Birding in Cuba, January 2017: Part 3 - La Belen & Cayo Coco

This is the last of three videos covering a birding trip to Cuba in January 2017 and focuses on the La Belen reserve south-east of Camaguey and around Cayo Coco on the north coast.
With thanks to Paulino Delgado for guiding us around Cayo Coco and to Andy Mitchell at Cuba Birding Tours for arranging all the logistics.
All bird clips shot on a Panasonic GH4 with Lumix 100-400mm lens. Panasonic HC-X920 camcorder and an iPhone 7+ used for other general clips.

[@mylord9340]

What a wonderful Island captured by a wonderfully made video! Thanks.

[@gagah_]

the whole Cuban experience is delightful; i just hate it when the videos end because i want to go on watching for longer, much longer. Congrats!

[@bmolitor615]

I just fell in love with the Tody - half an hour ago I did not know it existed, and now I love it.

[@GregBaker57]

It is a truly beautiful little bird. You’ll have to see it in person in Cuba 😀

[@bopyranks]

The Jamaican Tody is one of my favorite birds ❤❤

[@CalypturaExpeditions]

Makes me want to go birding in Cuba! #keepbirding

[@CharismaticPlanet3822]

Thanks a lot for such a beautiful video on birding category. You know, shooting the birds is most difficult work as they fly in milliseconds.

[@TheJacksnipe]

Perfect video!

[@carladavis4500]

THANK YOU! I became interested in bird watching when Ruby Throated Hummingbirds kept hovering around a red Folger's Coffee can that I kept outside to water my container garden. I put out Hummingbird feeders & eventually bird feeders for songbirds and now I have hundreds of birds that visit my yard everyday. Today, Tufted Titmouses began taking peanuts from my hand......I am truly blessed! BTW: I live in middle Georgia, USA.

[@user-dc3pp9mt9n]

Todys were our favorite when we visited the region !

[@patrisebesson6724]

Какое многообразие чудесных птиц ! Какая красота 😃

[@muhannadjbara2656]

very educational....thank U very much

[@Falco12341234]

Amazing shots! Congratulations from Switzerland

[@escajadilloalfonso]

Great !! Greg, thank you very much for sharing!!

[@ToToWildlife]

Great camera and video editing! Beautiful 👍

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Great videos!

[@jc4liferesearch5]

Very nice although there are two birds in Cuba I did not see in your vids, I know the name in Spanish one is the Azulejo ( is like a blue beautiful bird that sings very nice ) the other is the Tomeguin del Sol and Tomeguin del Pinar also known as viudito and senserenico they're beautiful as well and really nice to hear them sing, you should take a trip to the Orient part of Cuba and visit Alejandro de Humboldt park as well as Cuchillas del Toa park, those are like big rain forest with many many more birds than you can possibly imagine, thanks for the vids.

[@GregBaker57]

J C The Azulejo is probably the Indigo Bunting which is a migrant from North America, which I saw but didn’t film. The Tomeguin del Pinar is the Cuban Grassquit which is included in Part 1 of my videos at Vinales.

[@timthorington4498]

Thanks Greg. I learned a lot from this and since we are heading to Cuba (Cayo Coco) in another month for the 1st time this video really helped me get hopeful/excited for what we may see. I'm doing lots of research to try and make this a great birding trip in that area. Right now other than the two days we have booked with the guide Paulio Delgado I'm not sure the best way to get around as we are hoping not to rent a car. Getting from the Pullman hotel to wherever by taxis I expect (hope) won't be a problem. It's getting back that I'm not sure about? Any advise would certainly be appreciated..

[@GregBaker57]

Hi Tim. Your guide may be able to help or it may be possible to hire drivers for a day. The hotel may be able to arrange that. We rented a car and driving around was very easy as there is very little traffic.

[@timthorington4498]

@@GregBaker57 thanks again. I've watched your video at least 4 times now. Really looking forward to the birding. We are staying in the Pullman

[@baileythebirder]

Fantastic video series. Thank you for posting. You mentioned winter, what month did you travel there?

[@GregBaker57]

Jeff Bailey We travelled in January Jeff. February and March are usually the peak birding months but we found January to be equally good.

[@spindalis79]

Oh, just a side note. In North America we call Gray Plover Black-bellied Plovers.

[@GregBaker57]

spindalis79. Yes, aware of that. Neither name is particularly appropriate as they only have black bellies in breeding plumage and Grey hardly does them justice!

[@timthorington4498]

Hi Greg... We went to Cayo Coco last year and stayed at the Pullman. Going back again this year in January this time staying at the Melia. You mentioned a beach not far from the hotel for shorebirds. I think you said Los Corales (not sure if I spelled that right).. I'm not sure where that is relative to the hotel.. Can u help? Cheers Tim

[@GregBaker57]

Hi Tim, it was the beach area between the Pullman and the airport.

[@timthorington4498]

@@GregBaker57 thanks Greg

[@spindalis79]

10:29 It's me!