Bird-Nerd Alert, May 12

Those of you who know me, know that I am a bit of a bird nerd; actually those of you who really know me, know that I am A LOT of a bird nerd! I knew that on this trip, I would not be able to satisfy my nerdiness because I knew that we would be occupied most of each and every day and there would be little time left over for that activity.

The Dominican Republic is actually not a great bird watching destination, especially at this time of the year.  This is because:

1) the population pressures are pretty hard on the natural environment, and the indigenous bird population is under pressure from agricultural practices and other human endeavours like hunting and habitat destruction; and,

2) a great deal of the resident birds have gone north to their breeding grounds at this time of the year.  In fact, Canada is the place you want to be in May if you like to watch birds. Nonetheless, I brought my binoculars with me "au cas où" ("in case of", in French - pronounced "oka-zoo").  

(Selfie alert!!!)

I fortunately was able observe in passing a number of species and I was also lucky to discover that there were a lot of birds in a little forested area behind our compound in Ocoa.  I was also pleased to discover another person in our group who was interested in hanging out the window with me - thanks, Susan!!!! 

For those of you interested (read: nerdy, like me) here is a list of what we saw:

Antillean Mango 

Hispanolan Emerald

Hispanolan Woodpecker

Antillean Piculet 

Loggerhead Kingbird

Hispanolan Pewee

White-Necked Crow

Starling

House sparrow

Cave Swallow

Palmchat 

Northern Mockingbird

Rufous-throated Solitaire

Red-legged Thrush

Bananaquit

Black-crowned Palm-tanager

Yellow-faced Grassquit

Greater Antillean Bullfinch

White-collared Swift

Antillean Palm Swift

Black Swift

Antillean Nighthawk

Hispaniolan Lizard-cuckoo

Hispaniolan Parakeet

Hispaniolan Parrot

Mourning Dove

Common Ground-dove

White-winged Dove

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Turkey Vulture

American Kestrel

Cattle Egret

Black-crowned Night Heron

Magnificent Frigatebird

Brown Pelican

And a lot of "sp" meaning I saw a bird but, whatever....

Not too bad for occasional birding!