We left Soroa shortly after lunch for San Diego de los Banos, stopping at some fishponds en route. This was the only place on the tour we saw Snail Kites and we were able to get 'scope views of Eastern Meadowlark here too.
Eastern Meadowlark.
The ponds on the other side of the road were more attractive to waders and terns so we spent a fair bit of time there sifting through the large numbers of Great Egrets and Caspian Terns and finding some Gull-billed Terns and a single Forster's Tern.
The following morning we had great views of a female Stygian Owl just outside the grounds of our hotel just after 6 AM and after breakfast we headed out to La Guira NP. Cuban Green Woodpeckers, Cuban Bullfinch, La Sagra's Flycatchers were all pretty easy to see here.
Our target bird in the pine forest was the Olive-capped Warbler and these were immdiately obvious, at least by voice, on arrival. It didn't take us long to find a few, many of which were paired up and chasing each other around the pines. A handsome male Black-throated Green Warbler was a fine site here too.
Cuban Solitaire, March 2008.
The nearby Cuevas los Portales is a great place to see (and hear) the endemic Cuban Solitaire. One of these "subtle" little birds showed very well near the entrance to the caves where some Cave Swallows and a pair of Cuban Martins could be seen overhead. The caves are a popular local tourist attraction as they were used by the rebel Che Guevara as a hideout..JPG)
In the afternoon we paid a visit to the Hacienda Cortina where I usually pick up a good selection of migrants around the small lake there.
Hacienda Cortina, San Diego de los Banos March 2008.
It was pretty quiet though with just a couple of Northern Waterthrushes and Common Yellowthroats around the margins. Our first Tawny-shouldered Blackbirds of the tour were seen and Antillean Palm-Swift, Cuban Emerald, Cuban Pewee and Cuban Blackbird were all seen.
Green Heron.
The lake itsef was pretty quiet (I saw Masked Duck here on my first visit, but not since) apart from a few Green Herons, American Purple Gallinules and Pied-billed Grebes.
