PANAMA May 2008.

Harpy Eagle, Panama May 2008.

Just back from a couple of weeks in Panama. Great trip - the beast above wasn't the best bird either!

More later ........................

SOLWAY: The Machars and North Rhins 27 & 28 April 2008.

Our route to the west of the region took us along the Raider's Road (roughly parallel to the A712 west from New Galloway) to Newton Stewart, birding en route and at Wood of Cree north of Newton Stewart. Then on to Loch Ryan (Stranraer). The following day we birded near Monreith (west of Burrow Head) and the high ground of Cairnsmore of Fleet (Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland).

The Wig at Loch Ryan is famous for its high tide roost(er). Er, I'll get me coat!

Loch Stroan, Raider's Road 27 April 2008.

We took the scenic route along the Raider's Road from Mossdale down to Newton Stewart on 27th. Cuckoo, Grasshopper Warbler and Tree Pipits were singing by Otter's Pool and in the glorious D&G weather it seemed as if Spring had arrived at last.



The cutting edge of birding (below) at Wood of Cree (right).

Female Pied Flycatcher, Wood of Cree.

A couple of hours at Wood of Cree produced at least 4 Pied Flys and a couple of Wood Warblers.

Chris Baines had seen Little Tern the previous day at Loch Ryan so we headed out there after lunch. Our first port of call was Bishop Burn however where we were surprised to find 95 Black-tailed Godwits. There were still 110 Scaup, several Goldeneye and Mergs on the sea loch.

Birding "with a friend" at the Wig, Loch Ryan, Stranraer.

The tide was just about in when we arrived at the Wig and we waited about an hour but no sign of the Little Tern. We did get a couple of Common Terns there, a male Wheatear was on the fence posts and there were plenty of Sandwich Terns and waders including Turnstones, Dunlins, Ringed Plovers and a few Whimbrel.

Part of the flock of Blackwits at Loch Ryan, 27 April 2008.

Chris Baines birding at Monreith.

Chris and Pat were great company once again and made us very much at home. On 28th we started out on the coast where we had a marvelous morning in the Wigtown area with Chris as our guide.

Looking back towards the Cree from the top of Cairnsmore of Fleet.

We were on a roll so we climbed up to the top of Cairsmore of Fleet for Dotterel in the afternoon. Unfortunately we drew a blank and the two and a half hour walk up took it out of us a bit!

The following day (29th) was a little quiet at Mersehead apart from a few Whitethroats and Sedge Warblers but we returned to Lancs with D&G 2008 standing at 162.

Leading a tour to Panama at the weekend .......

SOLWAY: Inner Solway Seawatching 25 & 26 April 2008.

Map of the Annan and Newbie areas showing our skua watching position at Newbiebarns (bottom left of map). Much of our previous birding in this area has been at Seafield (bottom right) where we discovered American Golden Plover and Green-winged Teal in late 2007. (Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland).

Looking south across the Solway to Cumbria from Newbie, Dumfries & Galloway, April 2008.

25 April 2008.
Woke up early and headed down to Southerness Point for a seawatch which was pretty good really despite the ebbing tide:
Common Scoter 85W / 5E
f. Merg'.
2 Razorbill.
6 auk sp. E
3 diver sp. E
2 Red-throated Diver W
11 Gannet W
2 Arctic Terns offshore.
50+ Sandwich Terns.
ad + imm Kittiwake offshore + 14W.
Tree Pipit N.
Fulmar 4W 1E.

A drive up to Loaningfoot produced a Hooded Crow and c. 1000 Barnacle Geese. 200+ Pink-footed Geese seen near Carsethorn. A Green Woodpecker was heard near Loch Arthur before making our way to the Powfoot area where we met up with D&G birder Chris Baines for a cuppa.

With the weather looking promising we scooted round to Newbie and we'd hardly got out the car before the first skua - an adult pale phase Pomarine (with "spoons") was spotted mid-channel. We sheltered from the SWerly behind a convenient wall and continued to watch out of the wind. What was probably the same Pom' flew out of the bay about 5 minutes later and then Chris spotted a Bonxie coming in 20 minutes afterwards, eventually continuing upriver past the viaduct. After all this excitement early on we expected a bit more, but it didn't happen. We noted 4 Common Scoter, a few Great-crested Grebes and a couple of Red-throated Divers but little else on the move apart from a few Whimbrel.
High tide cam and went with little else of note so we moved back to Powfoot to check the shore there. Yesterday's birds were still about, including the female Long-tailed Duck. With the weather worsening we headed round the Nith to Mersehead after filling up with petrol which was no problem despite the so-called 'panic buying' induced by the media seemingly desperate for something to report!
The news of a Spotted Redshank bleeped out of Chris's pager the minute we arrived at Mersehead, but unfortunately it was on Folly Pond with the Avocets at Caerlaverock. Just enough time to check out the Greenshank, Blackwits and White Wags at Mersehead before we gave in to temptation (mainly at Mrs B's suggestion I might add) and jumped back in the car (one car - still not very "green", I know) for the 25 mile trip back to the WWT! NO sign of the bird from the Folly Pond hide but the Farmhouse Tower's elevation proved its worth and we located the Spotshank. A scarce bird in D&G, rare in Spring and a D&G tick as well ........ not bad.

26 April 2008.
Pretty grotty start to the morning so we decided to watch from the shelter of the hides at Mersehead. Still a few White Wags about and an influx of 84 Blackwits but a Swift battling against the wind and rain looked most out of place. The skua passage on the Solway had been something I'd looked forward to for some years so I just couldn't help myself and suggested we had another go. The foul weather and wind slightly more south of yesterday's direction meant birding from the car was order of the day from Newbie. Amazingly an adult Pomarine Skua, pale and fully "spooned" appeared as soon as we turned up, only to be followed by another pale one lacking the cuttlery ten minutes later. A Bonxie came through a short time later and a pale Arctic Skua shot across the bay too. Several Fulmars and 14 Gannets were coming in and going out of the bay but as the previous day the skua movement didn't improve. Still, no complaints. A pair of Mergs, 4 Pale-bellied Brents and half-a-dozen Whimbrel were on show too.

Spotted Redshank Caerlaverock WWT 26 April 2008.

Yesterday's Spotshank was showing better this afternoon at the WWT and the Avocets were doing what they do best.

At least 70 Blackwits on the Folly Pond backing up the arrival at Mersehead but otherwise there was little different to the previous day at Caerlaverock.

With a couple of hours daylight left we headed back around the Nith and called in at Loch Kindar for an evening walk.

Two different Green Woodpeckers could be heard and we saw one in an open area too. Lots of Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps in song plus a couple of noisy Great-spotted Woodpeckers too.

The 'resident' Scaup trio were there plus a couple of pairs of Great-crested Grebes and Cormorants were begining to congregate on the wooded island to roost.

Dusk at Loch Kindar near New Abbey, Dumfries and Galloway.

A cracking day ended with Sedge Warblers in song in the reeds bordering the beach just outside the caravan at Southerness.

SOLWAY: Avocets and a skua dip 24 April 2008.

The Inner Solway from Gretna west to Gatehouse of Fleet.

Map showing the Southerness Point area. Key birding sites include Mersehead RSPB is to the west of the point; Powillimount to the east and Carsethorn to the north east on the Nith Estuary. The Drumburn viewpoint is marked to the south of Overton with Loch Kindar to the west. The high ground of Criffel overlooks the estuary. Caerlaverock WWT is just to the right of this image on the east bank of the Nith. (Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland).

View from Saltcoates Hide, Caerlaverock WWT.

We took a liesurely trip up to D&G today, calling in at Seafield Bay near Annan just before high tide, in apparently good conditions for seawatching. However we saw nothing of note here apart from an Arctic Tern, Sanderling and a Whimbrel. If we'd have looked out into the bay (rather than waiting for passing birds) we may have seen the Pomarine Skuas seen from Bowness on the Cumbria side. You live and learn.
Powfoot at high water was pretty good with 14 Scaup, a summer plumaged female Long-tailed Duck, a Pale-bellied Brent Goose and a summer plumaged Sanderling in the Ringed Plover / Dunlin roost.

We then headed round to Caerlaverock WWT where the pair of Avocets were showing well. Looking very settled, it's hoped they'll breed and continue the spread of this species north into Scotland. A very welcome D&G tick indeed.

Black-tailed Godwit, Caerlaverock WWT 24 April 2008.

A pair of Black-tailed Godwits showed well infront of the Folly Pond hide and the few Whoopers remaining were on view from the observatory.

Peter Scott and Brown Hare share an interest in something in the hedgerow at Caerlaverock.

Otherwise it was pretty quiet apart from a hulking great female Peregrine out on the saltmarsh and a walk around the NNR failed to produce the hoped-for Osprey.

Criffel at dusk from our Southerness caravan.

We made a quick stop near Loch Kindar before heading for the caravan at Southerness. Green Woodpecker could be heard in the distance, 3 Scaup were on the water and what was almost certainly an Otter could be seen surfacing periodically near one of the banks in the distance.

LANCS: Granny's Bay & Fairhaven 23 April 2008.

Watching the Ross's Gull at Granny's Bay, Ribble Estuary 23 April 2008.

The Ross's Gull was showing nicely at Granny's Bay today (23 April), just offshore. Bit distant for a photo but some good close-ups as it flew by the sea wall at Fairhaven. In the end it flew out to roost on the saltmarsh with a pack of Knots so I popped along to Lytham St Anne's Golf Course where a female Whinchat was a nice surprise.

SOLWAY: 19 - 21 April 2008.

The lighthouse at Southerness Point from Powillimount.

The weather wasn't too kind to us this weekend (v. strong easterly winds and chilly) but we managed to get a good few birds under our belt. The strong winds meant that digiscoping was a bit of a no-no, so we'll have to make do with some habo shots for now.

Palnackie, April 2008.

Our trip up to the Solway was pretty uneventful really with just a male White Wagtail at Caerlaverock of note on 19th. Still 3,000+ Barnacle Geese about, but just one pair of Whoopers, a few Blackwits plus the usual sprinkling of Pink-footed Geese, Yellowhammers, etc. The inner Solway at Browhouses and Seafield was pretty quiet and with the wind strengthening overnight the omens were not good.
An early walk around the point at Southerness produced very little and the first bird of note on 20th came late in the morning when we found a Common Sandpiper at Palnackie.

Birding from Balcary Point in Auchencairn Bay.

A drive around Auchencairn Bay produced little else but the walk out to Balcary Point was quite productive with Guillemots and Kittiwakes on the sea and a nice close Red-throated Diver and several Common Scoter close in. A few Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs in the wood near the point made me think that this may be a good place to visit for migrants in the future. Several Sanwich Terns in the bay at high tide were nice through the 'scope too. All very nice but the news of the drake Garganey at Caerlaverock had us scooting back to the car. Less than an hour later we were watching the Garg' and 4 Wheatears and 500+ Golden Plovers (most in spanking summer plumage) were a real bonus. A drive at dusk produced very little in the way of birds, but we had great views of Badger plus loads of Roe Deer.

We took tyhe liberty of a lie-in on 21st and ambled round to Mersehead RSPB after breakfast. A stonking male Redstart that flew across the road at the entrance was a nice surprise. It perched briefly before disappearing in a belt of trees. Great start. The rest of the walk didn't live up to expectations after this though: 12+ White Wag's on the marsh plus 4 Wheatears near the dunes being the only noteworthy birds. We were just bemoaning our luck when a Grasshopper Warbler started "reeling". OK it didn't show but a Groppa's a Groppa!

Back in Lancs for a few days. D&G 2008 at 143.

Barnacle Geese, Mersehead 21 April 2008.

LANCS: A more desirable Ross's - a hunch pays off.

Hmmmm ...... this looks interesting.

It's been a funny ol' week. On Tuesday morning I zipped up to Pilling before work and successfully twitched the Bean Goose in with the couple of thousand Pink-feet still on the saltmarsh at Lane Ends. The Ross's Goose was still there too. Then I put birding on the backburner for the sake of work - honest. So everything was going pretty well, knuckled down on Wednesday but it all went wrong on Thursday. Just about to settle in to a serious bit of writing when the news came through of the reappearance of the adult Ross's Gull on the Fylde. I was in D&G when this gem first appeared so a second chance could not be ignored.
I was at Lytham Moss in no time but no sign of the Ross's - damn! A Marsh Harrier coasting over the distant trees was some compensation but the gull seemed lost, maybe forever. Some hope remained with the news that the Ross's Gull had been photographed by someone early Tuesday morning at Fairhaven though. So I headed to the lake but no luck, in fact hardly any gulls at all.

Ross's Gull, Granny's Bay, Lancs 18th April 2008.

I usually find an excuse for a "Friday Feeling" on a Friday (believe it or not), which usually results in some birding. As today was a Friday and high tide was at a very respectable hour I decided to give the Fairhaven area a go in hope of the Ross's. On arrival at Granny's Bay the tide was well up and there was "very little about" (I almost sound like a proper birder at times). Not much on the lake either and a quick look at the beach at St. Anne's failed to produce anything of note. "One last look at Granny's" I thought as the tide was turning, and unbelievably there, in a corner of the bay near the sea wall was a tiny delicate gull. A (the) superb adult Ross's Gull was sitting on the sea, drifting out into the Ribble Estuary! A few garbled phone calls followed before I lost the bird, but luckily it was relocated and watched until late afternoon in the Lytham area. Great stuff.

SOLWAY: Old Mossdale Railway & Yellow-legged Gull.

Stroan Loch near Mossdale, Dumfries & Galloway 14 April 2008.

After "bloating out" at the Solway Gate Mrs B and I thought it would be a good idea to walk off the bucket of ice-cream we'd finished off as dessert the previous evening with a brisk walk. So we parked up at Mossdale and started to walk out along the old railway towards Loch Skerrow (about 8 miles round trip). Willow Warbler and Redpoll (both D&G year ticks) noted at the car park started the walk well, but it was hard to ignore those ever-present Red Kites too.

Loch Skerrow.

Pausing at Loch Stroan we added House Martin to the year list and there were plenty of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers along the old railway in the trees and bushes. Scanning the sky frequently produced plenty of Common Buzzards, Red Kites, a Sparrowhawk and a Peregrine being harrassed by a Raven.

Angie "in raptures over raptors".

After all the excitement we headed back towards Mossdale seeing a couple of Crossbills, a Common Lizard and a Peacock Butterfly before reaching the car and a welcome cuppa and Blackcap at the car park. Feeling pretty exhausted we drove around to Auchencairn Bay but saw very little.

Gulls at Loch Arthur.

We stopped at Loch Arthur on the way towards Dumfries; somewhere we'd been unable to check on our last trip. Pulling into the car park there seemed to be very little on the water apart from a mixed gathering of 80 or so LBBGs / Herring Gulls. One darker mantled adult "Herring Gull" caught attention though and on closer scrutiny with the 'scope it immediately revealed its bright yellow legs as it bathed frantically. Unfortunately the gulls were pretty "jumpy" and the Yellow-legged Gull took off just as I was about to get a shot of one of D&G's first documented records of this species! The above photo shows perfectly the patch of open water just to the right of a LBBG where this bird sat! I'm sure this will suffice as documentation to satisfy any records committee? Yeah, right .......



Having spent a small fortune on petrol here this garage has been named after me. Shame they couldn't get the spelling right, but it's the thought that counts.

D&G 2008 now stands at 136.

SOLWAY: Yaffle Waffle.

Sunday 13th April.
We headed off early for D&G this morning and the weather was looking very good as we reached the border so we decided to head onto the high moors just out of Langholm on the Newcastleton road.

Stunning scenery and great weather induced thoughts of Wheatears and Ring Ouzels, neither of which made their way onto our list this morning! Crippling views of a male Hen Harrier displaying directly overhead made up for this though. The "ringtail" could be seen down in the valley and we saw them together a couple of times.

What was presumably the same male Hen Harrier appeared frequently nearby and it was quite sometime before we finally saw a Red Grouse, despite hearing many throughout the morning.

It was getting pretty chilly up on the moors by lunchtime so we headed down to the Solway. A couple of Goosanders and singing Chiffchaffs were noted in Langholm and a few flocks of Fieldfare and a couple of Red-legged Partridges were noted as we drove through the valleys down to the coast and our destination of Lock Kindar near the Nith estuary. 'Scoping the loch produced 3 Greater Scaup and several Goldeneye were all that the loch had to offer and no sign of the Pink-footed Geese flock from our previous visit. A Green Woodpecker calling from the forest was a real surprise (they are rare up here) so we went for a walk into the forest. Plenty of Coal Tits and Siskins, but the Green Woodpecker took a bit of finding. We finally located it high in a tree, belting out its "yaffle" call. Great-spotted Woodpecker there too but best of all 2 "female type" Crossbills we managed to 'scope in the tops of larches. The dwindling Drumburn goose flock held a few hundred Barnacle Geese and 50+ Pink-feet but a Little Egret on the Nith was notable.

Southerness Point was pretty quiet apart from a huge flock of Oystercatchers and a single Barwit displaced by the tide so we called it a day and headed to the Solway Gate for a meal.

LANCS: Bleak afternoon on the Ribble.

Finally found a spare couple of hours to get down to my local Ribble patch this afternoon. With about an hour to spare before high tide I decided to check the Freckleton / Warton Marshes. A nice flock of 30+ Meadow Pipits, a White Wagtail and a pair of Wheatear kept me amused for a while, but no sign of any Water Pipits that have been frequenting the marshes "off patch" out at Warton Bank. Further year ticks came in the form of a couple of House Martins in with the Swallows and a Sedge Warbler singing from a reedy patch in the channels. A single Whimbrel out on the marsh with 20+ Curlews was nice as were the dozen or so Black-tailed Godwits. One Little Egret flew past before I reached the car.
The weather was looking quite horrible when I arrived at Freckleton so I left the wellies in the car and decided to only walk as far as the Naze Pool, rather than all the way out to the point. This proved to be a good decision because a) it started to rain as I walked back to the car, and b) on the way back I spotted a distant Osprey! It was over the Preston Water Treatment Works and hovered over the Ribble briefly. Nice end to a very wintry spring afternoon.

SOLWAY: Dodgy quackers!

Drake Garganey with "friends".

Drake Garganey at Castle Loch, Lochmaben 7 April 2008.

Mrs B and I decided on a day out in D&G today, despite an unpromising weather forecast. We started at Castle Loch near Lochmaben where there were plenty of Sand Martins (50+), a few Chiffchaffs singing and Great-spotted Woodpeckers drumming. After a quick look at Kirk Loch we made our way back round to the bowling green cark park at Castle Loch and parked for a scan. We were surprised, to say the least, when this drake Garganey popped out from under the bank! It was calling frequently and swam away but worryingly swam back again towards us! I tried to digiscope it but it was just too close - the shots above were unaided (although the last is enlarged).


Plenty of Goldeneye around but little else apart from this hybrid Aythya resembling a drake Lesser Scaup (but note the extensive black on the bill nail and dark grey back). One Swallow in with the Sand Martins was our only year tick of the day.


On to the Solway shore then, with Annan as our first port of call. Pretty quiet here as the weather deteriorated (but lunch was good), so we moved onto Powfoot. The tide was in by now and there were 15 Greater Scaup close in with this nice Long-tailed Duck (above).

Back to the dodgy ducks now: A dark-backed drake caught our attention, big as a Scaup but with a "tuft" and on close inspection the mantle was just a very dark grey, rather than black. Just appeared like a "Giant Tufty" at first. Wierd.


Caerlaverock WWT was our next stop but we took in a herd of 70 Whooper Swans near Ruthwell en route just before the "wintry showers" began. Loads of Barnacle Geese, Whoopers and a few Tree Sparrows at the WWT grounds, but nothing out of the ordinary.

We drove round to the NNR near Castle Wood and waited for the rain to stop. Finally some sun! A short walk in the woods here produced little apart from a few Chiffchaffs and we were just about to call it a day when Mrs B spotted a coule of Little Egrets out on the merse (nice one Angie). Still a good D&G bird and only the second time we've seen them up here.

SOLWAY: Inner Solway and Lochs 31 March 2008.

31 March: We started birding on Southerness this morning with 2 Whooper Swans heading east and a noisy flock of Barnacles feeding down near Powillimount in the fields near the beach. At the point a Goldcrest was calling from the bushes (surely a migrant?) and our first Sand Martin of the year flew north with a small movement of Meadow Pipits noted overhead too. The sea was good, even though the tide was dropping. Divers were well represented with at least 20 Red-throateds on the calm flat sea and single Black-throated and a hulking Great Northern. Female Long-tailed Duck in with the Mergansers was a bonus but best of all a Sandwich Tern feeding offshore. Three Purple Sandpipers on the rocks was a bonus considering the low tide.


Our next port of call was Auchenreoch where the raft of Tufties was much closer to the layby and included yesterday's potential rarity too. With good conditions we were able to observe the purple head sheen to the head, dark vermiculations on the pale grey mantle and also the bill pattern.

The black on the bill was certainly restricted to the nail, in fact in profile the black almost disappeared and the bill looked all grey.

In a head-on view the black could be seen easily but it was surrounded by a pale greyish-white colour - something that I did not remember on the bird near Stranraer that we saw earlier in the month. Indeed I cannot find it on any photos either, so I presume this is a different drake.

Drake Lesser Scaup, Auchenreoch Loch 31 March 2008.

We never saw the full wing bar on this bird but the secondary bar was definitely white as noted when the wing was partially spread. After a while it swam to the other side of the loch and promptly fell asleep so we called the bird in as a "probable" drake Lesser Scaup pending views of the fully spread wing.

Next we headed across to Laurieston seeing a couple of Red Kites and 200+ Fieldfares before taking the road down to Gatehouse of Fleet. Scanning across the valley produced one of the birds of the weekend in the form of a male Goshawk that even went into display briefly. The rest of the trip down to Gatehouse of Fleet was pretty quiet though as was a quick look at Carlingwark Loch near Castle Douglas. Our last stop of the weekend was at Seafield Bay, Annan where 300+ Golden Plovers were congregated but little else.

D&G 2008 stands at 126 now.

SOLWAY: Lesser Scaup revisited?

Drake Lesser Scaup (with Tufted Duck), Auchenreoch Loch D&G 30 March 2008 (more of that later).

Kirkonnell Flow.

Looking towards Criffel with New Abbey in the foreground, March 2008.

Arrived back in Paris from Cuba mid morning 29th March, jumped on a plane to Manchester to be picked up by Angie and having a shower at home by 6 PM. Jumped in the car and safely in the bolt-hole at Southerness by 9 PM. Match of the Day and asleep. Not bad!

Birding at Milton Loch, March 2008.

Sunday 30th started well with Barnacles over the caravan before it was light. Rain after breakfast restricted us to a bit of birding from the car around Arbigland (first Chiffchaff of the year) and there seemed to be a bit of a Fieldfare movement with 210 seen in total on the Southerness Peninsula. Kirkonnell Flow was rather poor once again with just a Chiffchaff, Treecreepers, Great-spotted Woodpecker and a Grey Wagtail (a D&G year tick) to trouble the notebook.

Loch Kindar near New Abbey is a place I'd been longing to look at for some time and today was the best opportunity. I was not disappointed with 1,000+ Pink-footed Geese on the slopes above the loch, 3 Greater Scaup and a Slavonian Grebe on the water. We'll be keeping an eye on this one in the future.

With the weather showing no sign of improvement we decided to take a look at a new site at Glenkiln Reservoir. The sky cleard as we arrived and although we saw nothing of note at least we bumped into our first D&G Jays of the year.

The world's biggest telescope. No wonder my shoulder aches!

As the weather had improved we took a walk around Mersehead - very nice but nothing of note apart from stacks of Barnacles. But a quick stop at Auchenreoch Loch near Crocketford produced a raft of Tufties so we had to take a closer look as there had been virtually nothing there all winter.

The ducks started to swim away but a grey mantled bird grabbed our attention. It looked good for a drake Lesser Scaup but worryingly the mantle looked a rather uniform grey at this distance and no vermiculations could be seen. We left the bird just about as far away as it could be and decided to return the next morning.

CUBA 2008: Final thoughts.

So another Cuba trip over with some of the best views of the rare and endemic species so far (particularly Zapata Wren - crippling views). Migrants were thin on the ground though with only one flock of warblers seen (on our last day at Cayo Coco).

We spent the hours before flying home wandering around La Habana old town. I took a stroll down to the seafront at El Malecon opposite the fort seeing a few Forster's and Royal Terns, Laughing and American Herring Gulls.

Our hotel was the famous Ambos Mundos, a favourite of the famous author Ernest Hemmingway. The lobby bar (right) is reputed to serve the best mojitos (a white rum based cocktail). I must say the one I had was pretty average though. As you can see from the photo Cuba's smallest man can often be seen hiding behind the flowers on the piano.

The restaurant on the top floor of Ambos Mundos provides a good vista over the old town towards the harbour mouth. If you can drag the waiters away from watching baseball you might get a bit of food as well!

Next trip Panama in May .......

CUBA 2008: Final afternoon on Cayo Coco.

Great Lizard Cuckoo and Western Spindalis, Cayo Coco March 2008.

We soaked up some more of the birds on Cayo Coco during our last afternoon's birding. OK we were hoping to "jam in" on a Gundlach's Hawk but it never happened. We finally encountered a decent flock of migrant warblers too including our only Worm-eating Warbler and White-eyed Vireo of the trip.

CUBA 2008: West Indian Whistling-Duck.

West Indian Whistling-Duck, Cayo Coco March 2008.

With sightings from Zapata and La Belen previously on our trip the "pressure was off" regarding West Indian Whistling-Duck but it was sure nice to get such close views near our hotel on Cayo Coco. Considered threatened, we had a bumper year for this species with a huge gathering of 50+ birds on one quiet lagoon in the late afternoon on Cayo Coco.

CUBA 2008: Bahama Mockingbird.

Lesser Black-Backed Gull & Laughing Gull, Cayo Romano March 2008.

Great Blue Heron (white phase), Cayo Romano March 2008.

From our base on Cayo Coco we were able to visit the other keys in search of Cuban Gnatcatcher, Zapata Sparrow and Thick-billed Vireo. En route we located one of the area's resident rarities in the form of an adult L. B. B. Gull and a smashing Pomarine Skua too. In fact it was a good morning for Cuban rarities as we saw 3 Swallow-tailed Kites as well.

One afternoon was spent in search of Bahama Mockingbird which wev found quite easily at the usual spot on Cayo Guillermo.

CUBA 2008: Cayo Coco.

The causeway to Cayo Coco.

Crested Caracara, near Cayo Coco March 2008.

Leaving La Belen we headed to the north coast and the popular holiday destination of Cayo Coco. Nearing the causeway the weather deteriorated and the rain started and set in for the rest of the afternoon!


Over the next few days we visited various sites on Cayo Coco, Cayo Guillermo and Cayo Paredon Grande in search of the local specialities. One afternoon was spent on the beaches of Cayo Coco where we found our only Piping Plovers (above) of the tour on the distant sandflats.

Semipalmated Plover, Cayo Coco March 2008.

Short-billed Dowitchers, Willet and Sanderling were present on the beaches with Royal Terns offshore.

CUBA 2008: La Belen NP.

Cuban Trogon, La Belen NP March 2008.

Plenty of birds to be seen in La Belen NP this year, but no sign of any Gundlach's Hawk unfortunately. Cuban Palm Crow, Plain Pigeon, Cuban Parakeet, Cuban Parrot and West Indian Whistling-Ducks easily seen near the ranch plus the noisy Cuban Crow.

With a little spare time after lunch we were able to take a look at some butterflies too including White Peacock, Comon Ringlet, Cuban Crescentwing and Pygmy Fratillary.

West Indian Woodpecker, La Belen NP March 2008.

Cuban Blackbird, La Belen NP March 2008.

Plenty of insects around one of the ponds too, including loads of stunning dragonflies - if only I had a guide to these things!

CUBA 2008: Giant Kingbird.

Our next port of call was Belen NP in the Sierra de Chorillo near Najasa. Giant Kingbird is easy to see here, a bird that is now confined to Cuba. It nests in Kapok trees and is threatened due to the disappearance of these huge trees. We stayed in the park this year instead of in the city of Camaguey (45 mins away by bus) and it was a delight to wake up in the morning with the birds on our doorstep including this huge threatened flycatcher.

CUBA 2008: Zapata Peninsula.

One of our last target birds in the Zapaa Peninsula was the Cuban Red-shouldered Blackbird that we found just north of the crocodile farm at La Boca. Shortly afterwards we stopped off at the farm itself where there are usually a few migrants. A Fernandina's Flicker (above) was out on the grassy area probing the soft ground and there were a few migrants around including Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (below) and a fine Yellow-throated Warbler.

Tawny-shouldered Blackbirds (above) were in evidence in the trees bordering the pools and Grey Kingbirds (below) and Black-whiskered Vireos had arrived in good numbers.

American Purple Gallinule, La Boca, Zapata March 2008.

CUBA 2008: Blue-headed Quail-Dove.

What a treat this was! A pair of the endemic Blue-headed Quail-Doves on the path at Bermejas two evenings running. Cuba's best bird (in my opinion).

These cracking birds were on show from about 5.30 PM onwards on the trail. Just a little too dark for digiscoping, but you get the picture. Congratulations and thanks to the local guide Orlando for "fixing" this for us and many other groups this year.

CUBA 2008: Birds of Bermejas, Zapata Peninsula.

Bermejas March 2008.

Cuban Tody, March 2008.

Bermejas is simply a wonderful place to see Cuban birds and I believe it has more endemic bird species than any other place on the island. We spent a full afternoon there just soaking up some of the birds this year including this stunning Cuban Tody (above).

Plenty of Cuban Trogons (top) in the dry forest here too whilst Cuban Pewees make themsevles known by their chracteristic song.

Ovenbird, Bermejas March 2008.

Magnolia Warbler, American Redstart, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler and Prairie Warbler were all seen in the reserve while the forest floor was frequented by Grey-headed Quail-Doves, Key West Quail Dove (above) and migrant Ovenbirds.

Cuban Pygmy-Owl, Bermajas March 2008.

Local guide knowledge is invaluable here too as they know the whereabouts of Bare-legged Owl (above) and Cuban Pygmy-Owls are numerous on the reserve.

CUBA 2008: The world's smallest bird - Bee Hummingbird.