February 8-14, 2026 with Cory Gregory
Puerto Rico, while still one of the Greater Antilles, is a relatively small island but one that is rich with birdlife. In fact, it's home to 18 species of birds found nowhere else in the world. That fact, and the obvious point that it's a warm, lush, tropical paradise perfect for an escape from the northern winter, made it a perfect destination for us. Of course, we tried our best not to be too distracted by the lovely weather and Caribbean food, we were after some special endemic birds too! But, could we find all of them? Well, by the end of our short trip, I'm happy to report that we swept all the endemics and had good and repeated views of all of them! In fact, we nearly hit 110 species which is very respectable for such a short trip to this small island. Here is a quick summary of where we went and what we saw.
We started by leaving San Juan under the cover of darkness and driving to Rio Abajo to the west. Our first morning of birding was definitely fun, lifers were coming at us from left and right! Even before we got away from our yummy picnic breakfast, we were hearing Puerto Rican Owls, seeing Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoos, Puerto Rican Orioles, Puerto Rican Todies, Puerto Rican Vireos, and more. Of course, one of the big highlights from this spot was seeing one of the rarest parrots in the world, the Puerto Rican Amazon! Success! After lunch at the Puerto Rican specialty El Meson, we visited the northern shore of the island and, despite the rain, enjoyed numerous White-tailed Tropicbirds as they spun around, wheeling back and forth over the ocean. We continued our drive down and around the western side of the island, stopping again at an oceanside birding spot where we added Brown Booby, distant American Oystercatchers, many Magnificent Frigatebirds and Royal Terns, and even some White-winged Parakeets nearby. We capped off the day by arriving to our lovely oceanside hotel in La Parguera.
The next morning, we slowly drove up the mountains, hoping to see some of the high-elevation endemics. However, we were met with very strong winds and rain! We tried our best at Maricao and ended up seeing a few things like Green Mango, Puerto Rican Spindalis, some brief looks at Elfin-woods Warbler, and glimpses of Puerto Rican Bullfinch. We tried our luck at a nearby roadside and enjoyed Puerto Rican Woodpecker, Puerto Rican Bullfinch, Black-faced Grassquit, and others. We then stopped at the stone tower but the wind and rain pushed us out of there too. We tried one last roadside stop on the way down, this one providing good looks at Elfin-woods Warbler, finally. But the wind pushed us out of the mountains, and we retreated for lunch and a leisurely afternoon in La Parguera. That afternoon we took a walk along the mangroves and scored a very tame pair of Clapper Rails as well as good looks at Mangrove Yellow Warbler, the newly-elevated species. A few Yellow-shouldered Blackbirds flew by, a Northern Waterthrush skulked around the mangroves, and we found a yard that had 80 Bananaquits in it! Woah. By then, it was about time to call it a night.
The next morning, we couldn't even get to our cafe for breakfast before seeing a tree full of Yellow-shouldered Blackbirds, one of the rarest endemics on the island! The day was off to a good start. After breakfast, we ventured up to Laguna Cartagena and took a leisurely stroll down the levee there. We added Least Bittern, Common Ground Dove, Northern Red Bishop, Mangrove Cuckoo, and we even heard Sora and Limpkin. The dinosaur-like Smooth-billed Anis were out in force as well. Later that morning we visited some feeders that were hosting Yellow-shouldered Blackbirds, getting yet more looks at this rare endemic. After a lovely lunch at an oceanside restaurant, we took a stroll down the road at Cabo Rojo. We added White-cheeked Pintail, Puerto Rican Mango (finally both a male and female), and a great variety of shorebirds like Black-necked Stilt, Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Lesser Yellowlegs, Stilt Sandpiper, and many peeps like Least and Semipalmated sandpiper. Just down the road, we finally found our first Caribbean Elaenia as well as another Puerto Rican Mango. After a siesta during the hottest part of the day, we ventured to a nearby canyon after dusk and enjoyed yet another rare endemic, the Puerto Rican Nightjar. Not only did we see eyeshine and see them flying around, but we also enjoyed prolonged looks at one perched. However, maybe the weirdest sighting was a Puerto Rican Woodpecker clinging, asleep, to a telephone pole. Strange!
Our final morning in the southwest corner of the island involved us returning to the higher elevation forests to take care of some species we didn't see on the first, windy visit. Thankfully, the weather on this visit was beautiful and we immediately scored stunning views of a male Puerto Rican Euphonia and finally proper looks at Puerto Rican Tanager. We also enjoyed Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoo here, as well as a collection of warblers like Black-throated Blue, Black-and-white, and Northern Parula. But before long, it was time to head east and, after lunch, we stopped at some flowering trees hoping to see some hummingbirds. We were not disappointed! More than ten hummers were zooming around blossoms; the Antillean Crested Hummingbirds with their spiky head plumes and the handsome Green-throated Caribs put on quite a show! After departing, we made our way up to Villa Borinquen but the Plain Pigeons were a no-show. That evening, however, we ventured out and had a stunning Puerto Rican Owl, point blank! What a cap to a fun day of birding!
Our last full day on the island started with a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and then departure for the eastern coast. We stopped and added some shorebirds at Punta Santiago (and a whole lot of monkeys!), saw some Caribbean Martins overhead in Ceiba, and then made our way to Medio de Mundo y Daguao. We enjoyed our leisurely walk out through the forest, stopping to enjoy Adelaide's Warblers point-blank, more Caribbean Elaenias, and even some Mangrove Cuckoos. Farther out, amongst the mangroves, we caught sight of some very distant American Flamingos, a few shorebirds, and a smattering of herons like Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. After lunch, we enjoyed the mountains of Puerto Rico one last time when we ventured up into El Yunque National Park. We had a specific mission and we were eventually successful in finding some more Puerto Rican Emeralds as well as see the Puerto Rican Oriole once more. But all good things must come to an end and it was time to head back to the hotel for our final dinner together.
As a whole, this was a really good trip, you were a great group, I enjoyed myself, and I hope all of you made some good memories of birding in Puerto Rico! Although the weather threw some wind and rain at us, we persevered and cleaned up all the endemics very nicely! Thanks to each of you for signing up and making this Caribbean Island birding adventure happen. We at Field Guides are thankful for this chance and we look forward to seeing you again on another trip!
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/478913
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/ptr26aTRIPLIST.pdf
-- -- Cory Gregory (Curlew)