Dominican Republic Birdwatching Tour: Hispaniola Endemics

Reception and welcome at Santo Domingo Airport (driver and guide with a name sign outside the terminal), followed by a private transfer to the old town of Santo Domingo. If you arrive at a different airport or are already in the Dominican Republic, we offer the option to arrange a private transfer to Santo Domingo at any time, for an additional fee. This guarantees a convenient and flexible start to your tour.

Santo Domingo Botanical Gardens

The National Botanical Gardens are a great introduction to the birding bounty of the Dominican Republic. Diligently preserved and full of native plants, the gardens provide a habitat for many of the island's most sought-after species. We can expect to kick off our tour with good views of the scarce West Indian Whistling Duck, retiring Mangrove Cuckoo, ornate Red-legged Thrush, and other widespread species such as Zenaida Dove and Greater Antillean Grackle. Near-endemics and endemics are many, including Hispaniolan Woodpecker, Hispaniolan Parakeet, Black-crowned Tanager, Hispaniolan Lizard Cuckoo, Antillean Palm Swift, the gorgeous Antillean Mango, the minuscule Vervain Hummingbird, and Palmchat, one of the Caribbean's only monotypic bird families.

Parque Nacional Los Haitises

We venture to this section of the country for one particular species: one of the most imperiled endemic targets of the tour, Ridgway's Hawk. Critically Endangered, this incredibly rare raptor has had its range reduced to only a small part of northern Dominican Republic, long since extinct in Haiti. On the upside, thanks to intensive and prolonged efforts by the Peregrine Fund, this species is making a small recovery. This site is one of the better spots on the tour to get views of the bizarre Antillean Piculet, too big to be closely related to other neotropical piculets but too small to be a woodpecker, looking and sounding much more akin to the pygmy woodpeckers of the Old World. The area also supports Plain and Scaly-naped Pigeons, Hispaniolan Amazon, White-necked Crow, and Black-whiskered Vireo. We might also get our first glimpse of a tody, as Broad-billed Tody is not at all uncommon. There are also several commoner species to be seen, such as Gray Kingbird, several species of swallow, Bananaquits, Yellow-faced Grassquit, and thousands of Turkey Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks. This evening, we head out to locate the endemic Ashy-faced Owl, a species that is quite successful within its preferred habitat of humid forest borders and edges.

Sabana del Mar dock

A brief stop here offers a wonderful view of the surrounding mountain ranges plunging into the Caribbean, as well as some decent shorebird and tern viewing. We've often found Hispaniolan Curlytail Lizards and some interesting anoles here, for any herp lovers on the tour.

Salinas de Baní

We start our birding along the mangrove edges in search of the Caribbean race of Clapper Rail, Mangrove Warbler, and the stunning American Flamingo, which can be seen here in varying numbers. Several endemics live in the scrub and thickets bordering the mangroves, and we might come across our first Stolid Flycatcher or Greater Antillean Bullfinch here. An impressive array of shorebirds, including the endangered Piping Plover, is one of the reasons this area has gained international recognition as an area of importance. In spring migration, thousands of shorebirds stage here en route to breeding grounds in the Arctic; while we won't see the astonishing numbers an April visit would yield, we will still encounter large numbers of a nice array of species today. Regularly seen shorebirds here include Black-necked Stilt, Black-bellied Plover, Snowy, Wilson's, Semipalmated, and Piping Plovers, Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Stilt, Least, Semipalmated, Western, and Spotted Sandpipers, Short-billed Dowitcher, Willet, and both species of yellowlegs. Royal, Cabot's, and Common Terns, as well as the odd rare Roseate Tern, can be seen here, along with the island's full complement of herons and egrets. It will be a pleasant morning at a very scenic location.

Sierra de Bahoruco (southern slopes)

There are several well-known birding spots covering the southern Sierra de Bahoruco slopes and coastline. We will likely start our morning by driving up the Alcoa Road, a southern access to the Sierra de Bahoruco built by the Alcoa bauxite mining company many years ago. Today the paved road allows us easy, quick access to the higher parts of the ridge where native pine forests remain intact. Here we hope to find Hispaniolan Amazon, Golden Swallow, Hispaniolan Palm Crow, Pine Warbler, Antillean Siskin, and Hispaniolan Crossbill, to name just a few.

Cabo Rojo

This small beach cove is host to a few special birds such as White-tailed Tropicbird, Brown Booby, the Hispaniolan subspecies of Cave Swallow, and Antillean Palm Swift. It also makes for a perfect seafood lunch stop.

Barahona area

Several hotels and lodges in the area have cultivated gardens that can be quite productive. We'll keep an eye out for specialties including Hispaniolan Oriole, Palmchat, and Hispaniolan Woodpecker, with another chance for Ashy-faced Owl this evening if needed.

Cachote

This morning we head into another part of the Sierra de Bahoruco range for a very special treat. With a certain amount of luck and effort, we should get good views of the Eastern Chat-Tanager — many miles outside its known distribution, this southern-slope population is little known and even less often searched for. These songsters are notorious skulkers, but with patience we usually get everyone on the bird. Besides the Eastern Chat-Tanager, we'll enjoy our first exposure to the higher-elevation, humid broadleaf forests that hold the bulk of the island's endemics. Rufous-throated Solitaire song fills the air here, one of the most beautiful songs in nature. We may find the rare Bicknell's Thrush, the common and adorable Narrow-billed Tody, and Hispaniolan Trogons too. Hispaniolan Spindalis and Green-tailed Warblers are both seen here as well, adding to a wonderful host of island endemics. We'll be treated to a filling field breakfast prepared by our hosts from the nearby village of Cachote before birding our way back down the mountain.

Rabo de Gato

An incredible site for quail-doves, which come to feed in the leaf litter along a particular stretch of the Rabo de Gato Trail. Though few tours see all three species of quail-dove that occur on the island, all three have indeed been observed here, with the clear focus on the island's endemic White-fronted Quail-Dove, recently split from Grey-headed Quail-Dove. If we're lucky, we'll also see Key West and Ruddy Quail-Doves. We should have time to sample the lower-elevation birds here too, such as Plain Pigeon, Broad-billed Tody, Hispaniolan Lizard Cuckoo, White-necked Crow, and Hispaniolan Amazon. Night birding here is a must, as we search for the endemic Least Poorwill and the more widespread Northern Potoo.

This important mountain range supports populations of nearly all of Hispaniola's island endemics and target birds. An early rise this morning lets us reach the high-elevation cloud forest before activity dwindles; after many exciting new species, we bird our way downhill at our leisure. The long list of birds from today's efforts might include Hispaniolan Nightjar, Scaly-naped Pigeon, Antillean Piculet, Hispaniolan Lizard Cuckoo, Hispaniolan Trogon, Antillean Siskin, Green-tailed Warbler, White-winged Warbler, Western Chat-Tanager, Hispaniolan Crossbill, Hispaniolan Emerald, Hispaniolan Amazon, Broad-billed and Narrow-billed Todies, Hispaniolan Woodpecker, Hispaniolan Pewee, Greater Antillean Elaenia, Stolid Flycatcher, Golden Swallow, Rufous-throated Solitaire, Antillean Euphonia, Hispaniolan Spindalis, Greater Antillean Bullfinch, Hispaniolan Oriole, and the extremely rare La Selle's Thrush. The lush mountain greenery is also the wintering ground of many important North American migrants — Cape May, Prairie, and Black-throated Blue Warblers are among the commoner Neotropical migrants, but the range-restricted, boreal-breeding Bicknell's Thrush is also present in small numbers.

La Placa

This site lets us focus on one of the most spectacular birds of the island, the Bay-breasted Cuckoo. Though we may have already encountered this species by now, birding this area offers the tour's best chance for a close encounter with this important, striking bird, as well as Flat-billed Vireo, another endemic.

Laguna de Rincón

Time permitting, we hope to have some time for a boat ride and exploration of the seldom-visited but productive freshwater site Laguna de Rincón. As the only large freshwater lake on the island, it attracts a host of waterfowl, rails, herons, and several island endemics. White-cheeked Pintail, American Wigeon, Lesser Scaup, and Ruddy Duck frequent the lake, though the marshy areas will be our focus. The elusive Spotted Rail is known to breed here, and the enigmatic Yellow-breasted Crake has also been reported — both are widespread but among the most seldom-seen species in their range, and we have a decent shot at seeing at least one of them here.

Transfer to Santo Domingo airport. If you wish to extend your stay, add a beach extension, or require additional transfers, we are always at your disposal.