Before I move on to the final chapter of the Caribbean birding adventure, let’s have a look at the Lesser Antilles from the perspective of an organized birding tour that went to 9 islands. Rigdon Currie has a wonderful channel on Youtube for birders and I always enjoy seeing how other people experience the same birding locations. You get a better perspective of the parrot outlooks and how difficult it is to spot the parrots as they zoom past.
Last but not least, Puerto Rico coming up next!
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!
The Antillean Crested Hummingbird (Orthorhyncus cristatus) is a species of hummingbird in the Trochilidae family. I saw this one as we were driving up to the Syndicate Forest. I think it’s a female as the crest isn’t that bright blue colour.
They are found in found in the Caribbean Islands of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, north-east Puerto Rico, Saba, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Eustatius, the British Virgin Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Lesser Antilles. The only island where I saw one was Dominica.
These clips really show the beauty of the male bird’s crest!
And this one is trying to have a drink and a bath at the same time!
Leaving St Vincent, I was annoyed (but not surprised when both Liat flights (connecting in Barbados) were late. Especially because it meant that we would miss the last bus and have to get a very expensive taxi to the other side of the island.
It’s possible to get a good deal on this flight and the taxes are supposedly included. This direct flight wasn’t available when we booked. Dominica had been hit badly by a hurricane and some flights were curtailed for awhile. It may look like taxes are included but there is an extra departure tax to be paid at the airport. They want cash which I didn’t have since I had made a point of spending all our ECD save a few bucks for snacks and I knew there would be ATMs at SJU to get USD easily. They finally took me upstairs to some kind of office and processed the fee on my credit card.
Waiting in the departure gate area. St Vincent Airport does have a small gift shop before security, nothing in the departure area.
We had a longer layover than expected in Barbados but at least they had a good variety of fast food places that take credit cards.
Some of the gates are in a different building down this long-ish hall. The shops and restaurants are in the main terminal.
Is this flight EVER going to leave?
Boarding at rear only.
You better put that backpack on the plane!
By this time I had caught on and we were sitting in the rear.
Goodbye Barbados!
Hello Dominica!
Another small airline.
Yay, the backpack is on the truck!
Outside the terminal, we met a man who had come to pick up his son and was headed our way so we paid him about half the taxi would have cost to take us to our hotel (which was on his way).
After birding in Dominica (post to follow) Dr Birdy dropped us at the bus stop outside Portsmouth. We waited about 15 minutes until a minibus arrived. They dropped us on the road outside and we walked into the airport.
Last minute birding outside the airport.
Goodbye Dominica!
Even after the airport tax hassle our troubles weren’t over. The flight to Antigua was only about an hour late. Much to my surprise, the flight from Antigua to San Juan left on time. It was a puddle jumper that stopped at St Kitts and Tortola enroute. It was in one of these islands that the schedule went all to hell. We were stuck on the tarmac for 2 hours waiting for another late Liat plane which had passengers connecting to our plane. At first they left us sweltering with no AC or water until everyone on the plane was in near mutiny, then they turned the AC on and brought us water. We finally arrived in San Juan just after midnight. Already exhausted, I had to navigate a rental car to our hotel, finally arriving around 2am.
Prince Harry is well known for his dedication to conservation and has visited many countries to learn about the wildlife. When he visited St Vincent last year, he went to the botanical gardens and met some St Vincent Parrots which caught his attention. He also did a “short walk” along the Vermont Trail but it doesn’t say if he saw the parrots at the look out or not. My dream would be to get Prince Harry on board more bird conservation issues along with all his followers!
#PrinceHarry
#conservation
#StVincentParrot
The Purple-throated Carib (Eulampis jugularis) is a beautiful species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae found in the Caribbean islands.
They have a wide distribution in the Caribbean. I personally saw them in St Lucia & St Vincent. They are very striking when the sun highlights their purple throats!
Se what a beauty he is, they even put a slo-mo sequence at the end!
A little privacy please, can’t you see I am taking a shower?
After hiking the Vermont Trail and visiting the Parrot Breeding aviary in the botanical garden, I was hoping to find some kind of knickknack with a Vincie Parrot on it as a souvenir. This was on a Saturday afternoon and I had trouble finding minibuses to get around, wasted a lot of time waiting. The scenery was really nice as we drove from the Vermont Trail to town. I was lucky and got a front seat.
Upon arrival at the market, everyone had pretty much packed and gone home. They close early on a Saturday afternoon.
I grabbed a taxi to the wharf (where cruise ships dock) as someone told me they had souvenir shops there but unfortunately they were also closed.
There was nothing to do but get a taxi back to the hotel as I couldn’t even find a minibus by then! Lesson learned, find out what time the shops close in advance!
After an exhausting hike up the Vermont Trail, I was still keen to see the St Vincent Parrot close up as they are really stunning birds. I knew that the St Vincent Botanical Gardens has a Vincie Breeding Facility so headed there hoping to see them up close and personal.
The gardens themselves are lush and beautiful.
The aviaries for the breeding facility are in the rear of the garden.
Here you can get fairly close to the parrots, especially if they like you and come to the cage wire. Getting photos is a lot harder as there is a barrier preventing you from going right up to the wire (they don’t want people to touch the birds). While I did SEE the birds very well, I had trouble getting past the wire to get a photo.
This was the best I could do and it doesn’t come close to doing this amazing bird justice.
This shows the set up of the aviaries, see the barrier that keeps you away from the wire.
The highlight of a birding trip to St Vincent is undoubtably the lush tropical Vermont Trail. Most people of good fitness seem to make it up to the Parrot Lookout in an hour of steady hiking. Being of poor fitness, it took me about 2.5 hours!
From the Beachcomber’s Hotel, I took a minibus to the market. It was a Saturday morning so they weren’t as frequent and despite my early start, it was 7:30 by the time I arrived at the market. I was alone, my husband needed a rest day by the pool. I waited another half hour for the minibus to the start of the Vermont Trail. I would have had to walk up another hill from the main road so I paid the driver to take me all the way to the entrance.
It costs $5 to enter but there weren’t any staff on hand so I just walked in. I did pay on the way out. They seem used to birders doing this.
It starts out as a pretty well-marked trail with a gradual ascent.
The trail gets more challenging as you keep going up. They do have signs to point the way. 
There were some parts where I could barely tell which way to go. 
Rest area about halfway up.
Finally you reach the parrot lookout. This is the best place to stop and just listen and wait. They fly back and forth the valley. You will hear them first, then try to find them!
Along the trail, I saw both Purple & Green-throated Carib Hummingbirds. Unfortunately I couldn’t get them in decent light.
I was at the Parrot Lookout by around 10am. They kept me waiting almost 2 hours and I was getting worried I hiked all the way up there for nothing. Thankfully they appeared and started swooping the valley before noon. It is really hard to get a good shot unless you are lucky enough to have them perch near you (which I wasn’t). When they flew against the sky all I got were silhouettes, when they flew against the trees I couldn’t get them in focus – green bird against green tree background and I don’t have that good aim!
They stopped swooping after around half an hour so I walked back down to the office, paid the $5 fee and looked around their displays.
I wish they would have had smaller ones like this for sale!
Of course there were no taxis or buses to take me back down. Many people will pre-book one but I had no idea what time I would finish as I wasn’t going to leave until I saw the parrots even if it took all day! Finally a car came and dropped off a staff member and I got a ride back to the main road. From there I got a minibus back to town.
The Beachcomber’s Hotel in St Vincent ticks all the boxes for the traveling birder in the Caibbean who also wants a bit of R&R on the side. It’s conveniently located near the airport and you can get minibuses just outside the property into town.
We arrived at night, walked across the street to the bus stop and got a minibus which let us out at the gate.
Night time view of Beachcomber’s.
Daylight reveals an attractive garden full of flowers.
Our room was on the end with a small table & chairs for our use on the patio.
A comfortable king bed with attractive artwork in our comfortable room.
This is the entrance to the restaurant with the pool area just beyond.
The pool area overlooks the beach.
Always time for a bit of birdwatching while sunbathing! 
Random lizard
Our stay was over a Saturday so we got to enjoy their weekly BBQ. They had some traditional Caribbean music………….
…………..a salad bar (sorry for blurry pic)……………
……..and a choice of meats from the menu. I had the ribs and my husband had the fish.
We had a great albeit short stay here and found that the Beachcomber’s was a nice all-rounder at a very reasonable price. They average 4 stars on Trip Advisor although I gave them 5 as we were very happy with our stay. You can book direct on their website or use online booking portals such as Rocketmiles, Pointshound or similar to maximise your benefits.