Cuba 2024 | AnneBeltonPhotos

In November I went on a Rockjumper Birding tour to Cuba. There were 9 of us plus 2 guides, Alex from Honduras and Mario from Cuba. The map with red icons shows where we birded, the other is the road map. Some very long days in the bus!

We flew into Veradero and then took a taxi to Havana where the tour started. Due to Westjet's flight schedule we had to fly in 2 days early. The first day we stayed around the hotel and tried to walk to the ocean, a matter of just a few blocks, however we could not get close due to buildings and private hotels etc.

The 2nd day we went on a 6 hour tour of Havana arranged by friends from New York. The 4 of us were in a 1956 pink convertible!

Martha reliving bygone days!

Hotel Valentin 5t Avenue in Havana, once a lovely hotel, now a bit run down.

An area of Havana called Fusterlandia. A local artist, Jose Fuster has done mosiac art all over this neighbourhood. Every house and border fence is covered with mosiac design.

Not too many cars on the streets, and many are very old, but freshly painted for the tourists. They say "we don't have mechanics, we have magicians."

The Russian Embassy. We passed a lot of embassies, the only one that had a line up outside was the Canadian one!

A large memorial for the October crisis, we just saw it from the car, were not able to get out to read the display.

1st day of birding, unfortunately my camera was not set correctly and in the attempt to fix it I lost all the photos from first day and 1/2. The settings remained a problem for the rest of the trip so photos are not as good as I would like!

A man passed us at one park with a herd of goats - I think they were responsible for cutting the grass. These babies were just 1 day old, he carried them in a sack while Mom "worked" and sometimes let them out for a feed.

Red-legged Thrush

Cuban Bullfinch

West Indian Woodpecker

Yellow-headed Warbler

Loggerhead Kingbird

Yellow-throated Vireo

Red-tailed Hawks

Palm Warbler - the most common bird we saw.

Lesser Yellowlegs

Cuban Today

Yellow-faced Grassquit

Cuban Trogon - here he is trying to get the fruits of the tree.

Success - the 1st was the Zapata Wren.

And 2nd the Zapata Sparrow

The next day we went to a wetlands where we travelled in the back of a jeep and then walk some distance in search of 2 endemics.

Greater Antillean Grackle

Cape May Warbler

Turkey Vulture - they were everywhere, most common bird we saw.

La Sagra's Flycatcher

Cuban Trogon

Cuban Pewee

Cuban Pygmy Owl

Northern Waterthrush

West Indian Woodpecker

Yellow-headed Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler

Smooth-billed Ani

Eastern Meadowlark

Cuban Grassquit

Black-necked Stilt and Little Blue Heron

Cuban Solitaire

White-crowned Pigeon

Cuban Green Woodpecker

Yellow-throated Warbler

Cuban amazon

Cuban Nightjar

Mangrove Cuckoo

Bare-legged Owl

Cuban Amazon

Tawney-shouldered Blackbird

American Redstart

Cuban Emerald

Northern Parula

Lots of Pink Flamingos, these 2 look cozy but soon after I took the photo the one on the left shoved the smaller one out of the way!

Mangrove yellow Warbler

American White Pelicans

Neotropic Cormorant

Bee Hummingbird - unfortunately we only saw this in one place, the lighting wasn't good and it showed briefly. One below is a young one.

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Royal Tern with breakfast

Reddish Egret

Zenaida Dove

Blue-headed Quail-Dove

Clapper Rail

Great Blue Heron

Cuban Pewee

Northern Mockingbird

Great Egret

My favorite bird of the trip - the Great Lizard Cuckoo - a huge bird that crept along the fence like a squirrel.

Cuban Black Hawk

Wood Stork

Fernandina's Flicker

Smooth Billed Ani

American Kestral

Bare-legged Owl chicks

Cuban Vireo

Crested Caracara

Eastern Meadowlark

This section of the road was half covered with rice that had been spread out to dry. The man dragged the rake back and forth over the rice to turn it. Apparently this rice was just for the nearby village. Not sure how they got it up off the road, manually I think.