Jamaica Pics? No problem, man.
We arrived in Jamaica three days before we started our Field Guides led birding tour to relax on the beach in Ocho Rios. It was a quiet place called the Jamaica Inn and guess what – there were birds there! We would get up early and wander the grounds finding a good variety of birds around. Below are a couple shots of what we found.
This Little Blue Heron is white as an immature bird. It walked along a vine covered wall with the turquoise of the Caribbean Sea.
There are several types of finches and songbirds found in Jamaica (and other tropical regions in North America) with the word “quit” in them such as this Yellow-faced Grassquit, Bananaquit, Orangequit, and Yellow-shouldered Grassquit. “Quit” is an old English term for bird – so a grassquit is a bird found in the grass.
A small flock of Olive-throated Parakeets flew into a couple of trees on the grounds of the Jamaica Inn each morning and feasted on the seeds found high in the trees. Parakeets are part of the larger parrot family. In this picture you can see the long tail that comes to a point – this differentiates a parrot from a parakeet because a parrot will have a shorter blunter tail. Also note that the bottom mandible of the bill does not align with the upper but instead crosses beneath. Like the Red and White-winged Crossbills found in Northern America the bill is designed to crack open hard seeds to get at the meat inside. A Jamaican endemic (found only there).
The White-crowned Pigeon was a common sight in Jamaica. This was a large pigeon and usually found perched out in the open. Although the white crown is usually seen the yellow eyes also make this an interesting bird to see.
Check the Latest Pics section of GreatBirdPics.com for more pics found on the grounds of the Jamaica Inn.
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