Tuesday, February 25
By this day, I had already discarded my planned itinerary because Adolphus and I had put together a better one that made maximum use of our location and drive times. After our usual morning walk at the Mt. Irvine, during which we had our best views of Yellow-headed Caracara, we headed north along the Atlantic side of the island to the town of Roxborough. From there we turned west on the Roxborough-Bloody Bay Road, our target being a high elevation trail called Gilpin Trace.
Main Ridge. Since the drive took well over an hour, Adolphus had Gladwyn make several stops to allow us to stretch and do some birding. At those stops were saw Great Blue Heron, Great Black-Hawk, and many other species that we'd already seen. Once we were high enough to be surrounded by rainforest, we began seeing new species such as the White-necked Jacobin hummingbird, American Redstart, and more chachalacas. The forest was filled with the "coke-REE-koh" calls of the chachalacas and the screeching of our first Orange-winged Parrots. Even though cowbirds in general are despised by birders because of their habit of parasitizing the nests of other species of birds, a Shiny Cowbird bathed in the rich morning sunlight and gleaming iridescent purple from beak to tail elicited gasps of awe from the group. A three-foot-long woven nest of a Crested Oropendola hung over the road, and its owner showed up as we birded there. Nearby we spotted a Giant Cowbird, a nest parasite of the Crested Oropendola. A diligent search through the foliage of nearby trees finally yielded the singer of an endless succession of short musical phrases - a Chivi Vireo. As this was the dry season, many of the trees were leafless, which meant that we had better looks at most birds than we would have had in the rainy season. A species that's usually particularly challenging to identify because it loves the canopy is Red-legged Honeycreeper, but here were at least three of them dashing through the bare twigs. Some members of the group also had quick views of Black-throated Mango and Rufous-breasted Hermit hummingbirds. One of our primary target species, Collared Trogon, was not to be found.
Adolphus, a very humble and thoughtful gentleman, stopped on the roadside at one point to pick up a stash of walking sticks he had concealed there for groups such as ours. They came in handy later as we hiked along muddy Gilpin Trace, which we passed so we could refresh ourselves at the Forestry Station atop the Main Ridge before beginning our hike.
An industrious entrepreneur had followed our van to the Forestry Station from Gilpin Trace, hoping to rent us "wellies" or Wellingtons -- boots to us Americans. Adolphus suggested that we each rent a pair, since the trail is often muddy in places, even during the dry season.
When one leaves the brilliant sun and emerald green vegetation along the roadway and begins the walk downhill along Gilpin Trace, not more than a minute passes before the ambience changes completely. For the most part Gilpin Trace is a dark, deep ravine trail that parallels a rushing stream. The dominant plants are various kinds of palms, bamboo with bases more than two feet in diameter, Swiss-cheese and other kinds of philodendron and epiphytes, elephant ears, and flowering bromeliads. Birds usually are scarce but exciting along the trail. One of the first birds we found was the endangered White-tailed Sabrewing hummingbird, which was thought to be extirpated on Tobago as recently as the 1970s. As we hiked slowly uphill and down, we were able to view Golden-olive Woodpecker, Plain-brown Woodcreeper, Stripe-breasted Spinetail, Plain Antvireo, Blue-backed Manakin, Streaked Flycatcher, Venezuelan Flycatcher, White-throated Spadebill, Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, Rufous-breasted Wren, Yellow-legged Thrush, White-necked Thrush, and another Chivi Vireo. We also heard Olivaceous Woodcreepers,
We hiked about a mile down the trail, all the way to the second waterfall, where we watched a pair of Stripe-breasted Spinetails building a stick nest, before heading back to the van. Adolphus spends about two hours on Gilpin Trace with the typical birding group, but this time, perhaps because this may well have been the last time he guides a trip for me (he's retiring this year), he gave us a full five hours of tropical rainforest birding. I have birded Gilpin Trace with Adolphus more than 40 times, and our list of species on this day was our longest ever.
From Gilpin Trace we drove back up the ridge to the Forestry Station, where at 2:30 p.m. we enjoyed the afternoon equivalent of a morning brunch - huge box lunches and beverages provided by the Mt. Irvine. We also sampled some of the wonderful homemade candy sold there by local women.
On the drive back to the Mt. Irvine, I asked Gladwyn to drive us through a bit of downtown Scarborough, the capitol. Here we saw a bustling but small metropolis, complete with traffic jams and a KFC in the middle of town.
In the evening I met David Rooks, an old friend who is a former president of the Trinidad & Tobago Field Naturalist Club. He assisted me in retrieving the 14 copies of the Checklist of Tobago Birds that I had purchased a month beforehand from the manager of the Asa Wright Nature Center in Trinidad. We had agreed that they would be shipped to the manager of the Mt. Irvine and held for me until our arrival. Upon our arrival no one could find them. One clerk located two copies and told me that the rest had been utilized is some fashion. But David had a discussion with the manager, who soon was able to track down the missing copies. Having a daily checklist made it so much easier to keep track of what we had seen!
Before dinner David presented us with his magnificent slide show, "The Natural History of the Island of Tobago." I've seen his talk at least a dozen times and have never tired of it. The talk was open to anyone at the hotel, not just our birding group. I think everyone enjoyed it, and David seemed glad to have the business. He was one of many people we met who told us that 9-11 had devastated the islands financially.
Wednesday, February 26
This morning we took a leisurely walk down the Mt. Irvine entrance road and along the west shore road, making a loop back to the hotel. Noteworthy were excellent views of Green-rumped Parrotlets and Ruby-Topaz and Copper-rumped hummingbirds and a short but definitive view of a passage Merlin.
By 10 a.m. we had all packed our things, settled our accounts at the front desk, and were gathered to board the van that would take us to the far northern end of the island, to the Blue Waters Inn. We passed Scarborough again, and at the mouth of the Argyle River we made a stop to look for waterbirds. With Jerry and Al on the opposite bank from the rest of us, we were able to creep close enough to get satisfying views of a Green Kingfisher. We made another stop at the Speyside Lookout, from which we obtained a fantastic view of the two islands that lie east of Tobago -- Goat Island and Little Tobago Island. Far below we could see the village of Speyside, the most prominent feature of which was the playing field. Orange-winged Parrots and Short-tailed Swifts flew over the ridges, the parrots screeching and the swifts chittering. We stopped again at the foot of the entrance road to the Blue Waters Inn to check out the small tidal estuary there. A Little Blue Heron was added to our list, then it was up one side of the steep hill and down the other, and at last we were at the Blue Waters Inn, getting room assignments and checking the place out.
One of the first species we saw was Ruddy Turnstone. A flock of them had become resident at the Blue Waters Inn. They could usually be found on the beach a stone's throw from the bar, but quite often one or two of them would explore the the bar or dining area. Farther offshore we quickly learned the silhouette of Brown Booby. A lone Osprey seemed to have staked out the bay as its winter territory. We saw it somewhere along the coast every time we ventured outside.
Dining outside is such a pleasure when one has been trapped inside by snow and frigid weather like we had been. Like a family, at the Blue Waters we ate at one long table, with the very friendly staff supplying us with cold drinks and good food. Dinners were buffet style and included a wide variety of side dishes and at least two entrees.
After the heat of midday had passed we split up to investigate the area. Some of us used this opportunity to snorkel, others to snooze. The water was somewhat turbid, in contrast to its usual crystal-clear appearance. Nevertheless, even a brief snorkeling foray yielded Blue Tang, Sergeant Major, Squirrelfish, Queen Parrotfish, Stoplight Parrotfish, and unbelievable numbers of minnows. The coral right off the dock was worth the effort of getting into the water.
Some of the other species we saw on the property that afternoon included a hunting Peregrine Falcon that hugged the hillside and disappeared around the ridge, heading north, a Merlin that followed the same course an hour later, Great Black-Hawk adult and immature circling over the ridge, several sightings of Broad-winged Hawk, and a nice view of an adult Gray Hawk. The latter species was a real surprise because they're very rare on Tobago. Around the buildings were Black-faced Grassquits, Rufous-vented Chachalacas that Al soon had eating out of his hand, Yellow-bellied Elaenias, and a Northern Waterthrush that Al and Jerry found at a dripping water tank above the inn. Motmots and various kinds of pigeons and doves were easy to find, and Bananaquits and tanagers were too numerous to count.
We hiked about a mile down the trail, all the way to the second waterfall, where we watched a pair of Stripe-breasted Spinetails building a stick nest, before heading back to the van. Adolphus spends about two hours on Gilpin Trace with the typical birding group, but this time, perhaps because this may well have been the last time he guides a trip for me (he's retiring this year), he gave us a full five hours of tropical rainforest birding. I have birded Gilpin Trace with Adolphus more than 40 times, and our list of species on this day was our longest ever.
Dining outside is such a pleasure when one has been trapped inside by snow and frigid weather like we had been. Like a family, at the Blue Waters we ate at one long table, with the very friendly staff supplying us with cold drinks and good food. Dinners were buffet style and included a wide variety of side dishes and at least two entrees.
Some of the other species we saw on the property that afternoon included a hunting Peregrine Falcon that hugged the hillside and disappeared around the ridge, heading north, a Merlin that followed the same course an hour later, Great Black-Hawk adult and immature circling over the ridge, several sightings of Broad-winged Hawk, and a nice view of an adult Gray Hawk. The latter species was a real surprise because they're very rare on Tobago. Around the buildings were Black-faced Grassquits, Rufous-vented Chachalacas that Al soon had eating out of his hand, Yellow-bellied Elaenias, and a Northern Waterthrush that Al and Jerry found at a dripping water tank above the inn. Motmots and various kinds of pigeons and doves were easy to find, and Bananaquits and tanagers were too numerous to count.