Blue-winged Warbler

 

The Blue-winged Warbler sings a distinctive bee-buzz from brushy fields. It dangles from branches and leaves, foraging like a chickadee but shows off bright warbler plumage: a yellow belly, yellow-olive back, and white wingbars across blue-gray wings.

A shrubland and old field specialist, it has benefited from landscape changes over the last 150 years as forest clearcuts and agricultural fields have grown up into scrubby fields. These changes have helped it expand northward, where it now hybridizes with and possibly threatens the much rarer Golden-winged Warbler. Cornell All About Birds

Wilson's Warbler

It seems we observe Wilson's Warblers on almost every outing this year as there seems to be an abundance around our area. A couple of days ago I had five all within eyesight at Wawanosh Wetlands.

Wilson's Warblers breed in mountains and northern forests, but pass through every state in the lower 48 during migration. Cornell All About Birds

American Redstart

                                        Some Warblers from a recent outing.

                                                        American Redstart

                                                    Chestnut-sided Warbler

                                                            Yellow Warbler

Black-whiskered Vireo

The Black-whiskered Vireo is a small but stout-bodied songbird with a straight rather thick bill with a sharp hook which you can see clearly in these images. It is by far the most common Vireo we observed in Cuba. This image clearly shows the black whisker mark at the throat.

It is olive above and pale with olive-yellow sides below. The head features a gray crown with a black lower border, white stripe over the eye, black line through the eye, and distinctive thin black “whisker” mark bordering the throat.

Red-legged Thrush

 

The Red-legged Thrush is a ground-dwelling species that occurs in a wide variety of habitats from brush and gardens to dense woods.

It is unique in its blue-tinged gray plumage combined with bright orange-red legs and eye ring.

Western Spindalis

 

Another bird we had to do a bit of hunting to find was the Western Spindalis. The Western Spindalis has a bold head pattern, golden-yellow and dark reddish body plumage, and bold white wing pattern.

The female is notably drab, grayish olive overall with a small white mark on the wing, and a ghosting of the male wing pattern. eBird

Loggerhead Kingbird

 

The Loggerhead Kingbird is a large flycatcher, mostly found in wooded areas, where it hunts from middle to upper level perches. It is grayish above and whitish below, and usually has a blackish crown and face.

Most populations of this species have grayish tail band. Resembles Eastern Kingbird, but Eastern has a bolder white tail band and smaller bill than Loggerhead. eBird

Oriente Warbler

 

The Oriente Warbler is endemic to Cuba and along with the Northern Parula was the most common warbler we seen daily.

The Oriente Warbler forages from the ground to the forest mid-level probing bark and clumps of dead leaves. Its major prey is beetles but it feeds on other insects, other invertebrates and small lizards.

West Indian Whistling Duck

 

The West Indian Whistling Duck is a distinctive large waterbird between the size of a large duck and a goose. It was very cool to hear these ducks whistling when I started my early morning birding rounds.

A nocturnal bird that roosts during day in mangroves, wooded ponds and marshes and feeds primarily at night.

Generally scarce and typically somewhat secretive, particularly where hunting of this species is allowed. Call is loud shrill whistle: “pip-pip-pip-weeeeeaaaa” usually given when agitated or in flight.

Least Grebe

 

The Cayo Coco sewage lagoons offered me another lifetime bird, the Least Grebe.

The Least Grebe is a tiny, almost metallic gray waterbird with a brilliant golden eye and a tuft of white at the stern.

These chunky-bodied grebes spend their time in shallow freshwater or brackish ponds where they hunt insects and frogs. Completely at home in the water, they sometimes hide out with the body submerged and only the bill out of the water, almost like a tiny alligator.

These birds are fairly common in tropical wetlands but reach the United States only in South Texas. Cornell All About Birds