Chris Lansdell's Birding & Nature Diary: Cuba, Day 13, 16 March 2017 - Cueva del Jabali, Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo

My last full day in Cuba and I opted to take a look around the area surrounding Cueva del Jabali on Cayo Coco. I found the spot without too much trouble and on my arrival it was deserted which was nice. A walk of the trail from the carpark was very nice with 2 Key West Quail-doves (the main speciality here) being easily located. Cuban Tody, 2 Cuban Bullfinches, La Sagra's Flycatcher, 2 Red-legged Thrushes and a lovely Worm-eating Warbler were also seen before a coach load of noisy tourists turned up and I quit the scene. A short drive away along the entrance road I found a promising looking track so parked up and went for a wander. It proved very good with Prairie Warbler, 4 Oriente Warblers, 2 Cuban Bullfinches, 3 Western Spindalis, a territorial pair of Cuban Vireos, Loggerhead Kingbird and American Redstart being seen in one spot followed by a Ruddy Quail-dove further along the track.

I followed that up with a look at the lagoon on Cayo Coco which this time held 21 West Indian Whistling Ducks. I walked the mangrove scrub here for ages looking for Mangrove Cuckoo but it just wasn't to be. Instead I had arms-length views of Cuban Gnatcatcher and Cuban Pewee plus Great Lizard Cuckoo, 2 Zenaida Doves, 2 Northern Parulas and Black-and-white Warbler

Prairie Warbler

Cuban Vireo

Cuban Bullfinch

Cuban Pewee

Cuban Gnatcatcher

Zenaida Dove

Back on Cayo Guillermo in the late afternoon I ventured right to the far western end to explore the roadside. Here there were a good number of migrant warblers with 2 Cape May Warblers, 2 Common Yellowthroats, 2 American Redstarts, the only Yellow Warbler of the trip, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Palm Warblers, 2 Northern Waterthrushes plus a Northern Rough-winged Swallow. Back near our resort a perched roadside Cuban Black Hawk was photographically nice!

To finish off with I managed to find away to the edge of the wader lagoon from the north where I was able to get much closer to the feeding Stilt Sandpipers and Short-billed Dowitchers and also has 2 Green Herons, a Little Blue Heron and another Common Yellowthroat.