After watching day break over the city of Camagüey (home town for our Cuban guide Ray), our merry band from New Mexico Ornithological Society sets out for Finca La Belén in the Sierra de Najasa.
La Belén is a protected holding where ranching and ecotourism converge. Here we are seeking the Giant Kingbird… and anything else that crosses our path. One of the first birds we run across is a Cuban Pygmy-Owl. We’ve found this species throughout the trip: what a treat that has been!
Pretty soon the cry comes––a Giant Kingbird has been found! It is actually slightly smaller than southern Arizona’s Thick-billed Kingbird, but we’ll keep that between us. Their bills are similarly enormous––look at the stoutness here! And compare that to the more slender bill of the Loggerhead Kingbird below. The Giant and Loggerhead Kingbirds are closely related and occur here in the same habitat. The Giant, however, is endangered, while the Loggerhead is abundant. Reasons for the Giant Kingbird’s decline are not known, although the loss of large trees for nesting is a likely factor.
Red-legged Thrush (Photo by Jerry Oldenettel)
Cuban Daggerwing, Marpesia eleuchea (Photo by Jerry Oldenettel)
We have one more destination today, the Sierra de Cubitas, where we will search for Oriente Warblers, the last of Cuba’s three species of endemic wood warblers. So we don’t linger long after lunch, as inviting and comfortable as Finca La Belén is!