A Brief Visit to Puerto Rico

Red-legged Thrush


Pearly-eyed Thrasher



Gray Kingbird


Killdeer


Smooth Billed Ani

We went to Puerto Rico for a long weekend to escape the cold of New Jersey. We stayed at the St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort which has achieved an Audubon gold rating for its preservation efforts. Although there was an island on the resort which they bill as a birding spot, the birds really weren't plentiful, perhaps because the resort recently opened. It was nice to see the nutmeg mannikin on the property, but otherwise it was the common Caribbean birds.

While relaxing on the beach and reading a birding book, we decided to visit the nearby El Yonque rain forest, a national park known for birding and we saw several species endemic to Puerto Rico, including the Puerto Rican woodpecker, our primary quest, but also the Puerto Rican Stripe-headed tanager, the national bird of Puerto Rico. We also saw the yellow shouldered blackbird but didn't get any photos.

Guana Island Birds

Kestrel

Antillean Crested Hummingbird

Bahamas Flamingo

Pearly-eyed Thrasher

Grey Kingbird

Bananaquit

We took a trip to Guana Island in BVI. Here are some of the photos we took.
We'll post more after we sort through them. The kestrel is a very detailed close up. We were about 4 feet away. The Antillean Crested Hummingbird is elusive and doesn't comb his hair on vacation either. It was amazing to see Flamingos flying. The Pearly-eyed Thrasher would drink from the flowers of this tree every morning. Here is a video of the Thrasher on a flower. The Grey Kingbird is a type of flycatcher.