Tag Archives: Cayman Islands

The 25 Best Caribbean Islands?

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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.

  1. Puerto Rico
  2. Dominican Republic
  3. St Marteen
  4. Curacao
  5. The Bahamas
  6. Jamaica
  7. St Barts
  8. Cayman Islands
  9. US Virgin Islands
  10. St Kitts and Nevis
  11. Aruba
  12. Barbados
  13. Martinique
  14. Antigua and Barbuda
  15. Montserrat
  16. St. Lucia
  17. Trinidad and Tobago
  18. Turks and Caicos
  19. British Virgin Islands
  20. Guadeloupe
  21. Dominica
  22. Grenada
  23. Anguilla
  24. Haiti
  25. St. Vincent and the Grenadines

See me in Jamaica!

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See me in Grand Cayman!

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Cruise Ship Birding Made Simple

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A few months ago, I did a series targeted to the budget birder on birding from a cruise ship and how to put together your own birding cruise.  Although this way does save you money and you can choose any ship you prefer, there is also an option for those who prefer an organized group birding cruise.  Carefree Birding offers a variety of itineraries mostly around the Caribbean.  You basically book the cruise component through their travel agency and then book a birding package for those who wish to go on the birding shore excursions (non-birding family members don’t have to book the excursions).  This offers a nice option if you are short of time to do your own legwork in booking private birding shore excursions such as I did.  Since you have to use their travel agency you do lose out on airline miles for booking through a frequent flyer mile portal such as United Cruises or bargaining for the cruise fare on Cruise Compete, but for many people time = money so they prefer to have everything organized for them.

James Currie of Birding Adventures did a cruise on the Celebrity Equinox (ship details here) and you can see what a typical birding cruise is like on his videos.

Costa Rica, Belize & Cozumel – it was nice to see their visit to Crooked Tree in Belize.  I did this as a land trip and had a different experience because I was targeting parrots and didn’t do the water excursion.

Panama, Grand Cayman & Cartegena, Colombia – I wish I had known about the botanical gardens in Grand Cayman as we went to a different place back in 2008.  I like their option better!

A Step Closer To Seeing Wild Cuban Amazon Parrots

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The United States and Cuba have agreed to restore scheduled commercial airline service for the first time in more than five decades in a deal allowing 110 round-trip flights a day between the former Cold War foes.  More details in this article.

This is great news to anyone who wants to go birding in Cuba and hopefully see Cuban Amazon parrots!   Tourism is still not a legitimate reason for Americans to visit Cuba but “educational tours” are and I would consider birding as educational.

In the meanwhile, you can still see their cousins – Cayman Amazon Parrots in nearby Grand Cayman.

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Cuban Amazon Parrot (Amazona leucocephala)

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The Cuban Amazon (Amazona leucocephala) also known as Cuban Parrot or the rose-throated parrot, is a medium-sized mainly green parrot found in woodlands and dry forests of Cuba, the Bahamas and Cayman Islands in the Caribbean.

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There are four subspecies of the Cuban amazon:

  • A. l. leucocephala (Linnaeus, 1758). Present throughout Cuba, including Isla de la Juventud (formerly known as Isla de Pinos).
  • A. l. bahamensis (H. Bryant, 1867), also called the Bahama amazon. Two extant populations in the Bahamas; one on the Abaco Islands and one on Great Inagua (with sightings from nearby Little Inagua). Now extirpated populations were present on the Acklins and Crooked Islands and possibly also elsewhere in the Bahamas.
  • A. l. caymanensis (Cory, 1886), also called the Grand Cayman amazon. Restricted to Grand Cayman Island.
  • A. l. hesterna Bangs, 1916. Now restricted to the island of Cayman Brac, but formerly also on Little Cayman.

The birds I saw while on our cruise were the Cayman Parrot subspecies.  Now that Cuba has opened up to tourism, we should be hearing about more sightings of the nominate subspecies as well!

Cayman parrotLEARN MORE ABOUT CUBAN/CAYMAN PARROTS

Wikipedia

World Parrot Trust

Birdlife

Cayman Islands Government

VIDEOS

This video was taken in the same aviary we were in back in 2008.

And here are some in the wild in Grand Cayman.

 

Grand Cayman Island – Shore Visit From 2008 Cruise

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This was a cruise we did back in 2008 so I may be a bit fuzzy on the details but at least I still have the photos!  We were on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas doing a 7 day RT Miami cruise to Labadee, Grand Cayman, Ocho Rios & Cozumel.

I do recall we had booked a diving trip that was cancelled due to bad weather so we were on our own.  We ended up taking a bus to a wildlife park that was called Boatswain’s Bay  back in 2008 but is now called Cayman Turtle Farm Island Wildlife Encounter.  It seems to have the same attractions as it did back them but they seem to be pushing the turtles more now.  Of course I was keen to see Cayman Parrots!  We did walk through the whole park, including the turtle farm but but spent most of our time in the walk-in aviary with some very friendly birds!

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Back in the day, people were constantly telling me to go to hell…………………so I finally did!

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Since we were using local buses, we headed back a bit early so had time to walk around the port area, check out some shops and watch some guy who was hawking photos with his macaws.

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Display only, unfortunately this painting wasn’t for sale!

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Adopt An Acre To Help Trust

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The next time you take a hike through the Mastic Trail or visit the Cayman Brac Parrot Reserve, you could just find yourself standing on your own land.

Supporters of the Cayman islands National Trust can now adopt an acre of land, or more or less, to help protect endangered species and threatened sites in the Cayman Islands.

The new fundraising initiative, Adopt Nature, gives people a chance to assist with management and maintenance costs of their adopted area.

Under the scheme, members of the public can adopt a quarter-acre for $99 or a full acre for $350.

Full article here

HT:  City Parrots

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I really love the idea of (sort of) owning a small piece of rainforest so birds can fly there freely and safely!

The Mastic Reserve, Salina Reserve and Governor Gore’s Bird Sanctuary are among the areas available for adoption in Grand Cayman, along with the Cayman Brac Parrot Reserve and Brac Splits in Cayman Brac and Booby Pond Nature Reserve in Little Cayman, according to the National Trust.