VENT | Information Bravo

Locale: Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, with a land mass of a little over 42,000 square miles and about 3,500 miles of coastline. The main island is 780 miles long and 119 miles across at its widest point, 19 miles across at its narrowest. Today we traveled from the north shore to the south. Administratively, Cuba is divided into fifteen provinces; we’ve now been to three of the fifteen (we will not visit the five eastern ones, which include Guantánamo, probably the place name most familiar to Americans).

Weather: 70s. Cold front with drizzle.

Itinerary: Cayo Coco south to Morón, south to Ciego de Ávila, west on Carretera Central to Jatbonico, west to Sancti Spíritus, southwest to Trinidad

Overnight: Hotel Las Brisas, Ancón Peninsula

Excursions: Birding at Cueva del Jabalí, buffet breakfast at hotel, birding on Cayo Coco near Hotel Tryp, lunch at hotel bar, long bus ride to Ancón Peninsula, check in at hotel, dinner at paladar Davimart

Habitats: Desert scrub, farmland, mangroves, urban areas.

Bird Species (partial listing, by family): Least Grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus), White-Crowned Pigeon (Patagioenas leucocephala), Key West Quail Dove (Geotrygon chrysia), Clapper Rail (Rallus crepitans), Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus), Solitary Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria), Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes), Yellow-Crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea), White Ibis (Eudocimus albus), Cuban Tody (Todus multicolor), Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway), Cuban Vireo (Vireo gundlachii), Cuban Crow (Corvus nasicus), Red-Legged Thrush (Turdus plumbeus), Cape May Warbler (Setophaga tigrina), Palm Warbler (Setophaga palmarum), Oriente Warbler (Teretistris fornsi)

Other Species: Blue-Headed Anole (Anolis allisoni) and Knight’s Anole (Anolis equestris cyaneus)

Guides and Driver: Angel, David, Liu and Carlos

Observations: Supposedly, the “Cave of the Wild Boar” is a trendy disco!

The mini-pizza I ate for lunch at the bar was quite tasty (surprisingly, I suppose).

We are staying at yet another all-inclusive resort. Our room is on the second floor and quite nice; however, the water pressure disappeared, so I took a sponge bath instead of showering.

Our welcome drink at Davimart was made with miel (honey).

Reflections: The roads in Cuba seem to be in good shape — maybe even more so than our roads in Massachusetts, which at this point in the year are riddled with potholes from winter weather. Our bus is Chinese-made, by the Yutong Bus Company; we see many of these buses, which all look fairly new. Of course the American cars from the 1950s which we see everywhere are a Cuban phenomenon, and I have to say, they are quite the sight. We also see European cars, from French, Italian, and German manufacturers, as well as the Russian Ladas, and there are Japanese-made cars as well. It is difficult for individual Cubans to own their own automobiles, and horse-drawn vehicles are a common sight.

I have noticed quite a bit of trash by the roadsides though, and even on the beaches. Maybe as Cuba becomes more developed, we’ll start to see Earth Day clean-ups as we have in the States (certainly we Americans ought to do better, and think about recycling and waste more often than once a year).

Images:

I am not sure how to interpret these sculptures of cows outside our hotel room.

The beach is visible in the background, behind the pool.

Mangrove forests are an ecosystem of high biological diversity.

Semi-feral dogs are a common sight in Cuba.

Locale: On 26 July 1988 the causeway linking to Cayo Coco with the mainland was completed. Here is more information about this project that I found on the Internet:

The causeway linking Cayo Coco to the mainland is 17 miles long and runs across Perros Bay. It took 16 months to build and required 110 million cubic feet of stone. The causeway caused concern among environmentalists because it disturbed the tidal flow, thus changing the salinity and temperature of the water^.A number of gaps were created in the causeway to restore some water flow. Wild flamingos still live in the shallow waters of the bay and can often be seen from the causeway, albeit less frequently. Two short causeways link Cayo Coco to Cayo Guillermo to the west and Cayo Romano to the east.

This article also says that “coco” refers to the white ibis; supposedly the locals call them the “coconut birds.”

Weather: 80s. Sunny.

Itinerary: Cayo Coco to Cayo Guillermo and back

Overnight: Hotel Sol Cayo Coco, Jardines del Rey

Excursions: Buffet breakfast at 6:30, birding at Cayo Paredón Grande near the lighthouse, buffet lunch at hotel, birding at Cayo Guillermo, birding at Las Coloradas Beach, buffet dinner at hotel

Habitats: Desert scrub, sandy beach, coastal wetlands, mudflats, mangroves.

Bird Species (partial listing, by family): West Indian Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna arborea), Blue-Winged Teal (Anas discors), Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata), American Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber), Cuban Emerald Hummingbird (Chlorostilbon ricordii), Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata), Black-Necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus), Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus), Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus), Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus), Ring-Billed Gull (Larus delawarensis), Lesser Black-Backed Gull (Larus fuscus), Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia), Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens), Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus), Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), Great Egret (Ardea alba), Snowy Egret (Egretta thula), Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea), Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor), Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja), Cuban Black Hawk (Buteogallus gundlachii), Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon), Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius), Thick-Billed Vireo (Vireo crassirostris), Cuban Gnatcatcher (Polioptila lembeyei), Bahama Mockingbird (Mimus gundlachii), Western Spindalis (Spindalis zena), Zapata Sparrow (Torreornis inexpectata)

Other species: Barracuda, juvenile (Sphyraena)

Guides and Driver: Angel, David, Liu, Odey and Carlos

Observations: Marti and I swam in both the hotel pool in the late morning and in the ocean in the early afternoon.

Reflections: I borrowed a field guide from the UMass Library: A Field Guide to the Birds of Cuba by Orlando Garrido and Arturo Kirkconnell. It’s hard-bound so a bit heavy, but I’m taking it with me every day, as I believe it will be quite useful.

Images: