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.
A close-up of the gorget with the light hitting it just right.
I was happy to get some pictures of the Hummer at some gooseberry-looking bushes near the Alluvial Fan in the Rocky Mountain National Park. The hummingbirds and the flowering shrubs were very thick that afternoon.
