Competition – Win a Birding Trip to Jamaica
December 2, 2011 by Barbara Walker
Filed under Birding
Win a birdwatching trip to Jamaica with James Currie, host of Birding Adventures TV courtesy of The Jamaican Tourist Board.
Stay at Hotel Mocking Bird Hill in Port Antonio for 3 nights and at Forres Park in the Blue Mountains for 3 nights to discover the allure of a collection of over 200 resident and migratory bird species including more species than any other Caribbean island. Nikon are additionally awarding the winner a ProStaff® 7, their most popular All Terrain Binocular.
You can also enter to win Nikon Binoculars by tweeting the name of Jamaica’s national bird using the tag #JamaicanBirds.
The promotion began November 15 and closes on December 15 2012, winners will be drawn on c December 20th. The contest is open to legal residents of the 50 United States who are 18 years or older and have a valid passport for travel to Jamaica. Employees of the sponsors and their immediate family members are ineligible.
Click here to enter today
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Rutland Bird Fair 2011 Presents Jamaica Birding
July 20, 2011 by Barbara Walker
Filed under Birding
Mocking Bird Hill will be at the annual August Rutland Bird Fair at Marquee 1 stand 42 ready to answer all your questions about Jamaican birding.
We’re very excited as James Currie the host of Nikon’s Birding Adventures TV will be giving a lecture entitled ‘The Endemics of Jamaica’, between 12.30-12.50, Friday 19th August in LM2. It is based on the time that he spent with us whilst filming in Jamaica. For a taster or if you can’t get to Rutland itself you can view some of the videos that they shot here.
"Hotel MockingbirdHill is the ideal birder-friendly lodge. Located in the very best part of Jamaica, the hotel is situated close to many of the top birding sites and the grounds are home to Jamaican Owls and Black-billed Streamertails. With stunning vistas, 5-star meals and good birds, this place is paradise!" James Currie, Nikon's BATV host.
You may like to see how a non-birder found staying at Mocking Bird Hill whilst their birding partner enjoyed a birding holiday in Jamaica. At Rutland Bird Fair last year Birdfair TV filmed the wife of one of our recent guests to find out what she thought of the hotel and the island of Jamaica…
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Birding Adventures TV Twitch Jamaica
May 19, 2011 by Barbara Walker
Filed under Birding
Nikon’s Birding Adventures TV recently came to stay whilst filming Jamaica’s 28 endemics. It was fantastic to hear they thought Jamaica was a magical place for birding and that they particularly loved Jamaican food!
“From the 7,400 ft Blue Mountains, to the mangrove swamps of the south, to the arid scrub of the Hellshire Hills, to the wet limestone forests of the Cockpit Country, there is certainly no shortage of habitat variety. Besides a few elusive species, most of the birds are very easy to see and require minimal effort. Perhaps most surprising is the food. I've never eaten so well on a birding trip and delicacies like jerked pork, freshwater mussels and freshwater crayfish are not to be missed.”
We’d like to thank James Currie, Nikon's BATV host who wrote such a wonderful review about us
"Hotel Mockingbird Hill is the ideal birder-friendly lodge. Located in the very best part of Jamaica, the hotel is situated close to many of the top birding sites and the grounds are home to Jamaican Owls and Black-billed Streamertails. With stunning vistas, 5-star meals and good birds, this place is paradise!"
Here are 4 of their latest Birding in Jamaica programmes for you to watch and get a flavour of what to expect twitching in Jamaica.
Jamaican Hummingbird Show
Jamaican Owl Show
Jamaican Crested Quail Dove Show
The Birds of Jamaica
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Meet us at Florida’s Largest Bird Fair
January 19, 2011 by Barbara Walker
Filed under Birding
Mocking Bird Hill are delighted to announce we will be exhibiting at the 2011 Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival Fair, held at the Brevard Community College (BCC), Titusville Campus near Titusville, from Wednesday the 26th to Sunday the 31st of January.
We’re excited ourselves! Many of our loyal birders & twitchers have chatted to us in the past about the Fair, and how it’s really the “best of the best” as bird fairs go, particularly for what’s available as field trips & workshops.
We're looking forward to seeing you there; if you do have any birding in Jamaica or the Caribbean queries do come along and visit us at our stand number 47 and we’ll do our best to advise & assist you.
You can even obtain a copy of our most recent publication, A Guide to Birding in Jamaica, crammed full of wonderful illustrations of the endemics, and useful information.
View the official 2011 Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival Fair website or take a look at the pdf of who else will be showing at the fair.
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Beautiful Bird Work by Peace Corps in Jamaica
December 13, 2010 by Barbara Walker
Filed under Birding
We recently had a husband & wife pair of ornithologists staying at Hotel Mocking Bird Hill, enjoying a few days off from their splendid work in Jamaica for the Peace Corps. Such volunteers have provided many developing countries with support since they were first inspired by the then Senator John F. Kennedy in 1960, themselves going on to inspire famous lines in films such as Dirty Dancing, when at the beginning of the film ‘Baby’ expresses her desire to work for the Peace Corps.
This couple celebrated International Migratory Bird Day by working in local schools and teaching how important Jamaica is in providing a winter respite for so many US Birds; we think you’ll agree learning can be fun!
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Spectacular – 22 Endemics & 15 Warblers 60 Birds Species
October 29, 2010 by Barbara Walker
Filed under Birding
How many single gardens can boast sightings of 22 endemics, 15 warblers & 60 birds species within 5 days!
We recently had a birding couple, Adrienne & Robert Lockett, come to enjoy the luxury of an autumn birding break with us, whilst they are stationed with the Peace Corp in Jamaica, and they delightedly spotted all of these. Now some of those were no doubt temporarily resting in Jamaica after being blown off their usual migratory path by the Tropical Storm Nicole, but what a rich and diverse birdlife our bio-gardens attract!
Some of their favourites were: Blackpoll Warbler | Baltimore Oriole | Tennessee Warbler | Swainson's Thrush | Red-eyed Vireo | Chestnut-sided Warble | Rose-breasted Grosbeak | Summer Tanager | Arrowhead Warbler| Yellow-throated Warbler | Black-throated Green Warbler | Worm-eating Warbler | Cape May Warbler | Prairie Warbler | Northern Parula Warbler | Black-and-white Warbler | Black-throated Blue Warbler | Palm warbler | Redstart Warbler
"We recently spent 5 enjoyable days at Hotel Mocking Bird Hill. In addition to lovely and comfortable accommodation, fine food and warm hospitality, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the grounds of the hotel, including the extensive and beautiful gardens, provided exceptional birding. We found 22 endemics, 15 species of warblers, and more than 60 bird species overall without leaving the property.
Spectacular!" Bob Lockett, Portland, Oregon
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Escape to Blue Mountain from Birdwatch UK
October 22, 2010 by Barbara Walker
Filed under Birding
Birdwatch UK recently came to stay and in 5 days saw 25 of Jamaica's 28 endemic birds. In their own words "Jamaica is a delightful country with friendly and hospitable people, good food (with vegetarians catered for) and excellent birding", read their full report.
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Birding About Jamaica
September 27, 2010 by Barbara Walker
Filed under Birding
Jamaica's greenest hotel recently played host to Melissa Mayntz from the New York Times sister company About.com & their Guide to Birding & Wild Birds during her birdwatching stay in Jamaica. You can read her full glowing review of Hotel Mocking Bird Hill here.
We thought you may also be interested in some of her other detailed articles about birding in Jamaica that she wrote whilst here
Top 10 Birding Hotspots in Jamaica
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Guest’s Feedback via TV
September 13, 2010 by Barbara Walker
Filed under Birding
Would you like to watch what one of our past guests thinks of Hotel Mocking Bird Hill & Jamaica as a holiday destination?
Birdfair TV, part of the UK’s Rutland Bird Fair recently interviewed Carolyn Hall who is the partner of Philip Hall OBE, the winner of our 2010 birding competition.
Hear her thoughts on the hotel, the suitability of the location for non-birders and Jamaica as a safe Caribbean holiday destination from her trip to us in August 2010.
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Come & Meet us at the UK Rutland Bird Fair
July 1, 2010 by Barbara Walker
Filed under Birding
If you are considering a birding holiday to the Caribbean do come & find out about Jamaica by talking to us at the RSPCA’s Bird Fair at the Egleton Nature Reserve in Rutland, UK. We will be exhibiting from Friday 20th August – Sunday 22nd August 2010. We are in Marquee 1, Stand No. 42, within The Travel & Tourism area – our stand is named Jamaican Birds!
Despite its sometimes roguish image Jamaica is a beautiful, accessible and safe (yes safe!) birding country, with a range of locations as inebriating as our rum. Between the Blue Mountains and Portland, you can usually see almost all of the endemics. Your comfortable base for the Blue Mountains is Forrest Park Guest House in Mavis Bank and Mocking Bird Hill in Port Antonio, on the northeast coast of the island, both of which are fine birding locations.
Let us introduce you to an island where you may find 265 different species of birds with 28 endemic to the island at the last count! More than any other Caribbean island, in fact Jamaica has the highest number of endemics for any island of its size. Our bird names are intriguing: We have Sad Fly Catchers, Streamer Tail Doctor birds -because their long tails resemble the tailcoats once worn by medical men – Chestnut Bellied Cuckoos, also known as Old Man Bird and the smaller Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo known as Old Woman Bird because their extra-ordinary calls sound like grumbling senior citizens, Hopping Dicks, Auntie Katie, Big Tom Fool and the Duppy Bird to name a few.
Read more about our Jamaican Birdwatching Packages
Official Rutland Bird Fair website
