Our journey to Maria la Gorda on 5 Aug was not the easiest. No problem with traffic, but it was a long way over roads with loads of potholes - such a relief to arrive in front of the Hotel reception. But then horror of horrors the rear wheel of the vehicle had a flat tyre. The real problem was that Although Duviel had a spare tyre it was not fitted on a wheel. And a garage with the equipment to do this was probably a three or four hour drive away. We always respect Cubans for their competence and tenacity and we weren't disappointed. A guy who ran a very small hire car fleet at the hotel immediately offered to help Duviel and off they went round the back of some buildings. A short while later Duviel and the van reappeared, puncture repaired. Amazing! But the really amazing thing was that they had mended it with a condom. And that repair lasted for many hundreds of miles more till we got back to Havana!
This morning we went for a walk down the track from the hotel this morning for just a short way after breakfast and saw some of the same butterfly species including a female Cloudless Sulphur Phoebis sennae.

But there was a also a Louisiana Waterthrush feeding on the edge of the track. This was a bit unusual but must have been a downed migrant on its passage to the south. Both Northern and Louisiana Waterthrush are common winter residents and transients in Cuba. Northern Waterthrush prefer the mangrove swamps so are more coastal than Louisiana Waterthrush which prefers woodland streams and ponds. The differences in appearance can be subtle but Northern has a streaked throat, darker legs, finer bill and a supercilium that tapers behind the eye and is usually buffish (though it can be white). Louisiana Waterthrush has a white unstreaked throat, pink legs, stouter bill and a white supercilium that broadens behind the eye.

Compare this to the Northern Waterthrush that I photographed at Guardalavaca in mangroves on 7 October 2017.

We also saw the beautiful Evening Skimmer Tholymis citrina that we've only seen once before in October 2017 at the other end of the island.

We said our farewells at Maria la Gorda and headed off towards Vinales stopping only for two Hammock Skipper Polygonus leo that were sat on the road imbibing salts.

Although there have been occasional problems with the non availability of fuel here in the UK, the problems in Cuba during our holiday (and since) were gigantic! We needed fuel on the journey to get back to Vinales today, so Duviel visited a Government office yesterday to get a permit to buy fuel as he was transporting tourists. Us! We set off today but the tanker had not arrived so we had to do the journey on a very low tank.
We got to Vinales to find all sorts of problems at the hotel. However having sorted out that we could actually stay, Duviel  returned to the previous town, some hours away, spent the night there in order to be in the queue for when the tanker arrived. Fuel had been a problem right from the start but the situation had deteriorated considerably following devastating explosions and fires at the huge fuel depot at Matanzas. Duviel spared no efforts to ensure we had good trips and a brilliant holiday.

There was a Caspian Tern fishing off the beach this morning as Lynn had a swim in the sea before breakfast. I took some pictures of it when it settled on a buoy some way out. The pictures showed it was fitted with a blue ring on its left leg.
While standing on the concrete jetty I could see a shoal of thin fish with long pointed jaws in the water below. They were Keeltail Needlefish Platybelone argalus. They are in the Family Belonidae and are found only in the West Atlantic. They grow up to about 0.5m but these were maybe half that size. They are related to the Garfish that we get here in the UK. Confusingly Garfish in the United States refers only to similar looking fish that belong to a different Family altogether that are found only in freshwater.

Here in the UK on the south coast of Devon and Cornwall there have been increasing reports over the last few years of Bluefin Tuna being seen just offshore. This is very exciting news as they had been wiped out by over-fishing and had not been seen for over 50 years. You can watch a lovely short film on YouTube taken by Henry Kirkwood here showing Bluefin Tuna chasing and catching Garfish off the south coast. Lynn and I will be going down there next autumn to see if we can see this wonderful wildlife spectacle. There are two garfish in UK waters. The most common is the Long-beaked Garfish Belone belone. which grows about a metre long. It features a long slim body and a long jaw armed with small but very sharp teeth capable of impaling and cutting through small prey. Short-beaked Garfish are rarer and generally found further south in the E Atlantic and Mediterranean and are infrequent visitors to the south coast of England.
I wasn't feeling great this morning so decided to stay around the hotel not far from a toilet while the others went off and saw and photographed Dusky Swallowtail, Neleis Sulphur, Cuban White and Cuban Flasher. Bit miffed by missing the latter!

There were often Killdeer feeding here on the short turf and I saw Mexican Fritillary here too. Most of the Florida Purplewing were rather tatty but the many Iphicleola Sister were still very fresh.

Later in the day just before supper there were ten Barn Swallows and two Northern Rough-winged Swallows feeding over the hotel grounds before moving on. Although i did get one or two pictures of the Yellow-headed Warbler that we saw yesterday they were pretty poor and mostly obscured by twigs and leaves so I've got permission from Marcos Verdecia Diaz to use his beautiful photo that he took recently. Thank you Marcos.

My pictures of Lynn swimming in the sea this morning weren't great so here's a picture of her taken in May this year in Trieste when we attended the International Swift Conference 2024.

Today we walked further into the Conservation area of the National Park towards Cabo Corrientes with Medalino, the Park guide. As usual the pace was slow as there was lots to see and photograph. We saw Ameiva auberi and Anolis homolechis which had a pale brownish coloration. Normally the males are blackish and females are dark brown with a pale dorsal line and a light chestnut colour on the top of the head but the white dewlap is distinctive. There were lots of butterflies along the way including Emerald Aguna Aguna claxon, many Iphicleola Sister Adelpha iphicleola, Caribbean Daggerwing Marpesia eleuchea and Tailed Cecropian Historis acheronta. We had never seen the latter settle and open its wings before as this one did.

We also saw Yellow-headed Warbler Cuban Pigmy Owl, Cuban and Black-Whiskered Vireo, Bee Hummingbird, and Cuban Lizard Cuckoo feeding along the edge of the road.

There were also lots of Cuban White Ganyra menciae but the best was a male Orbis Sulphur Phoebis orbis that settled within distance for a picture.

This dragonfly, a male Dythemis rufinervis Red Setwing, is a solely Caribbean species so is not found in Denis Paulson's books on the dragonflies of the US. The red veins on the wings and a brown patch at the base of the rear wings with a slim scarlet abdomen with black marks on the sides only are characteristic.

We have seen it just once previously at Topes in June 2018, see picture below - taken with a better camera!

In the evening we went out to see the turtles come in and lay on the beach which is on the road towards the lighthouse. Our guide Osmani told us that on this beach there are approx 200 turtle nests each year. They are 80% Green Turtle Chelonia mydas and 20% Loggerhead Turtle Caretta caretta. Eggs are mostly laid between mid-July and mid-August so we are nearing the end of the egg laying season now but the nests are protected and studied by Cuban scientists. While we were there a female Green Turtle came out of the water and up the beach as we sat quietly waiting with dimly-lit torches. No photography is allowed on the beach to reduce disturbance. On this beach there is an 82% success rate of eggs hatching.

On the beach there were also 7 Yellow-crowned Night Heron searching for crabs and we had seen Cuban Iguana along the road. We stayed out till midnight and then said our goodbyes and got back to the vehicle just as the heavens opened. There had been a bad storm over the Maria La Gorda hotel before we arrived with lots of rain, thunder and lightning but we missed the worst of it.

Back in 2016 whilst preparing for a trip to the east of Cuba, Rayner Núñez told us about a new unidentified Skipper that he had found near Baracoa in May 2012. He suggested that we should go and look for it, and sent me pictures of the specimen, an all brown skipper that was possibly in the genus Euphyes. In June 2016 when we were there we tried to reach the area that Rayner had described but found that we could not get through on the narrow tracks in our vehicle. You can read about what we saw that day here.
Wind on to November 2021 and July 2022 and more specimens of both sexes were collected by Yosiel Álvarez at the site that Rayner had found initially.
We had seen and photographed both the known Euphyes species, Singularis Skipper and Cornelius Skipper at Villa Maguana a few days before on 17 June, but little did we know but both Doug and I had seen and photographed the new skipper that day too. I hadn't included photos in the blog for that day because I hadn't worked out what they were - silly me!

But now the paper describing the species Serrano Skipper Choranthus serranorum as new to science has just been published and you can read it here. Well done to all involved.

We were told today that there had been an explosion at one of the large fuel storage tanks in Matanzas, 60 km outside Habana, following a lightning strike on the storage facility. Today is Sunday and the fires started on Friday evening. The facility comprises I think eight tanks in close proximity and yesterday the fire engulfed a second tank. Many people lost their lives including many firefighters who were on hand to stop the spread. On the following day, Monday, a third tank was also engulfed in flames spreading very toxic smoke into the atmosphere meaning that many people had to be evacuated from their homes. The fuel supply system is already critical leading to a permit system to buy fuel and long waits at petrol stations so this is a huge disaster for the country. In a place that has many storms every year it shows the importance of maintaining the lightning conductors on such critical infrastructure!
But on to happier more wildlife-centred things. We spent the day on foot walking SW into the National Park.

But even before we got there there were great butterflies just outside the hotel perimeter fence.  We had never seen Emerald Aguna Aguna claxon before but here there were several nectaring on a flowering shrub just outside the fence. But getting pictures was tricky using my Sony RX10 bridge camera because of the slow focus, quite frustrating. The larval foodplant is Bauhinia and there was a plant close by that we searched for eggs or larva without success.

Doug found some Neleis Sulphur Phoebis neleis eggs on a Lysiloma bush and we also saw a Cuban Hairstreak Allosmaitia coelebs which is rare but widespread in Cuba and this is the first time it has been recorded west of Soroa which is about 135km to the north-east. A Tailed Cecropian Historis acheronta flew past but luckily settled again, and there was a Tropical Buckeye larva feeding on a small Stachytarpheta jamaicensis.

A beautiful but not uncommon moth called Urainia boisduvalii came and landed nearby and we also found some moth larvae - as yet unidentified.

And finally, we saw a beautiful damselfy and dragonfly. The first is a male Blue-striped Spreadwing Lestes tenuatus, another first for us. And the other I think is a heteromorph female Band-winged Dragonlet Erithrodiplax umbrata which lacks the band marks on the wings.

Before breakfast we went down to the beach where Lynn had a swim and I watched a Green Heron hunting for its breakfast along the shore. There was a also significant NE passage of Rough-winged Swallows.

A Wilson's Plover was resting a little further along the beach. They can be found around much of the coast of Cuba.

We then went to the Centro de Visitantes Guanahacabibes, paid the small fee and picked up our guide Osmani for the day to take us into the National Park heading towards the lighthouse at Faro Roncali. Our first stop was by a shallow pool on the north side of the road where there was an immature White Ibis feeding. A Killdeer was running around on the edge and there were several Seaside Dragonlet Erythrodiplax berenice.

On the other side of the road we found a Cuban Knight Anole Anolis equestris. This is a variable species that has many different forms in different parts of the country. We'd never seen a pale one like this before. Unfortunately there is no modern book covering all the reptiles of Cuba most of which are endemic. A book has been in preparation for many, many years but there is still no indication of a publication date. As a result only a handful of people in the country know what they are looking at and unless you can increase the awareness amongst the general population about how wonderful these creatures are most people will remain in ignorance and they will not be protected. In my view this is wrong and what should have been done years ago is that a pdf should have been produced as a 'work in progress' that could have been updated every year or two with a new revision number as more research is done. This would have the effect of educating the people in conservation and also the many amateurs with cameras. This would stimulate a huge interest and would greatly increase the knowledge of the range of the different species. Yes I understand that more research needs to be done on certain species groups to understand their relationships and that can continue before issue of the hard copy book. But how long do the Cuban people have to wait for even the basic information - another ten years? There really is a complete lack of critical thinking here.
Let's face it, very few people will ever own the hard copy of the book. But they would use a free pdf that they can store on their phones or laptop. A few years ago the first Field Guide to be written on the Butterflies of Cuba was published by Carlos A. Mancina, Director of the Institute of Ecology and Systematics in Habana. Although a few hard copies were printed the main advantage of the book is that it is available as a free pdf. It was produced with the purpose of raising awareness and as a learning aid for the population of Cuba. This is what should have been done years ago for the reptiles.

Osmani soon found a Bee Hummingbird that was perching on top of the dead bare branches of nearby trees but they were beyond the capabilities of my camera. There was also a dragonfly which was one of the Saddlebags but I couldn't pin it down to species and the photos weren't great. A Cuban Black Hawk also made an appearance overhead. Other things of interest seen today were Blue-gray Gnat-catcher, a gelechiid moth called Ethmia phylacis, lots of Jutia droppings and the reptiles Pholidoscelis auberi Cuban Whiptail and Cyclura nubila Cuban Iguanas.

And along the track by the hotel in the evening there were lots of Adelpha iphicleola Iphicleola Sister and Libytheana motya Cuban Snout.

In Cuba there are six endemic damselfies. These are:
Coenagrionidae - Cuban Bluet Enallagma truncatum
Megaopdagrionidae - Cuban Hypolestes Hypolestes trinitatis
Protoneuridae - Orange-sided Threadtail Neoneura carnatica
Protoneuridae - Cuban Blue Threadtail Neoneura maria
Protoneuridae - Black-fronted Threadtail - Protoneura capillaris
Protoneuridae - Blue-and-orange Threadtail - Protoneura caligata
All of them are on the IUCN Red List.
We have only seen one of them before and that is Hypolestes trinitatis. I think I'm right in saying that this is the largest of the six and we have seen it a couple of times in the Alejandro de Humboldt NP in the east. The others are small and easily overlooked.
I have recently been sent some great photos by Ana Hernandez of three of these species. The pictures were all taken at Las Terrazas Nature reserve, Sierra del Rosario, Pinar del Rio province in the far west of the country. Ana monitors the communities of these three endemics there, studying the habitat characteristics, and gathering data to try to ensure that they are included in the nature reserve  management plans. There is almost no insect included in the list of priorities for conservation in the nature reserves and natural parks in Cuba. Thank you Ana for allowing me to use your photos. Keep up the good work.

I don't have pictures yet of one of the endemics - Enellagma truncatum for which there seems to be little if any information on the internet. But for the other - Protoneura caligata which is vulnerable and known I think from just five sites in the Escambray Mountains, I have just found a picture which is reproduced under licence below. I have just read that it is known from a waterfall just to the east of Topes de Collantes. We have walked past the path down the river to the waterfall as it is sign-posted on the road! I wish I had known that when we were there and would have made the effort to go and look for it.

The Dwarf Green Anole Anolis isolepis is a rare endemic. It is green with pale diagonal stripes on the side of the abdomen and dark feet. They are trunk/canopy anoles and move slowly along twigs and leaves as they search for their insect food. They are found in mountainous areas mainly in the east of the island in a triangle between Cabo Cruz, Punta de Maisi and Gibara on the north coast but they are also found in the Escambray Mountains and in the hills between Yaguajay and Moron. The photo above was taken recently by Juan Daguerre in the Sierra Maestra and the picture below was taken near Gibara by our friend Felix Bermudez who sadly passed away after contracting Covid at the start of the pandemic. The species in the Anolis isolepis subgroup are A. altitudinalis, A. isolepis, A. oporinus, A. toldo and A. viridulus and all are endemic to Cuba.

A new species of Urbanus skipper has just been described from Cuba. It is endemic and very similar to the Common Long-tailed Skipper Urbanus proteus. A specimen caught near Habana has been subjected to DNA analysis and found to be a separate species. It has been named Urbanus cubanus Grishin. Another specimen collected collected from Habana nearly 100 years ago (on 3 March 1927) has also been found to be U. cubanus. It has been placed in the phylogenetic tree between Urbanus proteus and its sister species Urbanus velinus which is found in South America.

What we don't know at this stage is the distribution of the two species in Cuba. We don't know if they are sympatric or whether they are separated zonally. And it's not clear to me yet if they can be safely differentiated on upperwing pattern alone. The wonderful photo above taken near Habana a few years ago was assumed then to be Urbanus proteus. Perhaps it is or perhaps it is the new Urbanus cubanus. The paper describes it differing from its closest relative U. proteus in broader and straighter ventral hindwing dark bands and a darker area by mid-costa, hyaline spot in forewing cell CuA1-CuA2 closer aligned with the spot in discal cell rather than shifted distad, absent or small submarginal hyaline spots in forewing cells M1-M2 and M2-M3 and also differences in the genitalia. Time will tell.

Between September 2023 and May 2024 Yosiel Álvarez and colleagues have carried out several butterfly surveys in the far south-east of Cuba. The two species are  Antillean Blue Pseudochrysops bornoi and Toussaint's Scrub-Hairstreak Strymon toussainti.  Both had been found previously on only a very small number of occasions but have now been discovered to be a little more widespread than previously thought and the latter was even found inland for the first time, in fact 20km inland and at a height of 420m. You can read the paper on their rediscovery in Cuba here (Gallardo & Álvarez, 2024).