The trip had been a whirlwind up to this point. We had experienced some long drives, short nights and early wake-ups. But we had done as well as could be expected given both the time of year, and the rainfall brought on by Hurricane Melissa. We had found all of the endemic birds except for two, but we had expected to miss a few. The herping had been awesome, we had visited some really interesting areas and we had met quite a few lovely people. However, it had been an intense six days and we were looking forward to a slightly more relaxed pace for the final two days of the trip.
The condo we rented in a resort complex in Dominicus (just south of Bayahibe) had everything we needed - full kitchen, laundry, air conditioning and good wifi. There was even a big screen TV that had ESPN, meaning that we could watch game one of the World Series featuring our beloved Blue Jays. And the resort complex had a beautiful pool, waterslides, beach, and was just steps away from Parque Nacional Cotubanamá, the largest protected area in the eastern Dominican Republic.
The forecast called for steady rain for our entire visit so we steeled ourselves for that possibility. Hopefully there would be a few gaps in the weather.
October 23, 2025 (continued)
Our long drive from the central mountains had taken up the majority of the afternoon and the rain persisted right up until our arrival in Dominicus. We were able to check in to the condo while the thunder grumbled all around us and occasional lightning flashed across the sky. But the rain was not actively falling, so we grabbed our cameras and flashlights and went for a wander around the complex.
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| Hispaniolan Common Tree Frog (Osteopilus dominicensis) - Parque Nacional Cotubanamá, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
A rock wall separating the resort from the national park proved to be an excellent location to scan and we found quite a few Hispaniolan Tree Frogs, Tropical House Geckos, and various tarantulas and crabs.
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| Hispaniolan Common Tree Frog (Osteopilus dominicensis) - Parque Nacional Cotubanamá, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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| Tropical House Gecko (Hemidactylus mabouia) - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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| Blue Land Crab (Cardisoma guanhumi) - Parque Nacional Cotubanamá, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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| Cartilage Lichen (Ramalina complanata) - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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| Phormictopus sp. - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
We lasted for about an hour before calling it a night. We were all pretty wiped after another very full day with a ton of driving. But we had avoided the worst of the rains and now had two nights to enjoy this area while being situated less than an hour from the airport in Punta Cana.
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| Hispaniolan Common Tree Frog (Osteopilus dominicensis) - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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| Hispaniolan Common Tree Frog (Osteopilus dominicensis) - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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| Spodoptera latifascia - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
October 24, 2025
The rains had come through the night but miraculously, it was dry at dawn. The three of us quickly gathered our things and walked along the coast to the national park entrance just south of the resort. We met one of the rangers, a friendly fellow named Juan, and paid our entrance fee before setting off down the trail through the scrubby forest paralleling the coast.
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| Willet - Parque Nacional Cotubanamá, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
A different set of species can be found here at Parque Nacional Cotubanamá including a few we were targeting. The Pearly-eyed Thrasher is more common in Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and some of the Lesser Antilles, but they have colonized the eastern Dominican Republic and are occasionally reported from here. We were also keeping an eye (and ear) out for Hispaniolan Amazons as only Laura had seen them the previous day (Dan and I had them as heard-only). The Key West Quail-Dove, a potential lifer for Laura and Dan, frequents these habitats. And we were also hoping to bump into a Mangrove Cuckoo since we hadn't yet up to this point and they are a very cool cuckoo.
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| White-necked Crow - Parque Nacional Cotubanamá, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
The forest was active with birds and we quickly added a few species to our trip list, including White-crowned Pigeon and Blackpoll Warbler, while the nearby coastline added Laughing Gull and Ruddy Turnstone.
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| Brown Pelican - Parque Nacional Cotubanamá, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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| Sally Lightfoot Crab (Grapsus grapsus) - Parque Nacional Cotubanamá, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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| Ruddy Turnstone - Parque Nacional Cotubanamá, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
Many of the endemic species to the Dominican Republic reside here. We found some of them including Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo, White-necked Crow, Black-crowned Palm-Tanager and Palmchat to name a few. We also had our best views yet of Stolid Flycatcher, and found a solid variety of wood-warblers including Prairie Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler and Northern Parula. Despite the constant threat of rain we remained dry.
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| Palmchat - Parque Nacional Cotubanamá, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
Cuckoos were abundant here but despite searching for Mangrove Cuckoo we could only confirm Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo.
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| Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo - Parque Nacional Cotubanamá, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
We discovered one of our bird targets - a couple of Hispaniolan Amazons called from somewhere off in the distance - but they never showed their faces. The Pearly-eyed Thrashers remained unaccounted for, both visually and aurally. Still, we had a great walk and had avoided the rain once again, so we were pretty happy.
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| Parque Nacional Cotubanamá, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
We made a quick detour to the condo to fry up some eggs and make some coffee. The rains still hadn't arrived, so after a hurried breakfast we headed back out. This time, we walked along the entrance road leading to the resort. It passed through decent quality scrubby forest.
This walk was very productive. A Key West Quail-Dove singing from in the forest was a new species for Dan and Laura, though it had absolutely no interest in playback and remained heard-only.
Laura continued her hot streak of snake-finding. This time, she procured a gorgeous Pointed Snake from roadside shrubbery. One look at its snout and you can see where it got its common name from.
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| Laura with the Pointed Snake (Uromacer oxyrhynchus) - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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| Pointed Snake (Uromacer oxyrhynchus) - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republi |
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| Pointed Snake (Uromacer oxyrhynchus) - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republi |
The Pointed Snake is endemic to Hispaniola. It is an arboreal, diurnal species that preys mainly on anoles as well as other lizards that are active by day.
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| Pointed Snake (Uromacer oxyrhynchus) - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republi |
The clouds thickened and it began spitting out; we turned around to head back to the condo. And then the rains came in earnest.
We hung around the condo for a bit and then walked down to the beach to try our hand at snorkelling. Though the waves were relatively calm, the ocean was quite stirred up and visibility was really poor. My highlight was watching a Brown Booby hunt offshore.
After snorkelling, we checked out the waterpark by the resort's pool. We also ran a few errands; Laura and Dan went into town to buy some things, while I stayed back. Despite the rain they found a new species of bird for Laura, a small flock of Village Weavers. This is an African species that is widely established in Hispaniola. Otherwise, we had no sightings to report during the afternoon as the rain limited our exploring.
There was no night-hiking that evening for two reasons. For one, the rains had continued unabated and by dinnertime the streets of Dominicus were flooded. We found a wood-fired pizza place in town but had to walk barefoot carrying our shoes given the state of the flooded roads!
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| Flooding in Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
But the other reason for our lack of night-hiking this evening was, of course, game 1 of the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers. Our condo had a television and ESPN in Spanish. Fortunately, the Blue Jays won. It was a surreal experience watching my hometown team playing in the World Series for the first time in 32 years.
October 25, 2025
And just like that, our whirlwind tour of the Dominican Republic was coming to an end as we were flying out that afternoon.
The rain had stopped overnight, though gloomy skies persisted. The three of us made a few birding stops in Bayahibe, Dominicus and near our resort. My personal highlight was catching up with the Village Weavers that Dan and Laura had found the previous afternoon, while we also found Dan his lifer Scaly-breasted Munias.
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| Village Weaver - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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| Village Weaver - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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| Scaly-breasted Munia - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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| Scaly-breasted Munia - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
We also bumped into a cooperative Mangrove Cuckoo (bashing a stick insect for breakfast) and a Greater Antillean Bullfinch near the town of Bayahibe.
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| Mangrove Cuckoo - Bayahibe, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
On a hunch, I tried playing vocalizations of the Pearly-eyed Thrasher near a waste area by the resort's entrance. Though I had no response, a dark bird slunk around in the shadows beneath a tree and Laura noticed the movement. A Pearly-eyed Thrasher!
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| Pearly-eyed Thrasher - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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| Pearly-eyed Thrasher - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
We went for one final walk along the entrance road, hoping for a last-minute Hispaniolan Parrot. Some vocalized at one point, but they stayed hidden yet again. In the end, Dan and I had to be satisfied with our heard-only parrots.
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| Birding and herping near Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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| Hispaniolan White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae saturata) - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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| Smooth-billed Anis (Crotophaga ani) - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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| Large Orange Sulphur (Phoebis agarithe) - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
And just like that, it was time to head back to Punta Cana to return the rental car and fly home. Everything at the airport went smoothly and we were soon airborne, heading back to Canada.
It had been a great trip with even better company. I may have to return one day for a chance at redemption with the White-fronted Quail-Dove and Golden Swallow.
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| Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola) - Dominicus, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
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