Birding at Green Castle on the Waterfall Trail

Early Saturday morning, November 21, a small party of GTSC members walked the 2 mile Waterfall Trail for a few hours of birding. This has been an exceptionally warm and dry year, so the cascade at Mingo Falls is quiet now, and the streambed has just a few remnant pools of water.

Waterfall Trail

But the birding more than compensated. In less than 3 hours, the group saw or heard 12 Jamaican endemics and 4 migrant warblers in addition to the usual assortment of Jamaican resident species. The best birds of the day were a pair of Jamaican Becards, not an easy species to find. Also seen were Loggerhead Kingbirds, Sad Flycatchers, a Rufous-tailed Flycatcher, and two Jamaican Elaenias—it was a pretty good morning for flycatchers!

The other endemics included Jamaican Vireo, Woodpecker, Euphonia, and Tody in addition to White-chinned Thrush and Orangequit.

Back at the Estate House the hummingbird show was in full swing, with Jamaican Mangos madly chasing Streamertails around the feeders. It was a pleasure to relax on the veranda with a cool drink, watch the hummingbirds, and contemplate a successful morning of birding.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 5:53 pm and is filed under Birding in Jamaica, Jamaican News, Jamaican Tourism. 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.