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Trinidad & Tobago
Evanston (Illinois) North Shore Bird Club
February 22 - March 4, 2007
| Leaders: Bill Murphy (Trinidad & Tobago) Martyn Kenefick (Trinidad) |
Click here to view the species list, here to view it as an MS-Word document, or here to view it as a PDF file.
| Itinerary | |
| February 22 | Arrival |
| February 23 | Tobago: Southern Tobago (wetlands, Grafton/Caledonia Bird Sanctuary) |
| February 24 | Tobago: Blue Waters Inn |
| February 25 | Tobago: Little Tobago Island, Merchiston Trace |
| February 26 | Tobago: Main Ridge Reserve |
| February 27 | Trinidad: Asa Wright Nature Centre (AWNC) |
| February 28 | Trinidad: Aripo Livestock Station, Manzanilla, Nariva Swamp, Waller Field |
| March 1 | Trinidad: Sudama Steps, Waterloo/Brickfield, Caroni Swamp |
| March 2 | Trinidad: Blanchisseuse Road |
| March 3 | Trinidad: Waller Field, AWNC |
| Tour Participants Betsy Buckles John Buckles Carol Cleave Nancy Griffin Libby Hill Jane Koten Debby Storms Chuck Westcott Lorraine Westcott Katharine Yang |
I would like to thank all of the participants -- Betsy and John, Carol, Nancy, Libby, Jane, Debby, Chuck and Lorraine, and Katharine -- for helping to make this an exceptionally productive and enjoyable tour.
In particular I would like to thank Chuck Westcott for making it all happen. Chuck attended my March 2004 lecture to the Chicago Ornithological Society, filed away my contact information, and the rest is history.
I also would like to thank those participants who kindly shared their trip photographs with me after my camera mysteriously vanished during TSA screening at Houston International Airport on my return flight. Tip for travelers: Carry your camera's memory chip in your pocket!
For a group I initially surmised would consist of Midwestern seniors longing for a non-aerobic birding trip with lots of rest stops and siestas, the Evanston North Shore Bird Club outdid themselves on this tour. We found a grand total of 206 species of birds, or 207 species if, as Martyn would promptly chime in, those lacking consciences include Rock Pigeon. I'm sure everyone would agree that we had a fabulously diverse natural history experience covering not only birds but all sorts of natural history. We leaders were extremely gratified to see so many grins and to hear choruses of "It doesn't get any better than this!" This trip had so many high points that I can't list them all. Suffice it to say that day after day we got to view spectacular birds in breathtaking tropical settings. Return to top Thursday February 22 The gods of the Caribbean smiled down on T&T Thursday evening as a prolonged period of daily showers ended. The airlines serving Trinidad conveniently deposited us all at Piarco Airport during the same one-hour period. Immigration proceeded smoothly for all but those in the slowest Customs line. In short order all participants had gathered just outside immigration. My co-leader on Trinidad and T&T Rare Bird Committee Chair, Martyn Kenefick, met us at Piarco Airport so he and I could greet the group together. Chaitram Bhola, owner of Sadila House B&B in nearby Arouca, our accommodations for the night, also met us at the airport. We loaded all of the luggage into the waiting maxi-taxi and got everyone aboard. Arriving at Sadila House, we unloaded the maxi and ensured that each person had been assigned a room. At that point, yours truly continued on to overflow accommodations at Leo's Place in nearby Trincity. Return to top Friday February 23 - Southern Tobago Moments later, it seemed -- though a night had indeed passed -- some of the early risers joined me outside Sadila House in the clear predawn stillness. If one discounts Red Jungle Fowl, it was Great Kiskadees who served as the alarm clocks this morning and on most subsequent mornings we arose in Trinidad. Chaitram and his wife, Savitri, were already up, having fixing us a fine breakfast of eggs, toast, guava jam, coffee, tea, and fresh orange juice.  Those participants who were already packed and ready to go gathered outside with me. One of our first sightings was a pair of Yellow-headed Caracaras flying over In the mango trees and flowering shrubs surrounding Sadila House we noted the first of some common species such as Bare-eyed Thrush, Tropical Mockingbird, Bananaquit, Tropical Kingbird, and three species of tanagers -- White-lined, Palm, and Blue-gray. Small flocks of Cattle Egrets flew over the sleeping neighborhood. This morning saw us flying to Tobago. From the maxi we spotted numbers of the familiar Rock Pigeon, along with a flock of Smooth-billed Anis (AH'-neez) in the tall roadside grass. Before walking into the airport terminal we paused to scope a Gray-breasted Martin perched on a light post, White-winged Swallows flycatching around the buildings, and a pair of Ruddy Ground-Doves on the ground collecting nesting material. We checked our bags at the Tobago Express counter and then took a few minutes to explore some of the airport shops and a display of some magnificent costumes from Carnival.  We proceeded through security inspection to the adjacent waiting area, where we admired Trinidad native Roger Neckles' exquisite photographs of native birds that decorated the walls, alongside fine examples of Trinidadian artwork. Here we are awaiting the boarding call: .JPG) Our 8 a.m. flight was on time, the arriving aircraft having just completed its second inter-island trip of the day. We walked across the tarmac to the turquoise, orange, and white Tobago Express de Havilland Dash 8-300 turboprop. One participant attracted the attention of a security guard by pausing to photograph the aircraft, an activity forbidden at Piarco. No harm done, we settled like sardines into our seats and were airborne minutes later. As we climbed to the east, an intricate patchwork of cultivated fields, housing developments, chicken farms, and gardens passed beneath us. Here's a view of the outskirts of the city of Arima, showing the new housing developments and with the unbroken rainforest of the Northern Range in the background: .JPG) As we headed east those on the right side of the jet were able to view the Arena Reservoir and then the east coast of Trinidad from Galeota Point to Point Radix, an area with which we would become familiar in due time with feet planted firmly on the ground. Our course took us over the eastern end of the Northern Range -- the terminus of the eastern spur of the Andes Mountains - and across Galleon's Passage between Trinidad and Tobago. Some 12 minutes later Tobago appeared ahead, flat in the south with verdant rugged hills to the north. Approaching the island from the west we passed over Buccoo Reef and landed at Crown Point Airport. The pilot set the aircraft down so gently that some might not have known we'd landed except for the change in the pitch of the engines. We retrieved our luggage in the tiny "arriving flights" area and gathered outside. Our driver for the Tobago portion of the trip, Bert Isaac, awaited us in his clean, spacious maxi. To provide more space (=comfort) for us, I sent our luggage ahead to the Blue Waters Inn in a separate vehicle while we began exploring the southern Tobago lowlands. Magnificent Frigatebirds soared overhead and were visible almost everywhere on Tobago every day of the trip, during daylight hours. Bert drove a few miles northeast from Crown Point to the village of Bon Accord to our first destination, the Bon Accord lagoons. Here we were treated to the sight of water buffalos being escorted by Cattle Egrets or "cowbirds" as the locals call them:  Grass cutters were busy at work inside the perimeter fence around the lagoons. I introduced myself to the groundskeeper, who graciously permitted us a rare opportunity to explore this birding hotspot from inside the fence for well over an hour. Within minutes we'd ticked off Anhinga, Green Heron, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Tricolored Heron, Snowy Egret, Little Egret, Little Blue Heron, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, White-cheeked Pintail, Common Moorhen, Least Grebe, Southern Lapwing, Wattled Jacana, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Eared Dove, Gray Kingbird, Brown-crested Flycatcher, and Scrub Greenlet, a "target" bird for Tobago that is not found in Trinidad. Here are shots of a White-cheeked Pintail, a flock of Greater Yellowlegs and one Lesser Yellowlegs, and a scope view of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks: 
.JPG) On the north side of the area we were startled by a loud rustling in the dry leaves caused by a foot-long coal-black lizard with fluorescent teal-colored spots running down the sides. Upon returning to the U.S. I was subsequently able to identify it as Ameiva ameiva, the common ground lizard. Normally brown, this was the darkest morph I'd ever seen. The local name, "Zandolie," is a corruption of the French "Les anoles," the lizards.  Back onboard, Bert drove east to the end of the block and then a few hundred yards north to the head of a broad dirt track that ran along a drainage ditch. At its end we could see the lovely Caribbean. A group of local fishermen at the far end of the track struck up a conversation with us. One man in particular was highly entertaining, providing us with his views on wetland conservation on Tobago. Another man showed us the kinds of fish they were using as bait. .jpg)
.JPG) In this area we added more new species -- Brown Pelican, Osprey, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Laughing Gull, and Spotted Sandpiper. In the red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle) across the ditch we found a Yellow Warbler and a highly vocal but shy Northern Waterthrush. Back aboard the bus, those in the front seats watched a lone Hudsonian Godwit rise from the roadside, cross in front of our maxi, and settle out of sight in the aquatic vegetation on the far side of the road. By now it was getting hot so we stopped at the air-conditioned Pennysaver grocery store in Bon Accord for cold drinks. The temperature in the store reminded us of the frigid northern climes we'd left behind. In my experience I've found that this sort of intermittent nonbirding activity adds to everyone's sense of having experienced the local culture. For lunch I had Bert drive us to nearby Store Bay, where a series of contiguous stalls provide a wide selection of delectable local dishes. From Miss Jean's and Miss Emma's shops we enjoyed local cuisine that included fish, calaloo, and macaroni pie. Some of us finished off lunch with homemade ice cream in flavors such as coconut-pumpkin and sour sop. Our lunch stop provided us with leisurely, close-up views of three species of hummingbirds: Ruby-Topaz, Black-throated Mango, and the ubiquitous Copper-rumped. In this image Jane, Carol, Libby, and Nancy enjoy the shade of a huge seaside almond tree at Store Bay: .jpg) After a prudently long siesta at Store Bay we headed east to the new Tobago Plantations complex, built by the Hilton chain. A very light shower began as we proceeded to the wastewater ponds. (Our seeming obsession with water treatment plants is explained by the relative dearth of ponds and lakes on Tobago.) While I obtained the key to the locked gate from the guard, the shower stopped, leaving puffy cumulus clouds that provided relief from the sun. Here we are at the entrance to the ponds: .JPG) Our stroll around the ponds was very productive, with close views of many of the species we'd already seen along with some species new to our list: Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Black-faced Grassquit, and Carib Grackle. From there we drove west and then followed Shirvan Road north along the leeward (Caribbean) side of the island to the Grafton/Caledonia Wildlife Sanctuary. Here the Mountain Immortelle trees (Erythrina poeppigiana) were draped with Cereus hexagonus, a night-blooming cactus. As we strolled along the broad trails of this former coffee/cocoa plantation, we had very close views of some of the Tobago specialties. We pulled in a strikingly attired male Blue-backed Manakin with its inky black plumage, ruby crown, and baby-blue back; the first of many Red-crowned Woodpeckers, strongly resembling our North American Red-bellied Woodpecker; male and female White-fringed Antwrens; a Cocoa Woodcreeper; foot-long iridescent metallic Rufous-tailed Jacamars looking like hummingbirds on steroids; Barred Antshrikes or "Jail Birds"; Fuscous Flycatcher; and many individuals of a large blackbird called Crested Oropendola. At 4 p.m. we returned to the trailhead to the open-air pavilion that formerly was used as a coffee-drying shed. Some members of the group were thrilled at being able to hand-feed cheese to stunningly attired Blue-crowned Motmots. Overhead flew myriad Short-tailed Swifts intermingled with Caribbean Martins. At the feeders we found dozens of tanagers of three species -- Palm, Blue-gray, and White-lined. Here also were dozens of Tobago's national bird, the turkey-like Rufous-vented Chachalaca, feeding on the ground with Pale-vented Pigeons and Eared Doves. A Yellow-breasted Flycatcher flew in to see what was going on. Here's a shot of a cooperative Blue-crowned Motmot and a male Barred Antshrike: .JPG)
.jpg) As daylight faded Bert drove us across the island and to the extreme northeast, to Batteaux Bay near the village of Speyside. where we settled in at the world-famous Blue Waters Inn. Some of us checked our email while others explored the grounds or relaxed in their splendid rooms. After dark we gathered in the dining room for a savory buffet dinner. Afterwards in the air conditioned game room we conducted our first tally rally, reviewed the logistics for the next day, and turned in. Trip total: 64 Species seen today: 64 New for the trip: 64 (Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, White-cheeked Pintail, Rufous-vented Chachalaca, Least Grebe, Brown Pelican, Anhinga, Magnificent Frigatebird, Green Heron, Cattle Egret, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Tricolored Heron, Little Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Osprey, Yellow-headed Caracara, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Common Moorhen, Southern Lapwing, Hudsonian Godwit, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper, Wattled Jacana, Laughing Gull, Ruddy Ground-Dove, Rock Pigeon, Pale-vented Pigeon, Eared Dove, Smooth-billed Ani, Short-tailed Swift, Black-throated Mango, Ruby-topaz Hummingbird, Copper-rumped Hummingbird, Blue-crowned Motmot, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Red-crowned Woodpecker, Cocoa Woodcreeper, Barred Antshrike, White-fringed Antwren, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Yellow-breasted Flycatcher, Fuscous Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird, Gray Kingbird, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Blue-backed Manakin, Scrub Greenlet, White-winged Swallow, Caribbean Martin, Bare-eyed Thrush, Tropical Mockingbird, Bananaquit, White-lined Tanager, Blue-gray Tanager, Palm Tanager, Black-faced Grassquit, Yellow Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Crested Oropendola, and Carib Grackle) Return to top Saturday February 24 - Blue Waters Inn On the daily optional early morning bird walk on the grounds of the Blue Waters Inn, Nancy picked out the first White-tipped Dove of the trip. We also found Rufous-vented Chachalaca, White-fringed Antwren, Black-faced Grassquit, Northern Waterthrush, Pale-vented Pigeon, Ruby-topaz Hummingbird, and Barred Antshrike. Katharine found a Bananaquit nest. At the tennis courts we craned our necks to observe Red-eyed (=Chivi) Vireo and Yellow-bellied Elaenia. Over a high-cholesterol breakfast of fresh fruit, bacon, sausage, pancakes, coffee, and orange juice we discussed the day's schedule and watched fearless Ruddy Turnstones exploring the dining room floor and even jumping up onto the bar. We also placed the day's lunch orders in advance. Our morning hike took us up the steep entrance drive to an ancient cannon, down the other side of the hill, and along a trail through the semideciduous rainforest that covered a former sugar mill property. The Blue Water's Inn entrance drive provided an interesting opportunity for us to check out some of Tobago's unusual vegetation, such as Silver Thatch Palm (Coccothrinax barbadensis), and the huge, broadleaved Bird's Nest Anthurium (Anthurium hookeri), both arboreal and terrestrial varieties, shown here:  Along the entrance drive found a resident pair of Brown-crested Flycatchers as well as an abundance of butterflies including Flambeau (Julia) (Dryas julia), Red Rim (Biblis hyperia), Gold Rim (Battus polydamas), and Tropical Buckeye (Junonia genoveva). We paused near the guardhouse at the top of the entrance drive to catch our breath and to gaze across the bay at Little Tobago Island. Here we are at the high point of the drive, with Little Tobago Island off to the right in the distance (l-r: Carol Cleave, Nancy Griffin, Betsy Buckles, Debby Storms, Jane Koten, Bill Murphy (me), Lorraine Westcott, Chuck Westcott, Katharine Yang, John Buckles. Libby Hill took the picture.): .JPG) From here we headed down the far side of the entrance drive, toward Speyside. Through my Questar telescope we had point-blank views of a female Ruby-topaz Hummingbird incubating in her nest of woven spider webbing. The nest itself was hardly larger than a Ritz cracker. The view along the entrance road was superb with the dazzling sea to our left and verdant mountains ahead. Colorful butterflies fluttered everywhere. At the bottom of the hill we watched a school of mullet swimming slowly in the stream while Short-tailed Swifts scooped up drinks as they skimmed the surface. At the base of the hill lay the remains of a former sugar mill, its coral vine-draped walls of brick and stone still standing. Here's a shot of the sugar mill's waterwheel and the coral vine:  The deep shade along the trail that started at the waterwheel was very refreshing after the direct sun in which we'd been standing. The birds were quiet in the interior, with mainly Yellow-breasted Flycatcher and Scrub Greenlets calling. Around lunchtime we made a hot return hike to the inn, where we enjoyed a tasty lunch that included chicken wraps enjoyed while Ruddy Turnstones walked around just outside the dining room. Afterwards some of us settled into our rooms for a much-needed siesta until late afternoon. Those who continued birding were treated to views of Great Black Hawk and Broad-winged Hawks soaring over the ridges along with (Tropical) House Wrens, Shiny Cowbirds, and flocks of screeching Orange-winged Parrots. In late afternoon we took another bird hike, this one along Starwood Trail, which began across the entrance road from the cannon. Starwood Trail hugged the hillside above the Inn. Here Debbie, Libby, Katharine, Nancy, and I found Cocoa Woodcreeper and Rufous-breasted Wren in the wind-sculpted scrub. Rufous-breasted Hermits squeaked past us on the trail, following their traplines of nectar-producing flowers. The steady sea breeze proved advantageous to us as well as to the scores of frigatebirds overhead returning to their roost on St. Giles Islands just north of Tobago. It was indeed tranquil to look down on the Blue Waters Inn nestled in its own private cove. Here's what we saw, with a glass-bottomed boat anchored just offshore and the village of Speyside visible in the distance: .JPG) As we continued hiking on Starwood Trail around a bend to the north, out of site of the inn, we saw an area where torrential rains a few years ago had caused a hillside to slide down into the sea, taking with it all of the trees and shrubs and leaving nothing behind except bare rock. On our return hike we stopped to watch a pair of Rufous-tailed Jacanas take a dust bath in the middle of the trail. A local man stopped to talk with us. He was manager of Brighton Estate, which lies a few miles farther down the trail than we'd ventured. We asked him about the source of the scat we'd been seeing along the trail. He said it had been left by goats or sheep. We enjoyed his narrative about other animals on Tobago, rabbits in particular. We returned to the Inn just before dark. .JPG) Following another delicious dinner we held our evening tally rally in the game room, reviewed the plans for the next day, and then retired for the night. Trip total: 74 Species seen today: 47 New for the trip: 10 (Great Black Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Ruddy Turnstone, White-tipped Dove, Orange-winged Parrot, Rufous-breasted Hermit, Red-eyed "Chivi" Vireo, House Wren (h), Rufous-breasted Wren, and Shiny Cowbird) Return to top Sunday February 25 - Little Tobago Island/Merchiston Trace Today was stellar. Before breakfast we watched a Peregrine Falcon pass high overhead, an auspicious sighting. Our morning bird walk found us again on the Starwood Trail, where along with species we already had seen we spotted a fly-over Merlin and several Rufous-tailed Jacamars. We also added a hyperkinetic Blue-black Grassquit ("Johnny-Jump-Up") and a Giant Cowbird to the trip list. The weather was perfect -- puffy cumulous clouds with a cool breeze. It was a fine day to be outside. The highlight of the day was our two-mile glass-bottomed boat trip to Little Tobago Island, an uninhabited wildlife sanctuary. Our boatman, Dion, provided us with an excellent introduction to the marine life as we viewed it below us through glass windows along the centerline of the boat. Here's a shot of Chuck, Lorraine, Carol, Jane, Nancy, Debby, and Betsy enjoying the ride: .jpg) Dion identified a variety of sponges, corals, fish, and other organisms and then expertly positioned the boat directly over "Einstein," the world's largest brain coral. The crossing was relatively calm. We saw our first Red-billed Tropicbirds as we passed Goat Island, the halfway mark to Little Tobago Island. Upon reaching Little Tobago we pulled up alongside the concrete pier, got off, and walked to the beach, where we got our things together. After a brief rest we followed Dion up a long set of steps to the abandoned warden's cottage. Along the way Dion provided us with interesting details about the vegetation, which included a tree with peeling bark, called naked Indian or tourist tree, and Silver Thatch Palm, shown here: .JPG) At the cottage we had ample opportunity to appreciate the intense coloration of the local race of the Blue-gray Tanager. Other species we found near the cottage were Tropical Mockingbird, Bananaquit, Chivi Vireo, Brown-crested Flycatcher, and Yellow-bellied Elaenia. I was on a mission to determine if Venezuelan Flycatcher existed on Little Tobago, but every individual of the genus Myiarchus that I examined turned out to be a Brown-crested Flycatcher. Here are Chuck, Jane, Carol, Katharine, and me in front of the cottage: .jpg) One of today's highlights was a slow climb down a steep trail to a spot from which we were able to closely view Brown Boobies with chicks. Will any of us ever forget the incredible views we had of the adult Brown Boobies panting in the heat beside their fluffy chicks? Here's a view from our observation point:  Here's Betsy climbing up from the overlook: .jpg) We continued on to the first of two outlooks from which birders view the piece-de-resistance of Little Tobago Island, the Red-billed Tropicbird. We viewed these birds while standing where Sir David Attenborough and his crew had stood while filming the tropicbird segment of the epic series, The Trials of Life. .JPG) Having seen a few pairs of the goose-sized tropicbirds fly past us, we continued on to the second overlook. At this site a thatched hut with open sides provided welcome shade as well as closer views of tropicbirds in flight. Bridled and Sooty Terns and Brown Noddies had not yet returned for breeding, but we were treated to extended views of Brown Boobies, Red-footed Boobies, and marauding Magnificent Frigatebirds. Here we also had our closest views of Red-billed Tropicbirds. Here's a idea of what we saw:  Libby in particular had hoped to see the tropicbird, so it was with great pleasure that we led her a few yards from the hut to a spot where, on the ground only a few feet from her, sat an adult Red-billed Tropicbird with a chick, both resting in the shade of a huge anthurium. .JPG) We won't soon forget the look on Libby's face when she first glimpsed the tropicbird. It was nice that everyone was able to reach both lookouts without too much effort and to see the birds as well as anyone could ever hope for. Toward midday we headed back across the island and down to the pier, where we reboarded the boat. Here's the view of the turquoise surf off Little Tobago Island and of the island of Tobago, with its tallest point, Pigeon Peak (elev. about 1,800 feet), in cloud shadow: .JPG) Our sensational birding wasn't over yet. Just as we pulled away from Little Tobago, Dion shouted to the driver to turn around, saying, "I see a bird I don't know, black and white with a big red bill!" The bird was still there and allowed a fairly close approach. Sure enough, there stood a lone American Oystercatcher in the splash zone at the base of a black volcanic cliff. It flew as we approached it, showing a long white wing stripe. This was a life bird for Dion, a very rare occasion for a man who has spent his entire life along this coast. It was also one of the few records of the species for Tobago, which meant that I was duty-bound to write up documentation for submission to the T&T Rare Bird Committee (which included Martyn and me!), and which I prepared later that afternoon. After another flavorful lunch, the new manager of Blue Waters Inn, Keith Derwent, graciously provided us with transportation to Merchiston Trace, a traffic-free, pleasant dirt road just south of Speyside, across from a lookout site. Merchiston Trace abounds with motmots and jacamars, which excavate burrows in the dirt banks. Here's a shot of a typical stretch of Merchiston Trace: .JPG) Although we found no new species on our hike, as always we were treated to better views of certain species than we'd had before, including Questar views of Orange-winged Parrots, Crested Oropendolas, and an eye-popping male Black-throated Mango hummingbird. An Olivaceous Woodcreeper tantalized us by vocalizing down the ridge but stayed out of sight, in contrast to a Cocoa Woodcreeper that landed on a nearby tree and played peek-a-boo with us. After our recent steep hikes, we enjoyed the level walking along Merchiston Trace. After a savory dinner, everyone co-signed my documentation of the American Oystercatcher. We held the tally rally in the game room and then retired. Trip total: 81 Species seen today: 48 New for the trip: 7 (Red-billed Tropicbird, Red-footed Booby, Brown Booby, American Oystercatcher, Olivaceous Woodcreeper (h), Blue-black Grassquit (h), Giant Cowbird) Return to top Monday February 26 - Tobago Main Ridge Little did we know that this would be our last morning at the Blue Waters Inn, not our next-to-last as we expected. Another early bird walk produced many of the same species as we'd seen on previous days, with the same perfect lighting conditions we'd enjoyed each morning. After a calorie-free breakfast (grin) we gathered at the Inn's entrance to meet Bert's maxi taxi. Chuck remarked to me that the group had found an adult Yellow-crowned Night-Heron walking along the beach. I interpreted his comment as meaning that the group had been walking along the beach, but no, here came the stunningly plumaged night-heron walking sedately and unconcernedly along the water's edge only a few yards from us. Watch out, crabs! Here's a picture of that bird:  Leaving the Blue Waters Inn behind we drove through Speyside, up steep switchbacks, past the overlook, and across a peninsula between Speyside and Roxborough. At the Roxborough fire station we turned west onto the Roxborough-Bloody Bay Road, which recently had been renamed, probably for aesthetic reasons, the Roxborough-Parlatuvier Road. Our slow ascent took us from sea level to 2,000 feet, the air cooling noticeably as we climbed. We made several stops along the smooth asphalt road to search for birds above us on the ridges and below us in the canopy. The lack of human noises allowed us to hear everything so clearly! Even the faint twitters of hummingbirds were audible. On this excursion we traversed some of the world's most beautiful rainforest. The Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve is the oldest wildlife sanctuary in the entire Western Hemisphere. Here's a marker erected by the T.H.A. (Tobago House of Assembly) that explains it all: .jpg) At one stop we encountered an American Redstart, one of the most common North American migrants in T&T. Feeding on nectar produced by the orange blossoms of Mountain Immortelle trees was a pair of Red-legged Honeycreepers. Several participants managed to get decent but fleeting glimpses of Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, a very common but surprisingly unobtrusive species with the strange habit of flicking one wing up at a time. A Golden-olive Woodpecker hammered out a morning greeting to us as it worked its way up a tree. Our first destination was Gilpin Trace, a narrow, often muddy trail that leads down from the roadside into a deeply shaded ravine. We rented "wellies" from a roadside entrepreneur to allow us to walk in places where mud is a year-round event. Entering through a tunnel of vegetation, we followed a trail that ran along a steep drop to a fast-flowing stream. The birds were quite vocal but challenging to locate in the dark understory. Their vocalizations were ventriloquial, which made it even more of a challenge to locate the singers. Among our best sightings were White-necked and Yellow-legged Thrushes, a furtive pair of Stripe-breasted Spinetails foraging below the ground cover on the slope across the stream from us, two different perched male White-tailed Sabrewing hummingbirds (very rare), a number of Blue-backed Manakins (eye-poppers!), and a female Copper-rumped Hummingbird and a female Rufous-breasted Hermit sitting on their respective woven nests. Another highlight was seeing two different male Collared Trogons along the trail. We met my friend David Rooks, past president of the Trinidad & Tobago Field Naturalists Club, and several other top-notch Tobago naturalists during our hike, adding them to our list of local persons of note we'd seen. Happy and hungry, we paused to have our picture taken at the Gilpin Trace trailhead. .JPG) We reboarded Bert's maxi and were soon at our lunch stop high atop the Main Ridge. At a forestry cabin I unpacked and served lunch, complete with homemade cake and ice cream purchased from one of the ever present local entrepreneurial ladies. The comfort station behind the cabin was most welcome after our long morning afield. The view to the northwest over the Caribbean was breathtaking, although hazy conditions obscured Grenada some 90 miles away. A light rain began falling as we drove back along the same stretch of road we'd traversed an hour before. I had Bert stop at an obscure and seldom visited trailhead on the south side of the road. My plan was to venture a few hundred yards into the rainforest to visit a lek of Blue-backed Manakins. Because of the threatening rain, about half of the group chose to remain on the maxi while the rest of us took off down the trail. As luck would have it, the rain stopped almost as soon as we were out of sight of the maxi. The trail ran parallel to the road for a short way before turning south into the rainforest. At the bend, only a few yards from the road, we found the Holy Grail of tropical birders -- a tree ablaze with ripe fruit. Here we found half a dozen White-necked Thrushes and at least two of the rare Yellow-legged Thrushes gorging themselves on blueberry-sized white berries. In addition to these main players, other species such as Barred Antshrike, Blue-gray Tanager, a female Blue-backed Manakin, and numerous Bananaquits came and went while we enjoyed the blur of activity. Farther along the trail Debbie was "mugged" by a male White-tailed Sabrewing hummingbird, which hovered literally at arm's length from her face, flaring its brilliant white tail feathers while it checked her out. A moment to savor! We could hear our target, the Blue-backed Manakins, buzzing away as they displayed to each other somewhere ahead of us. We could hear their characteristic calls as they participated in their dance, but although we saw at least six different males we never saw them dancing. As a consolation prize, however, we were able to lure a pair of very vocal Venezuelan Flycatchers to within 10 feet of us, the best view one could possible hope to have of this tough-to-identify Myiarchus flycatcher. The rest of the afternoon was all downhill - pretty much literally - almost deserving of its own chapter. We left the Main Ridge behind as we returned to sea level and the Blue Waters Inn. I had Bert stop in Speyside to give everyone an opportunity to shop for items being offered by the local merchants. Here are a few shots of one of the boutiques and the fabrics they were selling:   A real dilemma awaited us at the Blue Waters Inn. As soon as everyone was off the bus, the manager discretely took me aside to inform me that the Inn's records showed us checking out earlier that day. He pointed out 14 Massachusetts Audubon birders waiting patiently for us to vacate our rooms, which they were scheduled to occupy. He said that there was no rush and urged me to have the group shower, pack, and meet at the entranceway, from which we would be transported to the nearest alternate accommodation, the Manta Lodge, into which he'd thoughtfully booked us for the night. I was certain that the Inn's records were incorrect because months before they had cashed my check for a full four-day stay. The clerk through whom I'd made the reservations had moved and was now working on the other side of the island, so I couldn't verify my booking through her. Considering that we were scheduled to head for the airport at 4:30 a.m. anyway and that the Massachusetts Audubon group would be staying at the Blue Waters for several days, I made the command decision to move our group to the Manta Lodge and deal with the mix-up later. Thus about an hour later we were settling in for an overnight stay at a lodge that was new to me. The manager was very kind and did her best to get everyone into a room as quickly as possible. Before dark some of us had taken a look around, finding our only White-necked Jacobin for Tobago. At the appointed hour Bert showed up and drove us back to the Blue Waters Inn for dinner and our final tally on lovely Tobago. An aside: This wasn't been the kind of situation in which a leader likes to find himself, but the reality of travel is that mix-ups happen, errors are unavoidable, inconveniences are just bumps in the road, choices must be made, and as in this case a reasonably decent ending usually can be reached if one is willing to compromise. As it turned out, after the trip the Mr. Derwent emailed me to report that the error had been found in their records after all. Trip total: 93 Species seen today: 59 New for the trip: 12 (Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, White-tailed Sabrewing, Collared Trogon, Golden-olive Woodpecker, Stripe-breasted Spinetail, Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, Venezuelan Flycatcher, Yellow-legged Thrush, White-necked Thrush, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Green Honeycreeper, and American Redstart) Return to top Tuesday February 27 -- Asa Wright Nature Centre Catching our 8:45 a.m. Tobago Express flight to Trinidad at necessitated a 5:15 a.m. departure from the Manta Lodge. The manager went out of her way to have staff available at that wee hour to make sure we were treated to a delicious and more-than-ample breakfast before we left. The forest behind the Manta Lodge was silent, with no nocturnal birds calling. That was no surprise, since there are no goatsuckers on the island and the only owl species is vanishingly rare. Indeed, the only winged creatures abroad at that time of night were squirrel-sized fruit bats. Well before first light we'd stashed our luggage and ourselves into Bert's maxi taxi and were rolling along the hilly, sinuous Windward Road en route back to Crown Point Airport. Bert had an excellent knowledge of the road. Without endangering us he managed to make the trip from Speyside to Crown Point in record time. We arrived so early, in fact, that we had time to check our luggage to Trinidad and then spend time snacking, shopping, and birding. We walked to Fort Milford, built by the French in 1777, where we added Royal Tern to our list. I'd expected Royal Tern to be the most common seabird during our Tobago stay, but this was the only individual of this species we saw during our stay. On this morning we carefully scrutinized every bird we saw, trying to spot a female House Sparrow that Chuck thought he had seen the day we'd arrived. No House Sparrow had ever been reported from Tobago, and although we failed to find one, the thought of that species colonizing Tobago was most disturbing. Arriving in Trinidad at 9:10 a.m. after another 20-minute flight, Martyn met us and introduced us to Eric, our maxi-taxi driver for the Trinidad portion of the tour. Eric turned out to be an easy going, pleasant fellow with a great sense of humor. He was also a careful, thoughtful driver and, I think, a "closet" birder. Eric, Martyn, and I loaded the luggage into the maxi and soon we were riding through the bustling city of Arima, headed up the Arima Valley to the Asa Wright Nature Centre. We began seeing interesting birds right away - Gray-breasted Martins at the airport, myriad Black Vultures overhead with lesser numbers of Turkey Vultures (the Venezuelan race with a band of pale yellow on the nape), and a dazzling fly-by Yellow Oriole. The temperature dropped noticeably as we climbed from six feet above sea level at the airport to 1,200 feet at AWNC. Surrounding us was unbroken rainforest though which the narrow Blanchisseuse Road snaked and wound, always climbing. Mountain Immortelle trees were in rich orange bloom, as were a few spectacular Yellow Poui (Tabebuia serratifolia) trees that looked like buttercups on the ridge sides. Short-tailed Swifts in the lowlands soon were replaced by White-rumped and Band-rumped Swifts, which we noted in passing but withheld from the list until we could obtain prolonged views. Birds darted ahead of the maxi, adding to the high level of anticipation we already were feeling. Turning off Blanchisseuse Road onto the one-lane blacktop entrance lane to Asa Wright, we wound our way to the end, where we were welcomed by Ann Sealy, the manager. We picked up our room keys, deposited our luggage in our rooms, and freshened up before gathering on the veranda, arguably the most heavily birded spot in T&T. This long view down the Arima Valley to the Plains of Caroni is one of my favorite scenes on earth.  Zipping to and fro from perch to feeder were four species of hummingbirds -- Copper-rumped, White-necked Jacobin, Blue-chinned Sapphire, and White-chested Emerald. Purple Honeycreepers, sporting shockingly bright yellow legs, competed for space on the nectar feeders. On the mesh-covered bench feeders below us were Green Honeycreepers; Silver-beaked, Palm, and Blue-gray Tanagers; Cocoa and Bare-eyed Thrushes; and a male Great Antshrike, all competing for the bananas, papayas, watermelons, and other fruit that the staff had placed there earlier. A pair of crow-sized Lineated Woodpeckers was excavating a nest hole in a tree on the far side of the yard. From lower down the valley came the "BOK! BOK!" of a Bearded Bellbird. A Boat-billed Flycatcher and a Violaceous Euphonia perching nearby on a dead tree soon were displaced by a Red-rumped Woodpecker, which in turn was displaced by a stunningly beautiful Channel-billed Toucan. From the matchwood tree along the border of the yard a Rufous-browed Peppershrike, a relatively large and vocal member of the vireo family, announced its presence with a vireo-like nonstop series of short whistled phrases. This excellent birding was only the beginning of the excellent birding to come. After a few minutes someone noticed that the action taking place beneath the fruit feeders was equally fascinating. A family of Golden Tegu lizards (Tupinambis teguixin) had heaved their heavy bodies up the stone steps from the garden and was foraging for fallen fruit. Here's a shot of a Golden Tegu: .jpg) The lizards were competing for the fruit with a large rodent called an agouti, with disk ears and no tail. It walked with its rear parts higher than its front parts, like a raccoon, and ate sitting up like a prairie dog. Here's a shot of one:  With great difficulty Martyn and I cajoled the group into retreating to an inside room of the British colonial mansion so Martyn could give his introductory lecture. He covered meal times, the field trip schedule, recommended attire, the weather forecast, and all manner of other critical details. All in all did a delightful job of welcoming and informing us. Afterwards we moved into the dining room, where a tasty buffet lunch awaited us. As on most days the food was varied, consisting of mildly seasoned fresh vegetables, cooked and raw; a starch such as potato or breadfruit; meat or fish in a savory sauce; and a casserole of noodles, rice, or pigeon peas. We ate at round tables with lazy susans in the centers. The dessert course, consisting of ice cream, cake, flan, or a fruit cup, was delivered to each individual after they'd finished the main meal. Beer was available and was consumed freely, especially after hot hikes. Today the next course on our agenda was a nap -- remember, we'd arisen this morning at the Manta Lodge just after 4 a.m.! In mid-afternoon the group reassembled, ready for a mile-long hike down the Guacharo Trail to view an Oilbird colony in Dunstan Cave. This rare, nocturnal, fruit-eating bird is the only species known to navigate by echo-location. The species is the only one in its genus, which is the only genus in its family, making it an extraordinarily unusual species. Oilbirds are found only in the Andes Mountains of South America, of which Trinidad's Northern Range forms the easternmost spur. The colony at Asa Wright is the most easily accessed colony known. We strolled downhill on a path from the main house through the garden, viewing fly-by Blue headed Parrots, an arms-length Bay-headed Tanager, Golden-fronted Greenlets, and a pair of Turquoise Tanagers. The colony at Asa Wright is the most easily accessed one known. Just before entering the deep shade of the rainforest proper we stopped at a huge old mango tree. Nearby we could hear a Gray-fronted Dove calling repeatedly - "Whoooo!" We got a brief view of a female Violaceous Trogon and a longer view of a male White-tailed Trogon and heard a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl calling in the distance. Our walk took us through some of the gardens, where we encountered some amazing tropical flowers for the first time. The colony at Asa Wright is the most easily accessed one known. Here's a Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae), a flower for which you'll pay good money in the U.S. and which grows in wild profusion on any patch of wet ground in Trinidad, especially in the lowlands:  In the shady areas grew an abundance of bananalike plants of the family Heliconia. One of the most conspicuous plants displayed chest-high flower stalks replete with crimson flowers (actually bracts). This was Heliconia bihai, locally called "Lobster Claw".  Along with a great number of cocoa trees we found many specimens of another plant that was in bloom, its dainty white flowers scenting the area with a sweet, heavy aroma. This was coffee, Coffea arabica. Here's a shot of a coffee bush in bloom:  Leaving the sunlit area near the mango tree to enter the spectacular rainforest was like entering a darkened room. The principal sound was produced by cicadas, which sounded like French ambulances. Most of the birds were 100 feet or more above us, at home in the canopy. We made our way up and down the trail, past numerous switchbacks. We found a Plain-brown Woodcreeper along with a number of other species we'd seen before. We paused at a roofed structure at the beginning of the final descent into the steep-sided riparian gorge through which flows the Guacharo River while Martyn gave a lecture about the Oilbirds, the history of this Oilbird colony, and instructions as to how we would visit the cave in groups of three at a time so as to disturb the birds minimally. I pointed out a nest of Chestnut-collared Swift just outside the entrance that didn't seem to be in use at that time. The ambience of the grotto reminded us of a cathedral, with streaming beams of light shafting through the humid air and dappling the sparkling stream. The water level was relatively low, so it was with dry feet that we stood in the entrance to the grotto getting excellent views of approximately 30 Oilbirds on their nests. Our return hike was almost as interesting as our descent had been. We took time to rest and examine holes made by tarantulas and manicou crabs, which carry their young under the carapace ("manicou" means "opossum" in Trinidad; thus the nickname). Back at the mango tree we heard and had brief glimpses of a skulking Long-billed Gnatwren that refused to reveal itself, choosing instead to hide in a tangle of vines, its usual habitat. A colony of Crested Oropendolas had hung their four-foot nests from a nearby tree.  From the veranda we continued to have excellent looks at some 40 species of birds including our first Piratic Flycatcher, so called because it harasses larger birds and pirates the nests for their own use. They parasitize mostly species that weave pendular nests -- Crested Oropendola, Yellow-rumped Cacique, and Yellow Oriole. The resident Great Kiskadees continued calling their name "kiss-ke-DEE!" until almost dark.  At 4 p.m. we enjoyed the AWNC traditional tea with pastries. At 6 p.m. the staff provided us with strong rum punch, followed by dinner at 7 p.m. Afterwards Martyn gave another exceptionally thorough lecture about the activities of the following day, and then we retired after this extremely long and exciting day. Martyn and I shared the Cocoa Suite, which had served as a lumber shed as long as I could remember but which recently had been transformed into a lovely A-frame cabin. We had the privilege of hosting, on an exterior wall, a 4-inch tarantula that appeared each night just after dark and remained there, unless pestered, until dawn. .jpg) Trip total: 125 Species seen today: 67 New for the trip: 32 (Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Royal Tern, Gray-fronted Dove (h), Blue-headed Parrot, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl (h), Oilbird, White-necked Jacobin, Tufted Coquette, Blue-chinned Sapphire, White-chested Emerald, White-tailed Trogon, Violaceous Trogon (h), Channel-billed Toucan, Red-rumped Woodpecker, Lineated Woodpecker, Plain-brown Woodcreeper (h), Great Antshrike, Piratic Flycatcher, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Bearded Bellbird (h), Rufous-browed Peppershrike (h), Golden-fronted Greenlet, Gray-breasted Martin, Long-billed Gnatwren (h), Cocoa Thrush, Silver-beaked Tanager, Turquoise Tanager, Bay-headed Tanager, Purple Honeycreeper, Yellow Oriole, and Violaceous Euphonia) Return to top Wednesday February 28 -- Eastern Trinidad This was our first dawn in Trinidad. The chorus of bird sounds seemed to begin much earlier than in Tobago. First to sing was the Bare-eyed Thrush or "525" as it is called locally because of its habit of waking everyone up at 5:25 a.m. The Great Kiskadees, Tropical Mockingbirds, Scaled Pigeons, Tropical Pewees, and House Wrens attempted to hurry sunrise with their nonstop excitement. The inimitable, strange clattering of Crested Oropendolas puzzled those participants who hadn't seen them generating their unique sounds during the day, hanging upside down and rattling their feathers. At least one Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl chanted nearby. As the sky lightened the tremulous call of Little Tinamous floated down from the forested hillsides. Much to our surprise, along with it came the insistent rising whistle of a distant Bright-rumped Attila, an infrequently encountered species in Trinidad. Our first a Common Black Hawk floated leisurely up over the Arima Valley as we gazed out from the veranda before enjoying another to-die-for breakfast. The activity level of many species of birds in Trinidad seems to peak at 6:30 a.m. and again around 1:30 p.m. By leaving extra early on most of our Trinidad-based days we were able to maximize our birding time afield, arriving at our destinations while the birds were still in their morning mania. Today we headed south to Arima and then east along the Eastern Main Road to the Aripo Livestock Station. The sky was sapphire and a fresh breeze added to the perfection of a day outdoors. We ambled slowly along a blacktop farm road that bisected the fields and grazing areas. We were treated to a flurry of new birds. Striated and Cocoi Herons stalked their amphibian prey at low spots in the wet meadows. Savanna Hawks with their bright orange-red plumage and boldly striped black-and-white tails perched conspicuously on the tallest trees in the area. Green-rumped Parrotlets flew over, chattering and evoking shouts of "There they… go!" A vulture-mimicking Zone-tailed Hawk almost managed to slip past us overhead without being detected. Puddles on the roadside yielded nondescript migrant shorebirds from North America -- Semipalmated Plover, Solitary Sandpiper, and Least Sandpiper -- and along the grassy edge of one puddle lurked a cryptically patterned Wilson's Snipe. Without question the most attractive species we found were coppery Wattled Jacanas and Southern Lapwings, dozens of which stood quietly along the grassy edges of the wet areas. Before we'd walked a hundred yards we'd found Trinidad's newest colonizer from Venezuela, the Grassland Yellow-Finch, and in good numbers. Several of them perched on nearby fence wires. Also perched low on the wires were two black-and-white kindred spirits, Pied Water-Tyrant and White-headed Marsh-Tyrant. An exceptional find was a tiny male Ruddy-breasted Seedeater, a member of the finch family that in Trinidad has been trapped almost to extirpation for the cage bird trade. An even more exceptional find was a medium-sized apple green hummingbird I spotted teed up atop a stick, where we could get the scope on it. Could it possible be a White-tailed Goldenthroat?! It was! This was the only hummingbird species partial to waterlogged savannas and one of the most difficult species to find in Trinidad. Here I am with Debby and Katharine, enjoying the fragrance of the cattle barns: .JPG) Also in this area we salivated over retina-blistering male Red-breasted Blackbirds that arose from the knee-high grass, showing off their dazzling colors before dropping out of sight into the grass. We heard plenty of Yellow-chinned Spinetails, whose dry rattle sounded just like Belted Kingfishers, but seeing them took some effort. Following Murphy's Law, after I'd lured the first one into full view, loads of others began appearing. Of the three species of spinetails found in T&T, the Yellow-chinned is the most conspicuous and the only one of the three to prefer wetlands. With the sun starting to get fierce we reboarded Eric's maxi and headed into the cooler hills. There we found more Savanna Hawks, a second Cocoi Heron, and a few thousand more Black Vultures wheeling high overhead. We had a number of good but fleeting glimpses of a Rufous-browed Peppershrike and could hear a Striped Cuckoo giving its two-note call from somewhere up in the hills, but we never saw it. We were more successful in attracting a titmouse-sized flycatcher with a long name, a Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet. Leaving the Aripo Livestock Station in mid-morning, we continued east along the Eastern Main Road, stopping for refreshments and a pit stop in Valencia. Here the highway turned southeast, headed for Sangre Grande, the only city on the eastern side of the island. The bustle of workday traffic, which included an inordinate number of construction vehicles, gave us a taste of the "real" life going on around us in this fast-growing island paradise. We rode for miles through the lowland swamp forests between Valencia and Sangre Grande, with Bird-of-Paradise flowers festooning the roadsides. Eric saved us some time by taking a bypass around western Sangre Grande, avoiding the typical gridlocked town center. Arriving at our lunch stop at Manzanilla Beach on the Atlantic Ocean, Martyn and I unpacked the food coolers and got everyone down to the business of chowing down. A sea watch turned up distant Magnificent Frigatebirds, an Osprey, a indeterminate number of distant Sterna terns (probably Royal), and a lone Little Egret walking along the beach. A few of us were lucky enough to spot a pair of Yellow Orioles along the road before they flew off, never to be seen again. Being at sea level instead of in the cool mountains at midday gave us a chance to understand why it is said that only mad dogs and Englishmen are about at midday. After enjoying a pleasantly long "time out" during the hottest period of the day, we continued south on Mayaro Road through a grove of several million palm trees. We had the Atlantic on the left and a broad expanse of grassy marsh and mangroves on our right. Mayaro Road bisects an ancient sand bar that is now part of the mainland. It serves to block freshwater drainage for a large part of eastern Trinidad, helping form the great Nariva Swamp and separating the Nariva River from the Atlantic Ocean. Near the end of the peninsula we crossed a broad bridge over the tannin-black Nariva River, which at that point was lined with remarkably tall mangroves. The vast freshwater Nariva Swamp occupied most of the area in which we spent the remainder of the afternoon. Poking into the southern end of the swamp by way of Kernaham Trace, we made a valiant but futile attempt to find an Azure Gallinule in its traditional acre of wild rice. The habitat had been burned recently and appeared unlikely to support any birdlife at all for some time to come. We did find a new bird for the trip, the aptly named Yellow-hooded Blackbird. In former years we ended our day parked along Mayaro Road, drinking rum punch, our bleary eyes staring into the setting sun trying to pick out Red-bellied Macaws returning to their roosts in the tops of 100-foot-tall Royal Palms. On this trip we followed Martyn's excellent plan, which proved much more user-friendly -- driving back north to Waller Field, a former U.S. Army air base, and viewing a smaller but more easily viewed flock of macaws there as they flew in to roost. Most of the participants napped during the hour-long drive. By the time we arrived at Waller Field, newly fenced and with guards posted, the temperature had dropped to an ideal point. Martyn worked his charm on the security guard, who allowed Eric to drive the bus in. We proceeded to an area that hosted a special kind of palm, Moriche Palm (Mauritia flexuosa), which produces fruits relished by macaws and foliage used preferentially by Fork-tailed Palm Swifts and several other species of birds for nesting. Here are some fruiting Moriche palms: .JPG) As if on cue a pair of noisy Moriche-specializing Sulphury Flycatchers began squalling in some nearby palms. This species is rarely seen any distance away from its favorite tree. Overhead flew pencil-thin Fork-tailed Palm-Swifts, their insectlike buzzing notes clearly audible over the slight breeze. Martyn performed his magic again, locating a vanishingly rare Epaulet (Moriche) Oriole. This was only the fourth time in 53 trips that we'd found this species. As can be seen in this picture, John and Betsy were thoroughly entranced by all the bird action: .JPG) We were all in very good spirits, not just because of the good birding but because Martyn and I were passing out cups of strong rum punch, with which we saluted an excellent evening. .JPG) The sun was dropping quickly. Shadows were growing long. Still no sign of the macaws. Was our target bird going to fail us? No! As if on command a screeching flock of Red-bellied Macaws swept into sight, circled once, and then settled into the crowns of half a dozen nearby palms. We quickly put our scopes to use. The views we had of the yellow faces of the macaws were superb. The macaw flock rose once when a Gray Hawk flew through the grove and spooked them, but they soon returned and resumed their evening feast, gradually slipping unobtrusively into the palm fronds for the night. We returned tired and happy to Asa Wright, where after another sensational meal we held our evening tally-rally. Martyn brought the group up to speed on the logistics for the next day, and we retired to our rooms for the evening. Our trusty tarantula was there to greet us again. Trip total: 154 Species seen today: 93 New for the trip: 29 (Little Tinamou (h), Striated Heron, Cocoi Heron, Gray Hawk, Common Black Hawk, Savanna Hawk, Zone-tailed Hawk, Semipalmated Plover, Wilson's Snipe, Solitary Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Scaled Pigeon, Red-bellied Macaw, Green-rumped Parrotlet, Striped Cuckoo (h), Fork-tailed Palm-Swift, White-tailed Goldenthroat, Yellow-chinned Spinetail, Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Tropical Pewee, Pied Water-Tyrant, White-headed Marsh-Tyrant, Sulphury Flycatcher, Bright-rumped Attila (h), Grassland Yellow-Finch, Ruddy-breasted Seedeater, Epaulet (Moriche) Oriole, Red-breasted Blackbird, and Yellow-hooded Blackbird) Return to top Thursday March 1 -- Western Trinidad As predicted, this was a day of contrasts. We explored a variety of habitats along the southwestern and central-western coast of Trinidad. Eric had the maxi waiting for us at 4:30 a.m. sharp, which allowed us plenty of time to reach our first birding spot just after sunrise. The black sky was filled with stars during the first part of our drive, down the Arima Valley and through the slumbering city of Arima, west on the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway, and south on the Uriah Butler and Sir Solomon Hochoy Highways to the city of San Fernando. The first rays of the sun broke through as we arrived at the Sudama Steps, at 10¼° above the equator the southernmost point on our tour. The Sudama Steps area hosts a mangrove-fringed stream that feeds into the Oropouche Swamp on the Oropuche River. To be more specific, it feeds the south Oropuche River. Confusingly, there's an entirely different Oropuche River in the northeast quadrant of the island. The Sudama Steps are so named because of the concrete bleacher-looking structure on the south side of the stream where Hindu people cremate their dead and push the ashes into the river. Eric stayed behind with the bus while the rest of us walked west, sun at our backs, along the mangrove-lined stream. To our left and ahead of us were vast expanses of green marsh over which flew insectivorous species such as Barn Swallow and Southern Rough-winged Swallow. The Southern Rough-winged Swallow differs from our Northern Rough-winged Swallow in part by its conspicuous apricot-colored rump. Martyn spotted a dull brownish swallow with an apricot-colored rump, and after studying it carefully he excitedly pointed it out to the group -- an immature Cliff Swallow, a very rare species for Trinidad. Before we'd finished our walk we'd managed to spot several more, including several adults. Martyn and I subsequently wrote up documentation for these swallow sightings and submitted them to the T&T Rare Bird Committee, where I'm sure they'll get at least two votes to accept -- his and mine! A pair of Red-capped Cardinals (no relation to our Northern Cardinal) flew past along the stream, providing a brief and wholly unsatisfactory look at this very attractive species. Martyn had urged me to take the group to this locale for several reasons, among which was to provide me (and all of us) with a very special life bird -- a chickadee-sized, confiding species called a Spotted Tody-Flycatcher. Within a few minutes he had achieved this goal, producing not one but about a dozen of them during our walk. Also in the mangroves were a few Bicolored Conebills, relatives of the ubiquitous Bananaquit. They appeared dull blue with a hint of yellow on the flanks. One of our best sightings was of a Masked Yellowthroat, a very secretive species that remained perched in the open long enough for us to get scope views. Another target bird for us was a marsh-loving raptor called the Long-winged Harrier. We were successful in spotting about six different individuals, both light and dark morphs, mostly on the far side of the marsh but still quite easy to observe. This is a species that we record only rarely on our tours. Six at a time was an all time high count for my trips. We walked slowly along the track until the sun climbed high enough to be uncomfortable, at which time Martyn used his cell phone to call Eric to come and pick us up. I love high tech! I can't wait for Verizon to set up shop in Trinidad so I can use my cell phone. From Sudama Steps we headed north to the Waterloo/Brickfield area to search the tidal flats. This area has accounted for a lot of rare species in the last decade. Birding success there depends largely on arriving when the tide is out and the mudflats are exposed. Perfect timing gets you there on a rising tide, which pushes the birds landward, where they concentrate and are most easily viewed. We hit the tide just right and were treated to mega-numbers of herons, egrets, and shorebirds, including our first Black-bellied Plovers, Whimbrels, Willets, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Western Sandpipers, Lesser Black-backed Gull, and Black Skimmers. Snowy and Great Egrets were abundant in their showy plumage. Here's a typical view of what we saw, with Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, and Scarlet Ibis. If I remember correctly, the little fellow in the front was a Willet.  We walked to the end of a short peninsula from which we were able to view Yellow-crowned and Black-crowned Night-Herons roosting in mangroves and unbelievable numbers of herons and egrets foraging on the mudflats. We dodged a few raindrops as we stood there and eventually decided to move on. .JPG) By now it was lunchtime. We drove a mile inland to an air-conditioned restaurant where we dined on a local Indian food called "roti" -- a burrito-like concoction of potatoes, shrimp, chicken, beef, goat, conch, or vegetables wrapped in a flat bread made of thin layers of fried dough separated by finely ground peas. The beverage that won the best drink award was a tart lime-bitters soda.  After more birding and another pit stop it was time to head for Caroni National Park and the great Caroni mangrove swamp. The Caroni Basin is a very specialized habitat in which grow three species of mangroves -- red, white (Laguncularia racemosa), and black (Avicennia germinans). Mangroves aren't members of a single plant family, they just show classic examples of adaptations to brackish or saline water. Our first stop was at the Visitors' Center along the waterway we'd later traverse by boat (the proper name of the channel is Blue River Drain Number 9.) A pair of exotic-looking Black-crested Antshrikes put on a show for us just overhead. At this stop we were able to score our only Clapper Rails of the trip, a race endemic to Trinidad. We never saw them but we did hear them several times, clacking up a racket while hiding in the mangrove roots. After everyone had had a chance to visit the restrooms, we drove to the boat launching site and boarded one of Sean Madoo's wide, flat-bottomed green wooden boats, with wide bench seats with backs. Our boatsman motored slowly westward along the waterway and into the swamp.   In the channel we saw schools of foot-long Four-eyed Fish (Anableps), whose split pupils enabled them to look both above and below the surface of the water at the same time. As we birded our way to the center of the sanctuary we enjoyed sightings of three species of birds new for the trip -- Purple Gallinule, Green-throated Mango hummingbird, and Green Kingfisher, along with lots of herons, particularly Little Blues. Everyone was on the lookout for any bird or animal in the mangroves. .JPG) Deep in the dark forest we caught a few glimpses of nearly luminescent Scarlet Ibises. As we passed areas where the receding tide had exposed mud flats we found numbers of Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons. A real treat was finding an Amazon (Cook's) Tree Boa (Corallus ruschenbergerii) curled up like a football near the end of some mangrove branches that extended over the water. It was thoughtful enough not to join us by dropping into our boat. By twilight we'd reached the traditional tie-up spot on a large lake-like clearing in which stood several mangrove islands, or hummocks. Nearby were a few other boats that had transported visitors to this world-famous site. .JPG) We sat there quietly soaking in the remarkable ambiance -- a tropical sunset, verdant mangroves, water broken only by the occasional leaping mullet, and the comaraderie of kindred spirits and spirits of a more drinkable variety -- fruit juice mixed with Angostura rum and flavored with Angostura bitters. .JPG) As we sipped that delicious rum punch, the first of hundreds of Scarlet Ibises arrived, silently flapping and soaring their way to the mangrove hummocks, where they settled in among a variety of herons and egrets, forming a living Christmas tree.  The largest number of Neotropical Cormorants I had ever seen in Trinidad also flew over. Sunburned, tired, and happy, we returned to the boat dock, reboarded Eric's maxi, and returned to Asa Wright and another sumptuous dinner. Our tally rally lasted a long time that night because we'd seen so many species, including many new ones for the trip. Trip total: 177 Species seen today: 23 New for the trip: 23 (Neotropic Cormorant, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Scarlet Ibis, Long-winged Harrier, Clapper Rail (h), Purple Gallinule, Black-bellied Plover, Whimbrel, Willet, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Black Skimmer, Green-throated Mango, Green Kingfisher, Black-crested Antshrike, Spotted Tody-Flycatcher, Southern Rough-winged Swallow, Barn Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Bicolored Conebill, Red-capped Cardinal, and Masked Yellowthroat) Return to top Friday March 2 -- Northern Range I can safely say that every one of us was glad to be in the cool fastness of the Northern Range today after yesterday's heat. We added two new species of hummingbirds to our list before leaving Asa Wright -- Little Hermit and Green Hermit. Along with birds we watched the Tegu lizards and agoutis scavenge fruit fallen from the bench feeders. Our journey today took us to the entrance to AWNC and north into the heights. We gathered near along the entrance drive, near the car park and the clump of hundred-foot bamboos, to board Eric's maxi.  Intermittent light showers were forecast, so we stayed near our vehicle most of the time. Stopping at a level stretches of road overhung by towering rainforest trees, we birded as we do for warblers in eastern North America -- craning our necks back and our eyes upward. We came upon a small mixed-species flock composed mostly of tanagers, along with a new bird for the trip -- Tropical Parula, a warbler that strongly resembles its familiar relative, the Northern Parula. Also present was one or more aquamarine-colored Blue Dacnis and the usual assortment of greenlets and Bananaquits. We drove to the summit of the Morne Bleu transmitting station, where we played a tape to successfully call in two Trinidad Piping-Guans. This is the only species endemic to T&T, and this was the first time we'd ever seen the species on our tours. The birds were shy but cooperative, staying high in the foliage of a tree that was relatively close to us and allowing some excellent photographs to be taken. A walk along the cilantro-covered hilltop outside the fenced-in area produced a few birds and spectacular views all the way to the Gulf of Paria. Our next stop was on a nearby dirt track that follows the top of the Morne Bleu ridge. In this high elevation area we found some nice surprises, such as Speckled Tanager, a Slaty-capped Flycatcher carrying nesting material to its nest under an overhang along the trail, an acoustically overachieving White-bellied Antbird that could not have been more cooperative, Squirrel Cuckoo, Streaked Flycatcher, and Dusky-capped Flycatcher. A pair of Plain Antvireos called from the trailside. The birds were in view for a few moments, during which time we were preoccupied with other species overhead. As a result, we heard the birds well but few members of the group saw them. A male Collared Trogon was another very nice treat, and a lek of Golden-headed Manakins gave us another distant view of a few males. As the day went by we continued birding along Blanchisseuse Road wherever the birding looked promising. In the heard-only category we added Black-faced Antthrush, and a staked-out Scaled Antpitta responded just once to a taped playback of its call. Overhead we watched White Hawks and a fast-moving Short-tailed Hawk. A power line on which I'd previously found overwintering Olive-sided Flycatchers during our winter months served up what might have been the same bird on this day, and a high twig served as a perch for our final species of hummingbird for the trip, a Long-billed Starthroat. Having already seen most of the species normally found around Blanchisseuse, our original destination, we decided to drive only to the hamlet of Morne La Croix, which freed up much of the afternoon. Martyn and I served lunch atop a concrete wall to the sounds of Rufous-tailed Jacamars, Blue-crowned Motmots, Blue-headed Parrots, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Pale-breasted Spinetail, and other species. 
.JPG) During lunch we added Yellow-rumped Cacique (kuh-seek') to our list. Then we returned to Asa Wright for the afternoon, stopping along the way at promising places. After another delicious no-weight-loss dinner we gathered on the veranda to complete our tally for the day and to review the logistics for tomorrow, our final day afield. Ironically, as we conducted the check-off on the veranda we added a new species for the trip. A Common Potoo called four or five times, a descending series of clear whistles. As always, our tarantula faithfully awaited our return outside our cabin. Trip total: 200 Species seen today: 90 New for the trip: 23 (Trinidad Piping-Guan, White Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk, Squirrel Cuckoo, Common Potoo (h), Little Hermit, Green Hermit, Long-billed Starthroat, Pale-breasted Spinetail (h), Plain Antvireo (h), White-bellied Antbird, Black-faced Antthrush (h), Scaled Antpitta (h), Slaty-capped Flycatcher, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Streaked Flycatcher, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Bright-rumped Attila (h), White-bearded Manakin, Speckled Tanager, Blue Dacnis, Tropical Parula, and Yellow-rumped Cacique) Return to top Saturday March 3 -- Central Lowlands On our last day afield we planned to revisit Waller Field to clean up on a few species we'd missed. One of the great attractions of Waller Field is the immense area of "edge", where two different habitats meet. Here we had an opportunity to explore lowland rain forest, scrub, grassland, stands of Moriche palms, and the edges where those habitats met. As we descended the Arima Valley we added a species that we'd noted many times but had never confirmed -- the aptly named Gray-rumped Swift. During our transit we also spotted a Double-toothed Kite, the Trinidad counterpart of the bird-eating Sharp-shinned Hawk of North America. We passed many gardens that would have won horticultural awards in the U.S., with gorgeous stands of Torch Ginger (Etlingera elatior) and hybrids of Heliconia bihai (Lobster Claw). 
 After obtaining entry permission from the Waller Field security guards, Eric maneuvered his maxi down one of the long runways and parked. We walked slowly along the concrete runway. Martyn spotted two new birds in quick succession -- Common Ground-Dove and Plain-breasted Ground-Dove, each one scarcely larger than a sparrow. A Gray-headed Kite flew over, its broad wings pinched in near the body, giving them a paddle-shaped appearance. The day was still and the birds were quiet. A high point was spotting a Black-tailed Tityra, which continued flying until it was out of sight, never to be relocated. Our final birding site was a narrow, overgrown blacktop road on the south side of Waller Field. Here we found a number of North American migrants as we walked in the cool shade. .JPG) As compensation for the rather slow birding, and as a final example of his excellent birding skills, Martyn picked up a White-winged Becard from among the sun-speckled foliage where it had been silently perching. The last new species we'd get, the becard was another rarity, never expected on any T&T birding trip. As a special treat to commemorate our last foray, I had Eric drive us to LC's Store in Cumuto Village, where we enjoyed ice cream, cold sodas, and local snacks. Here are Nancy, Katharine, Libby, Martyn, Carol, and Betsy at LC's:  Here's the only shot I have of our trusted driver, Eric. Pictured here is Eric with Martyn, Libby, Debby, and Katharine, standing in front of LC's next to the maxi, with the Northern Range in the background:  Then it was time to reboard the maxi and head back up into the mountains, where after a lip-smacking lunch we spent the afternoon exploring the trail between the Asa Wright Center's Main House and the bellbird lek. A male Blue Dacnis perched no more than six feet over our heads at one point. A distant Bright-rumped Attila continued to taunt us with its unmistakable calls as it had done on previous days. The dozen male White-bearded Manakins were busy their lek, which the species has used continuously for more than 50 years. We watched them only briefly because this afternoon provided our last chance to find one of the elusive Bearded Bellbirds. We could hear two or three of them emitting their ear-splitting "BOCK!", so we continued along the trail until we were sure we were near one of them. Here we are at one of the traditional viewing sites:  Even with all of us searching the trees, it was probably 15 minutes before Martyn quietly announced, "I've got him!" Lining up directly behind Martyn, each of us finally was able to get a view of this highly ventriloquial species. Each time it moved we'd start the acoustical triangulation process over again, trying to determine from which side and at what height the call was coming. This endeavor epitomized the concept of a birding group working together, and it paid off handsomely. We spent the rest of the afternoon decompressing, alone or in small groups -- exploring trails, photographing favorite places, swimming in the rainforest pool, birding from the veranda, settling our bill, writing postcards, or packing.  Our final meal was just as savory as all the other meals had been. We conducted our final tally, reviewed the logistics for our early morning trip to the airport, and called it a night. Trip total: 207 Species seen today: 91 New for the trip: 7 (Gray-headed Kite, Double-toothed Kite, Common Ground-Dove, Plain-breasted Ground-Dove, Gray-rumped Swift, Black-tailed Tityra, and White-winged Becard) Return to top Sunday March 4 - Departure To guarantee that we would be on time for our homeward flights, we needed to leave Asa Wright before dawn. Everyone was packed and ready to go at the scheduled time. We grabbed a quick, quiet breakfast of cereal and fruit in the dining room, took a last longing look around Paradise, and then boarded Eric's maxi. We tried to absorb every moment of the drive down the Arima Valley, knowing that it would be the last glimpse of this magical area for some. At the airport we unloaded the luggage and entrusted it to a porter for the short transit to the terminal. With fondness and profound thanks we bid farewell to Martyn, my talented and highly skilled co-leader, and burly Eric, who had safely and comfortably transported us over so many miles. Not long thereafter, the Evanston North Shore Bird Club members were en route to Miami while I was headed to Houston and on to Indianapolis. So as they say in Trinidad & Tobago, --Until, mon! |