The Rufous-throated Solitaire (Myadestes genibarbis) is a species of bird placed in the family Turdidae. The bird is nicknamed the siffleur montagne (or mountain whistler) in Dominica. This little guy came pretty close to me at the Syndicate.
They are found on several Caribbean Islands such as Dominica, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Martinique, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent.
I love this cute “red beard” effect of their colouring!
I have already been to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel and I’ll be visiting Trinidad, St Lucia, St Vincent, Dominica & Puerto Rico soon for birding – and I am sure birding wasn’t a criteria in this review but it is interesting as a sample of what rich people are looking for in a Caribbean island!
From the list below, I have bolded the islands which have endemic parrots as that is my top interest, though some other islands also have decent birding.
See me in Jamaica!
See me in Grand Cayman!
The Black-billed Amazon/Parrot (Amazona agilis) is a parrot endemic to Jamaica. Sometimes called the black-billed parrot, this amazon parrot is mostly green with small patches of red on the wing and sometimes flecked on the head. Its bill makes it easy to separate from most other amazons, including the yellow-billed amazon, which also lives in Jamaica. It is the smallest Amazona parrot at 25 cm (10 in).
Since I couldn’t get a decent photo it’s Wikipedia to the rescue!
They are endemic to Jamaica with a somewhat smaller range than the Yellow-billed Parrot. We got a glimpse of one near Ocho Rios, you need a really good guide to find them! Would have been better without the rain!
LEARN MORE ABOUT BLACK-BILLED PARROTSThis bird was harder to find on video. Fast forward to 18:50 to catch a good clip of them here.
As I mentioned before, we had been to Ocho Rios on a previous cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas in 2008. I had found out about the Enchanted Gardens online and we also had to do the touristy things – Dunns River Falls and the market. We DIY’d the day. We took a bus to and from the falls. Then we hired a taxi to Enchanted Gardens and kept the driver for the return trip and had him drop us off at the market. We walked through the town and visited some small shops as well, then had the traditional jerk chicken in a local non-touristy restaurant, then hit the Margaritaville and back to the ship. Very few cruisers DIY in this port but being experienced travelers we had no problems at all!
Dunn’s River Falls
Enchanted Gardens
The little Olive-throated Conure on the end was the one I named Tiki. The guide said he didn’t have a name so I gave him one!
Ocho Rios Market
Parking $100 per hour! Glad we walked!
Local restaurant – great jerk chicken!
Shopping center near the cruise ship and Margaritaville
Adding to our collection of parrot t-shirts! This was a huge ship, at the time it was one of the largest cruise ships in the world but it has since been surpassed.
The Yellow-billed Parrot, also called the Jamaican amazon, (Amazona collaria) is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. It is a predominantly green parrot with a short tail and pink throat and neck. It is endemic to Jamaica, where its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, plantations, and rural gardens. It is threatened by habitat loss and illegal trapping of wild birds for the pet trade.
They are endemic to the Caribbean Island of Jamaica. We saw them while on a cruise ship visit to Ocho Rios. They are wide-spread throughout the island.
LEARN MORE ABOUT YELLOW-BILLED PARROTSIt doesn’t get much better than this, a whole mini-documentary about birding in Jamaica featuring Yellow-billed Parrots! They start at 19:20.
If you’re pressed for time, check out this hungry little guy!
This was our second time visiting Ocho Rios on a cruise ship. On the first visit (which will be covered on a separate post) we did all the touristy things – Dunns River Falls, the market and finished at the Enchanted Gardens which has a beautiful walk-in aviary.
Princess Cruises has a number of shore excursions but none of them are suitable for birders. We arranged a private tour with top birding guide Wendy Lee. She can be contacted by email at wendylee@cwjamaica.com and you can see another review of a land based birding tour with her on Trip Advisor.
We disembarked with trepidation as the weather was already drizzly. Wendy was right there waiting for us and said she would do her best in spite of the weather. I was prioritizing the 2 endemic parrot species – Yellow-billed Parrot and Black-billed Parrot. Wendy took us to a grove of trees and sure enough the parrots were there, albeit very soggy parrots! I did my best with the photos but I kept having to cover my camera from the rain.
Wendy had planned to take us somewhere else after the parrots but she said the road would be very dodgy because of the rain and the birds would be hiding anyways. She offered to take us to her wildlife rescue instead to show us some birds rescued from poachers. We saw a Cattle Egret along the road.
The rain had eased off a bit as we headed back to port, getting a glimpse of the ship as we went over a hill. The final stop was the Enchanted Gardens with the fabulous walk-in aviary. This seems to be the best-kept secret of Ocho Rios as hardly anyone ever goes there. The guide showed us around and since we had limited time due to the ship schedule, we only wanted to see the aviary. We spent some quality time playing with the birds. They give you food and the birds will climb all over you. I think it was around $20pp to visit the gardens.
I think this little guy is the same Olive-throated Parakeet I had named “Tiki” back in 2008!
After the tour, Wendy dropped us at the shopping centre near the cruise ship dock so we could visit the Jimmy Buffets and grab some parrot themed t-shirts. We then walked back to the ship. It turned out to be a great day in spite of the rainy morning!
Bad photo of some jerk chicken we shared at Margaritaville.
Two of these Dr Bird paintings are now gracing the hall between the kitchen and our home aviary!
Somebody else on the ship bought this – wish I had seen it first!
I’ve been blogging about Puerto Rico this past week, so since we are in the “neighborhood” lets’ check out Jamaica! There are 28 endemic species, 2 of which are parrots. There are some really beautiful bird species here and Jamaica is one of the most popular birding destinations in the Caribbean. Take some time out to count down these 28 species.