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But, regarding the parrots during the tours, we saw all of them we sought. Including, the rarest of all in the wild, the Puerto Rican Parrot. During the Lesser Antilles tour, we saw four parrots known as amazons one on Saint Lucia, one on Saint Vincent, and two on Dominica. One of them on the last of these islands is the largest and the rarest of the Lesser Antillean parrots. It's the Imperial Parrot, called by the Dominicans, the "Sisserou", in Creole.

About 500 years ago, when the explorers from Spain entered the Caribbean, there were, in the West Indian islands, over 25 species of macaws, parrots, and parakeets. Since then, more than half have become extinct. The macaws, large and noisy, colorful but mostly red, were in Cuba, Hispaniola, and other islands including Guadeloupe and Dominica in the Lesser Antilles. Since the voyages of Columbus, all of the 7 or so species of Caribbean macaws have disappeared, as have 5 of the 8 native species of parakeets, and 3 of the dozen species of parrots. The last specimen of the Cuban Red Macaw was taken in 1864, but the species may have lingered remotely until the late 1800s (There are now 15 specimens in existence in museums).

The distribution of the parrots known as amazons in the Caribbean is interesting. As noted, there were prior to Columbus 12 species. Those on the larger Caribbean islands, oddly, are the smaller of the group, while those parrots on the smaller islands are the larger. Those on the Greater Antilles, mostly green, appear to have come east from Central America. Those in the Lesser Antilles, more strikingly colored, appear to have come north from South America. Formerly, there were such parrots on Guadeloupe and Martinique. They became extinct in the mid-1700s.

However, large and colorful amazon parrots continue, today, as noted, in forested mountains on 3 Lesser Antillean islands. And these birds were among the highlights of our 2004 tour.

The St. Lucia, or Versicolored, Parrot today numbers an estimated 350 to 500 birds. About 25 years ago, the population was only about 150 birds. The name "Versicolored" relates to the violet-blue and red in the plumage along with the green.

The St. Vincent Parrot was probably never very common. At one time, it was thought to be extinct. Today, it is found in only several wooded valleys, with a population of about 500 or slightly more. Some St. Vincent Parrots are predominately golden-brown, others more green. All have yellow-orange wing-patches, an orange-yellow hindcrown, and violet and yellow on the tail.

On the most rugged of the islands, Dominica, 2 species of parrots continue, the more-common Red-necked Parrot, and the more-rare Imperial Parrot. Over 40 per cent of Dominica is still forested, but the parrots occur only locally on the island in the north. Hurricanes in 1979 & 1980 annihilated the southern populations, particularly that of the Imperial Parrot. The Imperial, among the largest and rarest of the amazons, has the more secretive habits of the two Dominican parrots, often staying beneath the forest canopy. 
Recent population estimates are 500-plus for the Red-necked Parrot (up from 150 in 1980), and 250-plus for the Imperial. About 10 years ago, in 1993, the Imperial Parrot population was only thought to be about 80 individuals.
The Red-necked Parrot (known locally as the "Jaco"), is mostly green, with, of course, a red neck (or rather a red throat), a red wing-patch, and a blue crown, face, and chin.
The large mostly green-and-purple Imperial Parrot also has maroon-purple, violet-blue, and reddish-brown in its plumage.

Earlier, during one of our days on Domincia, we had great looks at the Red-necked Parrot. In the mid-afternoon, we were at a lookout in the trees above a deep valley. Directly across from us, an Imperial Parrot landed, after calling as it flew over the valley. It sat in a bare treetop. When it landed there, the sun, that had been, for hours, mostly in the clouds, shone upon the colorful bird.

During an afternoon on Saint Vincent, from another lookout atop a hill in the forest, we had tremendous views of that island's colorful parrot, as pairs of them flew above and beneath us.

On St. Lucia, we enjoyed our "parrot experience" as well. During an afternoon and following morning, as they called and flew, we listened and watched.

But the rarest of all of the Carribean amazons was seen during our Puerto Rico tour, that followed our time in the Lesser Antilles. The Puerto Rican Parrot has been critically endangered for years. Formerly occurring in various areas of the island, the bird has been very localized now for years, hanging on in a small hilly area in northeastern Puerto Rico. In 1975, there were only 13 Puerto Rican Parrots in the wild. From that unlucky low, the number about 10 years later was 30. In the late 1990s, the global population was 44 in the wild and 87 in captivity.

During our March 2004 Puerto Rico tour, in the Luquillo Mountains, we saw one wild Puerto Rican Parrot. It was in the vicinity of the facility with the birds in the captive breeding program, the bird apparently drawn to the noise of the caged birds' calls in the afternoon. It appeared to be a bird preferring to forfeit its lonely wildness for companionship in captivity. (Parrots are social birds.) The Puerto Rican Parrot has been seen during 11 FONT tours since 1990. The most was 12 in March 1996. The most-recent sighting, prior to this year, was in March 2000.

The Puerto Rican Parrot has come close to following the fate of the parrots that once were in Guadeloupe and Martinique, and the macaws that were in Cuba and elsewhere in the Caribbean. And, also in Puerto Rico, a parakeet that formerly occurred, and is now extinct. It was until about a hundred years ago that the "Puerto Rican Conure" flew about on the island. It was a common subspecies of the Hispaniolan Parakeet, now threatened on that island. Since that bird's demise on Puerto Rico, by the way, resident subspecies of the Limpkin and a crow have also gone extinct there.
During our recent Puerto Rican tour, parakeets seen included some not-native, the Monk and the White-winged (formerly Canary-winged), both indigenous to South America.

Among the over-hundred species that were seen during our Puerto Rican tour, however, it's nice to note that among the birds endemic or nearly so to the island, there was a warbler not known to exist over 30 years ago (the Elfin Woods Warbler), a nightjar thought for many years (until about 1960) to be extinct (the Puerto Rican Nightjar), and a very-rare and localized bird, the Yellow-shouldered Blackbird. It was seen well, coming to a feeder along with a bird, recently arrived in Puerto Rico, that can cause it trouble, the Shiny Cowbird. Not exactly a Puerto Rican pirate (like the frigatebird), but a nesting parasite, the cowbird uses the nest of the blackbird. (The rare blackbird should not go the way of the birds that have been extirpated in Puerto Rico).

A complete listing of the birds that have been found during the 26 FONT birding tours that have been conducted in Puerto Rico can be found elsewhere in this web-site.

An interesting observation during our Puerto Rico tour this year related to a North American migrant. At a field, in southwestern Puerto Rico, in an area where we've always found something, we saw a sight we've never seen before. Out in a field, there were some leafless bushes with what appeared to be a large number of blue light-bulbs with a smaller number that were brown. In a scope, it was clear that they were Indigo Buntings, some in near-complete breeding plumage, some less so, but with a lighter (more lazuli-like) blue than dark indigo. A nice sighting for Bob from Minnesota who found them (and for the rest of us). The Indigo Bunting, by the way, is classified as uncommon in Puerto Rico in the winter, "in small numbers". We saw many (dozens) along with grassquits and other birds. During our previous 25 Puerto Rico tours, we've only seen 2 individual Indigo Buntings (both brown birds).

During our Lesser Antilles tour, on Dominica, a blue-brown bird appeared in tall grass along a roadside, an Indigo Bunting (found by Tom from New Jersey). It was our first-ever during a Lesser Antilles tour. The species is not even "in the book" for that island!

Also during that tour, as we were walking around some fish ponds, where we see the local Caribbean race of the Ringed Kingfisher, we turned to notice some egrets had landed on a nearby dike. All lined up, they were Cattle Egrets, except one. It was a Little Egret (our first for Dominica). It joined with the Cattle Egrets as they went to their evening roost.

We've seen Little Egrets in the past during that tour on St Lucia (we saw 3 there in 2003 with Snowy Egrets). Little Egrets now breed in fair numbers on some lower Caribbean islands, such as Barbados.
As did the Cattle Egret during the last century, Little Egrets appeared (apparently from Africa) on lower Caribbean islands some years ago, and are now appearing to spread. Bear in mind what has happened with the Cattle Egret throughout the Western Hemisphere. It has spread north and south, and even as far south as one sighting in Antarctica!

Our last "new" bird during the 2004 Lesser Antilles tour was, as an odd twist, nearly our first bird on the '04 Puerto Rico tour, the White-tailed Tropicbird. We were, in Dominica, early in the morning, beneath a sea-side cliff where 10 or so were flying in, out, and about just above us. What a sight! In Puerto Rico, they were seen from the old fort, El Morro, at the entrance to San Juan Harbor.

Offshore from Dominica, during a Caribbean boat-trip as taken in the past, there were, as in the past, some nice sights. Among them, as many as 8 Sperm Whales (including a cow and a calf, and a bull), and some Pomarine Jaegers (they're there every March) and an apparent Great Skua (we seen that species one time in March in the past).

Along the Dominican coast, we only saw 3 individual gulls. The most-common was Lesser Black-backed Gull (twice as common as the previous year). It was our 3rd consecutive year for Lesser Black-backed Gull along that coast, with an adult each year at the very same place! (It's only been there, we've been told, in the winter). But, this year, there were 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls there, the adult and an immature with it.
The third gull, by the way, was a lone Laughing Gull.

On land during the Lesser Antilles tour, there are some particularly interesting birds, notably "thrashers that thrash" and "tremblers that tremble".

Particularly interesting it is that as many as 6 species of thrashers occur in a limited area of the Lesser Antilles the Tropical Mockingbird, the Scaly-breasted Thrasher, the Pearly-eyed Thrasher, the White-breasted Thrasher, and 2 Tremblers, the Brown and the Gray.

Of these, the "thrasher that really thrashes (on the ground like a towhee)", the White-breasted Thrasher, is one of the world's rarest birds. It only occurs in a limited area (and specific habitat) on the islands of Martinique and St. Lucia. On the latter, the total population has recently been estimated at only about 100 birds. All of us, on our tour, saw it well.

The Tremblers (the Gray on St. Lucia and the Brown on St. Vincent) are birds that we just can't stop watching. These thrasher-types have the odd habit of strongly trembling, constantly. As they do so, with their cocked long tails, and their shaking wings, and bright yellow eyes, they are quite a sight for our eyes.

Tremblers are endemic to the Lesser Antilles. A number of species, seen during our tour in that region, are endemic to either the area, or to particular islands. On Saint Lucia, for example, island endemics include the St Lucia Oriole, the St Lucia Black Finch (once thought erroneously by museum men in England to be a Galapagos Finch), and the Saint Lucia Warbler (formerly conspecific with the Adelaide's Warbler, now endemic to Puerto Rico).

On the island of St. Vincent, the endemic Whistling Warbler has become quite rare. This inhabitant of the forest has declined in recent years. But in the forest, we had the good fortune to encounter it.

All of the Lesser Antillean islands we visit are beautiful, but an area in St. Vincent particularly so, was an interesting botanical garden, out in the countryside, by forested slopes, mostly green, but with trees with bright orange flowers (called by some flamboyant, but a tree with a different name on different islands - it's a nice sight everywhere).
Especially interesting for us were trees of various sorts filled with food attracting many birds. In one tree, a bit like a mimosa, there were a multitude of Bananaquits (but in that area of St. Vincent, all of them were of an all-black subspecies, with no yellow or white, only red when they opened their mouths).
In another tree, we saw the Lesser Antillean Tanager, a regional endemic called the "Pawpaw Bird" or "Soursop Bird" for food that it favors.
And yet in another tree, there were dozens of thrushes and thrashers feeding on berries Scaly-breasted Thrashers, Bare-eyed Thrushes, and Cocoa Thrushes. The subspecies of the Cocoa Thrush, endemic to St. Vincent, is Turdus. f. bondi, named after James Bond, not the British private-eye, but the Philadelphia ornithologist.

A group of birds not mentioned yet, but one that should be, is hummingbirds. Throughout the Lesser Antilles Tour, they were a constant marvel. As we listened on St. Lucia to the beautiful sound of the Rufous-throated Solitaire, we were distracted by as many as 25 or more Antillean Crested Hummingbirds feeding on flowers on a slope. Both of the hummingbirds known as Caribs were nice to see the Green-throated and the Purple-throated (with wow, what color!). And on Dominica, there was the Blue-headed Hummingbird, limited in the world to that island and nearby Guadeloupe.

Also on Dominica, another bird was seen that's restricted to just a handful of Lesser Antillean islands, the Forest Thrush. Also on Guadeloupe, and previously on St. Lucia (maybe there still, but it hasn't been recorded in a while). A factor could likely be that on Dominica there are no introduced Mongooses. On St. Lucia, that predatory animal does exist.

I haven't mentioned all the birds we encountered during our recent Caribbean tours, but if I don't stop now, I could. As already noted regarding the birds during our Puerto Rico tours, there's also a complete listing of birds during our Lesser Antilles Tours, elsewhere in this FONT web-site. 
In that list, there are notations regarding endemics, rarities, and subspecies.

A final item, now, not referring to a bird, or animal, or anything on the ground or in the sea, but rather something in the sky:
On both the islands of Saint Lucia and Dominica, in the western sky, at sunset, we saw a phenomenon known as the "green flash". It was visible just as the red ball of the sun dipped below the horizon, appearing rather like a bright spark from an electric wire.
Some consider it to be fantasy, but, really, given the right circumstances, it can be seen.

The following is an astute account of it, taken from the book "Eastward to Singapore", written by a surviving officer of a vessel named the "Electra". The "Electra" disappeared in World War II in the battle of the Java Sea in February 1942:

The magazine "Scientific American" contained an excellent article, with some tremendous photographs, entitled "The Green Flash and Other Low Sun Phenomena", but unfortunately that article was in the January 1960 edition. Does anyone know of anything more recent?

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Birds during FONT tours in the Lesser Antilles

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In the Lesser Antillean Islands, birds include endemics and specialties. We saw all of those we sought.

The hummingbirds on the islands were great to see two species of colorful Caribs, the nifty Antillean Crested, and the beautiful Blue-headed.

Also wonderful to see and hear was the Rufous-throated Solitaire, as it sat by us on a branch in the forest, with a wide mouth as it sounded much like a flute.

Each of the three Lesser Antillean Islands we visited is attractive and picturesque in its own way, but Dominica is extraordinary, since it still has a large amount of forest. With rugged topography, the enchanting island is also so very green. In the Dominican forest, the Forest Thrush continues in fairly good numbers. (On other islands it has declined or disappeared.) One that we saw very well was one of our best birds of the tour.

One of the rarest of the specialties is the White-breasted Thrasher (it's one of the rarest of birds in the world, with just a total population of maybe a couple hundred). Usually close to the ground, it occurs in the dry forest of St. Lucia. We saw 2 together, at the base of a slanted tree trunk, close to us. These thrashers really do thrash, moving ground clutter aside as they feed.

In the trees, among the most fascinating birds to be seen were the tremblers. And yes, they really do tremble. That is they shake their wings, appearing nervous or neurotic. They're probably neither, but who knows why they do it.
On St. Lucia, we watched the Gray Trembler and the St. Lucia Oriole alternately feeding on a large fruit in a tree.
On St. Vincent and Dominica, the Brown Trembler entertained us as it walked on tree branches, or on the ground, trembling as it went.
The forementioned tremblers and thrasher are among 5 species of thrashers on the Lesser Antillean Islands.

Two species of warblers are with limited ranges, the Whistling Warbler on Saint Vincent, and the Plumbeous Warbler on Dominica. We saw both well.

On Saint Lucia, an attractive warbler, now an endemic, is called the Saint Lucia Warbler. Formerly considered part of the Adelaide's Warbler of Puerto Rico. The species is now one of a few birds (that are endemic) named after the island of St. Lucia. In addition to the Saint Lucia Oriole, there's also the Saint Lucia Black Finch (at one time confused by distant taxonomists with Galapagos Finches), the Saint Lucia Pewee, a dapper nearly apricot-colored bird, and the "Saint Lucia Wren", that's been considered part of the House Wren, thought it's call different than that of the North American House Wren. All of these "Saint Lucia birds" were seen during our tour.

Also interesting on Saint Lucia, we encountered, at a pond, a mixed flock of Snowy and Little Egrets. There were 3 Little Egrets, one with the long plume of breeding plumage. Little Egrets have been nesting on another Lesser Antillean Island, Barbados.
At the same pond , there was another interesting flock (if 2 birds is considered a flock). Two plovers were together, one a Black-bellied, or Grey, the other an American Golden Plover. The 2 birds stood together in the shallow water. They flew together, one with a white rump, the other with one dark. One (the Golden) with a brown cap, the other without. The Black-bellied, or Grey, Plover is common in the Caribbean in March. The Golden is rare.

Also that day in St. Lucia, we stood atop a high coastal cliff, watching Red-billed Tropicbirds circling about below us. A few days later, on Dominica, we watched White-tailed Tropicbirds flying about by seaside cliffs above us.

From shore, as we lunched sea-side on Dominica, Pomarine Jaegers were seen flying above the blue Caribbean. (We've seen Pomarines there each of the last 3 years.)
A Lesser Black-backed Gull we saw last year along the Dominican coast was there again this year.
Pelicans, Frigatebirds, and Brown Boobies flew by.

From shore, as a day ended, on Saint Vincent, we watched the orange ball of the sun slip below the horizon. On it, in our binoculars, we could see sunspots. As the sun dipped out of view, there was the "green flash" looking as blue as it does green (or at least a combination). During the sunset over the sea, strings of Red-footed Boobies flew by, in the distance, all heading in the direction of their nocturnal roost.

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Previously, during this pelagic trip, we've seen very some interesting cetaceans, including Sperm and Dwarf Sperm Whales, and Fraser's and Spotted Dolphins. This time, we again saw Fraser's Dolphins (about 50 together) and Pantropical Spotted Dolphins (about a hundred at once). Sperm Whales were in the area, but we did not see them, or hear them (with the hydrophone).

During our pelagic trip in March 2002, we did see a wonderful assortment of seabirds. Other years, during this trip in March, we saw Pomarine Jaegers. This time we saw about 25 Pomarines, and 1 Great Skua.

Various times at the surface of the sea, there were schools of fish. They appeared to be small tuna. Jaegers were feeding on them. Boobies were diving into the water. Frigatebirds were overhead in a swarm. Some were coming to the water grabbing fish. Others were harassing jaegers.
During the trip we saw groups of both Brown and Red-footed Boobies.

At another time, as we were cruising off the beautiful coastline, with the forested hills of Dominica as a backdrop with puffy clouds and rainbows, a White-tailed Tropicbird flew in above us, with its long tail against a blue sky.

A few days earlier, during the tour, when we were atop a high sea-cliff on the island of Saint Lucia, there were about 50 Red-billed Tropicbirds gracefully flying about, calling as they flew.

Our fine day at sea on March 9, 2002 ended with the sun setting over the Caribbean Sea, where we had seen the boobies, jaegers, skua, frigatebirds, tropicbirds, and 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (2 of only 4 gulls seen, the others Laughing). As the red solar ball dipped below the horizon, we could see the quick "green flash".

Seabirds were just part of our tour in the Lesser Antilles. There were also some wonderful landbirds, such as parrots (on St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Dominica), colorful hummingbirds (including 2 caribs),  and various endemics, rarities, and other specialties (among them: two tremblers, the White-breasted Thrasher, the Forest Thrush, flycatchers, and three indigenous warblers: Plumbeous, Whistling, and St. Lucia). Also on St. Lucia, an endemic oriole. 

The "Top Birds" as voted by participants after the March 2002 tour were:

 1 - Red-footed Booby 
 2 - Purple-throated Carib
 3 - Great Skua
 4 - Brown Trembler
 5 - Red-billed Tropicbird
 6 - Imperial Parrot
 7 - St. Vincent Parrot 
 8 - Rufous-throated Solitaire
 9 - White-tailed Tropicbird
10 - Red-necked Parrot
11 - St. Lucia Parrot
12 - Green-throated Carib
13 - White-breasted Thrasher

Complete list of the birds during FONT Lesser Antillean Tours.    

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