This trip although not even remotely about birds, honeymoons seldom are! and when combined with the actual wedding, I was extremely lucky to see any birds, such a waste of an Island that is so rich in endemic species. However they are so numerous that I only had to look from my balcony and I was greeted with the enigmatic knockings of the endemic Hispaniola Woodpecker as well as the, equally endemic Hispaniolan Lizard cuckoo, and many other great birds like: Smooth-billed Ani, Grey kingbird and Northern mockingbird.
Whilst relaxing beside the pool, I was lucky enough to be joined by the stunning Golden swallow and Purple martin, as well as Cave swallow.
With only 2 short trips out of the hotel complex I was very limited as to what I might see, but, the Magnificent Frigatebirds were always nice to see drifting over the cliff edge and out to sea, as were the regular Black Vulture that were brought in by the daily rain (a mere shower of torrential rain that was gone in minutes), Brown Pelican were regular guests on the beach and a party of 7 feeding just off shore was a real treat.
Remembering that I rarely left the hotel grounds I was surprised to return home with a list of 40 species, only two of which I had seen back in Europe (the usual Cattle egret and Great white egret, it doesn't matter where in the world you travel cattle egrets usually put in an appearance.
| Least grebe |
| Brown pelican |
| Magnificent frigatebird |
| Little blue heron |
| Great white egret |
| Snowy egret |
| Cattle egret |
| Turkey vulture |
| Red tailed hawk |
| Ridgway's hawk |
| American kestrel (hispaniola race) |
| Snowy plover |
| Killdeer |
| Willet |
| Laughing gull |
| Gull-billed tern |
| Bridled tern | Least tern | Mourning dove | White winged dove | Hispaniolan parrot | Hispaniolan lizard cuckoo | Smooth billed ani | Collard swift | Black swift | Antillean palm swift | Hispaniolan emerald | Antillean mango | Hispaniolan woodpecker | Grey kingbird | Golden swallow | Purple martin | Cave swallow | Palm crow | Northern mockingbird | Palmchat | Bannanaquit | Black cowled oriole | Village weaver | Grasshopper sparrow |