About 18 months ago, I received an email invitation to visit Jamaica’s bird watching hotspots on the Eastern half of the island and spent a wonderful week there adding 47 new life birds to my list. Now, it could be your turn to visit Jamaica with a guest courtesy of the Jamaica Tourist Board for a unique birding adventure. The Jamaica Tourist Board, in combination with Nikon, has announced a free sweepstakes to win an exclusive bird watching trip to Jamaica.
The contest is open to anyone who is 18 years of age or older, is a legal resident of one of the 50 United States, have a passport valid for travel to Jamaica, West Indies, and not working for the companies offering the promotion or an immediate family member of someone who is.
Free Trip to Jamaica Details
The grand prize, says the Jamaica Tourist Board, “is a 7-day/6-night night bird watching trip for two including 3 nights at Hotel Mocking Bird Hill in Port Antonio, Jamaica and 3 nights at Forres Park Hotel in the Blue Mountains in Jamaica plus round trip air for two from the closest major international gateway to the winner’s home to Montego Bay, Jamaica. Bird watching tours included and hosted by Nikon Birding Adventures host, James Currie. Winner also receives one pair of Nikon Prostaff 7 All-Terrain Binoculars. Trip valid from January 2- April 15, 2012 only. Administrative fees, airline taxes and federal, state and local taxes and on-island ground transfers to and from hotels are the Winner’s responsibility. Approximate retail value of combined prize is $3,000. Trip is based on space availability and blackout periods apply. The prize is non-transferable, cannot be exchanged for cash, and cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion.”
Hotel Mocking Bird Hill
When I visited Jamaica in 2010, I stayed at both of these resorts and found both to be spectacular eco-lodge resorts tucked quietly into some ideal birding habitat. Hotel Mocking Bird Hill is a luxury resort that runs partially off solar panels installed on the property and strives to co-exist with the land. Read my full review of Hotel Mocking Bird Hill here, complete with a video that I took of the room in which I stayed while there.
Forres Park
Forres Park is a wonderfully situated rustic lodge (with spacious rooms that rival the most elegant B&B) that offers birding as close as the front deck. It is owned by the same person that owns the world famous Blue Mountain Coffee plantations, where you will find some excellent high altitude birding. Here we saw the Vervain Hummingbird (Mellisuga minima minima), the second smallest bird in the world, as well as number of warbler species in their winter residence. There was excellent habitat for the Crested Quail-Dove (Geotrygon versicolor) here also, although we did not find one on the day that we visited the plantation.
Jamaica Bird Watching Contest Entry
Enter the sweepstakes at this link. The entry window runs from November 15th through December 15th with a winner being selected on December 20, 2011, so you’ll want to enter right now before you forget. The entry requires that you list three of the bird species that are endemic to Jamaica. Fortunately, you can find the complete list on my Facebook Bird Watching Page here.
Runner-up Contest via Twitter
There is a separate runner-up contest that requires an entry via Twitter. Just tweet the name of Jamaica’s national bird and use the hashtag: #Jamaicanbirds. The winner of this runner up contest will receive Nikon Prostaff 7 binoculars, which Nikon says is their most popular all-terrain binoculars. You can learn about the national bird of Jamaica here.
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