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Cuba, Dec 12th-26th 2013,
I can't find any trip report that deals only with the area around the hotels at Varadero. My guess is that that would be useful for some, taking into consideration all the tourists that are here during the winter.
My wife and I stayed at hotel Be Live Las Morlas for 4 nights before we went on the virgin cruise-tour around Cuba plus one stop in Jamaica with Louis Cristal. After the cruise we stayed 3 nights at Mercure Quatro Palma hotel only about one km from Las Morlas. I spent 4 mornings and one afternoon in the vicinity of Las Morlas. I walked to a forest only a few hundred meters east of the hotel close to the sea on the other side, including a mangrove forest. Every morning was a surprisingly good experience with a lot of birds - some new species every day. But the only way of getting them out in the open was to pish. Pishing is a must and gave wondrous results. Not only did they come out from the forest, but they also came very close (up to one meter), perfect for taking photos. To be able to find more than 70 species in such a small area, was far more than expected and hoped for. Just before reaching the mangrove forest the field was flooded, attracting waders, herons and egrets. In the same area there was also a small lake which I was never able to reach because of the dense forest, but obviously it attracted many species of birds. I can only refer to the species list at the bottom.
The last morning I spent a couple hours in a nice park 3-400 meters from Las Palmas hotel. I wish I had known about this place earlier. The birds I observed here only is marked with a ^. Lifers for me is marked with an*.
Except for the day in Havana, we had fantastic weather every single day with air temperature between 28-31 degrees and 28 degrees in the ocean. The beach at Varadero is close to perfect.
Bird List:
At the bottom of the list you find the 3 birds I didn't see at Varadero, but elsewhere in Cuba and the 9 endemics I saw in Jamaica.
I have only used the Helm Field Guide - Birds of the West Indies (2003)
Brown Pelican common
Magnificent Frigatebird common
Ring-billed Gull common
Laughing Gull common
Caspian Tern 2
Royal Tern common
Sandwich Tern common
Little Blue Heron 4
Snowy Egret 3
Great Blue Heron 2
Great Egret 3
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 4
Green Heron 2
Cattle Egret common
Killdeer 1
Black-bellied Plover 5
Least Sandpiper 1
Sanderling 1
Spotted Sandpiper 3
Willet 1
Greater Yellowlegs 12
Lesser Yellowlegs 2
Ruddy Turnstone 14
Clapper Rail 3
Neotropic Cormorant a few
Double-crested Cormorant a few
Anhinga 3
Lesser Scaup 3
Red-breasted Merganser 1
Merlin 1
American Kestrel 3
Turkey Vulture too common
Plain Pigeon* 1
Rock Dove common
White-winged Dove 1^
Eurasian Collared-Dove a few
Common Ground-Dove 1
Zenaida Dove 2
Mourning Dove 1^
Rose-throated Parrot* 1 heard
Smooth-billed Ani 7
Antillean Palm Swift* common
Cuban Emerald* 5
Belted Kingfisher 1
West Indian Woodpecker* 1?
Cuban Green Woodpecker* 1^
La Sagra's Flycatcher* 4
Crescent-eyed Pewee* 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 9
Gray Catbird 2
Northern Mockingbird common
Yellow-throated Vireo* 4
White-eyed Vireo 3
Cuban Vireo* 1
Black-and-white Warbler 4
Northern Waterthrush 8
Ovenbird 2
Prairie Warbler 10+
Palm Warbler common
Yellow-throated Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 3
Magnolia Warbler * 2
Cape May Warbler* 1^
Common Yellowthroat 9
Yellow Warbler 3
Northern Parula 10+
American Redstart 10
Black-throated Blue Warbler* 5
Cuban Blackbird* 1
Shiny Cowbird 4
Greater Antillean Grackle common
Tawny-shouldered Blackbird* 1^
House Sparrow common
Black Skimmer 40+ at Antilla harbour
Cave Swallow 40+ at Antilla harbour
Great Lizard-Cuckoo* 1 at the isle of Youth
The following species are the endemic or near endemic birds that were seen in Jamaica in less than an hour - at the bird-sanctuary in Anchovy about 10-15 minutes drive from Montego Bay.
Caribbean Dove 1
Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo 1
Jamaican Mango 1
Red-billed Streamertail 2+
Jamaican Woodpecker 1
Loggerhead Kingbird 2
Orangequit 7
Jamaican Oriole 2
Yellow-shouldered Grassquit 5
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