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 |
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