Birders will have to break their own personal records to see all our rare native species -- and their exotic cousins who stop off for rest and recreation on well-flown migratory routes.
As you enjoy your own R&R, you can find yourself in places where the birds outnumber the people – Great Inagua in the Bahamas has a human population of less than 1,000, but is home to 60,000 spoonbills, ducks and flamingoes.
The great flocks of elegant, pink beauties found on Bonaire have given it its nickname of Flamingo Island. Across the Caribbean you’ll see egrets, sandpipers, terns, parrots and numerous water birds, such as brown pelicans.
In relatively tiny Trinidad, for example, you will find more species than in the whole of Canada.
The evening flight of the scarlet ibis at Caroni Swamp is worth travelling across the world to see. Hummingbirds – there are 15 species on the island – are found as often in gardens as they are in the woods and forests. Alaso, the “Lesser Antilles” region stands tall with over 30 surviving endemic species and many other more widespread Caribbean specialties. Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenada each host endemics and unique species.
We have created many national parks over the years to encourage our bird life to breed. At Half Moon Caye in Belize, the red-footed booby bird shares its rookery with the magnificent frigate bird. Some 98 species of birds have been recorded on the Caye, 77 o
f them migrants. These include ospreys, mangrove warblers and white-crowned pigeons. Barbuda is one of the region’s most important bird sanctuaries.
Jamaica has assigned the 'doctor bird', or red-billed streamertail hummingbird, the title of national bird, and many of the Windward Islands have their own parrots. In Guyana, which has 700 species, macaws fly noisily above the rainforest canopy, toucans and the harpy eagle swoop through the trees, and the cock-of-the-rock flirts with photographers at Kaieteur Falls. In Nassau and Paradise Island on New Providence in the Bahamas you can see egrets, herons, Bahama pintails, ruddy ducks, Caribbean coots, ospreys and belted kingfishers.