Last year at the same hotel we met Bernd and Beate from Germany and this year they were back. Bernd had taken us to the top of the Cerro de Yaguajáy a few miles to the south and we wanted to go back with the object of getting better pictures of Spanish Flag Anole Anolis allogus. We left Beate on the beach and this time set off with Fidel in his horse and trap to save us some of the hard work. When we got to the base of the hills Fidel tied up the horse and the four of us set off on foot. We stopped to watch a Cuban Tody on the way, and there were several butterflies including our only Braco Skipper Burca braco of the trip as well as Cuban Kite Swallowtails Eurytides celadon, Cuban Snout Libytheana motya, Caribbean Daggerwing Marpesia eleuchea, Concolorous Skipper Burca concolor and Dorantes Longtail Urbanus dorantes.
Fidel, me and Bernd
Braco Skipper Burca braco 5 Oct Cerro de Yaguajay © Tim Norriss
As we got up towards the cliff there was a an orchid Oeceoclades maculata growing by the path and several centipedes and delicate fungi growing out of the detritus in the clefts of the limestone.
There are a series of ladders that you have to climb as you go up and I was pleased to see that they had been repaired since we were last here.
We then encountered the first of several Spanish Flag Anole Anolis allogus with their long laterally flattened tails.
Spanish Flag Anole Anolis allogus 5 Oct Cerro de Yaguajay © Tim Norriss
In fact we saw eight reptile species in all - Anolis allogus, A. sagrei, A. jubar, A. homolechis, A. argenteolus, A. auberi, Leiocephalus macropus and L. carinatus. You can see pictures of of all these and more on the reptiles page. I would just love to come up here at night to look for reptiles and see what else creeps around in the dark but I don't think it would be too easy to arrange without walking the whole way in the dark.
In this area we also found the attractive pyralid moth Lypotigris reginalis. We have seen this once before at Gran Piedra in the SE of Cuba.
Lypotigris reginalis 5 Oct Cerro de Yaguajay © Tim Norriss
The path continues along the ridge running west until you come to a viewing area looking down towards the coast to the north. On the left you can see the Bahia de Naranjo with our hotel just to the right of the entrance to the bay.
Lynn, Tim and Bernd
On the way back down we spotted a Cuban Pigmy Owl in the trees above, and a Prairie Warbler as well as a new dragonfly, the Evening Skimmer Tholymis citrina so called because of its crepuscular habits - my thanks once again to Jurg Carl Demarmels for the ID.
Cuban Pigmy Owl 5 Oct Cerro de Yaguajay © Tim Norriss
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