England | Ecology

I awoke on day 5 in Cuba expecting that day would be the highlight of the trip and I was not disappointed. Once again we departed under the cover of darkness, our bus weaving its way through difficult turns in narrow one-lane city streets. We eventually got out of town and realized as the sun rose that we were driving through a vast Everglades-like marshland. We finally arrived at our first location: an obscure dirt path into the swamp, but we sat on the bus wondering what was going on. We were eventually told the driver of our “swamp vehicle” was pulled over by police and would be there shortly. Eventually, he appeared.

Río Hatiguanico

We boarded the 1940s-era truck at a location called La Turba. It was a tight squeeze on hard wooden benches. We drove for what seemed like an hour, finally arriving at a location near Río Hatiguanico, relieved both to bird and rescue our back-ends from the ride. From there, we walked, the road surrounded on both sides by a vast marshland. At an opening, one of our guides played the call of Zapata Wren. And played it some more. And more. No response, except from a Cuban Pygmy-Owl who flew in and perched nearby. We walked farther, tried again, and again no response. The other guide continued down the road, with some of the group following him. I elected to stay, waiting out what seemed like pointless call-playing to a phantom species that might remain but a dream.

Suddenly, I saw our trip leader running toward us. “Zapata Sparrows!” he said. Those of us on the wren search fast-walked up the road, eventually finding the rest of the group and looking for a tell-tale sign as we approached that they still had the birds in their sights. Fingers pointing to the trees indicated they did, and I eventually got close to enough to observe a show being put on two apparently-mated green, yellow, gray, and brown sparrows as they danced from tree to tree, ground to tree, and across the ground frequently displaying and calling. The photo opportunities were remarkable. Alas…

“Zapata Wren!”

The guide I was with was gesturing wildly for us to join him, and we hurriedly made our way back to where we started. It took awhile to find them, as – apparently – Zapata Wrens don’t like to come into the open. I saw two, first using my binoculars instead of my camera. One was open enough for me to try to take photos. After a lot of missed shots because of my camera wanting to focus on everything but the bird, I eventually got several shots of Zapata Wren. I felt victorious.

Bahía de Cochinos and Casa Ana Birding

After another glute-punishing ride out of the swamp we headed back to Playa Larga for lunch at a restaurant overlooking Bahía de Cochinos. There we gorged on seafood and looked for waterbirds. From there, staying in town, we stopped at Casa Ana Birding which is just a house like any other except it has a “Casa Ana Birding” sign in front. Intrigued, we followed the walkway back to a spectacular garden with benches, water features, and a feeding station. Birds flitted everywhere. Most of them were wintering warblers, and all of us agreed they were the most amazing views of any of these species we had ever had, even with all of us having birded migration “fall-out” locations. The ruckus did not go unnoticed by a Cuban Racer, which lay in wait for a non-observant warbler to fly close enough to become lunch.

Salinas de Brito and Paella

Most of us took the late afternoon trip to Salinas de Brito, an area of vast but shallow saltwater lagoons and extensive mudflats. For me, the highlight was hundreds of American Flamingos as this was the first time I had seen a flamingo outside of a zoo. Watching them fly was a spectacle (oh, to have gotten flights shots!) as they seemed so cartoonishly Seussian. A secondary highlight was a fairly cooperative Cuban Black Hawk.

It was near dark when we returned to the hotel, feasting on seafood paella that had been cooking all day and learning Cuban salsa from our guides. It was a nice way to end our stay in Playa Larga, as we were to be traveling across the country to Cayo Pardon Grande the next morning.

Most of the bird photos in the slide shows above (the better ones, at least) are available on my photography site at https://gallery.mcengland.com.

The table below summarizes the 58 bird species observed on our fifth day in Cuba based on output from eBird. The 11 Cuban endemics observed that day are highlighted in green.

Common Name	Scientific Name	Count	Location
American Flamingo	Phoenicopterus ruber	100	Las Salinas de Brito
Common Ground Dove	Columbina passerina	1	Zapata–La Turba
Bee Hummingbird	Mellisuga helenae	2	Casa Ana Birding
Cuban Emerald	Riccordia ricordii	3	Casa Ana Birding
Clapper Rail	Rallus crepitans	1	PN Cienaga de Zapata–Las Salinas
Common Gallinule	Gallinula galeata	2	Casa Ana Birding
Black-necked Stilt	Himantopus mexicanus	20	Las Salinas de Brito
Black-bellied Plover	Pluvialis squatarola	1	PN Cienaga de Zapata – Las Salinas – 1st platform
Dunlin	Calidris alpina	3	PN Cienaga de Zapata – Las Salinas – 1st platform
Greater Yellowlegs	Tringa melanoleuca	1	Zapata–La Turba
Willet	Tringa semipalmata	4	Las Salinas de Brito
Lesser Yellowlegs	Tringa flavipes	8	Las Salinas de Brito
Caspian Tern	Hydroprogne caspia	4	Las Salinas de Brito
Royal Tern	Thalasseus maximus	10	Las Salinas de Brito
Wood Stork	Mycteria americana	1	PN Cienaga de Zapata–Las Salinas
Anhinga	Anhinga anhinga	1	Auto selected 22.28374, -81.20983
Neotropic Cormorant	Nannopterum brasilianum	1	Zapata–La Turba
American White Pelican	Pelecanus erythrorhynchos	30	Las Salinas de Brito
Least Bittern	Ixobrychus exilis	1	Zapata–La Turba
Great Blue Heron	Ardea herodias	1	Zapata–La Turba
Great Egret	Ardea alba	10	Las Salinas de Brito
Snowy Egret	Egretta thula	1	PN Cienaga de Zapata – Las Salinas – 1st platform
Little Blue Heron	Egretta caerulea	1	PN Cienaga de Zapata – Las Salinas – 1st platform
Tricolored Heron	Egretta tricolor	1	Las Salinas de Brito
Reddish Egret	Egretta rufescens	2	PN Cienaga de Zapata – Las Salinas – 1st platform
Green Heron	Butorides virescens	2	Zapata–La Turba
Black-crowned Night-Heron	Nycticorax nycticorax	1	Zapata–La Turba
White Ibis	Eudocimus albus	10	PN Cienaga de Zapata–Las Salinas
Roseate Spoonbill	Platalea ajaja	15	PN Cienaga de Zapata–Las Salinas
Turkey Vulture	Cathartes aura	6	Zapata–La Turba
Osprey	Pandion haliaetus	1	PN Cienaga de Zapata–Las Salinas
Northern Harrier	Circus hudsonius	1	PN Cienaga de Zapata–Las Salinas
Cuban Black Hawk	Buteogallus gundlachii	1	PN Cienaga de Zapata–Las Salinas
Cuban Pygmy-Owl	Glaucidium siju	1	Zapata–La Turba
Belted Kingfisher	Megaceryle alcyon	1	Zapata–La Turba
Cuban Green Woodpecker	Xiphidiopicus percussus	2	Zapata–La Turba
Cuban Pewee	Contopus caribaeus	1	Zapata–La Turba
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	Polioptila caerulea	1	Zapata–La Turba
Zapata Wren	Ferminia cerverai	2	Zapata–La Turba
Northern Mockingbird	Mimus polyglottos	1	Casa Ana Birding
Red-legged Thrush	Turdus plumbeus	3	Zapata–La Turba
Zapata Sparrow	Torreornis inexpectata	2	Zapata–La Turba
Eastern Meadowlark	Sturnella magna	1	Zapata–La Turba
Cuban Oriole	Icterus melanopsis	2	Zapata–La Turba
Tawny-shouldered Blackbird	Agelaius humeralis	4	Casa Ana Birding
Cuban Blackbird	Ptiloxena atroviolacea	8	Casa Ana Birding
Ovenbird	Seiurus aurocapilla	1	Casa Ana Birding
Louisiana Waterthrush	Parkesia motacilla	1	Zapata–La Turba
Louisiana/Northern Waterthrush	Parkesia motacilla/noveboracensis	1	Zapata–La Turba
Common Yellowthroat	Geothlypis trichas	1	Zapata–La Turba
American Redstart	Setophaga ruticilla	1	Zapata–La Turba
Cape May Warbler	Setophaga tigrina	3	Casa Ana Birding
Northern Parula	Setophaga americana	12	Casa Ana Birding
Yellow Warbler	Setophaga petechia	1	PN Cienaga de Zapata – Las Salinas – 1st platform
Black-throated Blue Warbler	Setophaga caerulescens	6	Casa Ana Birding
Palm Warbler	Setophaga palmarum	1	Zapata–La Turba
Yellow-throated Warbler	Setophaga dominica	1	Casa Ana Birding
Prairie Warbler	Setophaga discolor	1	Zapata–La Turba
Yellow-faced Grassquit	Tiaris olivaceus	2	Casa Ana Birding