Veradero, Cuba

[priss]

I am headed there next week. has anyone birded there that might offer some advice on a tour or just going it alone or perhaps where to go? i have found the Varahicacos ecology reserve on the Hicacos Peninsula but i'm not sure if this is a great place. any advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

[christie]

hi, I went to varadero in January and had a hard time finding birding areas, one good place was the zapata swamp but had a hard time communicating what we wanted, we ended up spending too much money and ended up at the tourist trap of the crocodile farm but still saw some good birds.  People gave us strange looks when we said we wanted to see birds.  some birds we saw in varadero were palm warblers, magnificent frigatebirds, brown pelicans, cuban emeralds (at the resort). cattle egrets everywhere. at zapata we saw nartern jacanas, purple gallinules, common moorhens, common ground doves, west indian woodpecker, loggerhead kingbird, northern parulas, just to name a few.  house sparrows are abundent. I recommend the birding book birds of cuba to help you out.  I would be curious to find out if you have any luck, please post when you get back.
christie

[priss]

sorry for the delay. work is SO busy after holidays. i got out for about 1 day of real birding while i was there. i just decided to walk off the resort and wander around. near the end of the trip i met an ornithologist at the side of the road. he is trying to plan a proper 3 day birding tour but he says getting things like that off the ground is tough in cuba. i gave him my card and said i'd guide canadians for him anytime. there are a good number of endemics in cuba and in winter (when most of us cold blooded canadians go) many of our birds there for winter. i was hoping to pick off a few western species from canada and the us that i just can't get here in ontario. zapata is the place to do your best birding. almost all the endemics live there and many migrators hang out there too. unfortunately i only had a day left when i met him. maybe another time. my list for the day was as follows: sorry if there are any errors, but i think this is acurate.

great lizard cockoo
smooth-billed ani
greater antillean grackle
mockingbirds
catbird
brown pelican
double crested cormorant
little blue heron (white and adult)
tri-coloured heron
green heron
great egret
cattle egret
white-cheeked pintail
blue-winged teal
turkey vulture
black vulture
common black hawk
osprey
common moorhen
black-necked stilt
greater/lesser yellowlegs
belted kingfisher
cuban peewee
la sagra's flycatcher
blue-gray knatcatcher
blackburnian warbler
palm warbler
cape may warbler
canada warbler
yellow-rumped warbler
prarie warbler
oven bird
northern waterthrush
yellow-headed warbler
key west quail-dove
many terns but too far to tell which ones

[Brian Bailey]

I'd say you did quite well!  I was in Varadero for a few days a couple of years ago and found it quite sterile.  There were some promising looking spots, but I didn't didn't get out for any serious birding.

I was at a resort near Santiago de Cuba last year and it was completely different.  There were lots of birds, even on the resort grounds.  But as always, for the best birds, you have to get out and explore!

BB

[priss]

all in all, it was a great day. i only wish i had the time to do more research on the place to know i needed a day trip to zapata. i work in advertising and it is SO crazy busy that i barely have time to research places before i go. it takes me to interesting places though. buenos aires in january. there's a place i'd recommend for anyone who loves birds. there is a place that costs about 15 pesos to get to in a cab and there were so many birds, i could barely log them all. the field guide for argentina doesn't have great illustrations of the birds. but wow, the trees were just crawling with birds i had never seen before. what a great experience. and it is like you say, to see them, you just have to get out there.

[mike]

I recommend Baga Natural Park in Cayo Guillermo. Ask for Oday. He's a Biologist and we had him for a 3 hour tour. He was absolutely great. Everything he called came out. It's roughly 12 minutes by cab from the Cojimar Hotel.