Jamaican Tody — Photo: Brennan Mulrooney

Great birding on a beautiful Caribbean island featuring numerous island and regional endemics, set largely amidst the idyllic setting of the renowned private estate, Marshall's Pen.

Jamaica offers an enchanting experience with 28 endemic species of birds and numerous other Caribbean specialties. We should see all of them! This beautiful island is blessed with a wide variety of habitats that include freshwater marshes, dry coastal scrub, lush tropical forests, and mountains that loom 7,000 feet into clear blue skies.

Much of this rugged island is still relatively unscarred by human hands and holds many marvelous species of birds, numbers of which are threatened or endangered. Day-trips into the Cockpit Country and Blue and John Crow Mountains should turn up Crested Quail-Dove, Ring-tailed Pigeon, Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo, Black-billed and Yellow-billed parrots, Blue Mountain Vireo, White-eyed Thrush, Arrowhead Warbler, and Jamaican Blackbird. We'll visit the famous Rocklands Bird Sanctuary where you can feed Jamaica's amazing hummingbirds by hand!

The highlight of our visit is our stay at Marshall's Pen, a wonderful historic estate and nature reserve with plenty of native habitat. The property teems with a diversity of birdlife. We'll watch for Caribbean Dove, Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo, Jamaican Woodpecker, Jamaican Mango, Vervain Hummingbird, Jamaican Becard, Jamaican Tody, Jamaican Oriole, and many others. The stunning and spectacular Red-billed Streamertail hummingbird is a common sight, and the Jamaican Owl haunts the Pen by night.

Exploration of other parts of the island will lead us to the Black River Morass in search of West Indian Whistling-Duck, and the rugged and scenic east coast, with its White-tailed Tropicbirds and Black-billed Streamertails.

Good to excellent accommodations; easy non-strenuous to lightly strenuous terrain; warm to cool climate; mostly dry with some showers.