Cuba Birding 8 Day Tour

Itinerary for 8 day bird watching tour of Cuba

Day 1 - Arrive in Havana

Arrive at Havana Airport. Welcomed to Cuba by your English speaking bird watching guide/driver. Transfer to Accommodation (35 min).
Dinner. Overnight Havana Bed & Breakfast.

Cuban Tody, Endemic Cuba Birding — Cuban Tody

Day 2 - Viñales Valley

Early in the morning we will drive to Viñales Valley (2 hours from Havana), and we will visit the Maravillas de Viñales, a wonderful trail with lots of interesting birds.

Here we will see the Cork Palm (Microcycas calocoma) considered a living fossil, and the Cuban Trogon, the national bird.
There is a good opportunity here to see the Cuban Grassquit, with its marvelous coloring. The Cuban Pygmy Owl is one of the most interesting birds we can see during the journey. We will find many Cuban Todies calling everywhere in the forest, tiny jewels that combine wonderful colors. The Black-throated Warbler is colorful migrant, usually easy to find in trees. The Red-legged Honey Creeper is a noisy bird that moves in flocks looking for food in flowers and ripe fruits; males have a beautiful combination of blue, black, white and red. The Indigo Bunting is rare, but possible to see on the trail. The vibrant Stripe-headed Tanager is quite common. The White-eyed Vireo is usually found after hearing its melodious call. The Key West Quail Dove is a rare bird but possible to find. Zenaida Doves are very easy to observe in flocks along the agricultural fields.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Overnight Viñales Bed & Breakfast.

Blue-headed Quail-dove, Endemic Cuba Birding — Blue-headed Quail-dove

Day 3 - La Güira national Park

At 7:00 am we transfer to La Güira national Park (1 hours from Viñales). In the beautiful park-like setting the Great Lizard Cuckoos scuttle along the branches, looking for lizards and tree frogs. This former estate still has some standing colonial buildings, and its woodland trails echo with the cooing song of the beautiful Cuban Trogon, Cuba’s national bird, so chosen because it has all the colors of the Cuban flag in its plumage. We will also visit Cueva de los Portales. This limestone cave was headquarter's of Che Guevara during the Cuban missile crisis of the early 1960s, and became a national monument being interesting from both a geological and an historical point of view. Around the cave it is possible to hear the beautiful voice of the Cuban Solitaire.

Breakfast, picnic lunch and dinner. Overnight Soroa Bed & Breakfast.

Cuban Trogan, Endemic Cuba Birding — Cuban Trogan

Day 4 - Ciénaga de Zapata

In the morning we will take the highway from San Diego de los Baños to Playa Larga (5 hours from San Diego), but we will bird during the drive. Our destination is the fabled Zapata Swamp. This area was declared a biosphere preserve in 2000. It covers an area of 628,171 hectares and is the largest and best-conserved wetland in Cuba. In the afternoon we will bird Zapata (Bermejas and Soplillar areas).

Breakfast, picnic lunch and dinner. Overnight Soroa Bed & Breakfast.

Day 5 - Ciénaga de Zapata

Today we will explore Las Salinas part of the Zapata Peninsula. To get to Las Salinas del Brito Fauna Reserve on the peninsula, we will travel along a road that makes its way through savannahs, mangrove thickets and sub-tropical forests.

This 91,000 acre salt marsh in one of the most important migratory flyways in the northern Caribbean. The mud flats support large numbers of Great Flamingos, Egrets, Whistling Ducks, the Cuban Black Hawk, the Capper Rail and Osprey.

In the afternoon we will bird the riparian zone, where it is possible to observe many forest birds and some interesting shorebirds.

Breakfast, picnic lunch and dinner. Overnight Playa Larga hotel.

Oriente Warbler, Endemic Cuba Birding — Oriente Warbler

Day 6 - Cayo Coco

Early in the morning we will drive to Cayo Coco (five hours from Playa Larga), and visit several locations to look for Zapata Sparrow (even easier to observe here than in Zapata Swamp), Oriente Warbler, Cuban Gnatcatcher, Piping Plover, Black-bellied Plover and Sanderling.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Overnight Cayo Coco hotel.

Day 7 - La Belen Farm

Early in the morning we will drive to La Belen Farm. (3 hours from Cayo Coco). This area is famous for bird watching, because is the best place to see very rare birds such as: Palm Crow, Giant Kingbird, Plain Pigeon, Cuban Grassquit, Fernandina’s Flicker, Gundlach’s Hawk, Whistling Duck and many wintering warblers.

Breakfast, picnic lunch and dinner. Overnight Belen Bed & Breakfast.