Photo Gallery
Gavin Bieber
The Dominican Republic conjures up images of bright sand beaches, crystal clear warm oceans, palms waving in the afternoon breeze…
…and perhaps a big tropical drink complete with a small umbrella, or bright Caribbean artwork. While all those experiences can—should—be enjoyed here, there’s another side of the island, too, that offers a very different experience.
Our tour explores the beautiful and biologically rich interior and southwestern portions of the island. On our first day we’ll visit the famed Botanical Gardens…
…where we’ll hope to find the first of two endemic families, the enigmatic and very social Palmchat. After a productive morning on the outskirts of Santo Domingo, we’ll venture southwest…
…where brightly painted towns greet our arrival. From our base in Baharona we’ll make several daytrips to explore different habitats nearby.
In the nearby lush, closed-canopy vine forest, we should encounter…
…Hispaniola Trogon and, if we’re lucky, perhaps Key West Quail-Dove.
A longer daytrip around the southern tip of the island will find us passing through some amazingly dry but botanically very rich countryside…
…as we climb up into mixed pine forest. Here we’ll hope to find Narrow-billed and Broad-billed Todies, some of the most delightful birds on the planet, plus scarcer birds…
…such as this Antillean Piculet, or perhaps some Hispaniola Crossbills.
Another daytrip will center around the rich wetlands of Lake Enriquillo…
…where the wet lakeshore meets a unique cactus scrub forest…
…where Rhinoceros Iguanas and Palm Crows can often be found.
A full day up in the highlands along the Haitian border will be filled with birds, including such endemic species as LaSelle’s Thrush and White-winged Warbler.
A quick glance east to Haiti quickly reveals some of the environmental pressures on highland species in Hispaniola.
After nearly a week in the southwest corner of the country, we’ll move to the north coast and Los Haitises National Park. Our hotel here is truly a marvel, with a stream fully incorporated into the buildings!
Here we’ll see one of the truly rare Hispaniolan endemics, Ridgway’s Hawk, and if we’re lucky…
…we might also encounter a beautiful Hispaniola Island Boa, here photographed near our hotel on the 2008 tour.
The image of sun-drenched beaches applies to Puerto Rico as well, but the island actually has a varied topography, including some wonderful seaside cliff faces where White-tailed Tropicbirds can often be seen.
Puerto Rico’s forests are lusher and better protected than those of Hispaniola. We’ll spend three and a half days birding this small island…
…looking in lowland forests for endemics…
…such as this Puerto Rican Screech-Owl…
…or the exquisite Puerto Rican Tody.
Foothill and upland forests here are thick, as this view from our hotel patio can attest.
Puerto Rico packs a great diversity of habitats into a small area, and we’ll sample everything from the baked salt pans of the southwest…
…to the rich mangroves around Boqueron, where we’ll look for Puerto Rican Pewee…
…and the elfin forests of the highlands.
Most of Puerto Rico’s endemics are relatively straightforward to find, but we’ll have to be extremely lucky to spot the incredibly restricted Puerto Rican Parrot!