After breakfast, depart to San Diego de Los Baños, a small town in Pinar del Rio province, 90 min west of Havana. Some stops will me make on the way for birding opportunities. In the area around San Diego, we can find more than 100 species of birds, with a high percentage of endemics.

Main targets in the area:

Cuban Solitaire, Olive-capped Warbler, Giant Kingbird, Fernandina’s Flicker, Scaly-napped Pigeon, Cuban Grassquit, Cuban Pygmy Owl, Gundlach’s Hawk, Stygian Owl.

Our first stop of the day is Las Terrazas, a small community and biosphere reserve hidden by the Sierra del Rosario mountains.

Main targets in the area:

Stygian Owl, Cuban Grassquit and some endemics like: Fernandina’s Flicker and Cuban Pygmy Owl.

Zapata Swamp is, undoubtedly, the best bird watching area in Cuba, and possibly the entire Caribbean region. It supports all but three of Cuba’s 23 avian endemics, as well as many other native species, both winter residents and transients, along with several summer and spring visitors (which breed in Cuba but return south in fall). Over 270 species have been reported in the area.

Depart for La Turba. This is a marsh habitat. We’ll be visiting the Bee Hummingbird’s House, a privately run and small refuge where we’ll have the best chances to encounter the endemic specie, the smallest bird in the world. We’ll find some other species of warblers. We’ll also have a walk around Soplillar, a unique trail where we’ll be spotting Cuban Nightjars, Bared Legged Owl, Fernandina’s Flicker and Stygyan Owl.

Main targets in the area:

Zapata Wren, Bee Hummingbird, Zapata Sparrow, Cuban Nightjar, Bared Legged Owl and Red-shouldered Blackbird.

Depart to Bermeja (a fauna refuge with National Significance), an open area with royal and cabbage palms, brush, and shrubbery, 7 miles (12 km) north of Playa Girón. Bermeja has one of the largest number of endemic birds per square mile in the world.

Main targets in the area:

Fernandina’s Flicker, Cuba’s two endemic owls (Cuban Pygmy-Owl and Bare-legged Owl), Cuban Nightjar, Bee Hummingbird, Cuban Parakeet, Cuban Trogon, Cuban Tody.

Birding in the morning. Depart to Camaguey in the aternoon.
Welcome to the maze! Camaguey (originally named Puerto Principe) was the 4th village founded by the Spanish crown on the southern coast of the region where it’s settled now. It was relocated in 1528, after some native rebellions and pirate attacks, being the last the reason why the city was designed like a maze, in order to confuse the attackers.

Depart to Najasa, a biosphere reserve. Among the birds that can be observed in the area are: Plain Pigeon, Palm Crow, Cuban Parrot, and many endemics, including the elusive Gundlach’s Hawk. After lunch, depart for
Continue to Moron, Moron, a small town founded in the first half of the 16th century that stills preserves buildings that match its age. Moron is only 30 miles away from Cayo Coco, which makes it the perfect base to for our birdwatching adventure in the area.

Main targets in the area:

Plain Pigeon, Palm Crow, Cuban Parrot and Gundlach’s Hawk.

Cayo Coco is the second-largest key in Cuba (recently connected to the mainland by a rock-fill road). It’s mostly covered by semideciduous forests; there are also mangroves, coastal shrub, patches of grass, and lagoons. A total of over 200 species has been reported, including many Cuban rarities with several new birds to add to our list: Cuban Gnatcatcher, a race of Zapata Sparrow, and Oriente Warbler. Also, other birds will be sought, including Western Spindalis and Cuban Bullfinch. There are many waders and one of the largest populations of American Flamingo in the Caribbean. In fall Merlin and Peregrine Falcon are not uncommon.

Main targets in the area:

Cuban Gnatcatcher, a race of Zapata Sparrow, Piping Plover, Key West Quail-Dove and Oriente Warbler.

Birding around Cayo Guillermo. The main habitats of this key are sandy-coast vegetation and mangroves. Well over 100 species have been reported in the area, including Thick-billed Vireo (a described endemic subspecies cubensis) and Bahama Mockingbird (very rare in this area), among them.

Main targets in the area:

Thick-billed Vireo, Bahama Mockingbird, Mangrove Cuckoo, Cuban Gnatcatcher, Clapper Rail and West Indian Whistling Duck.

Travel day! Let’s make our way back to Havana, with stops for birding along the way.

Transfer to Havana’s International airport. It’s time to say goodbye to Cuba, at least for now. It’s sad to see you go back to your country, but this adventure together has come to an end. We hope to see you again in our country, until then: Take care, we’ll miss you 😊.