Lesser Antilles Day 10: St Lucia

So off we went, at 6:30 a.m., across the island, to see the white breated thrasher and St Lucia oriole. 

First, the thrasher, in some dry forest on the east side of the island.

And then the oriole, up in the interior, a pretty awful shot, but enough to document the sighting.

And we did see the St Lucia parrots, from a distance, in the center of the island. We also saw a lesser antillean flycatcher...

...and here's an Antillean Crested Hummingbird. Black-whiskered Vireos, Gray Tremblers, Shiny Cowbirds, Carib Grackles, Bananaquits, Lesser Antillean Bullfinches, and a Lesser Antillean Saltator

Also....Scaly-named pigeon, (setting out) Lesser Antillean Swifts, Green-throated Carib.

Then we went to a wetland, where we saw Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaups, Pied-billed Grebes, Common Gallinules, American Coots, Greater Yellowlegs, Magnificent Frigatebirds, Little Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, a Green Heron, Western Cattle Egrets, Great Egrets, a Great Blue Heron, an Osprey, a Gray Kingbird, Barn Swallows, Carib Grackles,  and a Yellow Warbler.Yawn! 

Lesser Antilles Day 8: Grenada

We went to the Hartman plantation (lower track) to search for the national bird of Grenada, the Grenada Dove, which is going extinct, completely unnoticed by the government of Grenada.

And we didn't see it. Well, one of us says he saw it, and some of us claim we heard it, but all in all, pretty disappointing. We did see a Grenada flycatcher.

and a Mangrove Cuckoo

and an Eared Dove

and a Grenada tree anole.

...but the dove was a bust. Also, ground doves, yellow-bellied elaenia, and the usual shite.

So, it was off to the big pond, the Grand Etang, up on the mountain, the long upper track on the map, which we mostly drove. There we saw the non-indigeous Mona Monkey, which is beyond-all-your-personal-boundaries friendly.

And bats. Pallas's Mastiff Bat. Roosting under the eaves of the visitor center.

And a rufous bellied hummingbird.

..and I bought some killer curry powder, and nutmegs and huge slabs of cinnamon bark.

There were no birds I could see on the Grand Etang.

But we did see: Scaly-naped Pigeon, Mangrove Cuckoo, Green-throated Carib, Gray Kingbird, Cocoa Thrush, Lesser Antillean Tanager, Bananaquit, and Lesser Antillean Bullfinch.

LesserAntilles Day 7: St Vincent Day 2

Next morning, we were back out, in search of the elusive Whistling Warbler. And so we drove 'round what looked like an old caldera, and then hiked up onto the mountain.

We goit a few glimpese of the Lesser Antillean Tanager at the parking lot, and then it was up into the cloud-forest.

We had a dickens of a time finding the Whistling Warbler, but it finally appeared just before we were about to give up and turn back, too briefly to be photogrpahed, but it whistled at us very obligingly. We did see a Brown Trembler and a Purple Throated Carib. 

(I have to figure out how to filter out that greenish forest light.)

We wasted an afternoon back at the Beachcomber, though I did see both a St Vincent Bush Anole, which fell off the roof;  and a St Vincent Tree Anole, on a conch shell.

...and the obligatory Brown Booby, cruising the narrow strait between our beach and the rich people's island (York Island). 

Also seen: Eared Dove, Laughing Gull, Brown Noddy, Magnificent Frigatebird, Little Blue Heron, Cattle Egret, Caribbean Elaenia, Tropical Mockingbird, Shiny Cowbird, Bananaquit, Black-faced Grassquit.

Then off to Grenada, the Spice Island of the Caribbean!

Lesser Antilles Day 6: Saint Vincent Day 1

 Exhausted by our 10-line day airport adventures, I slept, notwithstanding my sunburned face. woke up, and had breakfast, at our very nice but bossy-staffed Bridgetown hotel, and then a walk on the beach, eying the tiny translucent crabs but unable to get as picture of one. We weren't long in Barbados. 

Early  we were back to the airport and off to St Vincent. Short hop, small 'plane. We drove around the back of the airport, to a small creek flowing into the Caribbean. to eat a bag lunch.

The coastline was pretty, though the beach was trashy. 

A spotted sandpiper was poking through the garbage on the beach. And here's a smooth-billed ani, looking like a tiny dinosaur.

...also saw Greater Yellowlegs, Magnificent Frigatebird, Little Blue Heron,Green Heron,Gray Kingbird, Caribbean Martin and Carib Grackle.

After lunch, we pushed on to the interior.

..where there were broadwing hawks, some drying themselves from the rain, and scaly-necked pigeons, and the St Vincent parrots, close enough to get lots of very poor shots.

And the odd black bananaquits.

Alos on this wing of the trip: Short-tailed Swift, Green-throated Carib, Antillean Crested Hummingbird, Little Blue Heron, Western Cattle Egret, Common Black Hawk, and Gray Kingbird.

...and back to a huge, run-lubricated meal at the Beachcombers hotel.