Cayman Islands trip report - June 15th to 21st, 2017

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1 Cayman Islands trip report - June 15th to 21st, 2017 Clive Green Introduction I allowed a week for this birding trip with my wife. We wanted it to be reasonably relaxing and allow time for any adverse weather. We also planned to visit with friends and their six week old twin boys. There were three life birds I was after :- Yucatan Vireo, Vitelline Warbler and Cuban Bullfinch. In addition, there were 16 local subspecies that would be new, and my only miss was the race of Barn Owl present on the Caymans. We did experience some torrential rain for a couple of the days, and much of the time there were strong winds. Flights and Accommodation I booked a package deal through I paid US$2,518.47, which included our American Airlines return flights Tucson - Dallas - Grand Cayman and our room at Sunshine Suites Resort, which included a good buffet breakfast starting at 6:30am. Sunshine Suites also had a good, casual restaurant near the pool and it was just a short walk to some small stores and other restaurants. Local Transportation Grand Cayman. I pre-booked a compact car with Marshall's Rent A Car. I asked about low season rates and paid US$304 for the week, including full insurance. They were very efficient and let us park in one of their spaces at the airport when we flew over to Cayman Brac for the day. Remember: They drive on the left!! Cayman Brac. I rented a car at CB Rent-A-Car, the only rental with an office at the airport. I had no prior reservation, we walked over to the office on leaving the terminal. Cost was US$63 with full insurance. I booked the round trip flights to Cayman Brac with Cayman Airways before leaving home, the cost was US$ per person. There was little traffic on the Brac. Sources of Information Field Guide. A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies H. Raffaele et al. Birding Information. Where to Watch Birds in Central America, Mexico & the Caribbean Wheatley and Brewer. A Birdwatcher's Guide to Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico & The Caymans Kirwan, Kirkconnell & Flieg. Trip Reports on 1/ Grand Cayman: July Peter Shepherd. 2/ Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands 6/2016. Petri Hottola. 3/ Cayman Islands: 1st - 3rd July Frank Rheindt. National Trust for the Cayman Islands. This website has a lot of information on protected areas and animals such as the Parrots, Bats, and Blue Iguanas that I printed out and took with me.

2 Maps. Maps of the Cayman Islands Cayman Islands Tourism Association. Free at the Airport and also in our hotel room. A booklet with detailed area maps of different sections of Grand Cayman and small maps of the other two islands. Heritage Sites & Trails - Cayman Brac. Cayman Islands Dept. of Tourism. Another very useful free map of Cayman Brac with locations numbered on the map and short descriptions of locations. Some Site Information Grand Cayman 1/QEII Botanical Gardens. This lovely park had almost all of my targets, and most of them were seen before entering the gardens themselves - all three lifers and eight subspecies on the first visit! The weather unfortunately prevented us from doing the complete loop trail, so we did not see the endemic Blue Iguanas that have been released there. 2/ Cayman Crystal Caves. This is a new attraction on Grand Cayman. There are several guided tours each day. This is not usually our thing, but I'm glad we did it on our last full day, I thought the caves were quite impressive. They are set in good forest, and I spotted the only Spindalis we saw on the trip. If you have your own car, you can follow the guide's vehicle from the office to the parking lot at the caves. If you don't want to visit all the caves, you can leave sooner and bird the entrance road on your way back. We did the last tour of the day, and had a great look at a Caribbean Dove on the road coming out. An added bonus was a life mammal, Caribbean Fruit Bats roosting in the caves. The entrance and office are in Old Man Bay a short distance West from the junction of Frank Sound Rd. and North Side Rd. See 3/ Around the Airport. We discovered some drivable tracks along canals with trees and mangroves, accessible from the right end of the airport parking area as you look out from the airport. There were Herons, Stilts etc. in the channels and passerines in the trees. If you were stuck at the airport for awhile, you could check these out on foot. Also, Crewe Rd. crosses the inland (West) end of the runway. There was a place to pull off and we saw various Egrets and Herons as well as Grackles and Anis on the grass and in the temporary pools of water. Cayman Brac 1/ Major Donald Bluff Rd. About a third of the way along the Bluff Rd. there is a junction with a large sign pointing right to the Cayman Brac Sports Complex. There were a lot of mango trees planted near this junction. We heard parrots here and saw several pairs flying over. We could see partly eaten mangoes in trees near the road, but we never saw any perched birds. We also heard a Caribbean Dove here. 2/ Bight Rd. Trail. A short distance west on the Bluff Rd. from Ashton Reid Dr., after roads and signs for a housing development, the road climbs a hill with a steep ridge on the left. Where the road takes a left hand turn, look out for a wooden stairway going up the ridge on the left. Very shortly after this there is a parking area on the left. These stairs are the access to the boardwalk, where we got our only look at a perched parrot on Cayman Brac.

3 Daily Log June 15th. We arrived early afternoon at the airport on Grand Cayman, picked up our rental car and drove to Sunshine Suites. Walked to some nearby shops and stocked up with beer (local Ironshore Bock, very good) and a few other supplies, and rested up in our room. June 16th. We got a late start and didn't get to the Botanical Gardens until after 9am. We spent some time birding on the road outside the gate and then around the parking lots before entering the gardens. We got almost to the lake before the rain started. It was clearly not going to let up anytime soon, so we went back to the car and drove down to Old Man's Bay and West along the North Side Rd. to Over the Edge restaurant for lunch. After lunch we checked out the nearby Willie's Pig Farm. There was still a lot of rain around so we called it a day and headed back to the hotel. June 17th. This was a very rainy day with some torrential downpours. We took a look at 7 Mile beach and had lunch with a friend who lives on Grand Cayman. In the afternoon we drove to Governor Gore's Pond. June 18th. A very windy day with some showers. We first birded the entrance road, and around the entrance to, the Botanical Gardens. Next, we took a brief look at the upper entrance to the Mastic Trail and returned to Georgetown for a late lunch with friends to see their 6 week old twin boys! Afterwards, we took another look at 7 Mile Beach and then explored the tracks along canals near the airport. June 19th. We took an early morning flight to Cayman Brac, returning on an early evening flight. After picking up a rental car at the airport, we drove East along the South Side Rd., turning North on Ashton Reid Dr. near the center of the island. It was just a short drive until we reached Major Donald Bluff Rd. on the right, which we followed to the Bluff Lighthouse, stopping occasionally along the road. We took a short walk along the bluff trail to the North. We then came back along the Bluff Rd. and took one of the roads (I forget which) down to Spot Bay at the end of North East Bay Rd. After checking the beach and cliffs, we retraced our tracks along the North shore to Ashton Reid Dr., crossed to the South side and drove East to the road end at Great Cave. We returned West and up to the Bluff Rd., going as far as the turn to the Sports Complex. On the way back, we stopped at the Bight Road Trail and took the 600 foot boardwalk to the end and back. Finally, we drove back along the South Side Rd. to the airport and caught our flight back to Grand Cayman. June 20th. We took the road around the East end of the island, visited the entrance to the Botanical Gardens again, and then went to the Cayman Crystal Caves.

4 Cayman Islands Trip List June 2017 (GC = Grand Cayman, CB = Cayman Brac) Birds 1/ West Indian Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna bicolor GC A few on almost any piece of fresh water, no large numbers at Willie's Pig Farm 2/ Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps GC A couple at Governer Gore's Pond 3/ Magnificent Frigatebird Fregata magnificens GC CB A few seen along the coast 4/ Brown Bobby Sula leucogaster CB Seen from The Bluff and Spot Bay 5/ Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias GC One on the shore near Old Man Bay 6/ Great Egret Ardea alba GC A few on temporary water at end of airport runway 7/ Snowy Egret Egretta thula GC CB As for Great Egret, also Ponds on Cayman Brac 8/ Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea GC A couple on temporary water at end of airport runway 9/ Tricolored Heron Egretta tricolor GC One on temporary water at end of airport runway 10/ Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis GC A dozen on temporary water at end of airport runway 11/ Green Heron Butorides virescens GC Two at Gov. Gore's Pond 12/ Black-crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax nycticorax GC As for Tricolored Heron 13/ Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Nyctanassa violacea GC CB One on the shore near Old Man Bay & One on the shore near Old Man Bay 14/ Common Gallinule Galinula galeata GC CB Bot. Gardens pond, Willie's Pig Farm, Gov. Gore's Pond & Ponds on Cayman Brac 15/ Black-necked Stilt Himantopus mexicanus GC CB Almost any permanent or temporary water 16/ Laughing Gull Leucophias atricilla GC Surprisingly, only one at sea off 7 Mile Beach 17/ Least Tern Sternula antillarum CB A few flying around Ponds on Cayman Brac 18/ Royal Tern Thalasseus maximus GC 6 at sea and perched on a dock at Old Man Bay 19/ Rock Pigeon Columba livia GC Only a few in built-up areas 20/ White-crowned Pigeon Patagioenas leucocephala GC CB Most visible on CB 21/ Common Ground-Dove Columbina passerina GC CB fairly common on both islands 22/ Caribbean Dove Leptotila jamaicensis GC CB First heard at Mango area on CB, then a wonderful view on the Cayman Crystal Cave road, not an easy bird to see 23/ White-winged Dove Zenaida asiatica GC CB Most common dove on both islands 24/ Zenaida Dove Zenaida aurita GC CB Most visible on CB 25/ Smooth-billed Ani Crotophaga ani GC CB Fairly common, can pop up almost anywhere 26/ Antillean Nighthawk Chordeiles gundlachii GC CB At dusk at Sunshine Suites and Cayman Crystal Caves and at the airport before leaving CB 27/ West Indian Woodpecker Melanerpes superciliaris caymanensis GC Common 28/ Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus gundlachi GC Common at the Bot. Gardens 29a/ Cuban Parrot Amazona Leucocephala caymanensis GC Bot. Gardens and Crystal Caves 29b/ Cuban Parrot A. l. hesterna CB Many pairs seen flying over the Bluff Rd., only one perched 30/ Caribbean Elaenia Elaenia martinica caymanensis GC CB Common on both islands 31/ La Sagra's Flycatcher Myiarchus sagrae sagrae On our last full day we found a pair outside the Bot. Gardens, and several on our visit to the Crystal Caves 32/ Gray Kingbird Tyrannus dominicensis GC CB Common on both islands 33/ Loggerhead Kingbird Tyrannus caudifasciatus caymanensis GC CB Bot. Gardens, near Willie's Pig Farm and Crystal Caves on GC, Bluff Rd. on CB - seems to prefer forested areas 34/ Thick-billed Vireo Vireo crassirostris alleni GC CB Heard more often than seen, most visible on CB in absence of next species 35/ Yucatan Vireo Vireo magister GC Seen easily at Bot. Gardens, also near Willie's Pig Farm & at the Crystal Caves

5 36/ Red-legged Thrush Turdus plumbeus coryi CB Common along the sides of Bluff Rd. and Ashton Reid Dr. 37/ Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos GC CB Everywhere! 38/ Yellow Warbler Setophaga petechia eoa GC Gov. Gore's Pond and canals near Airport, seems to prefer trees near water, especially mangroves 39a/ Vitelline Warbler Setophaga vitellina vitellina GC Bot. Gardens & Crystal Caves 39b/ Vitelline Warbler S. v. crawfordi CB Common along the Bluff Rd. 40/ Bananaquit Coereba flaveola sharpei GC CB Not abundant, but can occur anywhere 41/ Yellow-faced Grassquit Tiaris olivaceus GC CB Only Gov. Gore's Pond on GC, common on CB 42/ Cuban Bullfinch Melopyrrha nigra taylori GC Only seen first day at Bot. Gardens and near Willie's Pig Farm 43/ Western Spindalis Spindalis zena salvini GC Only one at Crystal Caves 44a/ Greater Antillean Grackle Quiscalus niger caymanensis GC Everywhere! 44b/ Greater Antillean Grackle Q. n. bangsi CB Apparently rare, one seen flying down the road towards us near the gas station about a mile east of the Airport Other Taxa Caribbean Fruit Bat Artibeus jamaicensis parvipes GC Seen hanging inside cave entrances at Crystal Caves Green Iguana Iguana iguana GC Introduced in the 1980s and becoming a serious problem Hickatee Tracemys decussata GC Endemic turtle seen at Gov. Gore's Pond Cayman Brac Curly-tailed Lizard Leiocephalus carinatus granti CB Common Land Crabs and Hermit Crabs CB Common on the roads