Curacao

Wednesday, February 24

Willamstadt, Curacao

      We arrive at the port of Willemstadt in the early afternoon and prepare for our tour by bus of the countryside of Curacao. The day began slightly overcast, but this afternoon is sunny and a good day for photos. Our first stop is at a museum which used to be the home of a freed slave. I ask the docent about the birds on site and she says there aren’t many. We walk outside and are greeted by a brilliant Yellow warbler and a fine Palm warbler. Out in front of the main building, a lovely Banaquit is busily foraging along a plaintain tree.  The bird is very cooperative and barely gives us a second glance as a number of us ease in closer for a better shot.  Across the street, I find a nice parrot, but the lighting is such that I have trouble identifying it. After downloading it onto the computer, however, I find it to be a Caribbean parakeet. We add a Bahamian mockingbird and a White-winged dove before reboarding the bus and moving on to Christoffel National Park. The main object of our visit here is to visit the sea cave. It’s a bit of a climb down into the grotto but it’s well worth the effort. I can’t help but think of Italy’s Blue Grotto while down in the cave as the surf come pounding in and rushes up to our feet. Climbing out of the ravine, we find that the picnic grounds have several bird feeders which are attracting a fine variety of colorful birds…..Bananaquits, Black-headed grassquits and Rufous-collared sparrows are among the visitors.

     Moving on, we arrive at a beautiful sparsely used beach. From the cliffs above, we spot our first frigate bird flying overhead. We find a bright yellow finch which we later identify as a Saffron finch and a nest reminiscent of the oropendola nests we first encountered in Peru. The birds, however are not oropendola, but a brand new species for us, the Troupial. (We learned that the Troupial is a bird which occupies the nests of other birds and does not build its own. So….to whom does this nest really belong? Apparently, the nests are those of the Yellow oriole) We also have seen several Caracaras (which here in Curacao are known as Warawaras) which seem to be .quite prevalent in the area. For a trip which is not really a birding trip, we seem to be doing quite nicely and have picked up several nice life birds and corresponding decent photos. What a way to start our cruise.