Blue Mountain Vireo - Jamaican Endemic Bird - Vireo osburni
A cool Jamaican endemic; this photograph was taken at Hardwar Gap above Kingston.
Hardwar (pronounced “hardware”) Gap is an accessible location to explore the Blue Mountains’ high country forest. The area is birded along the winding, paved road that runs up from the village of Section to the summit at Holywell and then descends down into Kingston past the Gap Café and the military base at Newcastle. The forest near the summit has been battered by hurricanes; cleared farmland and settlement encroaches up to the road edge on the ascent. Still, significant areas of good forest remain and, along with the lush gardens around the houses, they are very birdy. Car traffic was light but steady on the morning of our visit.
In the tall trees just above Section we had the first of two Jamaican Blackbirds. As we climbed higher we heard and saw three Jamaican Pewees in scrubbier roadside forest, our only good sightings of the trip. We also had the first of many Jamaican Vireos, a kinglet-like bird with an extensive song repertoire including caroling runs and musical trills. Ryan Love then keyed us into the more subdued trill of Blue Mountain Vireo and we quickly got on to this great bird feeding low and slowly in roadside vegetation. We were able to see ten over the course of the morning. Jamaican Elaenia was Ryan’s next find, our trip’s only encounter with this obscure species. Over the summit just past the Gap Café a steep paved side road descends to the right. Along this road we had excellent views of Rufous-throated Solitaire and three Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.
Blue Mountain Vireo - Jamaican Endemic Bird - Vireo osburni
A cool Jamaican endemic; this photograph was taken at Hardwar Gap above Kingston.
Hardwar (pronounced “hardware”) Gap is an accessible location to explore the Blue Mountains’ high country forest. The area is birded along the winding, paved road that runs up from the village of Section to the summit at Holywell and then descends down into Kingston past the Gap Café and the military base at Newcastle. The forest near the summit has been battered by hurricanes; cleared farmland and settlement encroaches up to the road edge on the ascent. Still, significant areas of good forest remain and, along with the lush gardens around the houses, they are very birdy. Car traffic was light but steady on the morning of our visit.
In the tall trees just above Section we had the first of two Jamaican Blackbirds. As we climbed higher we heard and saw three Jamaican Pewees in scrubbier roadside forest, our only good sightings of the trip. We also had the first of many Jamaican Vireos, a kinglet-like bird with an extensive song repertoire including caroling runs and musical trills. Ryan Love then keyed us into the more subdued trill of Blue Mountain Vireo and we quickly got on to this great bird feeding low and slowly in roadside vegetation. We were able to see ten over the course of the morning. Jamaican Elaenia was Ryan’s next find, our trip’s only encounter with this obscure species. Over the summit just past the Gap Café a steep paved side road descends to the right. Along this road we had excellent views of Rufous-throated Solitaire and three Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.