Wednesday, November 18 Tobago: Main Ridge, Little Tobago Island For three of us, today would be our last day with the group, as our airline schedules necessitated our spending this night in Trinidad. For breakfast we enjoyed muesli, scrambled eggs, creole Vienna sausage and bacon with peppers and onions, and homemade bread. We left Cuffie River in Bert's maxi at 7 a.m. in a sprinkle of rain. At the junction of the Cuffie River entrance road with the main road near the village of Runnemede, rather than make an extremely sharp and blind turn to the right, our driver, Bert, prudently continued south for a mile to a spot where he could safely turn around. We then proceeded north along the Caribbean coastline to the town of Parlatuvier, stopping at a high overlook for a photo opportunity where we could look down on the town, and again at another overlook on the Roxborough-Parlatuvier Road. One thing about a rainforest is that it rains a lot. We hardly had any rain fall during our visit this day, but the mud was ample evidence that plenty had fallen recently. This was the wet season afterall. At the Gilpin Trace trailhead, we rented rubber boots for US$4 per person and made good use of them during the next three hours. Jay made excellent use of his rented "wellies". Photo by Joan Cwi. Debbie Harriman picked out one of the best birds of the day -- a male Plain Antvireo slightly below us about 30 feet away, in good light. Male Plain Antvireo. Photo by Debby Harriman. After much struggling, we finally got a good look at a male Blue-backed Manakin. We also had the good fortune to locate a White-necked Thrush building a nest along the trail. Enormous effort was required before we finally not only heard but also saw one of at least 10 Yellow-legged Thrushes that had been singing around us all morning. We walked all the way to the Silver-and-Gold Waterfall, and then enjoyed a leisurely stroll back to the maxi, where we returned our boots to the roadside vendor. At the Silver-and-Gold Waterfall. Photo by Joan Cwi. Worth every penny of the US$4! Photo by Debby Harriman. From Gilpin Trace we made our way east, down off of the Main Ridge, to the town of Roxborough and then north along the Atlantic Ocean to the village of Speyside. At Jemma's Seaview Restaurant, built as a treehouse, we enjoyed a terrific open-air lunch of creole kingfish, stir-fried vegetables, breadfruit casserole, sweet potato pie, and other dishes served family style and all washed down with plenty of ice cold LLBs. Lunch at Jemma's. Photo by Joan Cwi. Creole kingfish. Photo by Joan Cwi. The group's favorite drink. Photo by Debby Harriman. Proceeding a short distance farther along the coast to the Blue Waters Inn, we boarded Wordsworth Frank's glass-bottomed boat, manned by our crew, Zelonie ("Zee" for short), Shane, and Roy. The crossing to Little Tobago Island took 20 minutes and was relatively smooth. During our crossing we saw Brown Pelicans and our first distant Red-billed Tropicbirds. We pulled up alongside the concrete pier on Little Tobago Island, took our time getting safely off the boat and onto the pier, and walked the short distance to shore. Once we assembled somewhat above the noise of the breaking waves, Zee gave an interesting lecture on the island's history and ecology. He covered Sir William Ingram's efforts to preserve the Greater Bird-of-Paradise by introducing the species to Little Tobago Island, about how one can boil the leaves of the Cecropia tree to procure soapy water to wash hair, and about the life history of the giant Anthurium hookeri plants growing both on the ground and in the trees. A construction crew was hard at work rebuilding the former warden's quarters so we continued on to the first overlook. Here we had excellent views of both light and dark morphs of immature and adult Red-footed Boobies, immature and adult Brown Boobies, and hundreds of hyperactive Red-billed Tropicbirds, at every level. Most of the group then followed Zee down a steep incline, almost to sea level, to view nesting seabirds such as Brown Booby and Red-billed Tropicbird. Adult Brown Booby. Photo by Terry Williams. Brown Booby chick on the nest. Photo by Terry Williams. Red-billed Tropicbird on the nest. Photo by Terry Williams. Eventually we all met at the second overlook, where we had close looks at Red-billed Tropicbirds as well as more views of the two species of boobies. The second overlook. Photo by Debby Harriman. View from the second overlook. Photo by Debby Harriman. Red-billed Tropicbird overhead. Photo by Terry Williams. Red-billed Tropicbird. Photo by Debby Harriman. Red-billed Tropicbirds dancing over the waves. Photo by Debby Harriman. Several Magnificent Frigatebirds were pirating fish from the tropicbirds and boobies, diving down on them from far above, forcing them to disgorge fish they had caught. In the case of Red-billed Tropicbirds, this meant seizing them by their elongated tail streamers and shaking them until the tropicbirds disgorged their fish. A pirating adult female Magnificent Frigatebird. Photo by Debby Harriman. As the afternoon shadows grew long, we returned to the wave-splashed dock and reboarded the boat. John heads for home. Photo by Joan Cwi. Our expert boatmen made our return trip across Tyrell's Bay and back to the mainland of Tobago very smooth. "Zee." Photo by Debby Harriman. Shane Frank. Photo by Debby Harriman. We tarried for a few minutes to admire the coral reef near Little Tobago Island, especially a monstrous brain coral, some 40 feet across, appropriately named "Einstein." We then plied the two miles of sea back to Tobago. Our driver, Bert Isaac, joined us on our Little Tobago foray. Photo by Debby Harriman. Happy seafarers. Photo by Debby Harriman. More happy seafarers. Photo by Debby Harriman. And yet more happy seafarers. Photo by Debby Harriman. We returned to the Blue Waters Inn, exited the boat onto the pier, bid farewell to the crew, and reboarded Bert's maxi. We were more than happy to give Shane and a woman from the Blue Waters Inn a ride to Speyside. We continued to Cuffie River by way of the Windward Road, dropping south almost to the capital city, Scarborough, before heading across the island, through the ridgetop town of Moriah, and north to Cuffie River. By so doing we were nearly able to complete a circumferential tour of this glorious island. Our final dinner at Cuffie River consisted of a variation of Buss Up Shut -- rice, curried goat, pomme cythere (pronounced pom-see-tay; golden apple) with its spiky wooden seed case, pureed pumpkin, chickpeas, eggplant casserole, bodi, dahl, and passion fruit-mango ice cream for dessert. It is impossible for me to decide whether the food at Asa Wright or at Cuffie is better. All I know is that I always find myself craving it long after my return home. We had just enough time to complete our bird tally before Jay, Debbi, and I had to leave for the airport. We bid the remaining group members a fond farewell, and then left Cuffie River bound for Trinidad, a night at a B&B, and our return flights to the US. The remaining participants spent a last night at Cuffie River, and then were transported to the Tobago airport the next morning and then on to Trinidad and their homeward flights. New for the trip: Red-billed Tropicbird, Red-footed Booby, Stripe-breasted Spinetail (h), Plain Antvireo, Yellow-legged Thrush, White-necked Thrush Number of species seen: 54; new for trip: 6; grand total: 210 Back   Home   Next Trinidad Birding