THIS WAS A VERY "UN-ROCKJUMPER" TRIP. There were only five other birders and only two of them were serious. Which is OK since Cuba, with only 26 endemic species, doesn’t draw the more serious “listers.” Arturo Jr. (his father, Senior, is the other notable bird guide in Cuba) didn’t see the need to start the day at “o-dark-thirty” the way Rockjumper does and let us sleep in until 6:30 for a 7:30 departure.
Cuban Grassquit Yellow-faced Grassquit
Ivan had the brand new Chinese 16-passenger bus waiting and drove us to our first birding stop, a local pig farm. But the birding was good despite the smells; Cuban and yellow-faced grassquits abounded and we also saw our first of many quetzal-like Cuban trogons before heading off to lunch.
Cuban Trogon
Also, unlike Rockjumper, Arturo gave us some free-time after lunch to sort our photos and recharge batteries before going out to Valle Encon for a couple more endemics, including my vote for bird-of-the-trip, the Cuban tody. The total for Day 1: 48 species in all and 20 lifers for Connie.
