About Rich Hoyer

Rich Hoyer is first and foremost a birder whose subconscious registers and identifies every bird he hears, even when he isn't birding. But he actually started keying out wildflowers , catching reptiles, and raising butterflies before he discovered birding at age 14, and has since branched out to enjoy photographing and identifying dragonflies, grasshoppers, spiders and almost anything else alive. For the past 13 years he has been leading birding and natural history tours for WINGS. Among his regular destinations are Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, the Galapagos, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Jamaica. Originally from Oregon, he currently lives in Tucson, Arizona.

Jamaica’s Endemic Subspecies #3

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In this final blog on Jamaican birds, I’ll write about the last five endemic subspecies and give honorable mention to one more near-endemic. The Bananaquit is a familiar bird throughout […]

Jamaica’s Endemic Subspecies #2

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Here’s yet another set of six species found as endemic subspecies on Jamaica. Which ones should be considered separate species? Let’s have a look. Greater Antillean Elaenia occurs here in […]

Jamaica’s Endemic Subspecies #1

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So, now after having delineated 28 species of birds endemic to Jamaica (including the two forms of the Streamertail, currently lumped but he AOU), it’s time I start introducing the […]

Jamaica’s Endemic Birds Part 5

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These final six endemic species of Jamaica fall at the end of the taxonomic order of birds (as listed by the American Ornithologists’ Union) and all but the last are […]

Jamaica’s Endemic Birds Part 4

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This week I’ll discuss another five bird species endemic to Jamaica, the first half of the oscine passerines. Also called songbirds, these more “advanced” passerines don’t all actually have nice […]

Jamaica’s Endemic Birds Part 3

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The next five Jamaican endemics I’ll talk about are all suboscine passerines. I’m a compulsive categorizer of everything, and it is so gratifying to know how birds sort themselves out […]

Jamaica’s Endemic Birds Part 2

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In this second installment featuring Jamaica’s endemic bird species, I’ll complete the non-passerines, which includes some of the most exciting species on the island. The following photos are mostly digiscoped, […]

Jamaica’s Endemic Birds – The First Six

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Rich Hoyer highlights endemics from Jamaica, including Black-billed Parrot, Yellow-billed Parrot, Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo, Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo, Ring-tailed Pigeon, and Crested Quail-Dove from his WINGS Birding Tours.

Zanzibar Shorebird Quiz

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Wow, we timed the tide  just right at the beach below our backpackers hostel south of Paje on the island of Zanzibar, Tanzania last week. The photo above seems to […]