Best of the Lesser Antilles

Land Tour
Highlights

Highlights

  • Beautiful Caribbean islands, leisurely tour in fine weather
  • Excellent birding with lots of endemics and range-restricted species
  • Three superb and quite different islands

Tour Overview

The Lesser Antilles form a chain of small intriguing islands of the West Indies, geographically separating the Atlantic Ocean from the Caribbean Sea. Our birding tour will concentrate on three of the best, Dominica, St. Vincent and St. Lucia; each island has its own unique character and charm, and each has its own special complement of wildlife.

Dominica, discovered by Columbus on a Sunday in 1493 (hence its name), is renowned as the nature island of the Antilles, as it is still supports large tracts of native forest covering mountainsides that rise to almost 5000 feet. Here we target the island endemics – the two species of parrots, Red-necked and Imperial, as well as Forest and Red-legged Thrushes, Lesser Antillean Swift, Blue-headed Hummingbird, Lesser Antillean Pewee, Lesser Antillean Flycatcher, Rufous-throated Solitaire, Dominica Wren (subspecifically distinct from Southern House Wren and a Dominican endemic), Scaly-breasted Thrasher, Southern Brown Trembler, Antillean Euphonia (here of the green-backed form), and Plumbeous Warbler. Overhead  might be Black Swifts, and along the coast we look for White-tailed Tropicbird, Royal and Bridled Terns,  Brown Booby, and Caribbean Martin.

The small mountainous island of St Vincent lies south of St Lucia and west of Barbados and still retains extensive forests in the interior of the island. We spend most of our time in the superb Vermont Forest Reserve in the south-central part of the island. Here we look for the island’s two endemic species, the striking St Vincent Parrot and the delightful, common and noisy Whistling Warbler. We also look for two species found only on St Vincent and Grenada – Grenada Flycatcher and Lesser Antillean Tanager, as well as the endemic form of the House Wren, plus Common Black-Hawk and the odd-looking black morph of the Bananaquit. Along the coast are White-tailed Tropicbirds and Red-footed Boobies, and in the evening we may look for the local form of a Tyto owl, a race of Barn Owl or possibly of Ashy-faced Owl, or even a separate species.

St. Lucia is an idyllic tourist location, all the more scenic owing to its spectacular conical volcanic peaks rising from the sea (Gros Piton and Petit Piton); it also supports a rich avifauna, including seven endemic species and many Lesser Antillean endemics. In nature reserves, we look for endemics whose name starts with St. Lucia – Parrot, Pewee, Warbler, Black Finch and Oriole. Further endemics are the St Lucia Wren (split from Southern House Wren) and St Lucia Nightjar (specifically distinct from Rufous Nightjar).  Other goodies include Gray Trembler, Ruddy and Bridled Quail-Doves, Spectacled/Bare-eyed Thrush, and the very rare White-breasted Thrasher.

What's Included

Tour Price Includes

  • All meals
  • All accommodations
  • Internal flights from St. Vincent to Dominica and Dominica to St. Lucia
  • Transportation from the hotel to the St Lucia (UVF) airport on day 8 on our group shuttle
  • One guide with 4 - 8 pax, two guides with 9 - 12 pax plus local guides
  • Park entry fees
  • Gratuities to local guides

Tour Price Does Not Include

  • Flights to and from start/end location
  • Transport from the St. Vincent airport to our lodgings on the first night (~$30)
  • Transport from the hotel to the St Lucia airport if you are not on our group shuttle (~$100)
  • Items of a personal nature
  • Travel Insurance

What to Expect

Our daily itinerary varies somewhat according to weather and habitat, but the general pattern will be to go for a short walk before breakfast. We concentrate on “edge” birding until the light is good enough to enter forest trails. Most birding will be from quiet roads and wide trails. Driving will be limited to either small or moderate stretches. We return for lunch, followed by a siesta – time to relax and enjoy our accommodations. Then we go out for an afternoon visit to another birding hot-spot, followed by supper and the evening review of birds and other wildlife that we have seen and heard, and prepare for the next day’s itinerary.

Walking conditions will be relatively easy, occasionally moderate. It may rain, so a light rain-jacket and waterproof hat would come in useful. Stout, waterproof footwear is an advantage and a small umbrella is also very useful. Mosquitoes and other biting insects should not be a problem on this tour, but it is advisable to bring insect repellant. It will be warm in the mornings and hot in mid-afternoon (siesta time), sometimes humid, and pleasantly warm at higher altitudes.

We are accompanied by excellent local birding guides. All of our accommodations are clean and comfortable and there will be lots of down-time to relax, perhaps to take in some snorkelling. Our vehicles will be more than adequate, and include an open-backed safari truck as we access the north-east part of the island, the dry forest at Grande Anse.

Featured Wildlife

While we cannot guarantee sightings of the birds or mammals listed below, we believe that encountering these species is quite likely during this tour.

  • Imperial Parrot
  • Red-necked Parrot
  • St Lucia Parrot
  • St Lucia Pewee
  • St Lucia Warbler
  • St Lucia Black Finch
  • St Lucia Oriole
  • Gray Trembler
  • Plumbeous Warbler
  • Blue-headed Hummingbird
  • Rufous-throated Solitaire
  • Antillean Euphonia
  • Purple-throated Carib
  • St. Vincent Parrot
  • Whistling Warbler