|
Wednesday, November 11
Trinidad: Grounds at the Asa Wright Nature Centre (AWNC)
We awoke to a world of strange and exotic sounding noises of crickets, katydids, and myriad unidentifiable sounds of the predawn tropical rainforest. As on each morning at Asa Wright, I arose, dressed, and was on the veranda by 6 a.m. As the sun began transforming the blackness of nighttime into a million shades of green on the ridges, the other early birds in the group began arriving, spotting and identifying thrilling bird species. Perched atop a dead snag a short distance down the valley was a gorgeous Channel-billed Toucan.
 |
| Channel-billed Toucan. Photo by Terry Williams. |
Nearby perched a pair of Orange-winged Parrots in the top of a different tree. Just off the porch, in a Trema tree (closely related to hackberry), an Ochre-bellied Flycatcher foraged amid lots of different hummingbirds, tanagers, and other small birds. The fruit-laden birdfeeders attracted a score of colorful species, and the numerous hummingbird feeders were alive with nectar-feeding species.
 |
Male Purple Honeycreepers. Photo by Debby Harriman.
|
 |
Female Purple Honeycreeper. Photo by Terry Williams.
|
 |
See why they call me a Copper-rumped Hummingbird? Photo by Debby Harriman.
|
 |
And see why they call me a White-chested Emerald? Photo by Debby Harriman.
|
 |
This tiny gem is a male Tufted Coquette. Photo by Debby Harriman.
|
We had several opportunities to study the differences between look-alikes such as Great Kiskadee and Boat-billed Flycatchers.
 |
Great Kiskadee left, Boat-billed Flycatcher right; notice the lack of rufous in the wings of the latter. Photo by Terry Williams.
|
 |
Great Kiskadee. Photo by Debby Harriman.
|
Under the feeders, the action consisted mainly of doves, thrushes, and reptiles.
 |
Spectacled Thrush. Photo by Joan Cwi.
|
 |
Golden Tegu lizard. Photo by Debby Harriman.
|
No one ever loses weight on my tours to Trinidad & Tobago. Over the years, many participants have e-mailed me after a trip commenting on how much weight they had gained, so I now include in my reports details on most of our meals. That way, when participants read the tour narrative they more easily comprehend the numbers appearing on their bathroom scales. Breakfast today included bacon, toast, slices of fresh watermelon, omelets made individually to our liking, and three kinds of breakfast cereal.
After breakfast I gave an introductory lecture that covered everything from our accommodations, meals and mealtimes, appropriate dress, daily itineraries, and protection from sunlight to some of the species we would hope to see on a regular basis. We then spent the morning birding from the veranda, from which a birder new to the tropics can see a great variety of new birds. One of the resident guides, a longtime friend of mine, Barry Ramdass, also was on the veranda helping everyone find and identify birds. Also enjoying the flurry of good birds was a birding group from the Netherlands. During the morning we found a pair of Blue Dacnis in the Trema tree, enjoying a rare eye-level view of a species that normally stays in the canopy.
At midmorning Barry led us on a walk down the Discovery Trail, which proceeds downhill from the main house and which originally served as the thoroughfare from the city of Arima, at the bottom of the valley, to the Centre. In a floral garden next to the veranda, we had excellent views of a Blue-chinned Sapphire hummingbird and a male White-bearded Manakin, along with small, fast-moving flocks of male and female Purple Honeycreepers. Barry showed us some wonderful birds in the course of a few hundred yards of very easy walking.
 |
Blue-chinned Sapphire. Photo by Terry Williams.
|
 |
White-bearded Manakin. Photo by Terry Williams.
|
After we returned from our morning jaunt, some of us continued birding along the entrance drive. We found all three species of trogons, identified both Band-rumped and Gray-rumped Swifts flying below us against the dark green foliage down the valley, watched an immature Black Hawk-Eagle circling high overhead, and had wonderful views through the scope of a nearby Euler's Flycatcher perched just off the ground.
 |
Male Collared Trogon. Photo by Terry Williams.
|
We also investigated some of the plants that used to provide some of Asa Wright's income when they ran the plantations -- coffee, cocoa, citrus, and bananas.
 |
Ripe cocao pods. Photo by Joan Cwi.
|
For lunch today we had black-eyed peas mixed with chopped carrots and onions, a vegetable rice medley, creole beef, and fresh garden salad, with chocolate mousse for dessert. After lunch there was a brief, hard rain shower, from which we took refuge under some overhanging foliage until the sun reemerged.
At 1:30 p.m. we left the veranda again with Barry, headed this time for the Oilbird cave. Barry pointed out a Common Potoo perched high atop a dead snag, looking for all the world like an extension of a dead branch. Although binocular views were fine, the view through the scope showed more detail, such as the bird's very wide gape. As far as we could tell, the potoo remained sound asleep as long as we were viewing it.
 |
Bill and Barry imitating a Common Potoo. Photo by Terry Williams.
|
On our way to see the Oilbirds, we had multiple excellent views of Green Hermits nectaring on Torch Ginger flowers. Some of the hermits flew very close to us, as if investigating us. We heard a single chip from a Red-crowned Ant-Tanager that remained unseen. Barry took us to the lek of Golden-headed Manakins, where we had wonderful views of males performing their moonwalk dance on a bare horizontal branch.
 |
Male Golden-headed Manakins dancing at their lek. Photo by Debby Harriman.
|
The Heliconias were alive with hermit hummingbirds, which frequent the flowers trapline-fashion. We saw all three hermit hummingbirds on our walk, some of them at arm's length.
 |
Rufous-breasted Hermit at "Sexy Pink" variety of a Heliconia. Photo by Debby Harriman.
|
The hike along the Oilbird Trail was exciting, with a lot of ups and downs and new vistas around each bend. We stopped early on to read about the Oilbirds and so Barry could answer our questions.
 |
Sign along the Oilbird Trail. Photo by Joan Cwi.
|
 |
We're off to see the Oilbirds! Photo by Joan Cwi.
|
We took a pause at a shelter just before we arrived at the Oilbird cave. Barry recapped some of his earlier comments about Oilbirds. Jay, who is working on a research paper with me about South American snail-killing flies, explained how the Oilbird's distribution followed Kuchel's Law, which predicts the distribution of species in South America according to elevation as well as latitude. The gorge outside the cave resounded with the calls of endemic Yellow-throated Frogs (Mannophryne trinitatis), members of the Arrow Poison group..
 |
Yellow-throated Frog at entrance to the Oilbird Cave. Photo by Debby Harriman.
|
In the cave we found numerous resting Oilbirds, including a whopping 18 birds resting side-by-side on a ledge. Everyone got excellent looks at this unique species.
 |
Oilbird. Photo by Terry Williams.
|
 |
Debbi and Barry in Guacharo Gorge, just outside the cave. Photo by Debby Harriman.
|
On the way back to the lodge, we stopped to watch an army ant swarm attacking a leaf-cutting ant colony. Massive-headed leaf-cutting ant soldiers were pouring out of the colony, preparing to defend their home turf. We arrived back at the veranda at 4 p.m. and continued our birding, spotting a female American Redstart in the Trema tree. We had plenty of time to investigate other areas of the Centre and take care of business.
 |
Poster at Asa Wright. Photo by Joan Cwi.
|
 |
Lovely tropical cockroach nymph. Photo by Terry Williams.
|
 |
High school students interviewing the tour leader. Photo by Joan Cwi.
|
We enjoyed the 4 p.m. high tea, with coffee, cookies, and squares of spicy, hot pizza. A brief, mild rain shower moved through and cooled things down. We used the break in birding to take care of some protocol. John Fleishman did an admirable job conducting the checklist tally, noting all the birds seen or heard during the day, so we awarded him first shot at the passenger seat in the van the next day.
 |
John on the veranda, next to a pendular Crested Oropendola nest. Photo by Joan Cwi.
|
Dinner tonight was creole pork chops, red beans with diced onions and carrots, chopped cabbage-and-carrot salad, and banana-rum mousse for dessert. After dinner, resident naturalist and photographer extraordinaire Harold Diaz led a night walk, on which participants found crickets, spiders, and other nocturnal arthropods. By 9:30 p.m. the only evidence of our group came from the snores emanating from our cabins.
New for the trip (all of them, of course!): Little Tinamou (h), Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Common Black-Hawk, Black Hawk-Eagle, White-tipped Dove, Gray-fronted Dove, Orange-winged Parrot, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl (h), Oilbird, Common Potoo, Band-rumped Swift, Gray-rumped Swift, Rufous-breasted Hermit, Little Hermit, Green Hermit, White-necked Jacobin, Tufted Coquette, White-chested Emerald, Copper-rumped Hummingbird, White-tailed Trogon, Violaceous Trogon, Collared Trogon, Blue-crowned Motmot, Channel-billed Toucan, Golden-olive Woodpecker (h), Gray-throated Leaftosser, Cocoa Woodcreeper, Great Antshrike, Barred Antshrike, Black-faced Antthrush (h), Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, Yellow-breasted Flycatcher, Euler's Flycatcher, Tropical Pewee, Piratic Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Bearded Bellbird (h), White-bearded Manikin, Golden-headed Manakin, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Golden-fronted Greenlet, House Wren (h), Rufous-breasted Wren, Cocoa Thrush, Spectacled Thrush, Tropical Mockingbird, Bananaquit, White-lined Tanager, Silver-beaked Tanager, Blue-gray Tanager, Palm Tanager, Turquoise Tanager, Bay-headed Tanager, Blue Dacnis, Purple Honeycreeper, Green Honeycreeper, American Redstart, Crested Oropendola, Violaceous Euphonia
Number of species seen: 63; new for trip: 63; running total: 63
|