Tailler les arbres

Sur la grue

I saw the trees in Franklin Roosevelt being pruned this morning. They are being cut into a lovely box shape.

Look at that straight line!

On my way home I saw the tree surgeons had made some real progress. They must have been working with a ruler.

I hope they are going to finish the job with the trees outside our flat.

They certainly need it

Guadeloupe highlights

As our time in Guadeloupe draws to a close it is worth reflecting on some highlights.

  • The hotel – living the life of luxury for 12 days. It was like living in the TV series White Lotus.
  • The weather – gorgeous every day.
  • The sea – crystal clear with amazing views of shoals of blue and green fish – les bancs de poissons.
  • Adding 34 birds to my life list – including a mangrove cuckoo – in the expert hands of the Caribbean’s top bird guide.
  • Seeing the sights of Guadeloupe from the slavery museum to the rum museum to the markets and the national park and waterfall.

The cocktails, beer, rum and accra and langoustes and coco sorbet

An excellent way to celebrate our 25th and 26th wedding anniversaries. À la prochaine.

Les oiseaux de Guadeloupe

I spent a morning with the Caribbean’s leading birder – Anthony Levesque. He has seen more than 500 species and identified 50previously unseen in Guadeloupe.

So I couldn’t be in better hands. It meant an early start to beat the crowds at a couple of local beauty spots.

Anthony explained there is one bird endemic to Guadeloupe and only seen in Basse Terre and Grande Terre – the woodpecker. He said we had to see it.

As a patch birder par excellence he knew where to see them as he had seen them building their nest. And so…

Guadeloupe Woodpecker

After that we dashed around to see as many local birds as possible. We saw 29 in total. Anthony recognises the songs and knew where to look so we saw many amazing colourful birds including three types of humming bird.

The best for me was the chestnut-sided warbler – stunning.

Pic courtesy of Anthony

But Anthony said the rarest bird we saw was the ringed kingfisher which flew high overhead. I also took some digiscoped pics with my iPhone. Here’s a selection.

Forest thrush
Scaly-breasted thrasher
Gray kingbird
Lesser Antillean saltator

It was an amazing morning – we also saw a Mangrove Cuckoo which was gorgeous. If you ever want to go birding in the Caribbean – Anthony is definitely your man. He also makes a mean coffee.