The flight into Holguin from London Gatwick arrives on Tuesday afternoons and by the time we had gone through customs, had our hand baggage scanned and collected hold luggage we were keen to get on the air-conditioned coach for the transfer to the Luna y Mares hotel on the coast west of Guardalavaca. We were encouraged by the amount of fresh grass growth from the rain of the previous two weeks as that bode well for the butterflies we might see. It was dusk by the time we reached the hotel.
The next morning we were out early for a walk along the beach and swim before breakfast. There were three Yellow-crowned Night Herons and five plovers that I think were Piping Plover but hadn't brought binoculars so wasn't sure.
While sitting at breakfast a few butterflies started to appear with sulphurs and yellows flying past but best of all was two Iphicleola Sister Adelpha iphicleola with their distinctive broad white bars across the wings. These were the only ones we saw in three weeks. We ventured out later for a walk from the hotel and an Immature male Summer Tanager was sitting in the trees outside the main entrance. This is the third time we have seen Summer Tanager in Cuba and all have been immature males with a few scarlet feathers starting to show through.
The next morning we were out early for a walk along the beach and swim before breakfast. There were three Yellow-crowned Night Herons and five plovers that I think were Piping Plover but hadn't brought binoculars so wasn't sure.
While sitting at breakfast a few butterflies started to appear with sulphurs and yellows flying past but best of all was two Iphicleola Sister Adelpha iphicleola with their distinctive broad white bars across the wings. These were the only ones we saw in three weeks. We ventured out later for a walk from the hotel and an Immature male Summer Tanager was sitting in the trees outside the main entrance. This is the third time we have seen Summer Tanager in Cuba and all have been immature males with a few scarlet feathers starting to show through.
Summer Tanager 20 Sept 2017 Guardalavaca © Tim Norriss
We walked the trails near the hotel during the morning and saw a good range of butterflies with Cuban Kite Swallowtail Eurytides celadon being by far the most common. We normally only see one or two per trip but here there were lots and we must have seen at least sixty during the morning. I don't if this is unusual or if it is a regular occurrence after heavy rain in the autumn. Our friend Douglas who lives in Camagüey tells us that he has never witnessed numbers like this. Not far from the hotel we found a wayleave under the power lines that had lots of Croton and Varronia globosa bushes that were in flower and the Swallowtails were nectaring mainly on the latter. There were also several Concolorous Skipper Burca concolor that were nectaring on the Croton. The males spent most of the time searching for females close to the ground while the females were alternately nectaring at the small white Croton flowers and then laying eggs on the underside of the leaves.
We had good views of Cuban Green Woodpecker, Cuban Tody, Yellow-faced Grassquit and Cuban Lizard-cuckoo while a Hooded Vulture seemed reluctant to fly from its tree. These last are ever-present and if the sun is shining it is always possible to see birds overhead. Goodness knows how they find enough to feed on though any animal killed on the road quickly attracts a large number. Cloudless Sulphur Phoebis sennae were common as well as a few Yellow-angled Sulphur Anteos maerula, White-angled Sulphur Anteos clorinde and the a single Apricot Sulphur Phoebis argante flew past which was the only one of the whole trip.
In the evening we went to the lobster dinner at the restaurant down on the beach and half way through the meal it started to rain. Although the roof is thatched the sides are open so when the wind blows as well, which it did, it led to a halt to the eating and drinking and a rapid rearrangement of the tables to prevent those at the outer edge getting soaked by the squall. This led to us getting to know Stefan and Anneka from Germany who were on the next table and were there with their daughter Leonie whose birthday it was. And the hotel had even made her a birthday cake. Stefan is a fan of old British comedies and dramas and I became known as Inspector Barnaby from Midsomer Murders after that!
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