Puerto Rico Jan/Feb 2012 |
From January 30 to February 04 2012 Sheridan Coffey and myself birded Puerto Rico - we rented a small car and birded without a guide, relying on trip reports found on the internet plus the recent book " A Birdwatcher's Guide to Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and the Caymans".
Loggerhead Kingbird Tyrannus caudifasciatus taylori: we found this species pleasantly easy to locate, seeing them at Maricao Forest HQ (the bird shown here), Laguna Cartagena (nesting in the side of the obervation tower) and Ceiba Country Inn. NOTE the Puerto Rican subspecies has a paler undertail with no whitish tip (unlike the races found in Cuba and elsewhere). There is talk of splitting this off as a separate species (along with gabbii of Hispaniola?):
The pair here did a bit of courtship chattering and fluttering, during which the male exposed his yellow crest - visible below as he slowly withdrew it under the surrounding black feathers:
