Dominican Republic Birds

Black-crowned Palm-Tanager - Common in the countryside. There is quite a variety of tanagers in the DR.

Palmchat - the national bird of the DR. These guys were fairly common, even throughout Jarabacoa. Not only are they endemic, they are the only bird in their family.

Least Grebe - This guy was swimming in the lagoon on La Isla Saona. This grebe made a Pied-billed Grebe seem to be as large as a Mallard.

Common Moorhen - in the lagoon at Saona.

Greater Antillean Grackle - Not too different from our Grackles.

Brown Booby - the birding highlight of the catamaran ride.

Gray Kingbird - the tyrant of the Dominican. These guys were the most common flycatcher. They sound like Eastern Kingbirds, too.

Tricolored Heron - This guy was hunting the area below a dam on the south coast. He was a very small heron.

A hunting technique.

Nutmeg Mannikin - at Tres Ojos.

Hispaniolan Woodpecker - They sound roughly like our Red-bellies. Very common and often in flocks. I had to work to get a picture that wasn't backlit.

Black-whiskered Vireo - I was hearing the song everywhere I went. I was sure it had to be a vireo, but I couldn't find the singer for several days.

Magnificent Frigatebird - These 'pirate birds' were everywhere along the coast.

Narrow-billed Tody - on the trail to Pico Duarte. There are two todies in the DR, the Narrow-billed in the mountains and the Broad-billed everywhere else. They are in the kingfisher family.

Broad-billed Tody - near Jarabacoa.

Bananaquit - These colorful little birds were very common, especially once their song became familiar. They are fairly tiny.

Yellow-faced Grassquit - cute, sparrow-like birds.

Antillean Mango - a very large hummingbird.

Vervain Hummingbird - the second smallest bird in the world. Very tiny, but very noisy, common, and bold.

I got to see 46 bird species in the DR. Other DR bird highlight and thoughts:

• Cattle Egret - might not be the most common bird, but surely is the most visible bird. There is always one or more flying overhead.
• Common Ground Dove - I had seen these guys in SC before, but they were in decent numbers around Jarabacoa. They are tiny, cute little doves that have nice rusty patches on their wings.
• Hispaniolan Parrot - at the headquarters for the National Park in La Ciagna, I looked up and saw a flock of parrots winging across the valley.
• Hispaniolan Lizard-cuckoo - I got to see two of these gorgeous cuckoos on the trail to Pico Duarte.
• Smooth-billed Ani - These cuckoos were decently common around Jarabacoa. Massive bills and round tails.
• Antillean Palm-swift - These small swifts were abundant, but I didn't even try to take a picture of them.
• Hispaniolan Pewee - The only other flycatcher I saw. I was a little surprised by this.
• Caribbean Martin - a pretty martin.
• Red-legged Thrush - I saw this attractive thrush about 10 times around Jarabacoa.
• Hispaniolan Spindalis - Just a brief look while driving.
• Hispaniolan Oriole - A very attractive bird.