I have recently returned from an eight-day blitz of the Dominican Republic with my wife, Laura, and good friend, Daniel Riley. Now October isn't really an ideal time for a birding trip to the Dominican Republic for a few reasons. First, October is the off-season and few birds are breeding. This means that bird song is relatively quiet and playback doesn't work very well since most species couldn't be bothered with the idea of defending a territory. Second, October is one of the hottest months of the year, especially compared to January or February which is when most birders visit the country. This makes birding in the lowlands that much more uncomfortable, especially for us Canadians who are used to the cold. And third, October is well within the window for hurricane season. Though the 2025 hurricane season had been relatively quiet prior to our trip, this would change halfway through and would cause us to change our itinerary. More on that later!
That being said, we still had an amazing trip and found almost everything that we hoped to. The birds did not give themselves up easily, but we persisted and prevailed with almost every species. And the herping was phenomenal with many snakes, lizards, and frogs. Certainly, the rainier conditions assisted us in this regard. The mothing was also fantastic. As birds are only one of our interests, missing a couple of bird species in exchange for better herping and mothing conditions seemed to be a reasonable trade-off.
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| Ashy-faced Owl - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
October 18, 2025
One of the reasons why we picked the Dominican Republic in the first place is because of how easy it is to visit from Canada. Each day, there are multiple direct flights from Toronto and this was important as we only had an eight-day window to complete our trip. Laura's work rotation has a suitable gap, and so this was an opportunity for us to get away on a trip without her having to use any vacation time.
Our flight arrived on time and we quickly sorted out the rental vehicle through Enterprise at the airport. By 3 PM we were on the road, heading north along the coast towards the town of Sabana de la Mar and Parque Nacional Los Haitises. We had added our first lifers while procuring the rental car, species that would prove to be common throughout our week in the DR: Hispaniolan Woodpecker was a lifer for Laura and I, while Antillean Palm-Swift was a new one for just Laura. Dan had been to a resort in the Dominican Republic previously and so he had already seen some of the common bird species.
The drive was uneventful and we kept a close eye on the clock as we slowly made our way through coastal towns with their innumerable speed bumps. The high clearance SUV was necessary for the speed bumps alone! By 5:30 PM we arrived at Paraíso Caño Hondo, our hotel at the edge of the national park. Unfortunately the drive had taken too long to manage much birding before dark, and so our number one target species, the Ridgway's Hawk, would have to wait until the following morning. Still, it was exciting to walk around at dusk and see new species, such as Green Bark Anole (Anolis dominicensis) and a neat mantis called Gonatista major.
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| Green Bark Anole (Anolis dominicensis) - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
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| Gonatista major - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
We checked into the hotel, set up the moth sheet, and went for a quick stroll around the property to familiarize ourselves with the area and to figure out where we needed to hike the following morning to search for the Ridgway's Hawk. Yellow Split-Toed Frogs (Eleutherodactylus flavescens) and Common Stout Anoles (Anolis hispaniolae) were quickly discovered. Both of these species are endemic to the island of Hispaniola. We also found our first of many tarantulas. This is one of the species in Phormictopus, a genus which is limited to Cuba and Hispaniola.
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| Phormictopus sp. - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
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| Yellow Split-toed Frog (Eleutherodactylus flavescens) - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
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| Common Stout Anole (Anolis hispaniolae) - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
The vast majority of the plant life was unfamiliar to us as well. I snapped a few photos, mainly of ferns that were growing along an embankment.
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| Pyramid Maidenhair (Adiantum pyramidale) - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
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| Fragile Maidenhair (Adiantum pyramidale) - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
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| Tropical Resurrection Fern (Pleopeltis polypodioides) - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
We wolfed down the hotel's buffet dinner (our first real food since breakfast) before procuring our gear for our first proper birding of the trip, a spotlighting session for Ashy-faced Owl. This species is closely related to the familiar and cosmopolitan Barn Owl, though it is restricted to the island of Hispaniola. Ashy-faced Owls are not particularly rare or range-restricted, but we hoped to find one here since the owling conditions were good this evening and a healthy population of owls resides in this area. If we struck out tonight, we would have to devote valuable evening or early morning hours later in the trip; hours better spent looking for boas, for example. Armed with flashlights, headlights and a thermal camera we headed out by car along the entrance road, making various stops to hunt for our target.
The thermal camera picked up numerous heat signatures. Black Rats were the default culprits, though we also located a Black-whiskered Vireo, Limpkin and Bananaquit in this manner. Black Rats are introduced on Hispaniola and the population here sure seems to be quite healthy. I wonder if the Ashy-faced Owls are taking advantage of this relatively new food item on the menu.
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| Black Rat (Rattus rattus) - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
Finally, after over an hour of searching, we heard the characteristic hissing shriek of an Ashy-faced Owl. Success! Seeing them would prove difficult, but eventually a couple of dark shapes glided over the road, sihouetted by the moonlight. Our spotlight illuminated the pair of Ashy-faced Owls.
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| Ashy-faced Owls - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
We couldn't have asked for better looks of this handsome owl species and we took a few photos of them lit up by the spotlight beam. Owling can be difficult, even with the assistance of a thermal camera, and any victory is one to be celebrated. Happy with our excursion, we returned to the hotel.
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| Ashy-faced Owls - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
Though we were all pretty tired due to the early wake-up required to make our morning flight, we still had one task to complete before our beds beckoned. Mothing!
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| Brown-bordered Emerald (Synchlora cupedinaria) - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
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| Celiptera levina - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
It was obvious to us that this corner of Hispaniola had received a fair bit of rainfall recently as the vegetation was lush and the streams were flowing quickly. In our experience, increased rainfall has a positive correlation with diversity on the moth sheet. This evening was another data point in that favour as the sheet was dripping with moths.
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| Unidentified moth (subfamily Noctuinae) - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
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| Eulepidotis hebe - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
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| Black Witch (Ascalapha odorata) - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
There were just as many interesting beetles, caddisflies, and spiders, too.
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| Chlorida festiva - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
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| Chimarra gilvimacula - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
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| Unidentified spider - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
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| Oreodera glauca - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
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| Unidentified caddisfly - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
If only we had more time to stay out later, as many new moths were appearing even as we were taking the sheet down. But we needed some rest before the Ridgway's Hawk search began, and that took priority.
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| Phaedropsis stictigramma - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
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| Atteva siderea - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
October 19, 2025
Sunrise at this time of year arrives late, yet by 6 AM all three of us were geared up and raring to go birding. We sipped a coffee at the hotel while the sky slowly lightened and the morning's first birds called out from the darkness: Bananaquits, Palmchats and Hispanoiolan Woodpeckers. Finally, by 6:30 AM it was light enough to see the birds.
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| Palmchat - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
The Ridgway's Hawk is a species of
Buteo that is most closely related to the Red-shouldered Hawk of Canada, the United States and Mexico. While formerly widespread across Hispaniola, this species has experienced a steady decline brought on by two strong factors: habitat loss (deforestation), and direct persecution by humans. When the hawks are hanging around homesteads and farms with chickens, they are often shot. The truth is that a fully-grown chicken is much too large a meal for a Ridgway's Hawk and these diminutive hawks primarily subsist on lizards, snakes and introduced rodents, but the unfair stigma has contributed to their decline. To make things worse, a botfly parasite has been found infecting Ridgway's Hawk chicks, causing reproductive rates to be barely sustainable to begin with.
Only a few hundred Ridgway's Hawks survive in the wild with the population stronghold being Parque Nacional Los Haitises. In recent years, the Peregrine Fund has helped establish two introduced populations. One is thriving in the Punta Cana area, while the other has been recently set up in Los Brazos.
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| Sunrise at Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
The vast majority of birders who cross paths with Ridgway's Hawks either do around the resorts in Punta Cana, or they visit the Caño Hondo area at the edge of P. N. Los Haitises. We were more interested in seeing the "wild" birds, which is why we added a night here at the start of our trip. We set off on a wide trail near the hotel complex which accessed the mosaic of woodland and pasture home to a pair of Ridgway's Hawks.
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| Searching for Ridgway's Hawks - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
Early on our search was unsuccessful, but the birding was exciting nonetheless. After all, we were in a novel environment and many of the species were new and interesting to us.
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| Western Cattle-Egret - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
Some were familiar to us - the Western Cattle-Egrets working the fields and the Gray Kingbirds twittering from dead snags, for example.
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| Gray Kingbird - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
Others, such as the Plain Pigeons that flew overhead all morning, were new for Laura and Dan. I had seen this species previously in Cuba, but it was nice to be reacquainted with them.
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| Plain Pigeon - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
Laura picked out a Hispaniolan Pewee, a lifer for all three of us. Drab flycatchers are not at all her favourite (who can blame her?) and so I was quite proud of her correct identification of the pewee!
We were feeling anxious as the minutes ticked by and the sun rose higher in the sky. We had only budgeted one night here, and if we missed the Ridgway's Hawk this morning then it would be impractical to change our itinerary to spend an extra night. But Dan came through. His scanning of a distant hillside produced a curious small hawk sitting in a cecropia. Indeed, it was our first Ridgway's Hawk!
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| Ridgway's Hawk in Trumpetwood (Cecropia schreberiana) - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
Here is a slightly closer photo of the same bird. Though the views were a little bit distant, we were thrilled to see such a rare species. We heard a second Ridgway's Hawk vocalizing from the edge of a pasture and headed over there for a peek, but it vanished. As did the original one before we could approach for a closer view. That was all we were going to get from the birding gods, but our Ridgway's Hawk experience was much better than nothing.
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| Ridgway's Hawk - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
We all had more spring in our step as we headed back to the hotel for a well-deserved breakfast. Many other birds came out of the woodwork - Louisiana Waterthrushes along the creek, Yellow-faced Grassquits buzzing from the grasses, and White-winged Doves feeding on a fruiting tree.
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| Louisiana Waterthrush - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
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| Yellow-faced Grassquit - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
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| White-winged Dove - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
I even stopped to take a photo of one of the ubiquitous Turkey Vultures. It is definitely a bird species that gets better looking the further away it is.
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| Turkey Vulture - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
Another highlight was a group of Caribbean Martins cruising overhead. These birds vacate Hispaniola in October, though small numbers can hang around, and it was one species that could be easily missed on our trip.
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| Caribbean Martin - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
We also saw a few of the common endemic bird species including Hispaniolan Mango, White-necked Crow and Broad-billed Tody. The todies are a well-loved family of birds that only contains five living species, all found in the Greater Antilles. Todies are most closely related to the clade that includes motmots and kingfishers. Laura's favourite bird family is the motmots, so it was no surprise that she was enamoured by her first tody, too.
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| Broad-billed Tody |
We enjoyed a hearty breakfast, packed up and headed out under blue skies and hot temperatures. We had a long driving day ahead of us but made sure to make a few birding stops along the entrance road to Caño Hondo. This paid off as Dan noticed a few Tricolored Munias feeding on roadside grasses, a life bird for him. This was the first time that Laura and I had seen this adaptable species outside of southeast Asia.
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| Tricolored Munia - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
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| Tricolored Munia - Caño Hondo, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic |
Our time at the edge of Parque Nacional Los Haitises had been brief, but it had been immensely productive. Ashy-faced Owls and Ridgway's Hawks, lifer frogs and lizards, and even a great mothing session. The clock was ticking, and it was now time to drive through Santo Domingo to the southwestern part of the Dominican Republic.
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