Birding in Jamaica – Another Successful Ecclesdown Trip

On Monday, 15 February we revisited one of our favorite birdwatching sites on the island: Portland’s Ecclesdown Road. This time we were introducing a father and son, Green Castle guests, to the lush and scenic stretch of road bordering the John Crow Mountains. Although the morning was gray and cloudy, we were lucky that serious rain didn’t begin until our birding was almost done. That, of course, is the risk when visiting a spot with one of the highest annual rainfall totals on the island.

Jamaican Crows were especially obliging, and we saw 15 to 20 while enjoying the fantastically weird jabbering calls of this species. Blue Mountain Vireo, Jamaican Pewee, both large cuckoos, both parrots, and Arrowhead Warbler added to the endemic count. But the bird of the day was an obliging Mountain Witch (Crested Quail-Dove) ambling down the road displaying its unlikely teetering gait. All in all, we counted 20 endemics in less than 4 hours of birding.

Our guests added an additional 6 endemics while birding Green Castle so left satisfied having seen all but 2 of Jamaica’s unique species plus a good number of Caribbean specialties. Perhaps just as importantly, there was ample opportunity for snorkeling, a boat trip and hike to Kwaamen Falls, learning dominos, and plenty of pool time during their 6-day stay.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 at 10:05 pm and is filed under Birding in Jamaica. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.