Birding
Even in the unlikeliest places our expert finds interesting birds… and birders
Even in the unlikeliest places our expert finds interesting birds… and birders
It was the day before Christmas. I was sitting on a discarded white plastic chair amid a pile of garbage bags filled with rotting coconut husks. The ocean air was warm and pungent. I sat awkwardly, looking up into the trees.
My family and I had decided to forgo the usual, heavily commercialized Christmas celebration — the over-priced “perfect” tree, the pressure-filled hunt for gifts, the inevitable parking lot paralysis. We opted out this time and took a low-priced, all-inclusive week-long vacation in Cuba. My wife and kids were thinking “sun, sand and sea.” As always, I had bird-watching on my mind. I was not hopeful.
The first bird I saw upon arrival was a turkey vulture. Not surprising really because just about anytime, anywhere in Cuba, there will be a turkey vulture soaring effortlessly above you.
The first critter I laid eyes on at our chosen resort in Varadero was a feral house cat and not just one — a whole herd of them. It was again not surprising, then, that I heard nary a peep from the trees lining the walks and swimming pools.
Determined, I got up early one morning and ventured into a tiny strip of scrub forest separating the resort grounds from the beach. It looked like a dumping ground.
I started making sounds with my lips, and right on cue, in fluttered a variety of warblers: tail-wagging American redstarts, tail-pumping palms, northern parulas, black-and-whites, black-throated blues, ovenbirds and northern waterthrushes. Not long after, I heard, then saw, a grey catbird. Another nice surprise that
morning was a blue-grey gnatcatcher. (Any of these bird species might have migrated south from our Canadian forests: a reminder of how important it is for Canadians to help conserve southern wintering habitats.)
The most common endemic bird in that tiny forest was the Cuban emerald hummingbird, which always responds well to pishing. Counting in the various herons and egrets, along with the royal terns, brown pelicans and magnificent frigate birds seen from the beach, I racked up close to 50 bird species, all in just one day with very little effort.
I have always found the world of birders to be a small one, and this trip proved to be no exception. First, while renting a scooter from a nearby hotel, I ran into Louis Imbeau, professor of biology from l’université du Québec en Abitibi-témiscamingue, who, within minutes of exchanging pleasantries, showed me my very first Cuban green woodpecker. It was one of the most beautiful woodpeckers I have ever seen anywhere in the world.
Two days later, my wife, Toni, and I were birding on a trail just a kilometre’s walk from our resort. There we happened to encounter a polite young Cuban man with a humongous camera and lens around his neck. His name is Ernesto Reyes and he just happens to be among the top birding guides and bird photographers in Cuba. We have kept in touch ever since.
So here is the message I brought home with me: no matter where you are travelling and, no matter how bad the reviews might be in terms of birding, always bring your binoculars and a field guide. You never know what birds you might see, nor who you might meet.