St Lucia

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 forest 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.