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JAMAICA

Our Jamaica birding tour visits one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean for some excellent birdwatching, including many endemics and Caribbean specialities, as well as a wide selection of North American migrants. Our Jamaica tour offers comprehensive coverage of the island and we often record every Jamaican endemic.

JAMAICA March 2013

Sunday 24th March - Sunday 31st March 2013
(8 days)

Leader: to be confirmed

Group Size Limit: 9

Tour Category: Easy

The uncommon West Indian Whistling Duck is always a great sight (Ron Knight)

There is something magical about the Caribbean Sea and its scattering of beautiful islands. These tropical wonderlands with their palm-fringed, pearly beaches and ultramarine waters, their wealth of tropical fruits, their swinging reggae and calypso music, their famously relaxed way of life and their attractive mixture of races and cultures conjure up an idea of paradise. Of course this happy vision is only part of what the islands are about, and an aspect of the Caribbean more available to wealthy locals and visitors from more developed lands: life is far from idyllic for many inhabitants of the Caribbean, and Jamaica is no exception.

This very scenic island is mostly rugged and mountainous, but it encompasses a great variety of landscapes, fringed by some of the Caribbean’s most classic white-sand beaches and the ‘oh-so-inviting’ turquoise sea. Eons ago, what is now Jamaica was a mountain range , connected to what is now Central America by a land bridge, but nowadays its very special, endemic-rich fauna and flora reflect its long isolation from the mainland.

The name Jamaica derives from the word Xaymaca, meaning ‘Land of Wood and Water’ or perhaps ‘Land of Springs’, used by its Arawakan-speaking original Taíno inhabitants. Columbus ‘discovered’ Jamaica in 1494 on his second voyage of exploration to the New World, and in the early 1500s the Spanish conquered the Taíno indians and colonized the island, which they called Santiago. At times, buccaneers and pirates used the island as a base for their pillaging forays, and eventually the island passed under British control and became known as Jamaica. Huge numbers of slaves were imported from Africa during its colonial past and the resulting blend of different cultures has profoundly influenced the subsequent history of the island, which has been an independent state since 1962. Ian Fleming, who lived on the island, repeatedly used Jamaica as a setting for his James Bond novels, but Jamaica’s most famous son is surely Bob Marley, who is still regarded with reverence by the locals.

With one of the richest concentrations of endemic bird species in the Caribbean (no fewer than 30 endemics occur here if one includes Jamaican Oriole, which is only shared with the remote island of San Andres), and many other more widespread Caribbean specialities, a visit to Jamaica is an attractive proposition for anyone with an interest in the avifauna of this beautiful part of the world. A wide variety of bird families are represented on the island, most notably the tody family, which comprises a small group of species restricted to the largest Caribbean Islands. In addition, the pleasant tropical climate encourages many North American migrants to winter on these islands and even more to rest while on spring migration. With persistence and a modicum of luck we should see all 30 endemics during our stay, as well as many other great birds. Good accommodations and food, and easy travelling conditions, make for a rewarding journey.

We start our journey at Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, and from here we travel westwards to the climatically-perfect hill town of Mandeville. Here we shall explore the open gardens, pastures and woodland of a working cattle ranch where well over half of Jamaica’s endemics can be found, including the splendid Red-billed Streamertail (a supremely elegant hummingbird that is surely the island’s signature bird), Jamaican Parakeet , Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo, Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo, Jamaican Owl, Jamaican Mango, the lovely Jamaican Tody, Jamaican Woodpecker, Jamaican Elaenia, Jamaican Pewee, Sad and Rufous-tailed Flycatchers, Jamaican Becard, White-chinned Thrush, Jamaican Vireo, Jamaican Euphonia, Jamaican Stripe-headed Tanager (or Jamaican Spindalis), Yellow-shouldered Grassquit, the attractive Orangequit and Jamaican Oriole. We will also visit the Black River Morass, Jamaica’s largest wetland, where we should see Antillean Nighthawk and have a good chance of encountering the uncommon West Indian Whistling-Duck.

We will also spend some time exploring the wild, hilly Cockpit Country in search of four more endemics: Ring-tailed Pigeon, Black-billed and Yellow-billed Parrots, and Jamaican Crow.

During the second part of our stay on the island, we concentrate on the dark evergreen forests of the Blue Mountains and the John Crow Mountains, which dominate the eastern part of this tropical paradise. These ranges are home to the rest of Jamaica’s endemics, including Black-billed Streamertail, the very shy Crested Quail-Dove, White-eyed Thrush, Blue-Mountain Vireo, Arrow-headed Warbler and Jamaican Blackbird. By the end of our journey there is a good chance we will have seen all of the Jamaican endemics, as well as enjoyed some beautiful Caribbean scenery and soaked up the relaxed atmosphere of this unique island.

Birdquest has operated tours to Jamaica since 1998.

(Note: The above is a summary of the tour. For more information please download the detailed, day-by-day itinerary. The button is at the top right of the page.)

Accommodation & Road Transport: The hotels are of normal Birdquest standard throughout. Transport is by small coach and roads are mostly good.

Walking etc: The walking effort is easy throughout.

Climate: Mostly warm or hot, dry and sunny, but it is sometimes cool and overcast. It may rain at times.

Bird Photography: Opportunities are quite good.

Linkable Birdquest: Hispaniola & Puerto Rico

Tour Price: (provisional): $3110 Kingston/Kingston. Price includes all transportation, all accommodations, all meals, bottled water, some drinks, all excursions, all entrance fees, all tips for local drivers/guides and for accommodations/restaurants, leader services.

Single Room Supplement: (provisional): $454.

Deposit: 10% of the tour price (excluding any single supplement).

Air Travel To & From The Tour: Our in-house IATA ticket agency can arrange your air travel in connection with the tour from a departure point anywhere in the world, or you may arrange your own air travel if you prefer. We can tailor-make your itinerary to your personal requirements, so if you would like to travel in advance of the tour (and spend a night in an hotel so you will feel fresh when the tour starts), or return later than the end of the tour, or make a side trip to some other destination, or travel business class rather than economy, we will be happy to assist. Please contact us about your air travel requirements.

View Map Download Detailed Itinerary 243kb

Report From March 2009/April 2009 Report From March 2007/April 2007 Report From March 2011

One of the highlights of our tours to Jamaica is the exquisite Red-billed Streamertail. It is endemic to Jamaica and is the national bird of this beautiful Caribbean island (Ron Knight)