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Friday, September 25
Tobago: Main Ridge, Little Tobago Island
We started this magnificent day somewhat earlier than usual so we could pack in visits to two exceptionally interesting locations -- Tobago's Main Ridge Reserve and Little Tobago Island. Regina and her wonderful cooks prepared a filling breakfast of fresh fruit and Creole sausage for us. We left Cuffie River at 6:30 a.m. after an amusing incident during which one of the participants attempted to awaken yours truly, who was already awake prepared and ready to head out -- but in his own room, not the room on which the participant was knocking, in which slept the manager's sister!
Kade took us north past the coastal hamlet of Parlatuvier and up, up, up, into the forested hills.
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Our Tobago transportation
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The village of Parlatuvier at dawn
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Typical Tobago homes
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A boot vendor ("WellieMan") followed us to provide rental rubber boots for us to wear on the potentially muddy trails. The boots turned out to be of only marginal use since the trails were nearly dry, no rain having fallen since the first few days of our arrival in T&T. We arrived before the sun broke over the top of the hills and were thus the first to hike that morning down Gilpin Trace; in fact, our party was the only one on the trail during our visit. From the trailhead we entered the deep, dark ravine and proceeded exceedingly slowly, spending nearly the first full hour along the initial half-mile of the trail.
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Birding along Giplin Trace; photo by Eileen Kreisle
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Because of our stealth and patience we were rewarded with excellent views of Golden-olive Woodpecker, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Rufous-breasted Wren, and more White-tailed Sabrewings, which by now were old hat. The most abundant species along this ultra-tropical ravine were Rufous-breasted Hermits and the two common tanagers, Blue-gray and Palm. We chanced upon a cooperative pair of Plain Antvireos and had two close views of Plain-brown Woodcreeper. Lots of Blue-backed Manakins were vocalizing, but our views of them for the most part were fleeting and tantalizing, as the birds tended to stay in the canopy. Near the end point of our hike we finally had a reasonably decent look at an adult male and added Red-rumped Woodpecker and Yellow-legged Thrush to the "heard only" category. We returned to the trailhead at 11 a.m.
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Plain-brown Woodcreeper
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We made one more stop along the road through the heights, then drove down the eastern slope of the Main Ridge, meeting the Windward Road in Roxborough and following it northeast to the village of Speyside. Here we had a fine lunch of broiled kingfish washed down mainly with LLB's (lemon-lime bitters) at Jemma's treehouse restaurant.
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Fred and Paul at Jemma's
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At 2 p.m. we met the crew of Frank's glass-bottomed boat at the Blue Waters Inn pier, boarded, and began our 20-minute cruise across Tyrell's Bay to Little Tobago Island.
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Birding along Giplin Trace; photo by Eileen Kreisle
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Brown Noddies appeared almost immediately, followed by a sighting of an adult Brown Booby standing penguinlike atop a diminutive lava stack. The whitecaps that we'd spotted from the outlook high above Speyside had settled down to become manageable swells through which we soon maneuvered, pulling up alongside the concrete pier at Little Tobago Island.
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Abandoned home on Goat Island, halfway to Little Tobago Island
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The next stretch, slowly climbing the 300-some steps and gradual inclines leading to the summit, was interspersed with sightings of some of the island's small but vocal avian species - Brown-crested Flycatcher, endless Bananaquits, and intensely hued Blue-gray Tanagers. In the underbrush scurried Red Jungle Fowl, feral for at least the past 150 years but not countable for reasons not clear to me. Accompanying several of the hens were coveys of peeping chicks.
We visited two overlooks at little Tobago Island. At the first overlook we viewed a whirling cauldron of seabirds composed of Brown Noddy, Brown Booby, Red-footed Booby, and our target species, Red-billed Tropicbird. At the second overlook we saw all of these species but saw the Tropicbirds much more closely, as they rode the upswelling wind to within a few yards of us, their filamentous tails streaming out gracefully behind them. When everyone had seen all of these species to their satisfaction, we returned to the glass-bottomed boat, returned to our maxi at the Blue Waters Inn, and returned to Cuffie River.
It had been a seriously full day. We had a compressed farewell dinner, completed our final tally, and, because of the logistics situation involving Caribbean Airlines, those of us with early morning departures back to the United States said farewell to those who would be staying on at Cuffie River. It had been a very successful trip filled with excitement, good birding, and excellent camaraderie.
Number of species seen: 72; new for trip: 8; final total: 219
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Magnificent Frigatebird (adult female)
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Red-billed Tropicbirds
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Red-billed Tropicbird
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Red-billed Tropicbird
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