There have been several exciting avian finds in Cuba during 2025. Some of these have been mentioned in previous blogs and there are others that I will document here in the next couple of weeks. The most recent of these discoveries was just two months ago today of a Bronzed Cowbird which has just been written up in the Caribbean Journal of Science by the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez and made freely available by BioOne DIGITAL LIBRARY. 

Most Cowbird species are brood parasites like Cuckoos. Shiny Cowbird is a South American species which has extended its range northwards up to Florida and is the only resident species in Cuba. The Brown-headed Cowbird is a rare winter visitor in the Bahamas and has also been recorded as a vagrant in Cuba.
An adult male Bronzed Cowbird was recorded for the first time on the island of Cuba on 24 October 2025 near the Roncali Lighthouse, the western-most point of the island on the Guanahacabibes Peninsular. They are slightly larger than Shiny Cowbird and are found from the SW United States down through Mexico, central America and along the north coast of Columbia. Adults lay their eggs in the nests of many birds including Prevost's Ground-sparrows and White-naped Brush Finches. The young develop rapidly and leave the nest after 10–12 days.

The long-anticipated paper describing a further six cryptic species of Dianesia, all endemic to the island of Cuba, has now been published. You can read the paper here. The comparison between these cryptic newly described Dianesia species and the many Calisto species that until recently were also thought to be just one species is noted.
The two previously described species were:
Carter's Metalmark Dianesia carteri found only in the Bahamas is now given full species status and split from Ramsden's Metalmark Dianesia ramsdeni found only in eastern Cuba.
The description of Galindo Metalmark Dianesia galindoensis was detailed in the last blog.

The six new species described in the new paper are:

Aberrant Metalmark Dianesia aberrans
Sheyla's Metalmark Dianesia sheylae
Alayo's Metalmark Dianesia alayoi
Flaming Metalmark Dianesia flammata
Hidden Metalmark Dianesia abscondita
Holguin Metalmark Dianesia serpentinicola

Mean interspecific barcode p-distances were above 2% for all species pairs except between Dianesia alayoi and D. flammata where it was 1.59%. This falls below the 2% threshold usually employed for species delimitation in Lepidoptera. However, the existence of morphological differences in the adults, larvae, genitalia, larval host plant and distribution led the authors to describe them as different species. In other species pairs the barcode p-distances were up to 7.08% (between D. aberrans and D. sheylae). 

I also found interesting the absence of Dianesia from Hispaniola. They speculate that this could reflect extinction events or other historical factors but also accept that the existence of undiscovered species of Dianesia cannot be discounted. 

In all our visits we have only seen one of the eight species - Flaming Metalmark Dianesia flammata. That was on our visit to Cayo Coco in June 2019. It is quite possible of course that we have mostly been looking at the wrong time of year.  A huge well done to all the wonderful people involved in this great piece of science for all the field work, lab work, writing, proof reading and of course to Yosiel Alvarez for the great pictures. I will load more information on to the new individual species pages over the next couple of weeks.

A new species of Metalmark Dianesia galindoensis has just been described from Western Cuba with Lomas de Galindo in Mayabeque province as the type locality. The colony was first discovered in June 2014 but only recently been discovered to be a new cryptic species by the use of DNA analysis. 
Watch this space as there will shortly be more species described. Thank you to Yosiel Alvarez for his superb photos of this species. 
You can read the full paper here. 

The Amethyst Hairstreak Chlorostrymon maesites is only known from Florida and the Antilles. In Cuba it is widespread  but uncommon.
Douglas Fernandez' small town garden in Camaguey has been planted with many butterfly foodplants and is great for nectar sources too. He has planted Calopogonium caeruleum (Fabaceae) and occasionally sees Amethyst Hairstreak nectaring and even egg-laying on the flowers. During a recent search for larvae his wife Noris found this near full-grown larva sitting superbly camouflaged on the flowers. Well done Noris and Doug.

The Northern Potoo (Nyctibius jamaicensis) has very recently been discovered in a forest in the Sierra Maestra mountains in the municipality of Pilon. It was found to be doing well in the area and even a nest with an egg was discovered.

The Northern Potoo is a nocturnal bird that feeds on insects and by day it camouflages very well by pretending to be a blind branch in a tree. It is found in Hispaniola, Jamaica and Central America while  It was formerly classified as a subspecies of the Common Potoo (Nyctibius griseus) and from which based on external characters it is very similar, but since 1995 it has been treated as a separate species based on the great difference in vocalizations. Oddly, the bird is not mentioned in The Birds of Cuba (Garrido & Kirkconnell, 2000).

In Cuba there have been few confirmed records going back to the 19th century. In 1997 El Chino, a well-known guide from the Zapata Swamp, obtained Potoo feathers but no adults were observed in the wild.

In January 2001, G. M. Flieg and Guy M. Kirwan conducted nocturnal surveys in eastern Cuba. Just before sunset on 5 January, a Northern Potoo was observed, briefly, atop a telegraph pole beside the road east of Siboney, Santiago de Cuba province. The bird then flew across the road into an area of xerophytic vegetation on a hillside, characterized by tall columnar cacti, emergent palms, and 1-3 m–tall scrub. It was lost from sight and no further observations were made at this site. Further, on 10 January 2001, Kirwan heard the distinctive song of the Potoo in a similar area of xerophytic scrub on the coast, south of Baitiquirí, Guantánamo province. This individual was not seen. The habitat in which these two records were collected is similar to that in which the species is most frequently encountered in Hispaniola (Kirwan, pers. obs.).

Later, in 2003, Maikel Prieto a resident of Holguín Province donated a dead bird specimen to a museum, initially believing it to be a Cuban Nightjar. However, upon closer examination, Nils Navarro realized that it was actually a Potoo. Shortly after, another specimen was collected by the same person and donated to the museum. In 2020, Maikel alerted Nils Navarro to a live specimen that had been injured by locals in the same Province. A photo of this bird exists.

A few days ago (Feb 2025) a connoisseur of birds and nature in general, alerted bird-watchers to the presence of a Northern Potoo near his house and a group of the Avila Birdwatchers Club and the Granma Birdwatchers Club went to the place to confirm the sighting with photos, videos and audios. A huge well done to all those involved in this discovery.

Further to the recent blog about the Cuban Emerald nest in Doug and Noris' garden in Camaguey Doug has confirmed that the youngster fledged at 21 days old. Just before fledging it could be seen testing its wings in this lovely video taken by Noris. You can see from the picture below that the youngster still has quite a lot of growing to do, not just in wing and tail length but also in bulk It spent its first night out of the nest roosting on a slender branch in their garden. And here it is being fed by the female parent. Great pictures both of you and thanks for sharing. And now just the empty nest is left.

Whilst on a field trip from Habana recently to the east of Cuba searching for butterflies, Yosiel Álvarez with colleagues Dayron Breto and Sheyla Yong made an amazing discovery. They found a butterfly that had previously been thought to be an endemic of Hispaniola. On 29 January 2025 at Maisi in the far north-eastern corner of the island they found The Widow Archimestra teleboas. Many were seen along 12km of woodland trail so it seems to be well established there. It will be interesting to note how quickly it moves westwards. You can read the paper of the discovery here.
Well done to the finders! There is still lots to be discovered about the butterflies of Cuba

Douglas Fernandez has recorded many species of butterfly in his small town garden in central Camaguey. He has recently seen a Yellow-tipped Flasher Telegonus anausis nectaring on one of the many nectar and larval foodplants that he has planted there to attract them. This is a rare butterfly in Cuba which he has only seen visiting his garden just once before.

He tells me that he has also recently seen a Green Heron perched in one of their small trees, and currently has a Cuban Emerald nesting there too. Two eggs were laid but only one hatched so Doug removed the other to make space for the growing youngster. At its largest shown below it is 18 days old. He tells me that he has read that they fledge at 19-22 days old so not long to go. When it was smaller Doug had to chase off the large male Cuban Green Anole Anolis allisoni that lives in the garden as it was approaching the nest with a look of intent!

And here is a lovely collage of the event so far put together by Doug's wife Noris.

Trogons are found throughout the Tropics around the world. There are 46 species in the Family Trogonidae. They feed on insects and fruit and despite their bright coloration can often be hard to spot in the shade of the forest.
Thank you to Rolando Trujillo for this superb photo of the Cuban Trogon which is endemic to Cuba. The sound of their distinctive calls can be heard around the forests of the whole island.