Holbrook Explorers | Cuba`s Birding Hotspots with Jill Hays

Upon arrival in Havana, you will be met and taken to your Casa Particular. Check-in begins at 3 pm.

After breakfast, meet your guide, driver, and Cuban ornithologist, who will accompany you throughout the entire program and help facilitate meaningful interactions with the local community at each location. This morning, visit the National Botanical Gardens. Here, search for Western Spindalis, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Cuban Emerald, and a variety of migrants including Prairie and Cape May Warbler, American Redstart, and Northern Parula. Later, walk along the cobblestone streets and plazas of Old Havana, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Admire the unique and historical architecture, as well as the mix of Baroque and neoclassical monuments, fortresses, churches, and palaces. On this walk, you might add Cuban Blackbird, Royal Tern, Greater Antillean Grackle, and more to the trip list. Have dinner at a paladar, a small family-run restaurant; many paladares appear and operate much like any other restaurant, but in some cases are a converted part of the owner's home.

Depart for Viñales in western Cuba. Along the way, stop for birding at Las Terrazas, a UNESCO-designated Biosphere Reserve, where you'll be guided by Justo Arteaga from the Ecological Station of Las Terrazas. Las Terrazas is not only a nature reserve but also a self-sustained ecological community that began as a reforestation project in 1967. Target species are Cuban Grassquit, Cuban Trogon, Cuban Tody, Red-legged Honeycreeper, and Olive-capped Warbler. Meet with community residents who helped save this site that is now a model of sustainability and ecotourism. This afternoon, continue to Viñales, an area famous for its massive limestone formations called mogotes and home to species such as the Cuban Solitaire, Cuban Tody, Cuban Pewee and Cuban Bullfinch.

An early breakfast is followed by morning birding, looking for Cuban Solitaire, your target species, as well as Scaly-naped Pigeon. This afternoon, tour a local family's tobacco farm and learn about Cuba's innovation in agricultural sustainability. Then, visit the home of world-renowned nature artist and author Nils Navarro, who will provide a lecture, talk about his book, and show his art studio.

Depart early for the four-hour drive to the Zapata Swamp, Cuba's largest wetland and a Ramsar-designated Wetland of International Importance. The Zapata area, sprawling nearly 1,700 square miles, consists of scrub, mangrove swamp, and coastline. More than 200 bird species have been recorded here, including the endemic Zapata Wren and Zapata Sparrow. Look for species like the Cuban Blackbird, Cuban Green Woodpecker, Cuban Oriole, and Cuban Emerald. Spend more time birding in the late afternoon if time permits.

Following an early breakfast, depart for the Santo Tomás area, where you may find Zapata Wren and Zapata Sparrow. After lunch, enjoy birding at Las Salinas, an area frequented by many species of waterbirds that live in mangrove swamps, coastal lagoons, and woods. Over 165 indigenous and migratory birds, as well as mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates, are found here. Expect to see flamingos, herons, pelicans, Roseate Spoonbill, Glossy and White Ibises, Peregrine Falcon, Cuban Black Hawk, Belted Kingfisher, and others. Have dinner out at a local restaurant.

After breakfast, leave for the Bermejas site. Target species include the Cuban Parakeet, Cuban Pygmy-Owl, Bee Hummingbird, Cuban Green Woodpecker, Fernandina's Flicker, Cuban Trogon, and Cuban Tody. A mosaic of dry forest, swamp, mangrove, and mudflats, the Zapata Peninsula is one of the best preserved ecosystems on the island. Other species you might encounter are Bare-legged Owl, Blue-headed Quail-Dove, and Gray-fronted Quail-Dove. Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant with Zapata-area conservationists, who will provide updates on projects underway to preserve Cuba's largest wetlands. Visit the town of Palpite, where a special visit with artists of the Korimacao Project has been arranged. The Korimacao Community Project consists of residents from Cuban communities who are given the opportunity to develop and improve their performing skills such as singing, dancing, and playing instruments. Learn about the program's development and interact with the talented artists. Dine at a paladar and meet the owners, who will provide insight about their entrepreneurial activities.

Depart early for the airport in Havana for flights back to the U.S.