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Birds of Puerto Rico February
1-7, 2008 |
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Puerto Rican Tody (todus mexicanus)
Click here for a trip report from March, 2004 Join us for us for a 7-day tour to look for all of the endemic birds found in Puerto Rico as well as many West Indian specialties. Day 1 We will arrive today in San Juan to begin our journey. All participants will meet in the San Juan International Airport. We will load our van and travel to the southwest side of the Island birding along the way. Our first and second nights will be near the town of Maricao located in the beautiful mountain forests. Day 2 We will bird the Rain Forest on the grounds of our motel as well as areas in and around Maricao. Some of the endemic target species that we will look for are:
- Elfin Woods Warbler
- Puerto Rican Emerald
- Puerto Rican Woodpecker
- Puerto Rican Tody
- Puerto Rican Tanager
- Puerto Rican Screech-owl
- Puerto Rican Pewee
- Plain Pigeon
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Elfin Woods Warbler (Dendroica angelae) Day 3 We will stay in Playa La Parguera for one night. Here we will search for the Yellow-shouldered Blackbird. There are only about 700 of these rare blackbirds left so finding them will be a priority! We will also bird the Gaunica State Forest, a dry forest where many endemic species can be found. Here are some of the endemic target birds for this area. |
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Yellow-shouldered Blackbird (agelaius xanthomus)
- Green Mango
- Puerto Rican Flycatcher
- Puerto Rican Vireo
- Puerto Rico Lizard Cuckoo
- Yellow-shouldered Blackbird
- Puerto Rican Stripe-headed Tanager
- Puerto Rican Bullfinch
- Puerto Rican Nightjar
- Adelaide’s Warbler
We may also have time to bird the Dry Forest of Bosque Estatal De Boqueron. We will spend the night in Quebradillas home to nesting White-tailed Tropicbirds. Day 4 Today, we will scan the cliffs off Quebradillas for nesting White-tailed Tropicbirds. We may see them from our motel grounds. After we get good looks at these beautiful birds, we will travel to Guajataca State Forest for more birding. One of our target birds here will be Bridled Quail-Dove. All Quail-Doves are secretive forest birds, which spend most of their time on the ground. Finding and seeing one of these most elusive birds will require lots of luck. After birding the area, we will travel up into the mountains south of Arecibo to see the huge radar dish made famous in the movie “Contact” staring Jody Foster. The Arecibo telescope is the largest single-dish radio telescope in the world!! The birding should be pretty good here being that the telescope is located in such a remote area. From here, we will travel to the east end of the Island and stay the next 2-nights in the town of Fajardo. |
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Arceibo Telescope Day 5 Today, we will bird the Caribbean National Forest, approximately 28,000 acres in size located in the rugged Sierra de Luquillo mountains, 40 km east southeast of San Juan. This is the only tropical forest in the National Forest System. It is the rainiest National Forest; up to 240 inches per year have been recorded on the higher peaks. The result of such heavy rainfall and the warm tropical climate is a dense evergreen forest containing 240 native tree species and masses of vines, epiphytes, giant ferns and mosses. Twenty-six species are found nowhere else. We hope to encounter the very rare and endemic Puerto Rican Parrot. There are approximately 25 left in the wild with approximately 144 in captivity. We will look late in the afternoon for the parrot and with luck we will find it. We will spend the next two nights in the town of Fajardo on the east end of the Island. |
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Puerto Rican Parrot (amazona vittata) Day 6 Today we will travel back to the Rain Forest around El Yunque to again search for the endemic Puerto Rican Parrot as well as other Rain Forest birds. We will also bird the area around Farjardo to search for Green-throated Carib and the Antillean Crested Hummingbird. The latter is a sub species found only in Puerto Rico. We also have a chance to bird some of the coastal marshes to search for White-cheeked Pintail and West Indian Whistling Duck. This will be our last night in Fajardo. Day 7 The main focus today will be to still try and see the Puerto Rican Parrot if we have not already seen one. We may have some time to check more coastal marshes and to look for some of the introduced birds in the San Juan area. We will have an afternoon departure from San Jaun back to the mainland U.S. Most of the birds listed are the specialties of Puerto Rico, we will see many other birds native to the West Indies while searching for the above birds. Cost: $1,700.00 per person double occupancy from San Juan Does not include airfare $375 singles supplement $500 deposit to reserve a space.
Terms and conditions |
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