15 - 19 November 1999
by Rick Waldrop
This is a brief report on a recent birding trip of four days (November 15-19, 1999) to the Dominican Republic. We concentrated our efforts entirely in the southwest region of the country in the areas around Barahona, mostly in the Sierra de Baoruco National Park. We initially rented a Fiat Punto ($38.00 a day) through Thrifty Car Rental at the Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo but, after two breakdowns, switched over to a four-wheel drive Daihatsu Terios ($58.00 a day) from Tavarez Leasing also at the airport. We stayed at lower and mid-range hotels (from $6.00 to $18 a night) and tried to have one substantial meal a day, usually dinner.
Most of our time was spent in the Sierra de Baoruco National Park, accessed from the town of Duverge, west of Barahona. From Duverge, the road ascends into an arid area around the town of Puerto Escondido, where the official entrance to the park is located. From Puerto Escondido the road continues up through arid and then temperate forest to the army outpost of El Aguacate (on the Haitan border). Above El Aguacate the road continues through secondary growth and then into the mountain forest at approx. 5,000 ft elevation. We also did additional, but limited, birding around Lake Enriquillo, west of Duverge, and saw the Asy-faced Owl near Barahona. What follows is an annotated species list for the trip. It should also be noted that most of our birding time was focused on finding endemics.
TRIP LIST
* denotes endemic species
| SPECIES | COMMENTS |
| Magnificent Frigatebird | - |
| Green Heron | - |
| Cattle Egret | - |
| Common Egret | - |
| American Flamingo | at Lake Enriquillo near Baitoa |
| Red-tailed Hawk | - |
| Osprey | - |
| American Kestrel | - |
| Common Guinea Fowl | - |
| Common Gallinule | - |
| Black-necked Stilt | - |
| Laughing Gull | - |
| Least Tern | - |
| Scaly-naped Pigeon | - |
| Morning Dove | - |
| Zenaida Dove | - |
| Common Ground-Dove | - |
| Gray-headed Quail-Dove | heard only |
| *Hispaniolan Parrot | seen at higher elevations in park |
| *Hispaniolan Parakeet | seen at higher elevations in park |
| *Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo | widespread |
| Smooth-billed Ani | - |
| *Ashy-faced Owl | seen at a well-known location near Barahona |
| Burrowing Owl | - |
| Greater Antillean Nightjar | heard and seen above Puerto Escondido |
| *Least Poorwill | heard and seen below Puerto Escondido |
| Antillean Palm Swift | - |
| *Hispaniolan Emerald | seen above El Aguacate |
| Antillean Mango | - |
| Vervain Hummingbird | - |
| *Hispaniolan Trogon | heard and seen above Puerto Escondido |
| Belted Kingfisher | - |
| *Narrow-billed Tody | above El Aguacate |
| *Broad-billed Tody | lower elevations |
| *Antillean Piculet | above El Aguacate |
| *Hispaniolan Woodpecker | widespread |
| Gray Kingbird | - |
| Loggerhead Kingbird | - |
| Stolid Flycatcher | - |
| *Hispaniolan Pewee | above El Aguacate |
| Greater Antillean Elaenia | above El Aguacate |
| Golden Swallow | over pines above El Aguacate |
| *White-necked Crow | near La Descubierta |
| *Hispaniolan Palm Crow | on road near Baitoa |
| Northern Mockingbird | - |
| *La Selle Thrush | in "cloud" forest above El Aguacate |
| Red-legged Thrush | - |
| Rufous-Throated Solitaire | in forest above El Aguacate |
| *Palm Chat | widespread |
| *Flat-billed Vireo | arid habitat at lower elevations |
| Bananquit | - |
| Blue-winged Warbler | - |
| Black-throated Green Warbler | - |
| Black-and-white Warbler | - |
| Northern Parula Warbler | - |
| Cape May Warbler | - |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler | - |
| Yellow-throated warbler | - |
| Prairie Warbler | - |
| Palm Warbler | |
| American Redstart | - |
| Ovenbird | - |
| *Green-tailed Ground-Warbler | in forest above El Aguacate |
| *White-winged Warbler | in forest above El Aguacate |
| Black-cowled Oriole | - |
| Antillean Euphonia | in second growth above El Aguacate |
| *Hispaniolan Stripe-headed Tanager | above El Aguacate |
| *Black-crowned Palm-Tanager | widespread |
| *Chat Tanager | in "cloud" forest above El Aguacate |
| *Antillean Siskin | in second growth above El Aguacate |
| Greater Antillean Bullfinch | widespread |
| Yellow-faced Grassquit | - |
| Nutmeg Mannikin | - |
| House Sparrow | - |
We missed the following endemics: Bay-breasted Cuckoo, Ridgway's Hawk, and Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager.
If anyone would like more specific information, please let me know.
Rick Waldrop
Cleveland, TN
USA
rewaldrop@aol.com