Dominican Dreams Part 2 (22-25Dec2024)

On our third full day in the DR, we teamed up with my sister in-law's family and did a hike in the mountains not far out of Puerto Plata.  The start of the trail was a place called Tubagua Ecolodge, but really it was a small bed and breakfast.  For most hikes in DR, you need to hire a guide because the trails are not well maintained or marked and you are frequently passing through private property.  Our guide was super nice and tried to fine me some birds, but most of the birds I saw were in the parking lot of the lodge and I identified them.

This Black-crowned Palm-Tanager was expected, but it still blew my socks off.

Since we were in the mountains I was expecting a Narrow-billed Tody but after seeing this bird in the parking lot, I realized we were not high enough as this was a Broad-billed Tody.  The Narrow ones don't start until 700 meters or so and we were only at about 500 meters elevation.

I need to get some photos from my wife to add of the beautiful waterfall we saw and went swimming in.  As usual, if its not a bird, I probably didn't capture it.

On the way back to the lodge, we got much better looks at some more Broad-billed Todies.

We headed back down and that is when things took a bad turn for me.  I decided to go for a quick surf before dinner and headed out in some sub-optimal storm surf.  I caught a couple messy waves and then paddled for a big closeout that sent me over the falls.  Usually this is a common scene when surfing and sometimes you may hit your board when you go over the falls, but this time my board was perfectly placed to whack my right in the forehead with the extremely sharp fins facing towards me.  I came up saw blood pouring down my face into the water in front of me.  This is not good as sharks can sense blood quickly.  So I immediately caught a wave an belly surfed it into shore.  I could tell from the look of some ladies on the beach that this was no small cut so I hiked up to the hotel and jumped into the shower to clean up so we could find a local clinic and get me stitched up.

This is what it looked like after I got it to stop bleeding.  The guy at the hotel front desk said I would need 6-7 stitches and he was spot on.  Melissa and I drove into town and after 3 hours of waiting got a doctor to stitch me up for $150.  

This is what I would look like for the rest of the vacation with strict orders to not go into the water which I followed.  Right around this time the weather was stormy and streets were flooding with sewage probably flowing out of the rivers into the ocean, so the last thing I wanted was an infection.  I will say that I was really impressed with the way I was treated even if the hospital/clinic was a little scary.  The Dominican people are always smiling and really nice.

Our fourth full day was basically a wash and I took no pictures.  We basically spent a down day in our rooms watching movies, which was kind of nice considering my situation.  The rain poured all day and night, sometimes very heavily.  In fact, the rain was so bad that my sister in-law's family was stuck in their rental a few miles up the beach because the streets were flooded.  They almost didn't make it to the airport to catch their flight out.

Day 5 dawned with some mixed sun and I was able to walk around the hotel grounds and surrounding roads a bit.  Although I did manage to find some birds, it was not optimal and the closest park was about 30 minutes away and was flooded so I just stayed local.

The new bird I picked up on this day was Hispaniolan Parakeet!

I didn't see many of these throughout the trip so I spent as much time as I could with them.  There is also a Hispaniolan Amazon parrot but I never did lay eyes on any.

After seeing the same birds over and over, I began to take pics of other things like this Zebrawing.

The Bananaquits in the DR look different than the ones in the Bahamas.  Namely they have dark gray throats.

Palmchat

Hispaniolan Mango sticking his tongue out at me.

Mangrove Skipper - I knew the ID for this one from my trip to Cuba.

Despite eBird telling me that the other two hummers should be around (Hispaniolan Emerald and Vervain), all I saw on the coast were Mangos.

Gray Kingbird

The Mockingbirds down there look different than ours but they are the same species of Northern Mockingbird.

Mangrove Cuckoos were more rare than the Lizard-Cuckoos.

I couldn't get enough of the Hispaniolan Woodpeckers.

Since I couldn't surf, the next best thing was to take photos.

Antillean Palm Swift

Zebrawing I think.

I still need to ID this one.

A tender moment between mother and calf.

The property next door had 20 or so Peacocks.

White-winged Doves were the most common Dove species.

There are populations of wild/feral Red Junglefowl (chicken) on the island, but I don't think this was one of them although it certainly looked good.

Smooth-billed Anis on Christmas Day.

On Boxing Day (day after Christmas) I said goodbye to the Palmchats on the coast and we loaded up the rental car for the trip up into the mountains of DR.  Our base for the next four days was a AirB&B in Jarabacoa.  I will pick up the next post there.

Dominican Dreams Part 1 (19-21Dec2024)

One of the many countries on my birding bucket list has been the Dominican Republic.  The eastern half of Hispaniola has 27 of the 28 species of endemics for the island, it is a relatively safe place to visit and also has some good surf breaks.  So it was a no brainer when I was looking for a Christmas vacation spot for the family.  I had actually been to the island 30 years ago with my father, but I was not a birder at that time so the island's potential for lifers was still virgin for me.  When looking for cheap airfares and convenient flight times, I noticed we had direct flights from Charlotte to Puerto Plata right around the time we wanted to travel.  I did some quick research and found that the surfing scene around Encuentro Beach was a good one for a family vacation.  My family could soak up some sun on the beach and at the pool and I could surf and bird myself silly.  I did a Target Birds search on eBird for December in the Dominican Republic and had 40-50 potential lifers.  However, I wish I had researched it a little more because the area I picked was not the best for birds.  When I did look through eBird, the data was sparse on the north coast, but I figured it was because most birders flocked to a few proven locations.  That is somewhat true, but also there are less birds in those areas due to loss of habitat.  Another complication is that access to nature preserves and national parks in the DR is complicated.

We arrived in Puerto Plata on the north coast of DR on December 19th and quickly hopped into our Budget Rental Car with no problems.  One thing you should know about the DR is that you should not rent a car if you are not a confident driver.  Dominicans are famous for not following the rules of the road and the police seem to completely ignore any traffic infractions.  In fact, in the 10 days we spent on the island, I never saw any cops pull anyone over for speeding or any other infraction.  Most of the drivers on the road are using mopeds or motorcycles and they weave all over the road, frequently driving on the wrong side of the road and blowing stop lights.  So you have to be really careful always keeping an eye on your flanks so you don't side-swipe any motorists.

Our base of operations for the first week would be the Encuentro Surf Lodge.  I rented two rooms because the suite style rooms didn't have more than one bed and I didn't want the boys to have to sleep on the couches.  It wasn't cheap, but it was totally worth it and the family really likes the accommodations.  Melissa and I had the suite so the boys could come and hang out in our place, but they had their own room with two twin beds.  

I should have taken more pictures of the lodge but as usual my focus was on the birds.  The lodge was a 5 minute walk to the beach which was ideal because the beach area was loud and a bit seedy.  There was security on the hotel grounds and to be honest, I never felt unsafe on the whole trip.  In fact, one of the huge bonuses of this country is the people.  Everyone was super nice and always had a smile.  I suppose petty theft could be an issue if you don't use your brain and take care of your stuff, but we know the drill and never left anything in the car or out where it could be nicked.  I did bring my old camera because I was a bit worried about theft but now that I have seen the country, I will not hesitate next time.

My first lifer was the beautiful Hispaniolan Mango, one of the island endemics and very common in the flowers around the hotel grounds.  The weather was unsettled for the first half of the trip so catching this gem in good light was a challenge.  

Not long after, I thought I was really lucky to find a duo of Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoos, but it turns out that they were quite common.  They probably are one of my favorites from the whole trip.

Hispaniolan Woodpeckers were also super common and seen throughout the whole trip, but that didn't take away from how cool they looked with their big beady yellow eyes.

The most common bird of the DR is hands down the Palmchat.  They are everywhere!  They are also the National Bird of the DR.

Smooth-billed Anis were not a lifer, but I always love seeing and hearing them.

However, on this first full day I spent most of my time surfing as the waves were terrific.  Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the good surf.  My sister in-law and her family were also staying down the beach and joined us for a day of surfing and after I had my fill of some waves I helped my nephews and my sons catch some on some rented boards.  The only drawback of this surf break is the sea urchins and I ended up with one in my toe while I pushed my son into a wave but it wasn't too bad and I got most of the spine out with some tweezers.  

Dinner at the hotel was ok, but the included breakfasts every morning were fantastic.

The sun came out fully on the second day and I spent some time birding after the morning surf session. 

This was the typical view from our front porch next to the pool area.  Hispaniolan Woodpeckers love to perch at the top of palm fronds.

5 minutes later on the same frond, a Gray Kingbird and a Palmchat played musical chairs with the woodpeckers.

Antillean Palm Swift - I had seen these previously on Cuba, but now they were offering great views as they hawked insects over the pool.

Hispaniolan Mango 

Hispaniolan Woodpecker

Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo

Palmchat - you are probably starting to get the idea that instead of finding new species, I was mostly seeing the same over and over but getting better photo ops.

American Kestrel 

Western Cattle Egrets were plentiful.

Gray Kingbirds were also everywhere.

I could watch the gregarious woodpeckers all day.  There is only one species of woodpecker on the island if you don't count the Piculet which I never saw anyhow.

That was the end of Day 2, I will save the rest of my pics for some future posts.