Saturday, November 14 Trinidad: Southwest and West Coast This morning's departure was our earliest of the trip. I was up at 3:30 a.m. preparing for the day. Sharman, a lovely kitchen staff member, had a breakfast of three kinds of cereal and bananas ready for us at 3:45 a.m. She also had prepared snacks for brunch and packed them in a cooler. We were in the maxi and en route by 4 a.m. Ivan drove south through the blackness for almost two hours while the rest of us snoozed. A half moon dominated the eastern sky, illuminated on the bottom half rather than on the right side as we see it in our northern latitudes. Dawn came at 5:45 a.m. as we passed the city of San Fernando, where Saturday morning traffic was already noticeable. A low ground fog blanketed rolling fields filled with the remnants of last year's sugar cane crop. With dawn came hunger, so we invaded the cooler and devoured the bananas and thick cheese-cucumber-butter sandwiches. From "Sando" we drove down Pluck-La Fortune Road to Rahamut Trace, where we stopped for 15 minutes in the ethereal ground fog to enjoy a morning flurry of long-legged waders. Dawn over the South Oropuche marshes. Photo by Joan Cwi. Early morning marsh birding along Rahamut Trace. Photo by Joan Cwi. Marsh on both sides of the road provide lots of viewing opportunities for Jay and Bill. Photo by Terry Williams. A female Pied Water-Tyrant fussed at her nest. Purple Gallinules and Yellow-chinned Spinetails vocalized and were visible constantly. Driving a bit farther, at Sudama Steps we met local bird expert Kris Sookdeo, a frequent contributor of rare-bird sightings to the Trinidad & Tobago Rare Bird Committee. Kris joined us for our morning birding and was a real asset to us. Bill and Kris Sookdeo. Photo by Debby Harriman. We walked west along the Oropuche River for nearly a mile on a flat dirt track. To our left was an expansive freshwater marsh. On our right was an unbroken riparian swath of mangrove. Track along the South Oropuche River. Photo by Joan Cwi. High, scattered clouds appeared in the east, cooling the air pleasantly. A few places along the trace were muddy, but we encountered nothing that merited wearing rubber boots. As we walked we saw numerous migrant Yellow Warblers -- one might even say small flocks. We also found a very obliging and singing Masked Yellowthroat, Southern Lapwings on the banks of the ditch, loose groups of Bicolored Conebills and, more exciting, Spotted Tody-Flycatchers, our target bird for this site. Male Masked Yellowthroat. Photo by Terry Williams. Southern Lapwing. Photo by Debby Harriman. Spotted Tody-Flycatcher. Photo by Terry Williams. Spotted Tody-Flycatcher. Photo by Terry Williams. When we reached our turnaround point, an adult male Long-winged Harrier flew past us at very close range, heading into a slight breeze and moving slowly, providing the most fantastic view for which one could ever hope. Little did we know how abundant this species would be during the remainder of our tour. Adult male Long-winged Harrier. Photo by Terry Williams. Same bird. Photo by Terry Williams. We had good looks at a Striped Cuckoo that perched in the open, singing, for a long time. Debbi picked out a bird that is somewhat unpredictable on our trips -- Red-capped Cardinal -- and then another joined the first. We were able to view them side-by-side at our leisure. They are unrelated to our Northern Cardinals. Red-capped Cardinal. Photo by Debby Harriman. Back aboard the maxi, Ivan treated us to boiled "pee-wa," ping-pong-ball sized palm fruit. It was starchy and somewhat pea-flavored, a taste that one acquires with time. We had already enjoyed two breakfasts, so we skipped the planned stop in Debe and headed north to Freeport, stopping for a comfort break at Jenny's Kitchen Korner at 10:30 a.m. The sign below was one you don't see everyday in the U.S. I can just see you licking your lips. Photo by Joan Cwi. Continuing on to Brickfield we encountered a rising tide with narrowly exposed mudflats. We saw about 100 Laughing Gulls along with Black Skimmers, a fly-by Large-billed Tern, and a few very close Semipalmated Plovers. Flocks of 'peep' flew past as the rising tide flushed them out of the tidal mudflats to our north. Continuing south to Waterloo, we walked to the end of a peninsula where we had a good view both north and south. Viewing site at Waterloo. Photo by Joan Cwi. View to the south at Waterloo, showing Hindu temple on the Gulf of Paria. Photo by Joan Cwi. We found several score Large-billed Terns along with six Yellow-billed Terns that we were able to study in the same scope-view as the Large-billeds, an interesting size comparison. Large-billed Tern above, Yellow-billed Terns below. Photo by Terry Williams. We also picked up some larger shorebirds at that stop, including Whimbrel and Willet. We chatted with a new resident of the area who had built a rustic wooden structure that they intended as a bird blind – one that would enable visiting birdwatchers to see all of the birds that feed on the mud in front of their humble shack. Moving farther south, at the Orange Valley jetty we saw a very interesting spectacle – hundreds of Semipalmated and Western Sandpipers spread across the mudflats and periodically drawing together into very tight flocks in the shade of isolated mangrove bushes, spreading out again and repeating the drawing-together process. Their close proximity to each other allowed excellent comparisons of size differences among males and females of the two species. Semipalmated and Western Sandpipers in the shade of a mangrove. Photo by Joan Cwi. It was quite warm outside at midday, but we never had to emerge from the maxi at this site because the birds were easily visible on both sides of us, close enough to obviate the need for a telescope. At one point a Clapper Rail skulked by only a few feet away. Endemic Trinidad race of the Clapper Rail. Photo by Debby Harriman. Then a Peregrine Falcon flew over, startling all of the birds into the air. For a few minutes the sky was filled with clouds of Black Skimmers, Laughing Gulls, Willets, and peep. Then everything returned to normal. A lone Gull-billed Tern foraged for insects along the grassy margin of the mudflats and then landed on the mud not far from us, allowing a detailed study. We found a lone Lesser Black-backed Gull with the Laughing Gulls. Lesser Black-backed Gull, a visitor from Eurasia. Photo by Terry Williams. One of the most interesting observations at this site was of hundreds of mudskippers or four-eyed fish (Anableps) heaving themselves up onto ever-shrinking mud in advance of the rising tide, leaving nearly all of their bodies exposed to the air rather than submerged, as they foraged in the mud for edibles. Four-eyed Fish or Mudskippers. Photo by Debby Harriman. To our surprise, an Osprey suddenly dropped out of the sky and snagged one of the larger four-eyed fish, flying away with it dangling from its talons. Continuing south, our last stop was at Carli Bay. At the picnic area Ivan spotted a small flock of Saffron Finches. We then returned to Waterloo, where we enjoyed a fine lunch of roti (like an Indian burrito) at Jenny's Kitchen Korner. Menu at Jenny's Kitchen Korner. Photo by Joan Cwi. Afterwards we drove back to Asa Wright. En route Ivan gave us a fascinating lecture about soca music, the dominant vocal style of Trinidad in which calypsonians use sharp satirical lyrics (picong) with double meanings to poke fun. The traffic was rather slow, with plenty of stops, and we enjoyed long views of the campus of the University of the West Indies in St. Augustine, the Mount St. Benedict monastery in Tunapuna, and the O'Meara campus of the new University of Trinidad & Tobago. We spotted a huge Ringed Kingfisher on a power line near the Trincity ponds. We arrived back at the center in time for our afternoon tea and rum punch. At dinner Jay again wore the peregrine shirt in celebration, no doubt, of the Peregrine Falcon we had seen earlier in the day. We enjoyed rice pilaf, callaloo, stewed pumpkin, braised beef, and fresh garden salad with dressing. For dessert we had chocolate mousse. It had been another long day, and we were all in bed by 9 p.m. New for the trip: Long-winged Harrier, Clapper Rail, Common Moorhen, Semipalmated Plover, Black-necked Stilt, Whimbrel, Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Laughing Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Yellow-billed Tern, Large-billed Tern, Black Skimmer, Green-rumped Parrotlet, Black-throated Mango, Copper-rumped Hummingbird, Ringed Kingfisher, Spotted Tody-Flycatcher, Barn Swallow, Bicolored Conebill, Red-capped Cardinal, Northern Waterthrush, Masked Yellowthroat, Yellow Oriole, Yellow-hooded Blackbird Number of species seen: 75; new for trip: 27; running total: 161 Back   Home   Next Trinidad Birding