Puerto Rico Endemic Dash | December 2010

Puerto Rican Spindalis

Our Puerto Rico Endemic Dash is a whirlwind tour… 5-days & 4-nights of birding fun! We hit every corner of the tiny island of Puerto Rico, which is ‘only’ 110 miles long by 39 miles. The roads, however, are not all straight, and we easily drive over 600 miles in 5 days in order to find the birds!

Masked Duck

There are a few ponds that regularly hold Masked Duck, but they are not always visible, so we sometime need to visit all of them to get glimpses of these secretive waterfowl. The image above was a very distant but very recognizable male!

Caribbean (American) Flamingo

Flamingos are not common in Puerto Rico. Now and then a small flock shows up and soon departs. However, this lone flamingo showed up about two years ago and stuck around in a pond in the north.

Elfin Woods Warbler

In 1971, 45-years after the last species in the West Indies was scientifically described, the Elfin Woods Warbler was found! Although it may have been seen before that, observers must have thought them to be migrant species passing through and did not give them much thought.

They are a quiet, secretive bird, their song consists of soft chips and twitters. When we seek them we need to be very patient and diligent in our search… but we are usually well rewarded!

Clapper Rail

This afternoon in the south west, we found six clapper rails walking out in the full sun! These birds are usually hiding in the shadows and tall grasses and prefer to be heard rather than seen.

Black-necked Stilt

Black-necked Stilt on the other hand are very visible in the full sun, contrasting against their background… their pink legs standing out vividly!

Bronze Mannikin

Over the previous 200 years many caged birds have been brought to Puerto Rico, only to be released into the wild. A variety of well established colonies of parakeets, mannikins, bishops and others have grown all across the island.

Plain Pigeon

Some of these introduced species are pushing out native species like the endangered Plain Pigeon. Along with habitat loss throughout the Greater Antilles, Plain Pigeon numbers have dropped to very low numbers. Fortunately Puerto Rico has a healthy, albeit small population.