A visit to Jamaica (West Indies, not Queens)

Jamaica: Eric & Lorna Salzman April 15-21, 2010

A last-minute invitation to hop on a six-day birding trip to Jamaica was organized by the Jamaica Tourist Board, which has become interested in ecotourism with a particular appeal to birders. Well, hallelujah! Jamaica is famous for its music, its contribution to world culture, its food, its scenery and its beaches but it also deserves to be famous for its birds. The total numbers are not huge but the avifauna is unique. Although it is only the third largest of the West Indian islands (quite a bit smaller than Cuba and Hispaniola), it has the highest number of endemics. In 5½ days we saw only 82 species but half of them were life birds for me; a good third of the total (27 out of 28 possible species) were endemic to the island and another third were restricted area forms – species or sub-species – found only in the West Indies. This puts Jamaica near the top of the world list for endemics; you won’t find many places where there are so many birds that you cannot see anywhere else in so small a space.

         BirdLife International lists 15 Important Bird Areas on the island plus two outlying cays. Like some (but not all) of the Caribbean islands, Jamaica is mountainous with the John Crow and Blue Mountains on the eastern side (rising up to 7400 feet) and the lower, serrated Cockpit Country to the west. Much of the lowland forest is gone but there are mangroves, lagoons and other wetlands plus a dry thorn forest with its own specialties. The uplands were once entirely covered in rain or cloud forest and, although much of it has been cleared for habitation and agriculture at the lower and mid-level altitudes, fair amounts of good forest remain, especially in the higher places. A notable feature is that most of the endemic birds (not quite all) are widely distributed and, with a few exceptions, most have adapted quite well to human settlement.

         Jamaica is not that big a place – it is less than 150 miles long and only 22 to 51 miles wide (i.e. from north to south). As the Jamaican Crow flies, that is. Map distances here are deceiving; it is slow going on torturous and beat-up roads full of endless hairpin twists and turns not to mention landslides, washouts and mega-potholes. Driving is on the left (one of Jamaica’s inheritances from English colonial days) although many of the roads are so narrow that one would be hard put to tell left from right; in some places, one of the vehicles has to come to a halt – if not actually back up – to let the other pass. It’s the price you pay for being able to drive through some truly spectacular scenery still partly covered with its native rain or cloud forest.

         In our limited time, our visit was restricted to eastern Jamaica and the Kingston area. Nevertheless, we missed only one major endemic (Black-billed Parrot which is largely found in western Jamaica). We did not see many of the wetland species but that was because they are mostly familiar birds and we did not make the effort in our limited time (however see the account below for April 17th and 20^th) concentrating instead on the forested uplands and the only-in-Jamaica birds.

         This is one of the few places where the word ‘endemic’ is rather widely understood; endemics are a real part of the country’s heritage. Outside of Kingston, the country’s major urban area, many of the birds are well known under a series of picturesque local names (Doctorbird for the streamertail hummingbirds, Old Man Bird for a giant cuckoo, Hopping Dick for White-chinned Thrush, Mountain Witch for the Crested Quail-dove, Robin Redbreast for the Jamaican Tody whose bright colors also earn it the name of Rasta Bird). In the last few years, this island country has developed some environmental awareness and there are a number of Jamaicans who know their avifauna quite well and are good at bird-finding. Increasingly (and partly due to ecotourism), the understanding has grown that preserving the environment and native birds is a desirable national goal for many reasons – and not only for (but certainly including) the economic benefits. We’ll see how far this goes but, at the moment, Jamaica and its tourist board have started to promote ecotourism and ornithotourism. Hence our invitation.

         How many endemics are there in Jamaica? Counting the numbers is actually a tricky business. The generally accepted figure is 28 although some sources count to 30 by including two globally threatened species that are near extinction and may have already crossed the line (Jamaican Petrel and Jamaican Pauraque). There is also a question about the separateness of the two streamertails. The story doesn’t end there, In addition to these 28 or 30, there are a number of other species that are restricted to the West Indies, some to just Jamaica and a few other islands. And Jamaica is full of endemic subspecies, at least one or two of which may yet turn into full species.

 

Thursday, April 15: Our Jet Blue flight from New York’s JFK to Kingston arrives in mid-morning (with an hour gained due to the fact that there is no Daylight Saving Time). We are met by Wayne Sterling from the Jamaica Tourist Board and Wayne Murdoch who is not only our driver but, as we shortly discover, runs a substantial transportation fleet in eastern Jamaica, is quite knowledgeable about local birds and knows everybody east of Kingston by sight (his unofficial title is Mayor of Port Antonio). Although the trip from Kingston to Mocking Bird Hill near Port Antonio took 2½ hours, there was the chance for a bit of bird sighting along the way and some post-prandial birding in the hotel gardens. Mocking Bird Hill is a beautifully run, quite idyllic (and quite expensive) upscale resort hotel at the foot of the the highlands near the northeastern coast with great food and knockout views down to the shore and out to sea. Much of the property has been allowed to regenerate to forest and, although there is still the occasional mockingbird (the same species as ours although belonging to the Caribbean race which bears the classical name of orpheus), it is more noted, ornithologically speaking, for its endemics – notably its hummers – Black-billed Streamertail (restricted to northeastern Jamaica), Jamaican Mango and Vervain Hummingbird – and also its near access to the John Crow Mountains.

         There are six of us on the tour. We are the first arrivals; the others show up later in the afternoon and (partly because of road problems) in the wee hours of the night. Diane Porter is from Iowa, writes for Birdwatcher’s Digest and maintains a birdwatching site www.birdwatching.com. Velma Knowles, from the Tampa/St. Petersburg area of Florida maintains a birdwatching blog for the American Automobile Association’s travel department; she is also the photographer pro of the group. Melissa Mayntz, from Utah writes the birding column for about.com and Brad Sylvester does the same for examiner.com.

 

Friday, April 16: Early morning pick-up by Wayne Murdoch and Roger Thomson, a national park ranger who will be our guide. We ride around the outer coast to the southeastern terminus of Ecclesdown Road (sometimes spelled ‘Ecclestown’ or ‘Eccleston’) and backtrack along this beautiful country track, one of the most outstanding birding routes in the country. There is a lot of good habitat in these parts with about 200,000 acres of the high mountains in eastern Jamaica included in the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park.. The basic strategy is to walk the best parts of the road with our vehicle close behind to give us a lift as needed. Many of the rarer Jamaican birds were seen here (and nowhere else), notably the Jamaican Crow and Jamaican Blackbird, which, somewhat surprisingly, are both forest birds. The blackbird, which is listed as endangered; is a rainforest specialist often feeding in epiphytes or air plants, notably bromeliads that grow on trees in cloud forests. Other species here include Ring-tailed Pigeon, Jamaican Becard, Yellow-billed Parrot (with, supposedly, a few Black-billed which, alas, we did not see) and, in extreme close-ups, the Jamaican Tody, a.k.a. Robin Redbreast, a.k.a. Rasta Bird. The Todies (Todys?) were courting, vying for nesting holes in the limestone cliffs that line one side of the road and posing prettily for their portraits.

         The road eventually reaches the village of Ecclestown (or Ecclesdown or Eccleston) and a waterfall at a place called Reach. Our lunch stop, on the coast in the Port Antonio area, is a “Jerk Center”, literally a roadside stop for a classic Jamaican repast: jerk pork, jerk chicken, breadfruit, plantains and tropical fruit, all served as finger food in paper wrappers. Delicious! Afterwards, we go back to Mocking Bird Hill for a bit of late afternoon birding in the hotel gardens and environs.

 

Saturday, April 17: After a little early morning birding on the Mocking Bird Hill grounds and a truly major breakfast (the food at Mocking Bird Hill is excellent), our schedule calls for us to go rafting on the nearby Rio Grande but a combination of high water (due to heavy rain in the mountains) and our own preferences, leads us to cancel the exercise. After a visit to the Frenchman’s Cove beach area (a very attractive, once popular, somewhat rundown beach resort with lush vegetation but few birds), we continue along the coast and then over the mountains to Kingston where we pay a short visit to Hope Gardens. The main attractions here are a collection of doves, grackles and Cattle Egrets, a lily-covered pond with a few wetlands birds and a flock of Yellow-billed Parrots. Once again (and unbeknownst to us) there are supposed to be a few Black-billed Parrots among them; alas, we don’t see them thus losing our last good chance at this endemic. The next stop is Mavis Bank in the Blue Mountains where we will spend the night at a place with the rather grandiose appellation of Forres Park Nature Resort and Spa (it is, as we discover, somewhat less grand than its name). As we ascend into the mountains, rain begins to fall and by the time we reach our destination, it is coming down in buckets. Dinner is under a dripping tent in the garden of the hotel with the rain pounding overhead. This is a real tropical all-nighter; ironically, while water is plentiful on the outside (even leaking into our room), it is in short supply from the inside plumbing. Nevertheless, in spite of any inconvenience to tourists, the rains are very welcome as Jamaica has been suffering a serious drought. And there is little doubt that rain forest birds emerge and happily go about their business in the rain.

 

Sunday, April 18: Two local drivers pick us up in the morning as the rain lets up. As usual the roads are narrow and curvy and the heavy rains have produced landslides and rockfalls making the drive a bit of an adventure (however the drivers seem to take it all in stride). Our first stop is at the oddly-named town of Content (said to have been founded by Quakers and properly pronounced con-TENT). There is (or was or will be) a party here and loud reggae music is blasting away. We are not here for the party or the music however but to pick up Ricardo Miller of the National Environmental and Planning Agency who will serve as our guide. Our objective is the nearby Hardwar Gap, a pass in the mountains at about 5,000 feet with good forest. Most of the birding is from the road but, fortunately, traffic is light, it is easy to hear vehicles coming and, given the state of the potholed road, vehicle speeds are necessarily moderate to pokey. Among the birds here are Jamaican Pewee, White-eyed Thrush, Rufous-throated Solitaire, Blue Mountain Vireo, a number of warblers, and, one of the better finds of the trip, a small warbler-like bird with an impressive name, the Greater Antillean Elaenia (it is the Antilles that are Greater not the Elaenia). Echoing across the valley, the music from Content continues to follow us, providing unexpected local color but making it hard to hear the bird songs.

         After a long, lovely morning filled with birds and reggae, we continue on to another curiously-named village called Section and then on to Strawberry Hill for its famous Sunday brunch – a sumptuous meal in a beautiful location overlooking foggy banks of cloud which eventually part to reveal the city of Kingston, its harbor and the blue water beyond. It is here that we meet Ann Sutton, co-author of the new “Birds of Jamaica” (see below). After a leisurely and sumptuous meal (far beyond anything we would call ‘brunch’ back home), she accompanies us as we bird our way back to Content (with a stop at Starlight Chalets, a place that Ann often uses to lodge birders in this area).

         That evening, again at Forres Park, a long discussion ensues about our objective for tomorrow. According to the plan, we are due to tour Abbey Green, a coffee plantation and forest high up in the Blue Mountains (belonging to the owners of the Forres Park Nature Resort and Spa). There is a lot of sentiment to substitute a shore and wetlands area known as the Portland Bight somewhere west of Kingston. After a somewhat heated discussion, we put off the decision to the morning. Fortunately the rains have let up and the plumbing seems to have resumed its role in providing water where wanted.

 

Monday, April 19: Our local drivers arrive in the morning with a new guide, a colleague of Ricardo by the name of Lyndon Johnson (he was named for our president who is regarded in Jamaica – quite accurately – as a pioneer of civil rights and who, when still vice-president, represented the U.S. at Jamaica’s independence ceremony in 1962). Lyndon is not familiar with the Portland Bight area and both he and Wayne Sterling point out that this area is three to four hours away; if we go, we will have to spend most of the day just driving there and back. So we keep to the original schedule and go up not down. The Abbey Green coffee plantation has been carved out from high mountain cloud forests and some birdy patches of original vegetation remain. The ride up passes over some truly bad roads and through some truly spectacular mountain river scenery. There is early morning traffic on the road up as we are passed by vehicles carrying teams of coffee bean pickers up to the plantations high iin the Blue Mountains. This does not appear to be pure shade coffee but there is enough native vegetation left to support, among other things, some good populations of high-mountain forest birds including Ring-tailed Pigeon, a species of ‘conservation concern’ but numerous and easy to see in this location.

         After lunch back at Forres Park, most of our small group heads to Kingston for their last night in Jamaica while we are taken back to Strawberry Hill to meet again with Ann Sutton and spend our last two Jamaica days enjoying the luxury of this truly grand resort hotel. Strawberry Hill might be termed The House That Bob Marley Built. An old coffee plantation was taken over and developed by Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records, which launched Marley’s career. Reggae is a dominant theme (and sound) at Strawberry Hill but there are beautiful lush gardens and good birds as well. Clouds are gathering at the top of the hill and there is a sudden, swift storm complete with wind, lightning and thunder. We retreat to our elegant cottage which has an open deck jutting out over the hillside and we discover that we can lower a canvas over one of its open sides, blocking out almost all the wind and rain and allowing us to sit and ride out the storm. This one is not an all-nighter; it blows over, the clouds pass and the lights of Kingston come winking back into view as night falls and we venture outside again. With Ann’s help, we hear, call in, find and spotlight a stunning Jamaican Owl right in the hotel parking area. Too bad our trip mates are not with us to share this moment.

 

Tuesday, April 20: An early morning start with Ann Sutton and a driver by the name of Boris from nearby Irish Town takes me back to Hardwar Gap (Lorna has declared that she is ‘on vacation’ for the first part of the morning).  There’s a Caribbean Dove right out on the road and I get killer looks (which had previously eluded me) at Yellow-shouldered Grassquit, Rufous-throated Solitaire, White-eyed Thrush and a Northern Potoo with a downy white chick. We return to Strawberry Hill to pick up Lorna and, on the way down the hill, Boris – who is a good bird spotter – shows us another Northern Potoo, also with chick, quite close to the road. We drop down into Kingston, wriggle across the sprawling, traffic-filled roads of town, skirting the harbor to reach the outlying Hellshire Hills area. The special birds here are Bahama Mockingbird, Stolid Flycatcher (both regional endemics) and Mangrove Warbler, a capped form of Yellow Warbler that may or may not be a true subspecies. A side road by the water, leading to what appears to be a prison, produces Northern Mockingbird (the ‘wrong’ mockingbird) but Stolid Flycatcher is all over the place. Further out in the hills, we roll through an unofficial garbage dump and find our way onto a limestone track that takes us by unspoiled mangroves, idyllic looking sand beaches and small lagoons, and through thorn forest and stands of local cactus (three endemic species). This is quite a special landscape and it produces the ‘right’ mockingbird right up close. Mangrove Warblers are calling from the mangroves and, on the way back we actually manage to get a good look at one; it’s clearly a Yellow Warbler but with a dusky brown cap. We stop back at the Hope Gardens to take a last shot at Black-billed Parrots but it’s the wrong time of day; nothing is moving in the heat of the early afternoon. Dip.

         Back at Strawberry Hill, Ann has to head home to her place near Marshall’s Pen in western Jamaica and several hours away; we are now on our own. The gardens are mildly active in the late afternoon. As in other places visited, many of the easiest birds here are North American warblers including (in diminishing order of frequency) American Redstart, Black-throated Blue, Cape May Warbler, Black-and-White Warbler, Palm Warbler and others. Some of these birds winter in Jamaica; many are passing through on their way back to their North American breeding grounds. The only local breeding warblers are the aforementioned Mangrove Warbler and the Arrow-headed Warbler, which we have seen in several spots.

 

Wednesday, April 21: Yesterday Ann asked me what birds I’d particularly like to see. Along with the birds mentioned above, I requested better looks at the Jamaica Euphonia, a common-enough bird but one that I had not been able to get more than a glimpse of. Although she played its songs and calls in several places, she did not succeed in coaxing one out. Now, on our last morning in Jamaica, I am up early and out the door when, lo and behold, a handsome female pops up in the open on the top of a bush – at eye level and only a few feet away. And the male follows shortly.

         Time to go home. As we head down the hill, we take a parting look at Boris’ roadside potoo-and-chick, a fitting fond farewell to the birds of Jamaica.

 

Species List:

There is only one current guide that is exclusively devoted to the birds of Jamaica, the 2009 Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica by Ann Haynes-Sutton, Audrey Downer and Robert Sutton; photographs by Yves-Jacques Rey-Millet (supplanting an earlier guide from 1990). There are two guides to the Birds of the West Indies, the classic 1980 guide by the James Bond (the real James Bond, that is, who had a house in Jamaica next to Ian Fleming), illustrated by Don Eckelberry and Arthur Singer, and the more recent Princeton guide by Herbert Raffaele, James Wiley, Orlando Garrido, Allan Keith and Janis Raffaele (with a team of illustrators). This is a rare case where I strongly prefer a photographic guide over an illustrated guide. This is because you don’t have to sort through lists of West Indian birds to find the Jamaicans but also because, overall, I think the photographs in the new book are superior as illustrations of the birds to the art work in the older volumes.

[P.S.: Ann Sutton also leads and organizes bird-watching tours and trips in Jamaica. Her e-mail address is asutton@cwjamaica.com].

 The following list follows the sequence in Haynes-Sutton, Dower & Sutton.

 * = species endemic to Jamaica

+ = regional endemic or subspecies endemic to Jamaica

bold face = life bird

 

+Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis occidentalis) – Common in Kingston harbor.4/15,20-21; occidentalis is the endemic West Indian ssp.

Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) – one in Kingston harbor 4/20

Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens) – several along the north coast 4/15,17

Great Egret (Ardea alba) - one or two seen on the north coast 4/17

+Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor ruficollis) – Hope Gardens 4/17; ruficollis is a Caribbean endemic ssp.

Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea) – one, north coast 4/17

Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) – one in a Blue Mountain Valley 4/19; others on Kingston coast 4/20

Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) – numbers in Hope Gardens; also in open fields in several areas 4/15,17,20

Green Heron (Butorides virescens) – Hope Gardens 4/17

Yellow-crowned Night-heron (Nyctanassa violacea) – young bird at Frenchman’s Cove 4/17

 

Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) – common everywhere 4./15-20

+Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis jamaicensis) – eastern mountains 4/14,19; jamaicensis is a West Indian endemic ssp.

+American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) – common and widespread; seen almost every day; two ssp. occur, dominicensis and sparveroides, both endemic in the Greater Antilles

 

+Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus cerceris) – Hope Gardens 4/17; cerceris is a West Indian endemic

 

Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) – small numbers in the lagoons and flying overhead at the shore of the Hellshire Hills 4/20

 

(+)Laughing Gull (Laurs atricilla atricilla) – common harbor gull, Kingston, 4/15,20; atricilla breeds in the West Indies but winters south to Brazil; migrants from N. America may also be present

Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus) – Kingston harbor 4/20

 

Rock Pigeon (Columba livia) – common in towns and cities

*Ring-tailed Pigeon (Patagoienas caribaea) – Endemic; fairly common in high mountain areas (Ecclesdown Road, Abbey Green) 4/16,19; listed as Vulnerable by BirdLife International

+White-crowned Pigeon (Patagoienas leucocephala) – Near threatened; common in all forested areas and garden areas and seen almost every day 4/16-21; qualified as a West Indian near-endemic (it occurs in the Florida keys)

+White-winged Dove (Zenaida asiatica asiatica) – common in open areas 4/15,17,19; the asiatica ssp. is endemic to the western West Indies (Greater Antilles & Bahamas)

+Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura macroura) – one seen near Hellshire Hills 4/20; ssp. macroura is endemic to the Greater Antilles and Bahamas

+Zenaida Dove (Zenaida aurita zenaida) – common in Hope Gardens and other low open area 4/16-17,20-21; the ssp. zenaida is endemic to the Greater Antilles and Bahamas

+Common Ground Dove (Columbia passerina jamaicensis) – common in open areas, gardens 4/15-17, 20; ssp. jamaicensis is endemic to Jamaica

+Caribbean Dove (Leptotile jamaicensis jamaicensis) – in the road at Hardwar Gap 4/20; ssp. jamaicensis was originally endemic to Jamaica but has been introduced in the Bahamas; considered as a near-endemic species as there is a population in the Yucatan.

*Crested Quail-Dove (Geotrygon versicolor) – Endemic; a couple in the road at Hardwar Gap including an injured bird 4/18. [Ruddy-Quail-Dove (Geotrygon montana) was probably also seen flying up from road in mid-mountain area but not well enough for secure identification]

 

+Olive-throated Parakeet (Aratinga nana nana) – Endemic ssp. (possible future split); common at Mocking Bird Hill 4/15-17

*Yellow-billed Parrot or Amazon (Amazona collaria) – Endemic; numbers at Ecclesdown Road and Hope Gardens; listed as Vulnerable by BirdLife International [N.B.: the other endemic Amazona, Black-billed Parrot was not seen]

 

*Jamaican Lizard Cuckoo (Coccyzus vetula) – Endemic; Ecclesdown Road and Hardwar Gap 4/16,20

*Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo (Coccyzus pluvialis) – Endemic; seen at Mocking Bird Hill sunning and also being chased by orioles and other birds; also in the Blue Mountains 4/15,17-19

Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga ani) – common in roadside areas and pastures 4/15, 17, 19

 

*Jamaican Owl (Pseudoscope grammicus) – Endemic. Killer views of large female owl that came in to a playback of the sound of calling young owls at Strawberry Hill parking area 4/19

 

+Northern Potoo (Nyctibius jamaicensis jamaicensis) – Adults with young seen by Woodside Drive off Hardwar Gap and just off Kingston-Strawberry Hill Road 4/20,21; ssp. jamaicensis is endemic to Jamaica

 

+White-collared Swift (Streptoprocne zonaris) – West Indian endemic; Seen flying in several locations (Mocking Bird Hill, Strawberry Hill), 4/15-16,20

+Antillean Palm Swift (Tachornis phoenicobia phoeicoba) – Mocking Bird Hill, Strawberry Hill 4/16-17,20; ssp. phoenicobia is a West Indian endemic

 

*Jamaican Mango (Anthracothorax mango) – Endemic; a unique, dark hummer with purplish tints; seen perched at eye level in Mocking Bird Hill garden 4/17

*Red-billed Streamertail (Trochilus polytmus) – Endemic genus and species; the famous Doctorbird with the long tail streamers is common everywhere except northeast Jamaica 4/17-20

*Black-billed Streamertail (Trochilus scitulus) – Endemic species and genus; replaces previous species in northeastern Jamaica; common at Mocking Bird Hill and on Ecclesdown Road 4/15-17 [N.B.: these two taxa have been merged by the AOU but continue to be split by BirdLife International]

+Vervain Hummingbird (Mellisuga minima) – Endemic; common in all locations from Mocking Bird Hill to Blue Mountains 4/15,18-21 [second smallest hummer after Cuba’s Bee Hummingbird and sometimes described as the second smallest bird in the world]; endemic to Jamaica and Hispaniola

 

*Jamaican Tody (Todus todus) – Endemic; common in forested areas 4/16,18-20; Todus is the only endemic family in the Caribbean

 

*Jamaican Woodpecker (Melanerpes radiolatus) – Endemic; common, widespread, noisy, easy to find; seen every day 4/15-21

 

+Greater Antillean Elaenia (Elaenia fallax fallax) – A small plump flycatcher that behaves like a warbler; Blue Mountains near Hardwar Gap 4/18; one of the more difficult of the Jamaican birds to find. Endemic to Jamaica and Hispaniola; ssp. fallax is the Jamaican form.

*Jamaican Elaenia (Myiopagis cotta) – Endemic; Hardwar Gap 4/18

*Jamaican Pewee (Contopus pallidus) – Endemic; side road (Woodside Drive) off Hardwar Gap road; seen very close up at eye level and below; 4/18

+Loggerhead Kingbird (Tyrannus caudifasciatus jamaicensis) – common and widespread at forest edges 4/15-19; ssp. jamaicensis is a Jamaican endemic

Grey Kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis) – widespread and common in gardens, pastures, etc. (a little less of a forest bird than the preceding but the two often occur together as at Mocking Bird Hill); 4/15-17,19-21

*Sad Flycatcher (Myiarchus barbirostris) – Endemic; forest and forest edges; Mocking Bird Hill, Hardwar Gap area 4/17-18

*Rufous-tailed Flycatcher (Myiarchus validus) – Endemic; large forest flycatcher; Ecclesdown Road, Hardwar Gap 4/16,18-19

+Stolid Flycatcher (Myiarchus stolidus stolidus) – Thorn forest at Hellshire Hills 4/20; a West Indian endemic (ssp. stolidus is endemic to Jamaica)

*Jamaican Becard (Pacyramphus niger) – Endemic; Ecclesdown Road 4/16

 

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) – a few in flight 4/16,20

+Cave Swallow (Petrochelidon fulva poeciloma) – swallows seen at Mocking Bird Hill and Strawberry Hill all appeared to be this species 4/15-17,20; ssp. poeciloma is endemic to Jamaica

 

+Bahama Mockingbird (Mimus gundlachii hillii) – coastal dry (thorn) limestone forest, Hellshire Hills 4/20; ssp. hillii endemic to Jamaica

+Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos orpheus) – common and widespread in open areas from Mocking Bird Hill to Hillshire Hills 4/15-17,20; ssp. orpheus is a West Indian endemic

 

+Rufous-throated Solitaire (Myadestes genibarbis solitarius) – Blue Mountains (Hardwar Gap, Abbey Green); seen at eyelevel 4/18,20; a Caribbean endemic; ssp. solitarius is endemic to the Bahamas and Greater Antilles

*White-eyed Thrush (Turdus jamaicensis) – Endemic; forest thrush, Blue Mountains (Hardwar Gap, Abbey Green); surprisingly difficult to see well 4/18-20

*White-chinned Thrush (Turdus aurantius) – Endemic; widespread and common; the earliest morning singer; seen and heard every day; the familiar Hopping Dick of the mountain roads 4/15-21

 

*Jamaican Crow (Corvus jamaicensis) – Endemic; 3 or 4 birds seen on Ecclesdown Road 4/16

 

*Jamaican (White-eyed) Vireo (Vireo modestus) - Endemic; roadsides and forest edges; well seen a few times but more often heard 4/16, 18-21

*Blue Mountain Vireo (Vireo osburni) – Endemic; Blue Mountains (Hardwar Gap) 4/18; Near threatened

Black-whiskered Vireo (Vireo altiloquus altiloquus) – rarely seen but very common by sound; heard almost everywhere; 4/15-21; ssp. altiloquus is restricted to the Greater Antilles as a breeder although it winters in northern Brazil; this is otherwise a typical species of Caribbean forests reaching the U.S. only in the mangroves of southern Florida

 

*Jamaica Euphonia (Euphonia jamaica) – Endemic; Ecclesdown Road, Strawberry Hill 4/16,20; I had trouble getting a good look at this common bird but on our last morning in Jamaica, as I strolled out of our cottage into the lush gardens of Strawberry Hill, a female popped up into view a few feet away at eye level followed shortly by a male

 

Northern Parula (Parula americana) – Mocking Bird Hill 4/17

+Yellow (Mangrove) Warbler (Dendroica petechia eoa) – mangroves and thorn forest, Hellshire Hills 4/20; ssp. eoa is endemic to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands; often called Mangrove Warbler; this form has a dusky brown cap.

Cape May Warbler (Dendroica tigrina) – several forest localities and hummingbird feeders; easy to see in Jamaica compared to its rarity back home 4/16,19

Black-throated Blue Warbler (Dendroica caerulescens) – widespread; second most common wintering or migrant warbler 4/15-19

Black-throated Green Warbler (Dendroica virens) – Forres Park (Mavis Bank) 4/19

Prairie Warbler (Dendroica discolor) – Strawberry Hill 4/20

Palm Warbler (Dendroica palmarum)  - Starlight Chalets 4/19

*Arrow-headed Warbler (Dendroica pharetra) – Endemic; seen in several forested areas 4/16,18-19

Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia) – Frenchman’s Cove 4/17

American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) – most common bird seen 4/15-21

 

*Jamaican Spindalis or Jamaican Stripe-headed Tanager (Spindalis nigricephala) – Endemic; common in forested areas 4/16-20; [N.B. split off from Western Stripe-headed Tanager Spindalis zena]; this is a near-endemic genus with populations throughout the Greater Antilles and on Cozumel Island off the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico; traditionally considered part of the Thraupidae or tanagers but more recently removed from this group; hence the use of the name Spindalis instead of Stripe-headed Tanager]

 

+Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola flaveola) – widespread 4/15-21; ssp. flaveola endemic to Jamaica

 

+Black-faced Grassquit (Tiaris bicolor marchii) – common along roadsides; 4/18-21; ssp. marchii is endemic to Jamaica and Hispaniola

*Yellow-shouldered Grassquit (Loxipasser anoxanthus) – Endemic species and genus; good views (finally!) in Hardwar Gap area 4/20

 

*Orangequit (Euneornis campestris) – Endemic genus and species; almost everywhere; 4/16-21

 

+Greater Antillean Bullfinch (Loxigilla violacea ruficollis) – several seen in mountain areas 4/16,18-19; ssp. ruficollis is endemic to Jamaica; Loxigilla is a West Indian endemic genus  

 

*Jamaican Blackbird (Nesopsar nigerrimus) – Endemic species and genus; Ecclesdown Road feeding in bromeliads 4/16; Endangered species and probably the rarest bird seen on the trip

+Greater Antillean Grackle {Quiscalus niger crassirostis} – widespread in disturbed areas 4/15-17,20-21; ssp. crassirostris is endemic to Jamaica; a Greater Antillean endemic species

Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) – two birds seen from deck at Mocking Bird Hill 4/17

*Jamaican Oriole (Icterus leucopteryx) – Endemic; common in forests and gardens; seen every day 4/15-21

 

82 species

27 species endemic to Jamaica

28 or 29 regional endemics, endemic subspecies or near-endemics (West Antillean or Caribbean)

41 life birds (black-face type)