Almost all holidays I go on are world birding trips. They are never holidays; they are always “trips”. The word “holiday” gives the impression of lazing around on sunny beaches: but one thing my trips are not, are lazy.
On my trips I always end up doing things like:
Our trips are extremely hard-core and we do things like hiking 12 hours in the Andes and camping in Peru at 16,400 ft. We always come back fitter and thinner.
On my trips I always end up doing things like:
- Getting up stupidly early (3 am) to drive/hike somewhere for dawn;
- Missing meals or just having biscuits because you don’t have time to waste on eating;
- Staying up late (sometimes as late as midnight), looking for nocturnal birds that like to keep you awake; it’s called owling (actively looking for owls).
Our trips are extremely hard-core and we do things like hiking 12 hours in the Andes and camping in Peru at 16,400 ft. We always come back fitter and thinner.
Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig and her dad
at Gatwick Airport
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
My most recent trip was to Jamaica for a week at Easter. We didn’t go there for the quantity of birds; we went there for the quality. Meaning, we went there to try and see all the 28 Jamaican endemics, not to get 500 ticks. Jamaica has some fantastic endemic birds like Jamaican Blackbird, Orangequit, Red-billed Streamertail and black-billed Streamertail (amazing hummingbirds with long tails), Ring-tailed Pigeon, Crested Quail-dove, Jamaican Lizard Cuckoo, White-eyed Thrush and Blue-Mountain Vireo.
Black-billed Streamertail, Mockinghill Hotel,
Jamaica, April 2014 Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
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| Red-billed Streamertail, Cockpit Country, Jamaica, April 2014
Photo taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
.JPG) Black-billed Streamertail (immature male), Mockingbird Hill Hotel, Jamaica, April 2014 Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
For me, Jamaica and Jamaican birds are encapsulated by Bob Marley's song "Three Little Birds". Bob Marley himself said that the song was inspired by "Canaries" coming to his windowsill. Canaries are the local name for Saffron Finch, which are beautiful bright yellow birds but an introduced species to Jamaica.
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| Bob Marley, Jamaica |
Jamaican birding is world
birding at its best.
The all-inclusive resort we stayed at was beautiful, with private bungalows, swimming pools, sandy coves with the refreshing clear turquoise sea lapping at the shores and also bars that served thirst-quenching mango slushes. Unfortunately, we were almost never there to enjoy its delights (we didn’t eat there until the third day).
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| Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Runaway Beach, Jamaica, April 2014 Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig |
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| Runaway Bay, Jamaica, April 2014 Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
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| Mural for Usain Bolt, near Windsor, Cockpit Country, Jamaica, April 2014 Photo taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
After driving up and down
for a bit we decided to try stopping and using playback. Driving down to the end of the track to turn
around, we noticed a lorry parked at end of a dead-end trail off the
track. This was where, when we had come in
the daytime a couple of days before, we had seen two young guys who were
clearly not farmers, sitting on their motorbikes smoking ganja. We decided not to hang about at this end of
the track and drove back from where we had come.
We were owling in the track
for a while, but then we heard a car coming towards us and so ran to our car,
just in case they were on their way to meet the lorry. A while later we had all had brief glimpses
of a Northern Potoo . We only heard the Jamaican Owl and sadly did not
see it, so started to drive home. Just
then, the lorry we had seen came along the track with all its lights on along
the front and sides, so we could see how long it was. It spotted us, switched its lights off and
reversed. About 20 minutes later, just as we had forgotten about the lorry, it
happened again! After about 10 minutes we had spotted a Northern
Potoo perched on a post next to the road, giving an amazing view.
The lorry had brilliant timing *sarcasm* and decided just then that we were not
police, they flushed the Potoo and we made a hasty exit. Though Mum immediately
declared after we were a good 10 minutes away from the track that she wanted to
go back and look for the Jamaican Owl; Dad and I ignored her.
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| Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Cockpit Country, Jamaica, April 2014 Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig |
In the end, we saw 27 out
of 28 Jamaican endemics. Despite lots of
owling, the Jamaican owl was the bird that got away. I got 57 world bird ticks in Jamaica (remember
quality, not quantity), which included quite a few Caribbean subspecies such as
Bahama Mockingbird, Stolid Flycatcher and Cave Swallow and seven Caribbean
endemics like West Indian Whistling Duck, Antillian Palm Swift and Zenaida Dove
and nesting White-Tailed Tropicbirds.
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| White-tailed Tropicbird, Happy Grove, Jamaica, April 2014 Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
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Bahama Mockingbird, Port Henderson,
Jamaica, April 2014
Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
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Crested Quail-Dove, Blue Mountains,
Jamaica, April 2014
Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
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| Greater Antillean Grackle, Port Henderson, Jamaica, April 2014 Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
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| Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at The Blue Mountains, Jamaica, April 2014 Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig |
