Jamaica & Dominican Republic
- Pre-departure planning
For some time I wanted to visit these Islands in the Caribbean. Jamaica because of the Streamertails and Dominican Republic (DR) for the Trogon, the monotypic Palmchat and both Islands for the Todies. The annoying fact that there are no direct flights between J and DR has put me off going there in earlier years.
Contact information is marked red
Links are in blue.
Pre-departure Planning
There is no need to get visas except the ESTA permit to travel through the US. When you fly in at DR like we did, keep your receipt for your Visa on arrival for your next return after Jamaica. It will allow you to enter again without cost. For both Islands it seems necessary to rent a car. We arranged this before with AVIS. Both Islands do not require a 4WD although a high clearance makes things easier. On DR, the Zapoten track and Cachote road do require a 4WD but these can be arranged locally by Kate Wallace: Kate Wallace
www.Tody Tours.comItinerary
Since we had more than enough time on DR this isn't your ideal Itinerary if you have little time. We spent more than the required time at Rabo de Gato which is not a special area at all but conveniently in the backyard of Villa Barancoli allowing for some pictures of the Anolis Lizards and common birds.Sun 11-Feb 18 spend night in Santo Domingo
Mon 12-Feb 18 fly to Kingston
Tue 13-Feb 18 Blue Mountains
Wed 14-Feb 18 Blue Mountains
Thu 15-Feb 18 Blue Mountains - San Antonio – Ecclesdown Rd.
Fri 16-Feb 18 Ecclesdown Rd.
Sat 17-Feb 18 Goblin Hill – Green Castle Estate – Montego Bay
Sun 18-Feb 18 Rockland Bird Observatory - Kingston
Mon 19-Feb 18 Blue Mountains
Tue 20-Feb 18 fly to Santo Domingo – drive to Caño Hondo
Wed 21-Feb 18 Caño Hondo – drive to Puerto Escondido
Thu 22-Feb 18 Rabo de Gato
Fri 23-Feb 18 Zapoten
Sat 24-Feb 18 La Placa – Rabo de Gato
Sun 25-Feb 18 Rabo de Gato
Mon 26-Feb 18 Rabo de Gato
Tue 27-Feb 18 Rabo de Gato – Cachote rd.
Wed 28-Feb 18 Cachote – Cabo Rojo - Pedernales
Thu 01-Mar 18 Alcoa Road
Fri 02-Mar 18 Cabo Rojo – Las Salinas de Bani
Sat 03-Mar 18 Cumayasa – Punta Cana area
Sun 04-Mar 18 Del Este reserve – Punta Cana
Mon 05-Mar 18 Snorkelling Bayahibe – Isla Saona
Tue 06-Mar 18 Bayahibe – Santo Domingp - fly home
Jamaica
We flew to Kingston from Santa Domingo via Providenciales (Turks and Caicos Islands) with Intercaribbean Airways.
The return was expensive (455 euro) but at least it was not a return via dreadful Miami (time consuming and full of hassle as every US city) or Panama City as used to be the problem in the past.
Compared to the next door Dominican Republic (DR) this is the more expensive but seemingly less developed of the larger Antilles were the roads are full of potholes.
It was reputed to be also the least safe. International news reached even the Dutch headlines about robberies in the Montego Bay area were gangs had taken over the control of the area.
When we were there, the state of emergency was declared for the Montego Bay area, with police checkpoints entering the area (and probably a negative travelling advice).
We arrived in the night for a one night stay and had to search for our budget accommodation.
Locals sometimes manage to create language barriers with their pidgin English full of slang but mostly we were fine communicating in English. We had no unfriendly encounters but found some places surprisingly less well adapted for tourism.
Carhire
Car rental is almost twice as expensive as in neighboring DR.
We used AVIS and rented a Toyota … with normal clearance which slowed us down in the pothole abundant countryside.
Blue Mountains
This site is needed in your itinerary mainly because of Blue Mountain Vireo, Rufous throated Solitare, and probably Crested Quail-dove and Greater Antillean (Jamaican) Elaenia. It also offers good chances for the Jamaican Owl. We pre-booked our accommodation via Air Bnb: Pear Tree Cottage. Although our helpful host when we where there: Regine, most likely will have moved to another place. The accomodation might still be available:
https://www.airbnb.nl/rooms/14255114
Ecclesdown Road
This is besides the Blue Mountains the main birding area to get most of the endemics.
It is the best place to see both Parrot-species, Jamaican Blackbird, Jamaican Crow and the best birding site of the whole island.
The road is very quiet and offers relaxed birding with good views. Both sides of the road are thrashed recently.
This makes the forest look in deplorable state but makes birding easier. Especially for the Parrots and the Crow.
We accommodated ourselves in the budget backpacker hostel: Irie Vibes in Port Antonio, which had again a near 4WD stretch of road to park the car near the hostel.
https://goo.gl/maps/daRz6VHK7jH2
We parked the car near the first lookout for Parrots and walked until the site for the Crow:
https://goo.gl/maps/mvkx3oc1LJ32
which is right at the point where the road goes off this map:
This site:
https://goo.gl/maps/5cSAEV7DYMw
Was picked for Jamaican Mango and Jamaican Owl. It is a nice area with large trees and has a primary forest look. The Mango was surprisingly seen at introduced Ginger flowers at sides of the entrance road of the top range Goblin Hill Villa place. Very nearby we also saw the only Jamaican Owl in the dark just before dawn. The Owl has a rather soft call so one needs to be fairly close to hear it. The bird we encountered sat still in a tree while calling and did not fly off when spotlighted.
Green Castle Estate
This is not a prime birding site anymore as most birds are best seen elsewhere. But we visited anyway because we were on the way to Montego Bay area and wanted a second chance for the Potoo and had still not seen Yellow Shouldered Grassquit, Jamaican Elaenia, Caribbean Dove and Northern Potoo. We missed the first two. But others saw the Grassquit the same day. Also we did not see the Elaenia which made us make our way to Montego Bay area since we had not seen or heard it in the Blue Mountains or Ecclesdown Rd. Paying … US allows one to bird the area and have a nice lunch at the veranda where Jamaican Mango’s and Vervain Hummingbirds were visiting flowers and feeders.
The Potoo is a certainty here as it visits the area around the compound from 7 pm onwards.
Anolis garmani
Birds seen:
Red-tailed Hawk, Ruddy Quail-Dove, Caribbean Dove, Zenaida Dove, Smooth-billed Ani, Northern Potoo, Jamaican Mango, Vervain Hummingbird, Red-billed Streamertail,
Jamaican Tody, American Kestrel, Olive-throated Parakeet, Sad Flycatcher, Rufous-tailed Flycatcher, Loggerhead Kingbird, Jamaican Vireo,
White-chinned Thrush, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Bananaquit, Yellow-faced Grassquit, Jamaican Spindalis.
Rockland Bird Sanctuary
Our goal was to see the Yellow Shouldered Grassquit and the Jamaican Elaenia that eluded us at the other sites.
We found a guide near the garden of the sanctuary who was willing to take us and knew his birds. He took us on a path behind the compound through some secondary forest.
It took us some time to find our birds. The Grassquit just gave me just a brief but good view before it flew off not to be found again so we revisited the Woodside track after this.
The Potoo was still around near the Sweet Rock area.
Birds seen:
Turkey Vulture, Common Ground-Dove, Caribbean Dove (1), Northern Potoo (1), Red-billed Streamertail, Jamaican Tody, American Kestrel, Jamaican Elaenia (2), Sad Flycatcher,
Loggerhead Kingbird, Jamaican Vireo, White-chinned Thrush, Ovenbird, Black-and-white Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Bananaquit, Yellow-faced Grassquit,
Black-faced Grassquit, Orangequit, Jamaican Oriole, Jamaican Euphonia.
Dominican Republic (DR)
Caño Hondo
This is the trail just behind Villa Barrancoli, residence of Kate Wallace’s nicely situated near Puerto Escondido. Barrancoli is the local name of the Tody.
Villa Barancoli is the place to stay because of the pleasant surroundings and well situated to start your tracks up to the Zapoten area, La Placa and is suitable to see the common birds of DR.
Kate managed to set up a very nice place that is perfectly suitable for birders. She knows to arrange just about anything you need to see all your birds.
She also a nice booklet of many birding sites in the DR in case you find yourself with plenty of time like we did because our extension to the Lesser Antilles fell through.
La Placa
Zapoten Cachote the local Travel Agency: Ecotour
Barahona: https://www.ecotourbarahona.com/ Alcoa Road
https://goo.gl/maps/x7iiHFJrCMx Other Sites: Cabo Rojo https://goo.gl/maps/2X324QJS5mn Las Salinas de Bani N18.212642, W-70.539741 https://goo.gl/maps/JqNwEWZuTfr Cumayasa River canyon N 18.446192, W-69.101139 https://goo.gl/maps/QnXUcG7VQ6Q2 Del Este NP. https://goo.gl/maps/rrsS6fSNgir
We had Alto de Caño Hondo pre-booked, although a bit pricey it is excellent quality accommodation well situated.
Kate Wallace had phoned ahead to ask for our guide:
Juan Cespedes: +18098637946.
Juan wanted us to pay a 100 U$ for the evening to see the Ashy Faced Owl and another 150 U$ for the next morning to see the Ridgways Hawk.
We thought that too high a fee for these short guiding missions. After some bargaining he settled for 150 U$ for both visits together.
It took us quite some time to get a view of the Owl and one does seem to need a guide to get to the place where the territories are.
The Owls seemed at first not to respond on calls from our guide and also from tape. When we spend an hour in an area with 4 pairs,
our guide gestured we should try a different area but one final tape use when we passed the first site near our car park made the Owl finally to appear in a palmtree.
The next morning we walked on a track behind our accommodation Alto de Caño Hondo. After a walk of half an hour we came to an old nest of the Ridgway's Hawk.
According to our guide the birds stay year round near their nesting place.
Playing the tape resulted in the pair flying in and calling repeatedly staying close to the nest. We left the place soon to leave these rare birds in peace.
Birds seen:
Cattle Egret, Turkey Vulture, Ridgway's Hawk (2), Common Ground-Dove, Mangrove Cuckoo, Ashy-faced Owl (1 seen, several heard), Antillean Mango, Vervain Hummingbird,
Antillean Piculet, Hispaniolan Woodpecker, American Kestrel, Stolid Flycatcher, Gray Kingbird, Black-whiskered Vireo, White-necked Crow, Palmchat, Greater Antillean Grackle.
The stretch of acacia woodland in between the avocado plantation and the reserve is good for Hispaniolan Nightjar but we found it impossible to see the birds here. Least Pauraque is also present here. We founds both of these nightjars were more easily seen near Rabo de Gato. The Least Pauraque was easiest on the grounds of Villa Barrancoli.
Birds seen:
Helmeted Guineafowl, Pied-billed Grebe, Cattle Egret, Green Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Common Gallinule, Limpkin, Scaly-naped Pigeon, White-crowned Pigeon,
Common Ground-Dove, Plain Pigeon, White-fronted Quail-Dove, Key West Quail-Dove, Zenaida Dove, Mourning Dove, Smooth-billed Ani, Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo,
Least Pauraque, Greater Antillean (Hispaniolan) Nightjar,
Antillean Palm-Swift, Antillean Mango, Vervain Hummingbird, Hispaniolan Emerald, Broad-billed Tody, Antillean Piculet, Hispaniolan Woodpecker, American Kestrel, Hispaniolan Parrot,
Hispaniolan Parakeet, Hispaniolan Pewee, Stolid Flycatcher, Gray Kingbird, Flat-billed Vireo, White-necked Crow, Northern Mockingbird, Palmchat, Ovenbird, Louisiana Waterthrush,
Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Cape May Warbler, Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Palm Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Bananaquit,
Yellow-faced Grassquit, Black-faced Grassquit, Black-crowned Palm-Tanager, Hispaniolan Spindalis, Hispaniolan Oriole, Antillean Siskin, House Sparrow.
Others: Anolis distichus, Anolis cybotes, Tail-less Scorpionspider.
A couple of kilometers towards the reserve at the entrance with a gate there is a small sanctuary that is named after a sign that has been put up: La Placa.
This place seemed good to find the Bay-breasted Cuckoo and Flat-billed vireo. The gate that is mainly there because of possibly unwanted Haitians that could cross the border further on.
The gate will be opened for you even very early in the morning in the dark. After the gate one can enter the small cattle gate to the house on the right and walk around the house.
The trail starts behind the house next to a water tank. Trails are clear and obvious with signs and maps. As soon as you are on the trail you are in Bay-breasted Cuckoo and Flat-billed vireo country.
Birds seen:
Scaly-naped Pigeon, White-fronted Quail-Dove, Bay-breasted Cuckoo, Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo, Burrowing Owl, Broad-billed Tody, Hispaniolan Woodpecker,
Hispaniolan Parakeet, Hispaniolan Pewee, Stolid Flycatcher, Flat-billed Vireo, Ovenbird, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Black-throated Blue Warbler,
Yellow-faced Grassquit, Black-crowned Palm-Tanager, Least Pauraque*, Green-tailed Warbler, Pine Siskin.
The last three species were actually seen in the Acacia woodland between the avocado plantations and La Placa.
A huge Tarantula was seen on the road one evening after dark.
To get to Zapoten it is best to get this arranged by Kate.
The Zapoten track is dealt with by a local high clearance 4WD vehicle and local guide for a full day and one needs to start at 4 am in the morning to get at Zapoten before sunrise
for your best chances to see the La Selle’s Thrush and Bicknells Thrush. Just before Zapoten there is an area with pine trees that has the Hispaniolan Nightjar but again the birds
did not respond by coming within view. The pine forest behind the Zapoten compound gave us nice views of the endemic Crossbill.
Birds seen:
White-fronted Quail-Dove, Mourning Dove, Burrowing Owl, Northern Potoo, Hispaniolan Emerald, Hispaniolan Trogon, Narrow-billed Tody, Hispaniolan Woodpecker,
American Kestrel, Greater Antillean Elaenia, Golden Swallow, Rufous-throated Solitaire, Bicknell's Thrush, La Selle Thrush, Red-legged Thrush, Pine Warbler,
Greater Antillean Bullfinch, Western Chat-Tanager, White-winged Warbler, Green-tailed Warbler, Antillean Euphonia, Hispaniolan Crossbill.
At the Cachote road arrangements will be ready for you if Kate phones ahead.
In case you are not able to arrange things through Kate. The contact for the trip up to Cachote is:
Marie Sella, ph. +1809835301.
The other way to arrange a daytrip or overnight stay is the local Travel Agency: Ecotour Barahona:
After meeting the vehicle at an appointed place in the village at the start of the track, you can leave your own vehicle near a petrol station and let yourself be driven up to the lodge at Cachote (see map) near to a local community who will have food ready for you to serve you.
The local people do an excellent job to cater for you and you can walk around by yourself.
The one bird to get here is the Eastern Chat-tanager which is rare and very difficult to get elsewhere.
It can be very skulky so it may take time to get it.
We tried night-birding in the area but this produced only one distant call of a Stygian Owl.
Birds seen:
Red-tailed Hawk, Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo, Hispaniolan Emerald, Hispaniolan Trogon, Narrow-billed Tody, Hispaniolan Woodpecker, Greater Antillean Elaenia,
Rufous-throated Solitaire, Red-legged Thrush, American Redstart, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Bananaquit, Eastern Chat-Tanager, Black-crowned Palm-Tanager, Hispaniolan Spindalis.
Besides that it gives you the best chances for Golden Swallow, Hispaniolan Nightjar and Stygian Owl.
It is one of two places in DR where one should try for Hispaniolan Crossbill. The road is wide and has very little traffic.
While slowly climbing up for most of the way the road starts getting interesting and then starts to wind up to a higher level into the pines.
On the map one can see the dark area which holds the pine forest.
The winding part is best for the Hispaniolan Nightjar.
A little higher there is a roofed sign just a little off the road to the right:
N18.12115 W71.59761
Or:
This is where a waterhole is situated and it is a good spot to spend some time a few times. The area seems quite dry and there is usually no water around for miles so this is a good place to see birds.
The crossbill comes to drink here too. This is the place were to our surprise we heard several Stygian Owls just after dusk.
I have linked the name of the Owl to a soundfile upload to xeno canto.
Birds Seen:
Plain Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo, Burrowing Owl, Stygian Owl (1 seen, several heard),
Greater Antillean Nightjar, Hispaniolan Emerald, Merlin, Hispaniolan Parrot, Hispaniolan Parakeet, Hispaniolan Pewee, Stolid Flycatcher,
Palm Crow, Golden Swallow, Red-legged Thrush, American Redstart, Palm Warbler, Pine Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Black-crowned Palm-Tanager.
Birds seen:
Helmeted Guineafowl, White-tailed Tropicbird (10), Magnificent Frigatebird, Brown Pelican, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Cattle Egret, Green Heron, Turkey Vulture,
Red-tailed Hawk, Black-necked Stilt, Semipalmated Plover, Royal Tern, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Mourning Dove, Smooth-billed Ani, Antillean Mango,
American Kestrel, Gray Kingbird, Cave Swallow, Northern Mockingbird, Ovenbird, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Cape May Warbler, Northern Parula, Palm Warbler, Prairie Warbler,
Bananaquit, Yellow-faced Grassquit, Black-faced Grassquit, Greater Antillean Grackle.
Birds seen:
Magnificent Frigatebird, Great Egret, Little Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Reddish Egret (2), Least Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs,
Short-billed Dowitcher, Whimbrel, Antillean Palm-swift, Hispaniolan Oriole, Yellow Warbler, Royal Tern.
Birds seen:
Green Heron, Turkey Vulture, Spotted Sandpiper, Scaly-naped Pigeon, Antillean Mango, Broad-billed Tody, Belted Kingfisher, Hispaniolan Woodpecker,
American Kestrel, Gray Kingbird, Black-whiskered Vireo, Northern Mockingbird, Palmchat, Black-and-white Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Bananaquit,
Yellow-faced Grassquit, Greater Antillean Bullfinch, Black-crowned Palm-Tanager.
Magnificent Frigatebird, Cattle Egret, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Turkey Vulture, Limpkin, Royal Tern, Plain Pigeon, Common Ground-Dove,
Smooth-billed Ani, Mangrove Cuckoo, Antillean Palm-Swift, Antillean Mango, Vervain Hummingbird, Broad-billed Tody,
Antillean Piculet, Hispaniolan Woodpecker, Stolid Flycatcher, Gray Kingbird, Black-whiskered Vireo, White-necked Crow,
Cave Swallow, Red-legged Thrush, Pearly-eyed Thrasher*, Northern Mockingbird, Palmchat, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush,
Black-and-white Warbler, Bananaquit, Greater Antillean Bullfinch, Black-crowned Palm-Tanager, Green-tailed Warbler, Hispaniolan Oriole, Shiny Cowbird.
- Triplist of George Wagner
You can download a Garmin GPS file of most waypoints and tracks here
- Garmin GPS file
