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Published: February 18th 2007
Bird Watching Group
Lead by Kate Wallace of Tody Tours, we wend our way along the river trail.It’s early in the AM as we head down to the Hotel Meliá to meet Kate Wallace for a birding trip to the Jardín Botanico. Kate, a former volunteer, runs Tody Tours (http://www.todytours.com), specializing in trips within the Dominican Republic. While she ordinarily charges $20 per person, she did this for free. All we had to do was chip in for the cost of transportation in a mini-van. Thanks a bunch, Kate!!!
We had a three-hour hike in the park, observing quite a few new birds and some old friends (birds) that we commonly see in Florida. Among the birds seen were lots of Palmchats, Hispaniolan woodpeckers, Antillean Mango hummingbirds, Vervain hummingbirds, Snowy egrets, Common Moorhen, Purple Gallinules, Red-legged thrushes, Least grebes, Hispaniolan parakeet, Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo, Broad-billed tody (much like a hummingbird, and endemic to the island), Bananaquits, Northern mockingbird, Yellow-rumped warblers, Greater Antillean grackles, and a fantastic pair of courting American kestrels sharing a lizard.
In addition, there were a wide variety of butterflies: Julias, Zebra longwings (which also happen to be Florida’s state butterfly), Malachite butterflies and various fritillaries. One bright green lizard with a lot of camouflage skills was spotted.
Following the birding expedition we
Hispaniolan Woodpecker
The Hispaniolan woodpecker, with lots of yellow, is very common on the island headed back to Santo Domingo for lunch at the Villar Hermanos sandwich shop. Here we sat enjoying some of the best hot sandwiches we have ever had.
Today was the day that the present Dominican President’s (Leonel Fernández) political party would nominate the candidate for the next election. To no one’s surprise, it was Fernández. Crowds of his supporters, waving colorful flags and banners, had congregated on the street corners near the sandwich shop. As we watched the action and munched away, the police cleared traffic and parked vehicles from the streets. Suddenly a line of shiny black Hummers came roaring up the street past the window we were watching from. Police were running ahead of and behind the vehicles. One car had its windows rolled partially down, and pistols were pointing out in all directions.
Ray and Loraine and Neil McMullen left us, heading for a beach property somewhere near Boca Chica on the Caribbean. They were going to spend a few days there, resting.
In the evening, Lowell and Jean Braxton and Mary and I walked west along the Malecon, which was crowded with families and young and old people. The atmosphere was fair like.
Hispaniolan Parakeet
The Hispaniolan Parakeet can be spotted clinging to the new "spikes" of palms in the park When we were in the Peace Corps, we often came down to this area to walk and eat.
Our destination was Restaurante Vesuvio for a final seafood dinner. It sure did not look like the Vesuvio’s that we remembered from the early 1960s. The prices were higher, but who cared; we were celebrating. Some five waiters bustled about as we enjoyed a tremendous meal. Mary and I shared a big Spanish Seafood Paella that was “so good tasting that it made our tongues slap our brains out.”
Lowell and Jean had rented a car for a few days and were going to drive west to Barahona to where he and others had worked as Peace Corps Volunteers. With big abrazos, we said goodbye to them, promising to visit in Salt Lake City in a couple of years.
In the morning, we head back to Tampa. The weather will be cold, maybe into the mid-30s. However, this trip was well worth the effort, the time and the cost. Seeing old friends was such a nice experience.
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kate wallace
non-member comment
thanks
thanks for the article. come back again and join me in the mountains!