Jamaica- Day 6

Another perfect warm sunny day in Jamaica was spent at YS Falls. The drive through the countryside from Negril was gorgeous and I saw many birds but we were running late and I was hoping to get birding done at the falls so I only asked them to stop once when I saw a parrot in a tree by the side of the road. There was also an American kestrel nearby.

American kestrel

Olive fronted parakeet in a fruit tree.

 The fruit on these trees is used in cooking almost like a spicy stir fry dish with chicken or fish. It is very good.

We saw a few new doves while driving in that Hesran pointed out to me.A white bellied dove and a Pea dove (Quail dove?)

White- bellied dove/ Caribbean dove

This one is kinda unfocused but is the only picture I have of the species.

When arriving at YS Falls admission was $16 and included a shuttle up to the falls and back. The shuttle stopped in a ring that went around this beautiful tree with pink flowers. I'm glad I got close to take pictures of them because...

Poor mans orchid tree

The hummingbirds loved this tree! If you are looking to knock pretty much every hummingbird off your list quickly... Find one of these. There were Cowbirds, Streamertails (Doctor birds) and Jamaican Mangos.

Male streamertail

Female red-billed streamertail

Greater antillean grackle (because it's the only grackle on my Jamaica list) but it looks pretty much like a boat tailed grackle.

Greater antillean grackle

Jamaican mango

There was very nice pink orchids blooming in a tree. 

Catonia bowringia

The falls has many levels and is gorgeous but was fairly busy when we were there due to a few tour buses.  This is a fairly touristy location but I have heard that other waterfalls near Negril are much busier.

 There was a lot of life around the falls including lizards, fish, snails, birds and an extensive diversity of plants. I was surprised to notice that flipping over rocks in some of the shallow pools and  sifting through leafy debris didn't find any amphibians.

Unknown lizard

Unknown finch

Poor mans orchid tree

   I saw another Bananaquit.

Bananaquit

Besides the poor mans orchid tree, they do have hummingbird feeders there and this hummingbird was frequently going back and forth from a nearby tree and the feeders.

Female red-billed streamertail

Action shot

Eastern Kingbird

 In the skies there were many vultures and one red-tailed hawk flying. There were also some new birds hanging around.

Unknown bird feeding on bromeliads

 A lot of tropical plant life was seen all around the YS Falls grounds.These Queen of the Night (Brassavola nodosa) orchids were seen growing with bromeliads in the trees.

Queen of the Night Orchids and bromeliads in a tree

Jamaican euphonia

 Another possible endemic species the Jamaican euphonia. Still working on getting better at photography so bear with me as I try to identify blurry things.

Looking around some more and following the noise I finally got a decent picture of a male red starts face.

American redstart

 And then turned around to find a Northern waterthrush bobbing its tail and walking around right in front of me.

Northern waterthrush