Rabo de Gato

Sunday, March 10th: We left the lodge early and headed out for the foothills of Sierra de Barahuco, driving along the Sendero Rabo de Gato (tail of the cat). Our first stop along the road brought us Broad-billed Tody and Stolid Flycatcher. A bit farther down we stopped at a picnic shelter by a river to eat our breakfast. While there, we noticed a Louisiana Waterthrush or two. Up the road we found Yellow-faced Grassquit, and Greater Antillean Bullfinch, White-winged Dove, Nutmeg Mannikin, and Hispaniolan Parrot.

We stopped again when a Palm Warbler flew up off the road. This stop brought us our first Hispaniolan Oriole, three flyover Cedar Waxwings (rare in the DR), Narrow-billed Tody, Hispaniolan Pewee, and some poorly seen White-necked Crows. There were some flyover Olive-throated Parakeets somewhere in here.

Later on, we walked a trail by a creek, encountering Least Grebe, Common Gallinules, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Green-tailed Warbler (also called Green-tailed Ground-Tanager, it seems to be neither a warbler, nor a tanager). A gorgeous male Antillean Siskin was spotted overhead. We got a look at a Hispaniolan Emerald and tracked down a calling Flat-billed Vireo.

Lago Enriquillo

We returned to the car and drove down to the shore of Lago Enriquillo. Lago Enriquillo is a large hypersaline lake that is about 150 feet below sea level. It's the largest lake in the rift valley that separates the northern part of the island from the southern part.

On the shore of Lago Enriquillo, we found (American) Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Little Blue Heron, Great Blue Heron, and Glossy Ibis all in the same area. A Belted Kingfisher also dove into the water while we were watching these birds.

The main road moved off the lakeshore, but we took a dirt track down toward the water. It was a tight fit through the acacias at times, but we found Caribbean Coot, about 10 Myrtle Warblers, Osprey, Common Yellowthroat, Plain Pigeon, and (Hispaniolan) Palm Crow. On the return we added Pied-billed Grebe. We got back on the main road and headed for the lodge. We added Laughing Gull on the way.

We had dinner around 7:00, then I immediately went to bed as we have a very early start tomorrow (2:30am!).

Today added 36 trip birds (total 73) including 14 lifers (25 total).

Club Hotel el Quemaito, Barahona