Two endemic species from Dominican Republic

Black-crowned Palm Tanager

Hispaniolan Woodpecker

I didn't know what they were when I saw them a month ago on a school campus in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Tonight, with the help of Google, I discovered that they are species of birds found only on this one island in the Caribbean. The memory of the event becomes all the more interesting when I recall that I took these photos consecutively of these two birds in the same tree within a one-minute time span. First, the Black-crowned Palm Tanager, and then the Hispaniolan Woodpecker. As if the day was not made memorable enough by the lashing we had received during the previous night by the lightning, wind and rain of the edge of Hurricane Ike.