In 2003, I had the opportunity to travel to Cuba with a group of ornithologists and other bird researchers. It was an officially licensed trip, with all of the necessary permits from appropriate agencies – when I re-entered the US, I could declare my destination to customs freely (and I did). Things being what they are these days though, I won’t mention the others on the trip by name. [Update: As that statement suggests, this diary was originally published in August, 2007, during some of the darker days of the Bush Administration. The group was mostly researchers affiliated with universities in Michigan - U of M, MSU and Wayne State - with a smattering of others from around the country.]
Watching the sun set over the Bay of Pigs
The main purposes of the trip were to establish some stronger working relationships with Cuban ornithologists and to get some surveys established as baselines for ongoing population studies. We visited in February, when North American migrants would be wintering on the island (but there would probably not be many migrants moving through). We also got to do some general purpose birding to learn more about Cuba’s endemic species.
Considering how close the island is to both mainland Mexico and southern Florida, as well as the other Caribbean islands – and how mobile birds are by virtue of having wings - it’s amazing how many endemic species there are in Cuba (29, if I remember correctly – but that’s before splits). We were able to see a good number of endemics – I nearly destroyed my scope on the third day while trying to make a quick switch from some of the local subspecies of kestrel to a pair of Fernandina’s Flickers (while still trying to catch a glimpse of a flock of Cuban Parakeets). But first - to the museum!
Left: Bee Hummingbird skins - life size! Right: Taxidermy mounted Fernandina's Flicker
We started our trip in Havana with a visit to the Museum of Natural History, for talks by some of the nation’s ornithologists, slide shows about their projects and (high point for geeks!) a visit to their collections. They had a few Ivory-billed Woodpeckers, Fernandina’s Flicker, along with Bee Hummingbirds (the world’s smallest bird), Cuban Emeralds, West Indian Woodpeckers (closely related to our red-bellied woodpeckers), Cuban Todies, Cuban Trogon (with its truly cool tail), Gundlach’s Hawk, and the Cuban kestrels... and so much more.
Ivory-billed Woodpecker (taxidermied specimen), Museum of Natural History, Havana.
One of the researchers who was with us on the trip told us about the paleo-birds of Cuba, including an owl that stood six feet tall. There were no terrestrial mammal predators way back when, so oversized birds filled the void for large dangerous things. (I have the usual issues with Cuba on human rights and other matters, but one thing you have to say for them – they don’t seem to be anti-science. They don’t have much money, but they did seem to be very supportive of research and education given their limited resources.)
From Havana, we headed south to the Bay of Pigs. Yes, that Bay of Pigs. In the US, most of us only have one frame of reference for the spot, but it’s actually a world class dive location (I don’t dive, so I’m taking the word of others more in the know) and an incredible birding location. The area is fairly lightly developed, so there is a lot of habitat for local birds and for a migratory stopover site.
Above, Bee Hummingbird - below, Cuban Emerald
On the way, we stopped to look for Bee Hummingbirds, the world’s smallest birds. From tailtip to beak-tip, the largest of them are 2" long (measured like the museum specimens); a perched bird is no more than 1.75" tall. Really – take a moment, grab a ruler and see how tiny that is. Yet we did manage to find one in the thicket, along with a Cuban Emerald – another hummingbird who looked huge by comparison, but it still only 4" long. (The big story at this stop turned out to be a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet – only the second Cuban record at that point... location, location, location!)
Greater Flamingoes, Salinas mudflats, Cuba
We visited a few locations around the Bay – Salinas (with huge mudflats), Bermeja and the Zapata Swamp. At both Bermeja and Salinas, we did counts which will be used to study population trends on the island - after our initial counts, these areas have been recounted in the subsequent years. One of the interesting things about Cuba is that it has not been heavily developed under Castro's regime (no money for it). However, some of these spots around the Bay of Pigs - and many other coastal areas in the country - would be very desirable as resorts. It's easy to see how the country could be over run with Cancun-like development after Castro is gone. These counts from before that time will give a really good sense of the importance of the areas, and hopefully, will help with the preservations of some of the key migratory stopovers and also of areas critical for the endemic species.
Above, Cuban Parrots, Bermaja; below, Cuban Pygmy-owl, Bermeja
The next stop was Soroa, where we got into some higher elevations. We had some great birds here too, including plenty of Cuban todies and Cuban Trogons, and the ethereal-voiced Cuban Solitaire. But my favorite birds from this part of the trip were the West Indian Woodpeckers, observed while drinking (real!) mojitos after dragging chairs outside the door to our room. Birding really doesn’t get much better than that. Really.
West Indian Woodpeckers, Soroa
Okay, this is already pretty long, so I’ll stop here. [Update: I realized that I never finished doing Part 2 for this - will publish that in the next few weeks, probably Thanksgiving weekend.]