In February I went on a week long trip to Jamaica with six very keen birding friends. They were a great team and made the trip very enjoyable, thanks to them all. The blog reports on the trip with some photos of variable qualitty of mine (rather too mjany of Blue-winged Teals I'm sure) and some much better one's taken by Barry Wright mainly of birds I didn't have much success with (Barry doubtless has much better of most others too). It is pretty obvious which Barry's photos are but they are all acreditted to be sure. I'm very grateful for him agreeing that I could include them.
Introduction. A
Jamaica trip in January or February 2017 had been discussed between various friends
during the second half of 2016 but it wasn't until December that it started to come together. By mid December seven of us had decided to go, for
a week, from 1-8 February. Barry Wright and I booked flights from Gatwick, Neil Bostock, Duncan Brooks, Brian Foster, Jon
Hornbuckle and Rod Martins from
Manchester. Conveniently Thompson flew from both airports to Montego Bay on
Wednesdays, the Gatwick flight arriving first, by 2.5 hours. We decided we’d
rather be in one vehicle and Neil agreed to arrange it, with Brian as
backup driver. Jon, Duncan and I started looking at reports and planning out an
itinerary. Jamaican Owl was one of the key birds, Jon and Rod having missed it on separate previous visits, and was mainly seen with local assistance. Jon contacted Ann Sutton but unfortunately she wasn't going to be in Jamaica for the week we'd be visiting, ruling out a visit to Marshall's Pen, one of the better owl sites. ebird showed recent sightings at Rocklands (near Montego Bay) and Stewart Town but was not specific as to where and for a roosting owl one needs very specific information to stand any chance. It seemed best to visit Rocklands at the outset, in the hope a roosting owl might be there, then drive to the east and have 3+ days in the Ecclesdown Road and Hardwar Gap areas (where all the endemics could be found). We then planned to visit Hellshire Hills in the SE and spend the final day returning to Montego Bay. I booked cheap accommodation for us all for most days. Not having anywhere on the penultimate night gave us flexibility to be anywhere to target anything we were missing. This worked out pretty well.
Tuesday 31 January.
Megan dropped me at the station to catch pre-booked train to Gatwick.
Fortunately I’d checked its progress (or lack of it) online as it was over half
an hour late. I arrived at Gatwick just after 23:00, caught the shuttle to the
North Terminal where some noisy building work was going on. I found the
quietest place I could and inflated my mat. It was comfortable but not a good
night, those before trips rarely are.
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| Southern Rail on a non-strike day and my train is 34 minutes late arriving at Shoreham-by-Sea. It did mean I could claim back half by £5 fare. |
Wednesday 1 February.
I was up at 04:45 and met Barry at 05:30. We went to bag drop and had no issues
with our slightly over-weight hand baggage. The flight was over an hour late
departing but as we were expecting to have a 2.5 hour wait for the Manchester
contingent at Montego Bay we were not overly concerned. It was a good flight
with decent films and a couple of meals – the packet of biscuits in my hand
baggage were not needed at all. We arrived an hour late but were pleased to see
the Arrivals Boards showing the Manchester flight to be on time. It was
although it took a while to unload. Barry and I met Jon then Brian, Duncan,
Neil and Rod in the arrivals ‘hall’ and Neil dealt with the paperwork for the
vehicle he had booked for us. Most of the rest of us sought out some local
currency. Most ATMs were empty and the Cambios in the Arrivals area gave
dreadful rates. In the end I changed some £ for J$ in the Departures where the
rate was 10% better, but still 15% below base-rate. We loaded the vehicle which
was very spacious and set off for the nearby Verney House Resort which I’d
booked on booking.com. Despite having printed directions we struggled to find
it, the road it was in being much longer and with an unexpected dog leg. When
found the hotel was ideal for our purposes. Brian and Neil, our drivers, took
the double room with the rest of us in one for 5. The others had a meal in the
hotel while I finished my sandwiches. The only birds I had seen were some low
flying Antillean Palm Swifts over the Departures building.
Thursday 2 February.
I slept solidly to 01:30 then woke several times up to 05:00 when I read for
half an hour before the others started to surface. We left the hotel at 06:00
and drove to Rocklands arriving just as it was getting light at 06:45. There were a lot of birds zipping around by
the entrance but in the half-light it was hard to see what most were, Stolid
Flycatcher, Black & White and Black-throated Blue Warblers and American
Redstart being exceptions. Someone emerged from Rocklands and we asked after
Fritz, the resident birder. We were sorry to learn that he was very seriously
ill but one of his relatives would be available to take us around although
wasn’t really a birder. We asked about roosting owls and were told someone else
would go and look for them. With our guide we wandered along a trail for an
hour seeing a few things we mostly found for ourselves (Caribbean Dove, Ruddy
Quail-Dove, a superb Jamaican Tody, Jamaican Woodpecker and White-eyed and
White-chinned Thrushes). We then spent some time watching the feeders seeing
Jamaica Mango, Red-billed Streamertails, Jamaican Oriole and Orangequit before
being told a roosting owl had been found. We headed back 200m up the approach road to
its highest point, our guide peering into the trees. Nothing obvious. He phoned
a friend for help. Tension mounted and then his friend appeared and pointed it
out, except it was a Northern Potoo. Somewhat disappointing under the
circumstances, but it was still a very good bird to see and new for some of us,
me included. We all felt an early result with the owl would have saved a lot of
time in future, and so it was to prove, and Barry gave him his mobile number
should a roosting owl be located over the next few days. It wasn’t hopeful as he had
only heard the owl once in the previous week. We were charged $20 each for the
guiding, nice work for a non-birder when taking around a group of seven, but I
had seen 10 new birds including 8 endemics. We left at 10:00 and returned to
the Verney House to check out. It had suited us perfectly, which was just as
well as we would be back there for our last night in Jamaica. We departed at 11:00 and
Neil drove us east, with few stops, following the coast to Fairy Hill. We
arrived at 16:00 at Melrose Cabins, easy to find from our directions although
the last 500m was on a rough track and the entrance too steep for us to negotiate in the van. We walked up the 100m with our bags to find
the cabin, a tent, a 4WD and a young girl. She told us the owners had gone for
a short walk and went to find them. Shortly after a very friendly young couple
appeared and showed us around. It was their home and they had debunked to the
tent for the two days we were there. We thought to be on hand should we need
anything but we explained we would be birdwatching, going out early and coming
back late. We asked about owls and they told us they sometimes heard one in the
forest nearby. The house had two rooms, one on-suite with a large double bed in
which they put a mattress and the other with a kitchen alcove, bathroom, 4
bunks and a mattress. Having the mattress made it rather cramped but we
wouldn’t be spending much time there and the location was ideal. We drove to
the Ecclesdown Road for the last hour of daylight, partly to be sure we could
find it the following morning in the dark. We drove to decent habitat and
continued walking down the road. We soon saw Ring-tailed Pigeon and Sad
Flycatcher and were going around one bend when a Crested Quail Dove walked
behind the next. We approached as carefully as it is possible for seven
desperados to do ad saw the bird slowly walking away apparently unperturbed by
the mob following it. That is until a mongoose appeared in front of it and it
flew. The mongoose ran off, we waited but it did not return. By now the light
was going and we returned, stopping for a decent meal on the way. Once back at
the Melrose a short excursion playing owl tapes elicited no response and we
turned in for the night. A brilliant first day with 13 new birds seen.
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| Stolid Flycatcher, restricted to Jamaica and Hispaniola and adjacent islands |
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| White-chinned Thrush, one of the most widespread endemics |
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| Jamaican Tody at Rocklands, one of the smartest endemics |
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| an endemic Jamaican Mango on a feeder at Rocklands |
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| Jamaican Oriole |
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| . Not quite an endemic, it also occurs on San Andres islands. An interesting distribution as San Andres are closer to Central America than Jamaica and Jamaica much closer to Cuba, Hispaniola and the Caymans. |
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| Orangequit, another endemic |
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| Jamaican Woodpecker, one of my favourite endemics |
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| Northern Potoo |
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| roosting birds are regularly seen at Rocklands |
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| Yellow-faced Grassquit on the road at Rocklands |
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| Duncan and Bary buying bananas |
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| view from Melrose Cabin, Fairy Hill |
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| White-crowned Pigeon at Fairy Hill, a widespread Caribbean species |
Friday 3 February.
The cabin was a bit cramped but I slept OK on the mattress despite some heavy
rain during the night. In the other room Brian, on the mattress, had left the
shutters open, despite being warned about doing so, and was dripped on until he
shut them. We were up at 05:00 and drove to Ecclesdown Road arriving at first
light (06:30). We parked off the road on a bend and spent the next 3.5 hours
walking up the road. It was excellent with lots of birds and little gradient. We
were back at the car at 11:00 and breakfasted on the snack food Barry had
bought the previous day. We then drove further up the road and walked another
section, returning to the car at 14:00.
I saw 12 new birds: Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo, Black-billed Streamertail,
Yellow-billed and Black-billed Amazons, Rufous-tailed Flycatcher, Jamaican
Pewee, Jamaican Becard, Blue Mountain Vireo, Jamaican Crow, Jamaican Euphonia,
Arrowhead Warbler and Jamaican Spindalis. Jamaican Tody and Woodpecker had
already become firm favourites. We drove back past Fairy Hill to San San where
we asked at Mockingbird Hill about owls. We could access the property for $10
each but the owl expert was a waitress who wasn’t working that week – the whole
place had a rather shut-up feel to it. Times were hard right across Jamaica we
were told with tourist numbers well down. We declined the offer and birded the
nearby San San Road finding a Jamaican Vireo and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. At
dusk we were back at the Mockingbird Hill entrance road, a historic owl site,
but a local disco blasting out high volume reggae moved us on. My friend Nick
Preston had seen the owl in the car park at Frenchman’s Cove (an exclusive
resort). It was on our way back and we called in to find a watchman behind a
large closed gate, inside looked like rather open parkland. Of the car park
there was no obvious sign. There was no way we could blag our way in so we
walked along a track running beside the perimeter wall, forest on the other
side, playing tapes. After a while one responded from the forest and probably
wasn’t far away but we failed to entice it across the track or spotlight in in
the trees. It soon lost interest and we went for a meal, me having a rather
nice chicken with sweet potato chips. Back at Melrose I swapped the mattress
for Rod’s top bunk which was considered a good deal all around. Another brilliant
day with another 13 new birds, leaving us with only six more specialities to
see. We had another 3.5 days in which to do it in, but we were at the stage of
needing to focus on each one. Top of the list was the owl with another early
start required.
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| superb forest at Ecclesdown Road, extreme eastern Jamaica |
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| White-crowned Pigeon |
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| Ring-tailed Pigeon, a Jamaican endemic |
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| Jamaican Pewee on Ecclesdown Road (photo Barry Wright) |
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| having a rest on the Ecclesdown Road - Brian, me, Jon, Duncan, Rod and Neil (photo Barry Wright) |
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| further up the road |
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| Yellow-billed Parrot, another endemic |
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| more colourful in flight (photo Barry Wright) |
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| birding on the Ecclesdown Road |
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| Barry, Brian, Jon, Neil and Rod after breakfast |
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| me on Ecclesdown Road |
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| Jamaican Tody on the Ecclesdown Road |
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| Arrowhead Warbler on the Ecclesdown Road, one of the most wanted endemics (photo Barry Wright) |
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| Loggerhead Kingbird |
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| widespread on the Greater Antilles and Bahamas |
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| Rufous-tailed Flycatcher on the Ecclesdown Road |
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| another Jamaican endemic |
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| male Black-billed Streamertail, lack of tail suggesting a juvenile |
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| out of focus Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo at San San |
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| Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo (photo Barry Wright) |
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| Jamaican Spindalis at San San |
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| one of the brighter endemics |
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| Loggerhead Kingbird at San San |
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| Northern Mockingbird |
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| White-eyed Thrush, the more secretive of the two thrushes on Jamaica |
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| its rich chocolate head made this one of the nicer endemics |
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| even nicer in Barry's image (photo Barry Wright) |
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| female American Redstart (photo Barry Wright) |
Saturday 4 February.
We packed and left Fairy Hill soon after 05:00, driving back to Frenchman’s
Cove where we parked past the entrance gate and walked along to the area we had
heard an owl the previous evening. One responded to playback several times, twice
sounding very close, but it remained in the forest and we couldn’t pick it up.
It seemed to move back and we found a path going into the forest which soon led
to a horse paddock and homestead. The owl was not quiet and with the horse a
little disturbed and the sky lightening we returned to the track. The horse
owner appeared wanting to know what we were doing. A perfectly reasonable
question as we had probably been on his land. Neil told him about the owl,
which he knew and occasionally saw during the day. Barry gave him his mobile
number and he promised to phone if he found it in the next couple of days. It
started raining hard so we drove on into San San for coffee, some of the group
found it hard to operate without. It eased off and we drove to San San Police Station
Road. We parked just past the police station and started walking up the road
but no sooner had we started than the rain returned. A mile or two up the road,
at the entrance to Shoreham Green Villa, the forest fragmented and we waited
for the rain to ease. When it did we wandered back down, soon hearing one then
two Jamaican Lizard Cuckoos calling one on each side of the road. We stopped
and looked for the nearer bird but could see nothing moving and the calling
stopped. We waited, it was after all one of our remaining targets. Rod had gone
ahead and, when we hadn’t followed, came back and immediately picked up a
cuckoo in the forest on the other side of the road. Both birds were there,
higher perhaps than we had expected. It was hard to understand how else one had
crossed the road unseen. They were on view for 20 minutes and proved to be one
of the trip highlights. Lower down we
saw Jamaican Woodpecker, Sad Flycatcher, Jamaican Vireo, Jamaican Euphonia,
Black & White and Worm-eating Warblers and a couple of rather secretive
Yellow-shouldered Grassquits. The latter were new but unfortunately I only saw
the female well so for me it wasn’t completely removed from the target list.
Our next two nights accommodation were at the Blue Mountain Wilderness Retreat
which I had found on booking.com. It was 7km off the road to Hardwar Gap but I
hadn’t appreciated how rough and steep the road was. There had been a sign off
the main road but nothing further. We went through Bangor Ridge village at
12:30 and the road started to worsen and drop steeply. We turned around and
stopped to ask, some White-collared Swifts flying low overhead proving a
welcome distraction. We were somewhat shocked to learn that we were at more or
less the right place but it was at least a 20 minute walk along a rough trail!
Perhaps the name was a bit of a giveaway that it would be remote (7km up a dirt
track that took over 30 minutes to drive was that!) but we felt let down that the
difficult access to the accommodation hadn’t been made it clear. Two girls from
the retreat appeared and confirmed the bad news. We had intended leaving our
gear there and driving to Hardwar Gap for the afternoon but time was now
against us and we couldn’t afford the best part of an hour it would take. We
arranged with the girls for them to meet us in Bangor Ridge before it got dark
and lead us in. They would also cook for us that evening. Neil drove us up to the Gap, it is not
something I could have done without significant problems. It took him 90
minutes, the main road being not much better in parts than our ‘access road’.
Verney House and Melrose Cabins had been ideal for our purposes but the
wilderness retreat was too remote, we could have reached the Gap quicker from
the coast. When we arrived the Gap was covered by low cloud. We saw very
little, Red-billed Streamertail and another Sad Flycatcher for me. While at the
Gap Jon and Barry investigated accommodation options and we called into the
Ranger Station at Holywell. There was a six berth cabin available the following
evening for J$6000, about £6 each. We booked it then drove back down to Bangor
Ridge arriving just after dark. Our hosts duly appeared and walked in with us.
I took all my gear rather than sorting out essentials in the dark. This was
probably a mistake as the trail was quite uneven in places with some
significant ups and downs. It also took near 30 minutes to walk than 20, with
no owls calling along the way. The girls cooked us an excellent meal, my best
in Jamaica, of chicken, vegetables and rice. I paid for one night’s
accommodation explaining that we had expected to be able to drive to the door
and didn’t have the time for another walk in/out. The girls accepted our position. We retired
to the bunkhouse where I expected a good night’s sleep. It wasn’t to be
although entirely down to me. In the night the wind picked up and I found
myself in a draught coming through high ventilation slats. It didn’t seem cold
enough to do anything about – climbing down to my rucksack for a sleeping bag
seemed too much effort. It wouldn’t have been and might have saved me catching
a cold, although it didn’t really surface until I was back home.
Sunday 5 February.
The two higher altitude species we were missing were Jamaican Elaenia and
Jamaican Blackbird and the Hardwar Gap area seemed the best site for both. We
left the wilderness retreat soon after dawn. Its setting, as the sun rose, was
superb and for those not on a mission it would be an ideal place to get away
from everything. We drove to The Gap Café 1.5km sign and started walking up the
road. As we had come to expect it was Barry who heard a Jamaican Elaenia
calling and after a brief search we located it in a tree top. We continued
further up the road and soon hit the cloud. Barry then heard a Jamaican Blackbird.
We tried playback although with a poor recording. It worked and Brian saw it
fly in and land on a stump. It was just as well it had no subtle or really
showy features as it was little more than a dark shape in the cloud. With our
two main targets successfully seen we walked back to the van seeing a
Rufous-throated Solitaire on the way. We drove up to The Gap Café arriving just
before it opened at 10:00. I left the others to there and walked back to the
entrance to Holywell where I went a short distance down a wide trail. Here I
was delighted to find a pair of Yellow-shouldered Grassquits and this time I
had good views of the male, it was unexpectedly stunning. I rejoined the others
and we drove into Holywell. We called in at the Ranger Station and found a
birder to ask about owls and the split potential Greater Antillean Elaenia. The
owls were around occasionally but he knew of no roost sites, whereas the elaenia
had been seen by the street-lights opposite the ‘pink house’, a km or so below
the 1.5km Gap Café sign. We drove down to the pink house which was still in the
clouds. We had been hanging around for half an hour or so when a car pulled up
and asked if we were birders in distress. We didn’t realise it was Ricardo
Miller of Arrowhead Tours, perhaps Jamaica’s top birdguide. I mentioned we were
struggling with the elaenia which we knew was hard and the owl. He told us he’d
seen an adult and juvenile at roost the previous day. This really caught my
interest. Me: Were they at Stewart Town?
Ricardo: Yes, have you been checking
ebird? Me: Yes but I’m not sure where
to go when there. Ricardo: You park
at the Police Station. Me, reaching
for a pen then thinking better of it: hang
on a minute, do you mind if I record the directions. Ricardo also told us they
were sometimes seen at Woodside, a track off the main road a km or so below the
Gap Café. It was also the best site he knew for the elaenia but they were very
hard. We thanked him for his openness and sharing what we hoped might prove
valuable information. Although the pink house site hadn’t produced the elaenia
it might just have been more valuable in enabling us to connect with Ricardo.
We drove to Woodside, parking by the entrance, and walked down the fairly steep
track. An Ovenbird was feeding ahead of us. We arrived at some conifers at
about the right place for the elaenia and hung around for a while. Barry, Rod
and Duncan went on ahead disturbing two Crested Quail Doves which walked around
the next bend. Barry came back for us and we continued slowly but they had left
the track. We continued to a sharp bend at the edge of a more open valley where
we tried again for the elaenia. No luck. We returned to Woodside, unloading our
gear in a very spacious cabin. I inflated my mat and set out my sleeping bag, I
wasn’t having a second cold night if I could help it. We walked down to The Gap
Café for a very expensive but ordinary meal, I should have broken into one of
my last packets of biscuits instead. We walked down to the edge of the valley
at Woodlands as the light was fading. Two Crested Quail Doves came in to roost
in a clump of bamboo nearby although I only saw one well. After dark we tried
owl calls and heard a very distant response from beyond the other side of the
valley – too far to close in on. I tried the weird Norther Potoo call and one
immediately flew overhead and away. Fifteen minutes later I tried again and it
flew back and landed on a stump of a nearby tree. Brilliant. We walked back to
our chalet and I slept very well. We were down to one main target, Jamaican
Owl, and we finally had a recent specific site for it. I was more confident
than at any stage on the trip (other when the guide at Rockland’s mistakenly
said an owl had been found) but still rather apprehensive. At least I know felt
we had a fighting chance. The other bird I was after was Bahama Mockingbird
which most of the others had seen on Cuban Cay’s but we wouldn’t reach the
Hellshire Hills site until the heat of the day. Tomorrow could be make or
break.
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| superb early morning views from Blue Mountain Wilderness Retreat |
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| they improved as we walked back to the vehicle |
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| the retreat's remoteness added to its character but made it a rather impractical base for a birding trip |
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| approaching Bangor Ridge |
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| a better section of the track |
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| back at the van |
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| birding the road near Hardwar Gap |
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| Jamaican Blackbird near Hardwar Gap. Perhaps the rarest of the endemics, this was the only one we saw |
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| Jamaican Blackbird (photo Barry Wright) |
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| The Gap Cafe. I left the others having breakfast there |
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| view across to Holywell |
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| looking down towards Kingston |
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| Kingston from Hardwar Gap |
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| Black-throated Blue Warbler |
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| one of the commoner wintering American Warblers |
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| Yellow-shouldered Grassquit, perhaps the most surprising endemic and certainly the one with the least inspiring name. This was the only male I saw. |
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| female Orangequit on feeders at the Gap Cafe |
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| male Red-billed Streamertail doing the splits |
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| the serrated edges to the male's tail feathers made a vibrating hum when it flew, often the first indication of its presence |
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| two males |
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| and a female |
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| a male with moulted outer tail-fearthers |
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| female Red-billed Streamertail |
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| Jamaican Endemics poster in the Gap Cafe. After a successful morning we had now seen 27 of them and with the petrel and poorwill considered to be extinct we were left with the owl.m Some nice local names, I particularly liked Rasta Bird (Tody), Mountain Witch (Quail Dove) and Wild Pine Sargeant (Blackbird) |
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| the pink house |
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| White-eyed Thrush, locally known as Glass-eye |
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| wintering Ovenbird on the track to Woodlands |
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| always one step ahead |
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| Ring-tailed Pigeon |
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| Jamaican Tody (or Rasta Bird) |
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| easy to model, paint a table-tennis ball and stick on a bill and legs |
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| my favourite bird in Jamaica |
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| still low clouds |
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| Jamaican Woodpecker, I thought they were superb |
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| Jon, Barry, Brian, Neil and Rod at the Gap Cafe. Superb setting but something of a rip-off. This was the closest I took to a whole group photo with Duncan joining us later |
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| Crested Quail-Dove (photo Barry Wright). I wasn't alone in dawdling on the Woodside track and missing superb views of two quail dove, Seeing them roosting in bamboo later on was some compensation |
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| very slow exposure of a Northern Potoo |
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| what a Northern Potoo really looked like at night (photo Barry Wright) |
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| Kingston lights on the walk back to our chalet |
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| Barry's bed |
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| Jon crashed out, me still writing (photo Barry Wright) |
Monday 6 February.
We packed and left the chalet at 04:45, driving down the entrance road to the
Holywell car park. We walked to Woodlands hearing a distant owl from far below
us. We walked to the sharp bend by the open valley hoping for a quail dove on
the track but were out of luck, although Barry saw one in the forest on the way
back. There were a few birds on or by the track and we added Prairie Warbler
and probable Chestnut-sided and Cape May, the light too poor for certainty. We
also saw Rufous-throated Solitaire, Ovenbird and Worm-eating Warbler. We walked
back up to Holywell and left at 09:00 somewhat daunted by the prospect of
crossing Kingston to reach the Hellshire Hills. It was slow at times but Brian
navigated us straight through and at 10:45 we had left the road on a rough
track and were on site. Dry spiny forest on rough lava making leaving the track
difficult. It was very hot and nothing was calling. We spread out as far as was
able in the terrain and after almost an hour Jon heard an unusual call and saw
a mockingbird fly away. He was pretty sure it was it and Brian and I closed in.
Brian told me where Jon had seen it drop in. Not too far away so I pushed my
way through. In doing so I flushed it further, unseen by me but Brian got a
good look and confirmed the ID. I hurried back but it dropped out of sight
before I reached him. Frustrating. I went in again, more cautiously, and
eventually saw it well if rather obscured. The others arrived and it stayed
faithful to a small area although it never showed well. We left at 12:45, the
only other bird of note I’d seen was a Jamaican Mango. We took a rather circuitous route back around
the edge of Kingston and then on a new motorway up towards the north coast. We
turned off on a more usual Jamaican mountain road towards Stewart Town
encountering some torrential rain, a section of flooded road – fortunately only
a foot deep judging by a car coming the other way – and an articulated lorry
with grounded trailer blocking the road while trying to turn down a narrow
track. Fortunately after a good look around the driver slowly eased it down and
we were able to continue. At 15:30 we parked as instructed by Ricardo and
followed his instructions to the roost tree. That was the easy part, finding
the birds we knew would be hard but how difficult could two medium sized owls
be to find in a large but fairly open tree that could be viewed from most
directions? Very. Seven of us looked from most angles and we drew a blank
although a lot of other decent birds were in the area – both parrots, Jamaican
Crow, Greater Antillean Bullfinch and Rod saw Jamaican Lizard Cuckoo and Duncan
Yellow-shouldered Grassquit. Surely the owls could not still be in the tree? After
two hours we were felling quite despondent, Jon even walked back to the police station
to ask if anyone knew about the owls and whether there was accommodation
locally, Barry having seen a place as we drove through Brown’s Town. Our main
hope now was that the owls were still in the area and we might hear one at dusk
enabling us to locate it. That was what happened but the bird Rod heard was in
the tree! We looked even harder and I saw a round orange shape deep in cover
that appeared to have eyes, I got the others onto it and we had a reasonable
view in torchlight. The adult then appeared giving similar views. They had been
there all the time but we were sure they had not been in view earlier. Success,
but we were all keen to have better views. We walked back to the police station
somewhat elated – all main targets seen. We drove back to Brown’s Town and
checked into the New Meditation Heights Hotel. They were happy for seven of us
to be in a triple, a twin and a double. The triple had a veranda and I slept
there on my and Jon’s mats so Neil the driver, with another long day ahead,
could have the double to himself.
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| it did briefly perch up but not like this for me (photo Brian Foster) |
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| Rod and Barry tracking it down |
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| lots of thorny vegetation |
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| returning to the van |
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| Black-billed Parrot at Stewart Town (photo Barry Wright) |
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| one landed in a tree nearby |
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| Jamaican Crow, perhaps the least inspiring endemic although it had an interesting call, described in the guide as semi-musical jabbering |
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| Jamaican Crow acrobatics (photo Barry Wright) |
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| waiting for dusk - Jon, Rod, Duncan and me of little faith ...(photo Barry Wright) |
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| juvenile Jamaican Owl made the trip a complete success (photo Barry Wright) |
Tuesday 7 November. I had a good night on the balcony in Brown’s
Town but hadn't finished copying a memory card onto my PC when it was time to leave.
Once in the van I then realised I wasn’t sure what I had done with an old card
that had been in the reader. A quick look in my bag failed to locate it as did
a return to our room and checks of the hallway and courtyard and a more
detailed check of my bag during a breakfast stop. Fortunately nothing important
was on it but it was still annoying. We drove to Stewart Town and walked back
to the owl tree arriving just before dawn. The adult called from directly above
us – it was I full view on an exposed branch but it soon flew. As it became
lighter Barry picked out the juvenile in the tree and then the adult. Views
improved with the light but they were still rather obscured and I had great
difficulty focusing on them with my camera. We saw a few other birds (Merlin, Black-billed
Parrot, Jamaican Crow) but with a long day ahead of us we left at 07:45, driving
west. Our next destination was Elim Pools which would involve crossing the
centre of the island on small mountain roads. We would then go on to Negril
before returning to Montego Bay, most probably in the dark. A small roadside
pool held a Least Grebe family, Glossy Ibis and Solitary Sandpiper and near
Jackson’s Town we found a friendly roadside café where the others had a
leisurely breakfast (I had some biscuits and checked my bag again). We
continued to Clark’s Town where, after missing a turning, we were informed that
the road south to Maggotty was closed. We could retrace our steps and try another route but
travel on mountain roads was very slow at the best of times and our plan was quickly
unravelled. We decided to skip Elim, it probably wouldn’t have been very good
in the heat of the day anyway. We headed for the north coast road and were
pleased when we reached it. Nice to see a white lines on the road again. We arrived at Verney House Resort at 10:30 and checked in. Our
rooms were unoccupied so we were given immediate access. We sorted a few
things, left our bags and were on our way. We stopped on the coast road to scan
the sewage pools adding Blue-winged Teal, Ruddy Duck, American Coot, Lesser
Yellowlegs and Spotted Sandpiper to the trip list. Neil saw Tree Swallow too. The
coast was quite touristy, unlike the interior, and we arrived at Negril at
about 13:00. The Royal Palm Reserve was a few miles the other side of town and
we found it without too much difficulty, although we did have to pass a private
sign and drive through an unlocked gate. We were met at the reserve HQ by a
caretaker and some West Indian Whistling Duck on the lawn. While we were
negotiating entry ($10 to walk around the boardwalk) another local started
banging a drum and another 30 or so whistling duck flew in expecting it to be
feeding time. We were escorted around the boardwalk (there were one or two
loose boards they were concerned about) and to a tower hide. We saw some more
West Indian Whistling Duck, a declining species best seen here although I’d
previously seen two in the Dominion Republic. We added a few trip species –
Tricoloured and Great Blue Herons, Limpkin, Killdeer and Palm Warbler. We had
been told the whistling ducks could be difficult and we might have to wait for
them to fly around at dusk but being back at the car at 15:00 we had just about
enough time to continue around the coast to Elim. Being there at dusk would be
ideal to. It would just be a long way back, maybe two hours across country, at
least three back around the coast. We decided to go for it and thanks to Neil’s
excellent driving arrived at 17:00. Elim was another site widely mentioned but
without specific detail as to where it was best to look for, in this case,
Spotted Rail. We drove down the dirt road to a drainage channel and parked,
first walking back to overlook an obvious marshy area. We then split up a bit,
some of us wandering back to try walking parallel to the channel. We were much
closer to the reeds but views of them were more limited. Neil picked up a
Spotted Rail at the base of some near reeds, Barry was onto it quickly and I
saw it swimming across a small bay before walking around a corner. That was it,
my 33rd and last new bird. We also saw Least Bittern, Night Heron,
American Purple Gallinule and Rod a Sora. We left at 18:10 and attempted to
head directly back to Montego Bay. Unfortunately Barry’s phone battery had died
as he was the one we turned to when unsure where to go. Without it and wit our
navigators tired after a long day and with inadequate maps we went wrong, or
rather assumed we did ending up on a narrow road with boulders scattered on
alternate sides like a chicane. At first we thought they were pothole warnings
but there were then two fridges in the road to negotiate. After more boulders
we decided we’d had enough and turned around to find a car chassis had been
dragged most of the way across the road with a door blocking the final part.
What had seemed an inconvenience now appeared quite scary. We quickly stopped
with Brian and Jon jumping out to move the door before anyone malicious
appeared. Nobody did and we were soon on our way, not really sure what had been
going on. Further ideas of a cross country route, unless well signposted when
out of the window and after two or three wrong turns, one where we had been
correct to start off with, we were back on the Negril coast road. Half-way
there, at Ferris Cross, a decent sized road was signposted 42km to Montego Bay
and we risked it. It was fine, and we even saw three Barn Owls on roadside
fences. We were back in Montego Bay at 21:45, found a KFC (I dozed in the
vehicle) and were back at Verney House at 22:40. A long but very successful
last full day.
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| Elim Pools |
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| Green Heron |
Wednesday 8 February.
We were up before dawn and drove to Tryall Golf course where Neil blagged our
way in, fortunately the site was mentioned in the largely disappointing - at least for Jamaica - Caribbean site guide. It was very posh and we must have been the roughest
looking group to ever visit. We had a very enjoyable couple of hours birding
and taking photos of ducks and herons by a long reedy pool on the edge of the
fairway, the first golfers only just appearing as we left. No luck with the
hoped for Yellow-breasted Crake but we felt it a bit of a long shot. A female
Lesser Scaup and a Peregrine which Rod picked up flying over and landing in the
top of a distant tree were new for the trip. We decided to revisit Rocklands
staying on the approach road to avoid any possibility of a guiding fee. We
quickly found a potoo in the same general area as it had been previously then,
after having been in the area for an hour Rod spotted a second, actually more
obvious, bird. How had the rest of us missed it? It was nice to say a final
goodbye to Red-billed Streamertail, Jamaican Tody, Jamaican Woodpecker,
Rufous-tailed Flycatcher, Jamaican Vireo and Greater Antillean Bullfinch along
with several wintering American Warblers. The latter included our first
Magnolia as well as Prairie, Parula, Black & White and American Redstart.
We also saw a Yellow-throated Vireo which the field guide suggested was a
vagrant. We stopped for a final time at the sewage pools adding Least Sandpiper
and come distant cave Swallows to my trip list. We were back at Verney House by
12:00. While unloading the van I found my missing memory card on the floor
beneath where I had been sitting, and it still worked. We packed and checked out by 13:00, when
Barry and I were dropped at the airport and joined a rather long check-in
queue. We noted the Manchester flight was shown as being delayed by four hours
and Barry sent Neil a text with this bad news. Our flight was half an hour late
and 06:00 GMT the next morning I was waiting on Gatwick Station for a train. It
was even on time!
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| Potoo watchers (photo Barry Wright) |
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| roosting Northern Potoo at Rocklands |
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| in the same area as we had been shown one on our first morning but this time we found it ourselves |
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| and then Rod saw a second bird nearby |
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| Greater Antillean Bullfinch |
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| Prairie Warbler (photo Barry Wright) |
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| Jamaican Vireo (photo Barry Wright). Its long tail which it flicked upwards is caught well in this image. Not something I was expecting when we saw our first. |
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| Yellow-throated Vireo at Rocklands, |
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| not as rare as in the UK but still a vagrant |
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| birding at Montego Bay sewage pools |
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| Least Sandpiper, condom and Lesser Yellowlegs |
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| the way many tourists visit Jamaica |
It had been a very enjoyable trip, made so by having six excellent companions - a real team effort working to everyone’s strengths. That
Neil managed to drive us on some really awful roads without mishap indicated a
competence well beyond mine. Almost without exception Brian navigated us
flawlessly, assisted when in difficulty by Barry’s phone (when the batteries
were working) and Duncan’s GPS. Barry’s hearing was exceptional and he located
several of the targets on call when the rest of us might have walked by them blissfully unaware. Most of the group had sharper eyes than mine but we all (me included)
found a few things. I’d pre-booked the accommodation and worked on an itinerary
with Jon and Duncan, it was one we pretty much stuck to. Thanks indeed to all. We
would also like to thank Ricardo Miller of Arrowhead Birding for telling us
which tree to look in for Jamaican Owl, the lack of specific site information
is a real shortcoming of the otherwise excellent ebird.
