Our replacement vehicle and driver Volo duly arrived yesterday afternoon and Duviel was taken back to Habana with a breakdown truck. We wished him well as he had been good company and an excellent driver. So we set off this morning to the NP centre to pick up our guide as entry into the National Park is not permitted without one. So we paid our 10cuc each entry fee and drove off down the western arm of the peninsular towards the Faro Roncali lighthouse at the very western tip of the island some 60km away by road.
We hadn’t gone far when two Common Black Hawks got up off the road in front of us. They had been feeding on land crabs that had been run over by vehicles and one continued feeding above us as we watched.
We hadn’t gone far when two Common Black Hawks got up off the road in front of us. They had been feeding on land crabs that had been run over by vehicles and one continued feeding above us as we watched.
We passed an area of dead forest that our guide explained was caused by the hurricane that struck this area in 2009. The ensuing storm surge caused seawater to inundate the forest which became more saline by evaporation causing the trees to die.
We stopped at an open area to see what butterflies were present and spotted a Heraclides caiguanabus Poey's Swallowtail nectaring. They have a similar pattern of yellow spots to H. polydamas Polydamas Swallowtail but have tails unlike that species. And a male Bee Hummingbird was seen in the distance. It was singing from the top of the dead branches of a bush which made photography something of a challenge. This is the smallest bird in the world and is endemic to Cuba. It is scarcely bigger than a bee and the bright iridescent red colour on the head only shows when the sun catches it at the right angle but otherwise appears black. Small parties of White-crowned Pigeons were often seen during the day and as we drove along Common Ground Doves would get up from the side of the road. They were more abundant in this area than anywhere we have been in Cuba.
We stopped at various points along the route and at one place a male Silver Emperor Doxocopa laure came down onto the ground but it flew as I approached. That will have to wait for another time - can't win them all. I saw a lizard that I haven't yet been able to identify. I now have pictures of quite a few reptiles and amphibians so I think I'll add a page for these on this website. Most I have been able to identify using the Caribherp website but this only has one small thumbnail for each species and some species can be very variable. If butterflies are anything to go by there must be a good chance of turning up new species here... We started seeing Mexican Fritillary Euptoieta hegesia in some numbers including a female laying on what I think is a species of Turnera and a few Caribbean Daggerwing Marpesia eleuchea as well as a female Sleepy Orange Abaeis nicippe. There were also lots of Urania boisduvalii larvae on the bushes. This is a large day-flying moth which we saw flying most days. Click here to see a photo of the adult at the bottom of the E. celadon page.
The first of several Cuban Kite Swallowtail Eurytides celadon flew by without stopping. They have a very rapid purposeful flight and although we saw them on every day except one of this trip we never once saw one settle and only twice saw them nectaring.
There are quite a lot of snake species in Cuba and we normally see at least a couple of snakes on each trip though apart from the Giant Trope otherwise known as Dusky Dwarf Boa Tropidophis melanurus that we saw on 17 June all the snakes that we have seen have been the Cuban Racer Cubophis cantherigerus which seems to be by far the commonest and most widespread species. The one we saw today was the biggest we had seen by a long way and must have been at least 5ft long. It was very docile and sluggish and as I got closer for pictures I could see why - it was about to shed its skin as its eyes looked rather milky and opaque. No wonder it let me get so close!
As we drove further west the habitat changed from forest to rather open scrubby limestone. We were told this was a good area for the endemic Cuban Iguana Cyclura nubila and we managed to locate three though they seemed distinctly wary (they are still hunted for food in some areas) and despite their size could move remarkably quickly. They are vegetarian and we watched as this one took bites out of the adjacent leaves.
There are quite a lot of snake species in Cuba and we normally see at least a couple of snakes on each trip though apart from the Giant Trope otherwise known as Dusky Dwarf Boa Tropidophis melanurus that we saw on 17 June all the snakes that we have seen have been the Cuban Racer Cubophis cantherigerus which seems to be by far the commonest and most widespread species. The one we saw today was the biggest we had seen by a long way and must have been at least 5ft long. It was very docile and sluggish and as I got closer for pictures I could see why - it was about to shed its skin as its eyes looked rather milky and opaque. No wonder it let me get so close!
As we drove further west the habitat changed from forest to rather open scrubby limestone. We were told this was a good area for the endemic Cuban Iguana Cyclura nubila and we managed to locate three though they seemed distinctly wary (they are still hunted for food in some areas) and despite their size could move remarkably quickly. They are vegetarian and we watched as this one took bites out of the adjacent leaves.
There were lots of butterflies around the lighthouse which is at the very western end of the island. Most exciting was Cyclargus thomasi Miami Blue because although Hernandez in his 2004 book says that it is common, Rayner assures me that this is not the case, and it is certainly the first time that we had seen it. Although similar to Nickerbean Blue Cyclargus ammon it has four dots, not three, at the base of the hindwing underside, and also has less orange on the underside marginal ocellus.
Whilst we were watching the Miami Blue our guide pointed out an anole, on the tree behind, flashing its orange and yellow dewlap. It's called Anolis quadriocellifer, the Cuban Eyespot Anole and is just one of the 132 species of reptile endemic to Cuba although this one is found only on the Guanahacabibes Peninsular. And before we started the return journey I at last managed half-decent views of a settled male Adelpha iphicleola Iphicleola Sister that was typically sitting rather high up and chased off any insect that invaded its territory.
When we dropped off our guide back at the NP centre we had a quick check around the many flowers and found this Tropical Buckeye Junonia zonalis pair in cop.
Tropical Buckeye Junonia zonalis © Tim Norriss
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