Travel & Bird with the Bruders: Cruising the Caribbean with Carefree Birding

February is the perfect time to take a cruise with Ken and Linda Burgener, owners of Carefree Birding. In fact, we left Colorado just in time to miss a blizzard that shut things down for two days. Carefree Birding books cruises and arranges local guides in every port you visit for fun and relaxing birding. They do all the work so you can have all the fun, and we certainly have fun and see great birds. If you have never tried a birding cruise this is a great way to give it a try with two great hosts.

We got to the hotel late due to changes in our flights and had no chance to do any birding but the next morning was much better due to the late shuttle to the ship. While waiting to leave we saw a few of the regular birds. Muscovy Duck, Boat-tailed Grackle, White Ibis, Rock Pigeon, Cattle Egret, Fish Crow, Laughing gull, Ring-billed Gull, Raven, House Sparrow, Eurasian Collard Dove, Northern Mocking Bird, Blue Jay, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Turkey Vulture.

While at the dock we were able to see Herring Gulls, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Sandwich Tern, Sanderling, Double-crested Cormorant, Ruddy Turnstone, Brown Pelican, Royal Tern, along with several schools of Dolphins and some Green Iguanas laying on a channel marker. But every cruise starts at the terminal with a little waiting in line.

The cruise started in Fort Lauderdale, Florida wen we boarded the Celebrity Equinox and eventually met up with our group of adventurous birders on deck 14 next to the Ocean View bar for a little socializing and birding before leaving the port. This trip would be my second, and Risë’s third with Carefree Birding.

The Ocean View Bar

View of the port

Cruise Map

Day three of the cruise was our first birding trip. We were off at sunrise to Cozumel to hut for the endemics of which we got three. We saw the Cozumel Emerald, Yucatan Woodpecker, Green-breasted Mango, Blue-gray gnatcatcher, smooth and groove-billed Anis, Tropical Mockingbird, Black and Turkey Vultures, Pied billed and Least Grebes, Magnificent Frigatebird, Brown Pelicans, Little Blue Heron, Spotted Sandpiper, Northern Jacana, American Coot, Laughing Gull, Rock Pigeons, White-winged Dove, Common Ground Dove, White-crowned Pigeon, Vaux’s Swift, Peregrine Falcon, American Kestrel, Caribbean Elaenia, Tropical and Couch’s Kingbirds, Cozumel Vireo, Northern Waterthrush (H), Black-and-White Warbler, American Redstart, “Golden” Yellow Warbler, Palm Warbler, Bananaquit, Painted Bunting, Indigo Bunting, Blue Grosbeak. Others saw a Hooded Oriole. And check pictures for the Yucatan Vireo.

Cozumel dock

First birding stop

Palm Warbler

The wind was blowing hard and there were far fewer birds than last visit. We went to a different housing area because the Jungle Bus won’t fit down the roads of the area we went to in 2014. The new area had more inhabitants and fewer species which may have been caused by the wind. The fresh water ponds had almost no birds on them, unlike last time we were here. The group was in good spirits and several members of the group saw life birds, which is always a good thing. In total we had 48 species which was not too shabby for the conditions.

Jungle Bus

Day five and we are in Port Limon, Costa Rica. It is cloudy and a bit drizzly now and then but not terribly hot, which is good. We headed out of town to the same road as last time we were here. The area was very birdy and we spent 2.5 hours on that road looking at bird after bird after bird. Then we headed out to a restaurant just down the road for cold drinks and some lunch. After our snack we headed across the highway to look at the coast, where we saw several wading birds and a bunch of goodies in the trees. Then we headed back to town to the park to see the Spectacled Owl but due to much construction and activity it was not to be found. All in all it was a very good day for most of us and we saw a total of 100 bird species. Some of the birds that I was able to get pictures of are the following. The Red-breasted Meadowlark, Plain Tanager, Blue-gray Tanager, Blue-black Grassquit, Grayish Saltator, Gartered Trogon, Collared Aracari, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Crested Caracara, Great Antshrike, Cocoa Woodcreeper, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Black-cowled Oriole, and the Scaley-breasted Hummingbird.

Day Six and we arrive at Colon, Panama. We arrive in the port at 07:45 AM and shortly leave the ship to get in the vans to head out birding. Our group stopped several times along the road to the old U.S. Army Fort Sherman and saw some wonderful birds at each stop. Some of those birds included Keel-billed Toucans, Red-crowned Woodpecker, Squirrel Cuckoo Waddled Jacana, Ringed Kingfisher and Green Kingfisher.

At the old army base we saw Blue Dacnis, Red-legged Honey Creepers, Palm Tanagers, White-shouldered Tanagers, Roadside Hawks, Swallow-tailed Kites, Sloths, and so much more. The birding was intense that at times it was hard for everyone to keep up tth all the spottings. The non birding highlight of the trip was crossing the Panama Canal and seeing the new canal which is almost complete. We actually got to see and cross all three of the canal on out drive. Seeing all the ships going through the canal, and all those waiting or unloading in the port is a real experience you should see at least once. We have been fortunate enough to see it several times and it is especially pretty at night when all the ships have their lights on.

From Panama we headed off to Cartagena, Colombia for a two day stay. This would be an exciting stay with our second day being all birding from early in the morning to late afternoon. Due to the overnight we were able to get off early at 06:15 to go birding rather than the usual start which is hours later. This day would prove to be truly wonderful with over 90 species seen. We left town on a 45 minute drive out into the country and birded the Naturazi Ranch. We were even fortunate enough to bird with the Ranch owners wife, Vicki.

As we arrived in Grand Cayman something seemed odd. The port looked different. It looked different because we were on the south side of the island rather than on the north side in Georgetown. The wind and waves were so bad that the northern port was closed so we moored off the south coast and tendered in from there. The weather was cooler than expected so it was very pleasant for birding. We were expecting more heat so everyone was happy for the breeze. The birding was good and we went to Queen Elizabeth Botanical Garden and several other stops on the island, finishing up at the National Trust headquarters. The birds and endangered blue iguanas were all quite lovely. Some of the birds we saw were the western Spindalas, Cuban Bullfinch, Bananaquit, White-tailed Tropic Bird, Cayman Parrot, Black-throated Blue Warbler, and the Vitelline Warbler.

The final count for the cruise was 236 species and 32 new life birds for me. What a great time.