Warbler that thinks it’s a chicken

Bare-legged Owl

Fernandina’s Flicker

Cuban Amazon

Grey-fronted Quail Dove

Blue-headed Quail Dove

Blue-headed Quail Dove

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Bee Hummingbird…

…tiny…

…almost impossible to get the red head…

… and when you get it, everything else is wrong.

A day around Cayo Coco, followed by a day moving from Cayo Coco to Playa Larga, with birding stops on the way.

White-winged Dove

Bahama Mockingbird

Clapper Rail

Tricolored Heron

Roseate Spoonbill

Mangrove Buckeye

Cuban Black Hawk

Cuban Gnatcatcher

Northern Waterthrush

Cuban Bullfinch

Oriente Warbler

Desmarest’s Hutia

Desmarest’s Hutia

Desmarest’s Hutia

Desmarest’s Hutia

Che Guevara memorial

American Kestrel

Cuban Emerald

Cuban Emerald

Bee Hummingbird – the smallest bird in the world

Northern Curly-tailed Lizard

The journey from Camaguey to Cayo Coco was interrupted by a bus breakdown, but fortunately there was some decent birding.

Oriente Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Prairie Warbler

Eastern Meadowlark

Gulf Fritillary

Laughing Gull

Northern Flicker

Mangrove Cuckoo

Worm-eating Warbler and Northern Parula

Zenaida Dove

Common Ground Dove

Key West Quail Dove

A long drive from Havana to Camaguey, with a stop off at Zapata Swamp on day 2 and a day’s birding at La Belen on day 3, which provided a whopping 15 ticks for the day.  Unfortunately they were the wrong sort of ticks: it took me ages to find and remove them all.

Cuban Green Woodpecker

Zapata Sparrow

Zapata Sparrow

Greater Antillean Grackle

White Peacock

Zebra Longwing

Cuban Pewee

West Indian Woodpecker

Plain Pigeon

Flambeau

Cuban Pygmy Owl

American Kestrel

Fernandina’s Flicker

Gulf Fritillary

Cuban Trogon

La Sagra’s Flycatcher

Cuban Parakeet

Cuban Oriole

Loggerhead Kingbird

Another Cuban Tody…

… and another

Back home, spring is just about springing, with a few Swallows today, but nothing worth photographing.  I’m still wading through the Cuba pictures, so here is a selection from day 1 to be going on with.

Cuban Solitaire

Black-whiskered Vireo

This Great Lizard Cuckoo displayed for us

Louisiana Waterthrush

Cuban Tody. Hope you like it, there will be many more.

Western Spindalis

Olive-capped Warbler

Olive-capped Warbler

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

Here in Cuba there seems to be a mint crisis, so no Mojitos for us.  There’s no shortage of beer and rum, though.  The birds are pretty good as well: here’s a couple.

Cuban Emerald

Cuban Grassquit

About an inch fell last night in Worthing, giving us just enough for a snowman.

We’ll be a lot warmer soon, as it’s off to Cuba this week.

We’ve been up to the Burgh a few times this year, but failed to find the Short-eared Owls and female Hen Harrier that have overwintered there.  On Saturday that changed, with views of three owls and the harrier, although in poor light.

Or possibly the west.  We went to Weymouth today to twitch a Ross’s gull, a rare vagrant Arctic gull that breeds in northern Siberia, Greenland and a few bits in the far north of Canada.  The expectation was for a long vigil as the bird is mobile and, while it has some more regular haunts, it is unpredictable.  The reality was much better, a wait of less than an hour before it came and showed superbly.  What a superb bird: tiny and exquisitely dainty.

An Avocet brightened up the wait

The Ross’s Gull looks tiny compared to the Black-headed Gulls

Spoonbill

This week brought snow to Britain and Worthing was no exception.  In our back garden we had a drift up to half an inch deep.  Something of a let down, considering everywhere else seems to have had a proper fall,  but it has been just as cold here as in the rest of the country, and that brings birds to us.

There was a significant westward movement of Lapwing on Wednesday and some of them stayed: we had a flock of 44 today, along with a Golden Plover, which is only the second time we’ve had one at home.  A few Snipe and a brief views of an uncooperative Barn Owl brightened up a dull Friday afternoon, but our biggest surprise came on Saturday night when our efforts at spotlighting failed to find any waders, but found a couple of Badgers in the field behind us.

Apologies for the quality of the photos: it has been very dark.

Lapwing

Lapwing

Long-tailed Tit (that’s snow in the background, honest)

Fox