Birding West Jamaica Endemics

Tuesday, February 5: Portland Parish

Travel to Port Antonio (approx. 4 hours)
Bay View Eco Resort

Bird of the Day: Jamaican Owl

Today was a long travel day to Port Antonio on the north-east side of the island. Google had led us to think that we would travel east to Kington, then north, but our guides assured us that it would be 2 hours less to go via Montego Bay and the north shore road. So, this meant we had to negotiate all of the road construction again.



We stopped a couple of times for bathroom breaks. We drove through local communities. There were several schools. Young people on their way to school were all neatly dressed in uniforms.



We finally pulled over for a birding stop at Runaway Bay to view Sandwich Terns and other water birds among a colony of Royal Terns on a reef.



Our lunch stop was on lovely East Harbour in Port Antonio. As usual our lunch choices were jerk chicken, jerk pork or jerk fish.



From there it was a short hop to our new home at Bay View Eco Resort, on a hill above the town. Getting out of the vans, we saw a small female warbler flitting in the palms. It took a bit of discussion to pin it down – Cape May Warbler. A good sign for birding here.



We checked into our large room overlooking the forest – it was on the third level and had a balcony overlooking the tree tops. This made birding before breakfast easy.



After we had settled in, we met our group outside for birding and hiked along a forested road at the top of the hill. Soon, just up the hill from the resort, we saw our first Black-billed Streamertail and Jamaican Lizard Cuckoo. Other birds seen well were Jamaican Spindalis, Jamaican Woodpecker, Jamaican Oriole, Olive-throated Parakeet, Smooth-billed Ani and White-collared Swift. Although we had rather poor views of Green-rumped Parrotlets we were happy to spot them. Back at our room, we enjoyed a beer and a short break.



At 6:30, as it got dark, we met our group for a possible Jamaican Owl sighting. Veda played the call on her phone, a surprising growl. We were all looking high in the trees, but Wayne spotted it fairly low right above us. Guides got their flashlights on it and we were able to get good photos. Success!



Now were ready for dinner. We walked together down a path to the resort restaurant, starting, of course, with our bird list for the day.

February 5 Birds

(18.461, -77.362), Saint Ann, JM
Feb 5, 2019 11:10 AM - 11:15 AM
Protocol: Stationary
6 species

Ruddy Turnstone  2
Royal Tern  30
Sandwich Tern  7
Brown Pelican  2
Great Blue Heron  1
Little Blue Heron  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52783341

Bayview Eco Resort, Portland, JM
Feb 5, 2019 3:57 PM - 5:54 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.609 kilometer(s)
27 species

White-crowned Pigeon  7
Common Ground-Dove  2
Zenaida Dove  2
Smooth-billed Ani  8
Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo  1
White-collared Swift  12
Jamaican Mango  1
Vervain Hummingbird  1
Streamertail (Black-billed)  1     Seen well by all. Long tail, black bill
Magnificent Frigatebird  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Osprey  1
Jamaican Woodpecker  1
Green-rumped Parrotlet  4     Pic
Olive-throated Parakeet  2
Sad Flycatcher  1
Loggerhead Kingbird  1
Jamaican Vireo  1
White-chinned Thrush  2
Northern Mockingbird  3
Jamaican Euphonia  2
Jamaican Spindalis  3
Jamaican Oriole  2
Black-and-white Warbler  1
American Redstart  2
Cape May Warbler  1
Bananaquit  2

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52783313

Bayview Eco Resort, Portland, JM
Feb 5, 2019 6:59 PM - 7:09 PM
Protocol: Stationary
1 species

Jamaican Owl  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52783254