Carol Foil & Judith O'Neale

I regret to note that I have no individual photos of these two ladies. When I tried to use one from a group photo, the result was horrible. I'm very sorry because Carol & Judith were great to have along on the trip. Carol is a veterinarian and has spent a lot of time in Central and South America. She was very gracious when I went on one of my infamous rants about the evils of domestic cats out in the world and the horrendous effect their rampant predation has on bird life. My recommendation that they all be garroted was met with polite disagreement and the thought that maybe there was a better way to deal with the problem. I respected her for her input. She's an excellent birder - one of the best on the trip - and I learned quite a bit from her too.

Judith is a woman of amazing energy and interest. This was her fourth trip to Cuba since 2000! We were thrilled for her when, with the sighting of the Cuban Gnatcatcher on Feb. 22, she has now seen all of Cuba's endemic birds. She knew many of the people we were in the field with and she and William had a delightful relationship. He was almost in tears when Judith actually saw the Gnatcatcher. I very much enjoyed spending time with her.