A little trip to St Lucia 17/3 - 27/3/14

After 14 months of sciatica it was time to test the back on a 9 hour flight with a little bit of birding thrown in - we booked a flight and hotel through the British Airways website and prebooked a car through a local company.  With relatively very  few birds on the island the goal was to see the 5 endemics and anything else would be a bonus - by the 6th day we had seen virtually every species on the island plus an unexpected extra in a Masked Booby while lazing on Cas En Bas beach. We didn’t use any guides but if you are a nervous driver and cannot use a map we would advise a guide, note there are next to no road signs in St Lucia !

So here was where we started and picked up first endemics which were St Lucia Oriole, St Lucia Black Finch and St Lucia Parrot

Only 3 species of Hummingbird on the Island this Crested one being the smallest

Lesser Antillean Bullfinches were probably the most common birds on the Island

and Grey Trembler being on of the most characterful.

Scaly Breasted Thrasher were common and no photo but the White Breasted Thrasher which is on the endangered list we found at three different sites. 

Lesser Antillean Flycatcher

Luckily we took this video on arrival in the car park at Des Cartier Forest reserve, it was the only St Lucia Parrot we found perched but several flying in the reserve. 

Another Grey Trembler

The St Lucia Oriole seemed fairly common and we found several on most forested trails.

The road to Grand Anse beach was horrendous but had to be done for good views of Red-Billed Tropic birds and House Wren.  We didnt find the Rufous Nightjar here but did locate 3 on Ravine La Chaloupe.

The iconic Pitons at Soufriere.

Cocktail time but bins at the ready!

So here is the rental car we used a 4 x 4 Suzuki Jimney and these were the rules we were given;

Always overtake on a hill especially when going round a bend, Don’t dip headlights at any cost you might avoid blinding someone, If you are turning left indicate to turn right, Drive as fast as you can in all weather conditions, Pull out onto a main road without bothering to look right or left just go for it and cross your fingers, Keep as close to the car in front of you as possible and when driving at night  don’t forget to have your lights on glare, Finally most important of all Friday night is fun night so put on your indicators, hazards and headlights on full beam, foot hard on accelerator and drive like a maniac!

The roads were incredibly steep and in places very bumpy and some unpassable without 4 x 4 especially track down to Grand Anse and yes everyone seems to follow the above rules!

So a pleasant 10 days with no back problems - a nice place to go if you like the heat with a few good birds!