The famous Pitons on the west coast of the island.
Lu and I booked a last-minute break to St Lucia in the Caribbean. It's only a small island (28 miles north to south) but takes a good 5-6 hours to drive around if you follow the slow-paced east and west coast roads. Not a holiday dedicated to birding but most of the endemic species seen with a single visit to the interior rain-forested hills. Otherwise easy birding within half a mile of the hotel where we stayed in Rodney Bay, situated in the north-western tip of the island.
Grey Kingbird - Rodney Bay - one of the most commonly-seen species with a habit for building their scruffy nests on telegraph posts.
Green-throated Carib. And below. One of only three hummingbird species on the island but all easy to find.
Purple-throated Carib.
Male Antillean Crested Hummingbird. Below - flashing its dazzling fore-crown.
Singing male Grey Trembler - Rodney Bay.
Male Black-faced Grassquit.
Mangrove Cuckoo - Rodney Bay.
Fiery Skipper.
Disjunct Scrub-Hairstreak Strymon bubastus.
White Peacock.
Presumed Pale Yellow Pyristia venusta.
Hanno Blue Hemiargus hanno.
Hanno Blue. An incredibly tiny butterfly.
Great Southern White.
Gulf Fritillary. Below - some as yet unidentified moths...
Melipotis famelica.
Scaly-naped Pigeon - Rodney Bay.
Common House Gecko.
St Lucia Anole.
This huge female Hawksbill Turtle had just finished egg-laying on the beach (Pigeon Island) in broad daylight.
Juvenile Spotted Sandpiper - Rodney Bay.
Female Indigo Bunting - Rodney Bay. Not sure of the status of this species on the island but certainly wasn't expecting it.
Adult Laughing Gull - Rodney Bay marina.
African Giant Snail.
Atlantic Ghost Crab.
Male Lesser Antillean Bullfinch - Rodney Bay. Lots of these seen.
Zenaida Dove - Rodney Bay. An extremely common species on the island.
Shiny Cowbird.
Snowy Egret - Rodney Bay marina.
Little Blue Heron - Rodney Bay.
Green Heron - Rodney Bay marina.
Yellow-crowned Night Heron - Rodney Bay.
Male Magnificent Frigatebird.
Immature Magnificent Frigatebird.
Juvenile and adult Brown Pelican - Fort Vieux.
Adult winter Royal Tern - Rodney Bay.
Adult male Brown Booby - Rodney Bay.
Brown Booby - subadult female?
Parrot's Beak Heiconia psittacorum.
Phillipine Ground Orchid.
Red Christmas Heliconia wagneriana.
Lilac Tasselflower Emilia sonchifolia.
Whitemouth Dayflower Commelina erecta.
Butterfly Pea - Centrosema virginianum.
Lesser Antillean Saltator - Pigeon Island.
Spectacled Thrush - Pigeon Island.
Male Carib Grackle - Rodney Bay.
Caribbean Elaenia - Rodney Bay.
Common Ground Dove.
Scaly-breasted Thrasher - Rodney Bay. Pearly-eyed Thrasher was seen (and heard) in the high elevation rainforest but escaped my efforts to photograph it.
Female Caribbean Martin - Rodney Bay.
American Kestrel - Rodney Bay.
Tropical Mockingbird - Rodney Bay.
Bananaquit - Rodney Bay.
Lesser Antillean Skimmer.
A gap in the rain forest (Des Cartiers trail) where a number of St Lucia Amazons were seen - mostly distant and in flight but none the less spectacular.
Female St Lucia Black Finch - an endemic species.
St Lucia Amazon. Photo taken from considerable distance. A few birds flew past us very closely but were too quick for me to photograph.
Lesser Antillean Pewee - Des Cartier trail.
St Lucia Oriole. One of two seen but as you can see I had no luck with photographing them! Another endemic species.
Rufous-throated Solitaire Des Cartiers trail.
The endemic St Lucia Warbler - Rodney Bay.
