Trinidad Birding Trinidad Birding Trinidad Birding

The Natural History of Trinidad & Tobago

January 24 - February 3, 2005
Leader: Bill Murphy

Participants:
Elaine & Tony Adams, Durham, Oklahoma
Bobby & Ira Asher, River Forest , Illinois
Cindy & Glenn Johnson, Manhattan, Illinois

Itinerary:
January 24 – Travel day
January 25 – Trinidad: Mount St. Benedict area to the Mt. Tabor trailhead
January 26 – Trinidad: Cacandee, Point-à-Pierre Wildfowl Trust, Waterloo, Brickfield, Caroni Swamp
January 27 – Trinidad: Aripo Livestock Farm, Manzanilla Beach, Nariva Swamp, Waller Field
January 28 – Tobago: Bon Accord and Hilton ponds, Buccoo Marsh, Grafton/Caledonia Wildlife Sanctuary
January 29 – Tobago: Roxborough/Bloody Bay Road, Gilpin Trace
January 30 – Tobago: Merchiston Trace, Little Tobago Island
January 31 – Trinidad: Asa Wright Nature Center, Oilbird Cave
February 1 – Trinidad: Blanchisseuse Road, Brasso Seco Road
February 2 – Trinidad: Blanchisseuse Road, Waller Field, Aripo Savanna
February 3 – Travel day

Table showing bird species seen each day

Other Organisms Identified (excluding insects, other than butterflies)

































































Home

x = seen
h = heard only

Species  1/25  1/26  1/27  1/28  1/29  1/30  1/31  2/1  2/2
 Tinamous - Tinamidae
 Little Tinamou, Crypturellus soui h             h h
 Grebes - Podicipedidae
 Least Grebe, Tachybaptus dominicus       ●          
 Tropicbirds - Phaethontidae
 Red-billed Tropicbird, Phaethon aethereus         ● ●      
 Boobies - Sulidae
 Brown Booby, Sula leucogaster           ●      
 Red-footed Booby, Sula sula           ●      
 Pelicans - Pelicanidae
 Brown Pelican, Pelicanus occidentalis   ●   ● ● ● ●    
 Cormorants - Phalacrocoracidae
 Neotropic Cormorant, Phalacrocorax brasilianus   ●              
 Anhingas - Anhingidae
 Anhinga, Anhinga anhinga   ●   ●          
 Frigatebirds - Fregatidae
 Magnificent Frigatebird, Fregata magnificens ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
 Herons - Ardeidae
 Pinnated Bittern, Botaurus pinnatus   ●              
 Rufescent Tiger-Heron, Tigrisoma lineatum     ●            
 Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias   ●   ●          
 Gray Heron, Ardea cinerea     ●            
 Cocoi Heron, Ardea cocoi     ●            
 Great Egret, Ardea alba   ● ● ● ●        
 Snowy Egret, Egretta thula   ● ●            
 Little Blue Heron, Egretta caerulea   ● ● ● ● ● ●    
 Tricolored Heron, Egretta tricolor   ● ● ●          
 Cattle Egret, Bubulcus ibis   ● ● ● ●   ●   ●
 Green Heron, Butorides virescens       ●          
 Striated Heron, Butorides striatus   ● ●            
 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Nyctanassa violacea   ● ● ● ● ● ●    
 Ibises and Spoonbills - Threskiornithidae
 Scarlet Ibis, Eudocimus ruber   ●              
 Ducks and Geese - Anatidae
 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Dendrocygna autumnalis       ●     ●    
 White-cheeked Pintail, Anas bahamensis       ●          
 Blue-winged Teal, Anas discors       ●          
 American Wigeon, Anas americana       ●          
 New World Vultures - Cathartidae
 Black Vulture, Coragyps atratus ● ● ● ●     ● ● ●
 Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura ● ● ● ●     ● ● ●
 Hawks, Kites and Eagles - Accipitridae
 Osprey, Pandion haliaetus   ● ● ● ● ●      
 Gray-headed Kite, Leptodon cayanensis   ● ●         ●  
 Pearl Kite, Gampsonyx swainsonii     ●           ●
 Double-toothed Kite, Harpagus bidentatus                 ●
 Crane Hawk, Geranospiza caerulescens                 ●
 White Hawk, Leucopternis albicollis ● ● ● ●     ● ●  
 Common Black-Hawk, Buteogallus anthracinus   ● ●       ●    
 Great Black-Hawk, Buteogallus urubitinga         ●        
 Savanna Hawk, Buteogallus meridionalis     ● ●         ●
 Gray Hawk, Asturina nitida ● ● ●       ●    
 Broad-winged Hawk, Buteo platypterus         ● ●      
 Short-tailed Hawk, Buteo brachyurus     ● ●          
 Zone-tailed Hawk, Buteo albonotatus ●             ●  
 Ornate Hawk-Eagle, Spizaetus ornatus             ●    
 Falcons and Caracaras - Falconidae
 Yellow-headed Caracara, Milvago chimachima ● ● ● ●          
 Merlin, Falco columbarius   ●       ●      
 Peregrine, Falco peregrinus ● ●       ●      
 Guans and Chachalacas - Cracidae
 Rufous-vented Chachalaca, Ortalis ruficauda       ● ● ● ●    
 Gallinules, Rails and Crakes - Rallidae
 Clapper Rail, Rallus longirostris   ●              
 Purple Gallinule, Porphyrula martinica   ● ●            
 Common Moorhen, Gallinula chloropus   ● ● ●          
 Limpkins - Aramidae
 Limpkin, Aramus guarauna     ●            
 Plovers and Lapwings - Charadriidae
 Southern Lapwing, Vanellus chilensis     ● ● ●       ●
 Jacanas - Jacanidae
 Wattled Jacana, Jacana jacana   ● ● ●         ●
 Sandpipers - Scolopacidae
 Greater Yellowlegs, Tringa melanoleuca   ● ● ●          
 Lesser Yellowlegs, Tringa flavipes       ●          
 Solitary Sandpiper, Tringa solitaria     ● ●          
 Willet, Catoptrophorus semipalmatus   ●              
 Spotted Sandpiper, Actitis macularia   ● ● ●   ● ●    
 Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus   ●   ●          
 Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres   ●     ● ● ●    
 Semipalmated Sandpiper, Calidris pusilla   ●              
 Least Sandpiper, Calidris minutilla     ●            
 Wilson's Snipe, Gallinago delicata     ●            
 Skuas, Gulls and Terns - Laridae
 Laughing Gull, Larus atricilla   ●              
 Ring-billed Gull, Larus delawarensis   ●              
 Royal Tern, Sterna maxima   ●         ●    
 Black Skimmer, Rynchops niger   ●              
 Pigeons and Doves - Columbidae
 Rock Pigeon, Columba livia   ● ● ●     ●   ●
 Pale-vented Pigeon, Columba cayennensis       ● ● ●      
 Scaled Pigeon, Columba speciosa     ●            
 Eared Dove, Zenaida auriculata       ●          
 Ruddy Ground-Dove, Columbina talpacoti ● ● ● ● ●   ● ● ●
 White-tipped Dove, Leptotila verreauxi           ● ● ● ●
 Gray-fronted Dove, Leptotila rufaxilla             h h h
 Parrots and Macaws - Psittacidae
 Red-bellied Macaw, Ara manilata     ●            
 Green-rumped Parrotlet, Forpus passerinus     ● ●          
 Lilac-tailed Parrotlet, Touit batavica               h h
 Blue-headed Parrot, Pionus menstruus             ●   ●
 Orange-winged Parrot, Amazona amazonica ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
 Yellow-crowned Parrot, Amazona ochrocephala     ●            
 Cuckoos - Cuculidae
 Squirrel Cuckoo, Piaya cayana             ●   ●
 Striped Cuckoo, Tapera naevia     h h         h
 Smooth-billed Ani, Crotophaga ani   ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
 Owls - Strigidae
 Tropical Screech-Owl, Otus choliba     h            
 Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Glaucidium brasilianum h   h       h ● h
 Nightjars and Nighthawks- Caprimulgidae
 Common Pauraque, Nyctidromus albicollis     ●            
 White-tailed Nightjar, Caprilmulgus cayennensis     ●            
 Potoos - Nyctibiidae
 Common Potoo, Nyctibius griseus   ● h           ●
 Oilbirds - Steatornithidae
 Oilbird, Steatornis caripensis             ●    
 Swifts - Apodidae
 Chestnut-collared Swift, Streptoprocne rutila ●   ●            
 Short-tailed Swift, Chaetura brachyura ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
 Band-rumped Swift, Chaetura spinicauda     ●         ● ●
 Gray-rumped Swift, Chaetura cinereiventris         ●     ● ●
 Fork-tailed Palm-Swift, Reinarda squamata ●   ● ●          
 Hummingbirds - Trochilidae
 Rufous-breasted Hermit, Glaucis hirsuta h       ●   ● ● ●
 Green Hermit, Phaethornis guy             ● ● ●
 Little Hermit, Phaethornis longuemareus             ● ● ●
 White-tailed Sabrewing, Campylopterus ensipennis         ●        
 White-necked Jacobin, Florisuga mellivora       ●   ● ● ● ●
 Brown Violet-ear, Colibri delphinae               ● ●
 Green-throated Mango, Anthracothorax viridigula   ●              
 Black-throated Mango, Anthracothorax nigricollis ●     ● ● ● ● ● ●
 Ruby-topaz Hummingbird, Chrysolampis mosquitus ●     ● ● ●     ●
 Tufted Coquette, Lophornis ornata ● ● ● ●     ● ● ●
 Blue-chinned Sapphire, Chlorestes notatus ● ● ●       ● ●
 White-chested Emerald, Amazilia chionopectus ● ● ● ●     ● ● ●
 White-tailed Goldenthroat, Polytmus guainumbi     ●            
 Copper-rumped Hummingbird, Amazilia tobaci ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
 Long-billed Starthroat, Heliomaster longirostris ●                
 Trogons - Trogonidae
 White-tailed Trogon, Trogon viridis h           ● ● ●
 Violaceous Trogon, Trogon violaceus                 ●
 Collared Trogon, Trogon collaris               ● ●
 Motmots - Momotidae
 Blue-crowned Motmot, Momotus momota       ● ● ● ● h ●
 Kingfishers - Alcedinidae
 Green Kingfisher, Chloroceryle americana         ●        
 Pygmy Kingfisher, Chloroceryle aenea     ●            
 Jacamars - Galbulidae
 Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Galbula ruficauda     ●   ● ●      
 Toucans - Ramphastidae
 Channel-billed Toucan, Ramphastos vitellinus             ● ● ●
 Woodpeckers - Picidae
 Red-crowned Woodpecker, Melanerpes rubricapillus       ● ● ●      
 Red-rumped Woodpecker, Veniliornis kirkii               ●  
 Golden-olive Woodpecker ,Piculus rubiginosus         ●     ● ●
 Chestnut Woodpecker, Celeus elegans               ● ●
 Lineated Woodpecker, Dryocopus lineatus ●             ● h
 Ovenbirds - Furnariidae
 Pale-breasted Spinetail, Synallaxis albescens                 ●
 Stripe-breasted Spinetail, Synallaxis cinnamomea       ● ●   h h h
 Yellow-chinned Spinetail, Certhiaxis cinnamomea   ● ●            
 Gray-throated Leaftosser, Sclerurus albigularis                 ●
 Woodcreepers - Dendrocolaptidae
 Plain-brown Woodcreeper, Dendrocincla fuliginosa ●       ●     ● ●
 Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Sittasomus griseicapillus     h   ●        
 Straight-billed Woodcreeper, Xiphorhynchus picus   ●            
 Cocoa Woodcreeper, Xiphorhynchus susurrans ●     ● h   h h h
 Streak-headed Woodcreeper, Lepidocolaptes souleyetii   ●              
 Antbirds - Thamnophilidae
 Great Antshrike, Taraba major               h ●
 Black-crested Antshrike, Sakesphorus canadensis   ●             ●
 Barred Antshrike, Thamnophilus doliatus ●     ● ● ●   h ●
 Plain Antvireo, Dysithamnus mentalis         ●     h  
 White-flanked Antwren, Myrmotherula axillaris             ●    
 White-fringed Antwren, Formicivora grisea       ● ● ●      
 Silvered Antbird, Sclateria naevia     ●            
 White-bellied Antbird, Myrmeciza longipes ●               ●
 Antthrushes and Antpittas - Formicariidae
 Black-faced Antthrush, Formicarius analis               h h
 Flycatchers - Tyrannidae
 Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Camptostoma obsoletum ●   ●         ● ●
 Northern Scrub-Flycatcher, Sublegatus arenarum             ●    
 Forest Elaenia, Myiopagis gaimardii ●           ● ● ●
 Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Elaenia flavogaster ●     ● ● ● ● ● ●
 Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, Mionectes oleagineus ●           ● ● ●
 Slaty-capped Flycatcher, Leptopogon superciliaris                 ●
 Short-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant: Myiornis ecaudatus                 h
 Yellow-olive Flycatcher, Tolmomyias sulphurescens               ●  
 Ochre-lored Flatbill, Tolmonyias flavivrentris ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
 Olive-sided Flycatcher, Contopus cooperi             ● ●  
 Tropical Pewee, Contopus cinereus             h ● h
 Euler's Flycatcher, Lathrotriccus euleri             ● ● h
 Fuscous Flycatcher, Cnemotriccus fuscatus       ● ●        
 Pied Water-Tyrant, Fluvicola pica   ● ●            
 White-headed Marsh-Tyrant, Arundinicola leucocephala   ● ●            
 Bright-rumped Attila, Attila spadiceus ●                
 Brown-crested Flycatcher, Myiarchus tyrannulus       ●   ●      
 Great Kiskadee, Pitangus sulphuratus ● ● ● ●     ● ● ●
 Boat-billed Flycatcher, Megarynchus pitangua ● ● ● ●     ● ● ●
 Streaked Flycatcher, Myiodynastes maculatus ●           ●    
 Sulphury Flycatcher, Tyrannopsis sulphurea     ●           ●
 Tropical Kingbird, Tyrannus melancholicus ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
 Gray Kingbird, Tyrannus dominicensis   ●   ● ● ● ●    
 Cotingas - Cotingidae
 White-winged Becard, Pachyramphus polychopterus         ●        
 Black-tailed Tityra, Tityra cayana               ●  
 Bearded Bellbird, Procnias averano             h   ●
 Manakins - Pipridae
 White-bearded Manakin, Manacus manacus             ● ● ●
 Blue-backed Manakin, Chiroxiphia pareola       ● ● ●      
 Golden-headed Manakin, Pipra erythrocephala               ● ●
 Swallows and Martins - Hirundinidae
 Caribbean Martin, Progne dominicensis       ● ●   ●    
 Gray-breasted Martin, Progne chalybea             ● ● ●
 White-winged Swallow, Tachycineta albiventer   ● ●           ●
 Southern Rough-winged Swallow, Stelgidopteryx ruficollis ● ● ●           ●
 Barn Swallow, Hirundo rustica   ●              
 Wrens - Troglodytidae
 Rufous-breasted Wren, Thryothorus rutilus ●   ● h ●   ● ● ●
 Tropical' House Wren, Troglodytes aedon ● ● ● ● h ● ● ● ●
 Gnatwrens - Sylviidae
 Long-billed Gnatwren, Ramphocaenus melanurus ●           h h
 Thrushes - Turdidae
 Yellow-legged Thrush, Platycichla flavipes         ●        
 Cocoa Thrush, Turdus fumigatus   ●         ● ● ●
 Bare-eyed Robin, Turdus nudigenis ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
 White-necked Thrush, Turdus albicollis         ●   ● h ●
 Mockingbirds - Mimidae
 Tropical Mockingbird, Mimus gilvus ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
 Vireos - Vireonidae
 Yellow-throated Vireo, Vireo flavifrons       ●          
 Red-eyed 'Chivi' Vireo, Vireo olivaceus chivi         ● ●   h  
 Scrub Greenlet, Hylophilus flavipes       ● ● ●      
 Golden-fronted Greenlet, Hylophilus aurantiifrons ● ● ●         ● ●
 Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Cyclarhis gujanensis ● h h       h ● ●
 Wood Warblers - Parulidae
 Tropical Parula, Parula pitiayumi             h ● ●
 Yellow Warbler, Dendroica petechia ● ● ● ● h       ●
 Blackpoll Warbler, Dendroica striata       ●          
 American Redstart, Setophaga ruticilla       ● ●     ●  
 Northern Waterthrush, Seiurus noveboracensis   h   ●       ● ●
 Masked Yellowthroat, Geothlypis aequinoctialis                 ●
 Golden-crowned Warbler, Basileuterus culicivorus                 ●
 Bananaquits - Coerebidae
 Bananaquit, Coereba flaveola ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
 Tanagers - Thraupidae
 Bicolored Conebill, Conirostrum bicolor   ●              
 Speckled Tanager, Tangara guttata               ●  
 Turquoise Tanager, Tangara mexicana ●           ● ● ●
 Bay-headed Tanager, Tangara gyrola             ● ● ●
 Blue Dacnis, Dacnis cayana ●   ●       ● ● ●
 Green Honeycreeper, Chlorophanes spiza ●           ● ● ●
 Purple Honeycreeper, Cyanerpes caeruleus   ●         ● ● ●
 Red-legged Honeycreeper, Cyanerpes cyaneus ●       ● ●      
 Trinidad Euphonia, Euphonia trinitatis               h  
 Violaceous Euphonia, Euphonia violacea ●       ●   ● ● ●
 Blue-gray Tanager, Thraupis episcopus ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
 Palm Tanager, Thraupis palmarum ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
 Silver-beaked Tanager, Ramphocelus carbo ●   ● ●     ● ● ●
 White-shouldered Tanager, Tachyphonus luctuosus ●             ●  
 White-lined Tanager, Tachyphonus rufus ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
 Red-crowned Ant-Tanager, Habia rubica             ● ● ●
 Grassquits, Seedeaters and Finches - Emberizidae
 Grayish Saltator, Saltator coerulescens ●             ● ●
 Dickcissel, Spiza americana ●                
 Blue-black Grassquit, Volatinia jacarina h ● ● ● ● ●   ● ●
 Ruddy-breasted Seedeater, Sporophila minuta     ●            
 Black-faced Grassquit, Tiaris bicolor       ● ● ●      
 Saffron Finch, Sicalis flaveola   ●              
 Grassland Yellow-Finch, Sicalis luteola     ●            
 Cowbirds, New World Blackbirds and Orioles - Icteridae
 Red-breasted Blackbird, Sturnella militaris     ● ●         ●
 Yellow-hooded Blackbird, Agelaius icterocephalus   ● ● ●          
 Carib Grackle, Quiscalus lugubris   ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
 Shiny Cowbird, Molothrus bonariensis ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
 Giant Cowbird, Molothrus oryzivora           ●     ●
 Moriche Oriole, Icterus chrysocephalus                 ●
 Yellow Oriole, Icterus nigrogularis ● ● ● ●     h ● ●
 Yellow-rumped Cacique, Cacicus cela     ●           ●
 Crested Oropendola, Psarocolius decumanus ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Daily Totals:   65 85 93 86 65 50 82 92 110
Total number of species: 227
Also seen in nest burrow but not counted: Audubon's Shearwater

Top  Home








































































Home  Next

Jan. 24 – Travel Day - Trinidad / Pax Guest House Mount St. Benedict

The rainy season in Trinidad normally ends in mid-December. This year the emails from my birding friends in Trinidad & Tobago kept repeating the ominous phrase, "Still raining." So on this night it was with great relief that I caught sight of the lights of Port-of-Spain through clear skies as the jet descended toward Piarco International Airport in Trinidad. The rain had ended the day before our arrival, a fortuitous stroke that presaged many unexpected blessings during our trip. During our trip Cindy told us that good things happened everywhere she went. In retrospect I have to agree with her. This was an exceptionally enjoyable trip during which we saw a host of unusual birds and other creatures and experienced no mishaps of any sort.

Ira and Bobby Asher had arrived in Trinidad the previous night. The remaining five of us arrived within an hour of each other, on three different flights. Thus Glenn and Cindy Johnson, Tony and Elaine Adams, and I met each other for the first time at the airport. In the wonderful new air-conditioned terminal we passed quickly through T&T Immigration and Customs. Gerard Ramsawak, manager of Pax Guest House Mount St. Benedict, was waiting for us outside with a van. Gerard drove through the streets of St. Augustine and Tunapuna and 800 feet up through the gated Mount St. Benedict complex to Pax Guest House, where his wife, Oda, made us feel welcome with a tray of sandwiches and fruit juice as she assigned our rooms.

Home  Next






































































Back  Home  Next

Jan. 25 - Trinidad / Mount St. Benedict area to the Mt. Tabor trailhead
Alarm clocks were hardly necessary at Pax, since church bells clanged from the monastery each day at 6 a.m. sharp. At first light we began adding bird species to our list as we stood outside Pax overlooking the Plains of Caroni. Tiny insectivorous bats zoomed overhead. From the forested slopes behind Pax floated tremulous whistles of Little Tinamous and the steady tooting of Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls. Flying up the valley were pairs of Orange-winged Parrots and chattering squadrons of Short-tailed Swifts. Seeking nectar at eye level in the blue vervain (Verbena) overhanging the rock wall along the driveway were six species of hummingbirds: Black-throated Mango, Ruby-Topaz, Tufted Coquette, Blue-chinned Sapphire, White-chested Emerald, and Copper-rumped Hummingbird. The sunlight streaming in from behind us brought out the exquisite iridescence of these tropical jewels. We began learning the distinctive calls and songs of the different species.

Searching for their breakfast of fruit, berries, and insects among the branches and foliage of the huge saman tree that shaded Pax were many common species -- Ruddy Ground-Dove, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Great Kiskadee, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Tropical Mockingbird, the ubiquitous Bananaquit, the extremely abundant Blue-gray, Palm, Silver-beaked, and White-lined Tanagers, and Shiny Cowbird. As the sun rose, so did the soaring birds -- Black Vulture, the yellow-naped ruficollis race of the Turkey Vulture, and a White Hawk.

The first surprise species of the trip was Dickcissel, a flock of four atop a Caribbean Pine on the slope below us. This species can be abundant in the Nariva Swamp during the northern winter but is almost never seen in the foothills of the Northern Range.

Over breakfast we introduced ourselves and discussed the upcoming days' activities. Afterwards we joined our local birding guide, Kenny Calderon, on a leisurely trek up Mount St. Benedict. From the overlooks we could see all the way from Signal Hill near the Atlantic Coast to San Fernando Hill in the south, and to the Caroni Swamp and Port-of-Spain in the west, a breathtaking view. We noted extremely high flying Magnificent Frigatebirds, immature and adult Gray Hawks that regarded the feeders at Pax as fast-food restaurants, Zone-tailed Hawks closely mimicking Turkey Vultures, Yellow-headed Caracaras, a lone adult Peregrine Falcon, a huge flock of more than 70 Chestnut-collared Swifts, a few dainty Fork-tailed Palm-Swifts, the first of many fast-flying Rufous-breasted Hermit hummingbirds, the only Long-billed Starthroat hummingbird of the trip, black-and-white (male) and rufous-and-white (female) Barred Antshrikes, a Plain-brown Woodcreeper, Cocoa Woodcreepers, diminutive but brave Southern Beardless-Tyrannulets scolding us for encroaching on their territory, Ochre-bellied Flycatchers characteristically flipping up one wing at a time, Ochre-lored Flatbills (formerly Yellow-breasted Flycatcher) singing persistently throughout the midday heat, a lone and lethargic Streaked Flycatcher, a Forest Elaenia, Golden-fronted Greenlets, pairs of Southern Rough-winged Swallows, boisterous Rufous-breasted Wrens reminiscent of Carolina Wrens, warm brown House Wrens, an unusually confiding Long-billed Gnatwren, many Bare-eyed Robins (formerly Bare-eyed Thrush), several persistently singing but nearly invisible Rufous-browed Peppershrikes, wintering Yellow Warblers, tinkling flocks of Turquoise Tanagers, pairs of attractive Blue Dacnis, and throngs of Green Honeycreepers, Red-legged Honeycreepers, Violaceous Euphonias, Grayish Saltators, Blue-black Grassquits, flashy Yellow Orioles, and impressive Crested Oropendolas. We also heard but did not see White-tailed Trogon, Lineated Woodpecker, and White-bellied Antbird. The most unusual species we found before noon was a male White-shouldered Tanager, a species usually missed by birding groups.

[The movement of the panhead on my Questar telescope/tripod assembly suddently seized up. Finding birds in the scope became tricky. I would overshoot and then overcompensate. Centering images fast enough to show birds to the group was impossible. The mechanism was sealed, preventing any adjustment. I took the Questar with me at times during the trip, but it was frustrating to use. Fortunately our guides carried scopes.]

On this as on all days we studied ecology: interactions among insects, birds, and plants and between birds and other organisms. We learned the names of trees, especially the common and distinctive Cecropia, and flowers such as the Heliconias, Deer Meat (Centropogon cornutus), and Black Stick (Pachystachys coccinea). Of the 617 species of butterflies known from Trinidad & Tobago, the most common species we saw everywhere we traveled, especially sipping red flowers, was one that strongly resembled our Red Admiral. This species, whose scientific name is Anartia amather, is called the Anartia amather Butterfly. Go figure. We also identified some of the rocks. The most common rock on Mount St. Benedict is metamorphic gray micaceous schist, evidence of the dynamic uplifting and folding that produced the Northern Range.

After hiking up Mount St. Benedict as far as the Forestry Building, we descended to Pax for lunch and to enjoy a break from the midday heat. At 3 p.m. we again trekked up the hill, this time across the monastery grounds to the Mount Tabor trailhead for our first bit of rainforest birding. It was very pleasant to be in the shade. The birds were unusually quiet, or perhaps they were present in lower numbers than usual as a result of the prolonged rainy season. Along the trail we spotted our first diurnal bats, Greater White-lined (Sac-winged) Bats (Saccopteryx bilineata). A super treat was locating a pair of green-morph Bright-rumped Attilas and their diminutive nest and eggs on a rock wall beside the trail. This species had not been seen by any of my birding groups for 20 years.

At dusk we returned to Pax, having learned a great deal about the natural history of Trinidad during our first full day. At 6 p.m. Martyn Kenefick, Chair of the Trinidad & Tobago Rare Birds Committee, drove me to a meeting of local bird experts while dinner at Pax was served on the veranda, buffet style. Afterwards the group conducted a tally of bird species seen during the day, a total of 65 species.

Back  Home  Next





























































Back  Home  Next

Jan. 26 - Trinidad / Cacandee, Point-à-Pierre Wildfowl Trust, Waterloo, Brickfield, Caroni Swamp
Again today the predawn stillness was broken by Little Tinamous, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls, and the bells of Mount St. Benedict. From the veranda and the overlook in front of Pax the early risers saw many species seen yesterday along with a brief view of an adult Gray-headed Kite and the first Rock Pigeons, Smooth-billed Anis, Great Antshrikes, Purple Honeycreepers, and Carib Grackles of the trip. From the veranda Kenny pointed out the distant five-note whistle of a Gray-throated Leaftosser, a species we would not view until our final day of birding.

After breakfast we met our driver, Gus, who with Kenny loaded our lunches and beverages into the van. We headed down the mountain for points west, passing through the towns of Tunapuna, St. Augustine, Curepe, and Chaguanas along the way. The recent rains had rendered the dirt roads through the Caroni rice fields impassable, so we birded the fields from the roadside. Among the raptors quartering over the rice fields we found a Merlin and another adult Peregrine. Yellow-hooded Blackbirds pleased everyone with their brilliant color and perky song. A cryptically plumaged Pinnated Bittern flew halfway across the road before we spotted it. The clouds of Black Vultures overhead numbered in the hundreds if not the thousands.

No Long-winged Harriers were to be seen, so we continued south, stopping next at Cacandee Sluice at the southern edge of the great Caroni Swamp. During our visit the Cacandee area was wet, a mixture of extensive brush-bordered wetlands and cultivated fields. Among the water hyacinths and emergent threesquare (Scirpus sp.) or flying over the area we spotted our first Little Blue Herons, Tricolored Herons, Cattle Egrets, Striated Herons, Wattled Jacanas, Yellow-chinned Spinetails, Pied Water-Tyrants, and White-headed Marsh-Tyrants. We also picked up the second surprise bird of the trip, a Gray Kingbird. Normally we do not record this species until we get to Tobago, where they are much more common, especially in the south.

From Cacandee we followed the Uriah Butler Highway south through rolling hills covered with sugar cane. Our destination was the Pointe-à-Pierre Wildfowl Trust, where after a stop at the Visitor's Center we circumnavigated the upper lake. Here in the middle of a working petroleum refinery, where semi-domestic peacocks and macaws screamed and Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks peeped, we added to our list blue-eyed Neotropic Cormorants, Anhingas drying their spread wings in the sun, Ospreys, Purple Gallinules, Common Moorhens, Spotted Sandpipers, Brown-crested Flycatchers, White-winged Swallows, Barn Swallows, and Cocoa Thrushes. A stunning surprise was a pair of Streak-headed Woodcreepers that remained in view long enough for everyone to observe their diagnostic markings. This species had been seen by my birding groups only once before out of 52 trips to T&T, which made this a red-letter day. Moreover, in the brief time we had been in Trinidad we had already seen three of the four species of woodcreepers known from Trinidad.

After enjoying a typical Trinidad far-too-much-food lunch at picnic tables on the shaded, grassy hillside above the Visitor's Center, we reboarded the van and drove slowly out of the compound, searching for Saffron Finch, a local resident. Kenny spotted a pair of them perched on a fence along the roadside. Almost everyone was able to "get on them" before they flew away.

Our next destination was the Gulf of Paria shoreline, accessible through the towns of Waterloo and Brickfield. It was ironic to drive through a village called California on our way there. We had timed our arrival to coincide with a rising tide, which concentrates waterbirds along the mudflats near shore. As it was, the tide was almost high by the time we arrived. Rather than finding scores of each species, we garnered smaller numbers. Here we added to our list Brown Pelican, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, several Scarlet Ibis foraging on distant mudflats, Common Black-Hawk, Greater Yellowlegs, Willet, Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Laughing Gull, Royal Tern, and Black Skimmer. Yet another major surprise species awaited us at Waterloo. Standing on the rail of a high-prowed fishing boat called a "pirogue", among basic-plumaged Laughing Gulls, stood a second-year Ring-billed Gull, a species never to be expected in Trinidad or Tobago.

Continuing to Brickfield, we observed hundreds of Anableps, the "four-eyed fish" or "mud skippers" that shove themselves across the mud at the waterline. Anableps pupils are split horizontally, allowing the fish to focus above and below the water simultaneously.

During our stop at Brickfield we were interviewed by a group of school children in the equivalent of our fifth grade. We had noticed them as we entered the Brickfield area. They had been busy picking up litter. Their teachers led them to where we were viewing a distant lone Great Blue Heron. They asked us if the children could ask us some questions. Of course we agreed. Their questions ranged from "Why did you come to Trinidad?" to "What can we do to make Trinidad more attractive to you?" We answered their questions, then let them take a look through the telescopes before we drove to our final destination of the day, Caroni National Park, commonly known as Caroni Swamp.

As we arrived at the new Visitor's Center, we met a group of birders being guided by my longtime friends Roodal and Jogie Ramlal and Roodal's son, David, who later would serve as our guide at the Asa Wright Nature Center. As soon as everyone had visited the restrooms, we congregated near the mangroves that bordered the parking area. I played the call of the brightly colored endemic Trinidad race of the Clapper Rail. The response was almost comical as two Clapper Rails raced toward my MP3 player, clacking excitedly. They were seen well by everyone. When I moved slowly toward the MP3 player, one of the rails began walking toward me. By the time I was able to reach out, grab the MP3 player, and turn it off, the rail was less than six feet from me. The last time one of my birding groups saw a Clapper Rail in Trinidad was in the late 1980s. If the day had not already been sensational, it certainly was now.

I was greatly saddened to hear from Kenny that my longtime Caroni Swamp bird expert, James Madoo, had died a few months earlier. James was a masterful proponent for conservation in the Caroni Swamp and had always delivered an excellent lecture to my groups while carefully guiding his boat through the mangrove prop roots to the Scarlet Ibis roosting area. His brother, Charlie, had inherited the business and was our guide on this trip. Although his dialect was challenging to understand, between Charlie's powers of observation and those of his 10-year-old son he was able to produce some great treats for us.

Charlie told us about the three kinds of mangroves - red, black, and white - that make up the forest community in the Caroni Swamp. He explained how the fresh water from the Caroni River mingles with the tidal salt water from the Gulf of Paria to create a brackish-water environment conducive to the breeding of a host of organisms. He was able to locate a Cook's Tree Boa (Corallus enydris cooki) over our heads, coiled in a ball on the outer branches of a red mangrove, then pointed out a sleeping Silky Anteater (Cyclopes didactylus) that another boatman had located. We observed mangrove oysters (Crassostrea sp.) and mangrove crabs (Aratus pisonii) scuttling along on the prop roots and enormous dark-brown termitaria in the trees, home to one of the four species of termites (Nasutitermes sp.) found in Trinidad. The presence of termiteria was evidence that termites can thrive even when cut off from terra firma as long as the interlocking tree branches provide them with avenues through the trees.

As we proceeded slowly along on a narrow, mangrove-lined waterway known as Blue River Drain Number 9, we heard and saw a remarkably narrow range of birds, which was understandable considering the very specialized nature of the mangrove swamp. Normally difficult to glimpse, two Green-throated Mango hummingbirds allowed a close approach. Playback of their vocalizations attracted a lively group of Bicolored Conebills and a pair of Black-crested Antshrikes. We frequently heard the sharp alarm note of Northern Waterthrush; the mangrove swamps constitute their primary wintering habitat. Playback also attracted a furtive pair of Straight-billed Woodcreepers. Observing this species gave us a clean sweep of all the woodcreeper species known from Trinidad, something never before done by any group I had led.

Not far from our destination, Charlie pointed straight up at two roosting Common Potoos, large nocturnal insectivores related to nightjars. Their haunting whistled call was thought by early settlers to be made by the Silky Anteater, which they misnamed the "Poor-Me-One".

Arriving at the Scarlet Ibis roosting area, we watched Flathead Mullet (Mugil cephalus) jump from the water, not in a graceful arc but rather as if they were being hurled from the water. It was not long before we were treated to the highlight of our day, a rare and perfect combination of strong golden sunlight, a background of dark purple clouds against the cobalt sky, and hundreds of Scarlet Ibis flying low enough to be viewed against the emerald green mangroves surrounding the pool. Along with the ibis came herons and egrets, filling the mangrove hummocks like Christmas decorations. Finally, when the light was nearly gone, Yellow-crowned Night-Herons emerged from the bushes for a night of hunting crabs. It was one of the most magnificent evenings I had ever experienced in the Caroni Swamp.

After returning to Pax and enjoying dinner, we tallied up the species seen during the day, a total of 85 species, of which 51 were new for the trip, bringing the trip total to 116.

Back  Home  Next





























































Back  Home  Next

Jan. 27 - Trinidad / Aripo Livestock Farm, Manzanilla Beach, Nariva Swamp, Waller Field
Today we birded before breakfast as on previous days, paying particular attention to the hummingbirds and enjoying their courtship, especially that of the Tufted Coquette. We finally obtained reasonably decent views of the diagnostic adhesive-tape-like white rump of a Band-rumped Swift. Another good bird we spotted was a high flying Scaled Pigeon, a species we later got to admire through the scope.

After breakfast we boarded the van and proceeded down the mountain to the Eastern Main Road, through St. Augustine by way of Pasea Road, then east along the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway. I had learned earlier that the Trincity Ponds were currently off limits to birders. Kenny and I had decided not to stop there, but as we passed it, Kenny shouted, "Great Blue Heron!" We could see the bird standing along a drainage ditch across from the Trincity Ponds. I told Gus to pull off the road so we could examine it carefully, knowing that any dark heron in Trinidad could be something rare. And so it was. Our binoculars revealed a bird shorter than a Great Blue Heron, with white, not rufous, thighs, and white "headlights" on the bend in the wing - diagnostic characters of a Gray Heron, an accidental stray from Eurasia. This was about the fifth record for Trinidad & Tobago and another incredibly good find.

Two of us walked into the field to get a closer view of the heron and to look for other birds. We found a Wilson's Snipe, which flushed at my feet, emitting its distinctive short grating call. Also in the area the group found our first Pearl Kite, a kestrel-sized beauty of a raptor.

Our first destination for the day was the Aripo Livestock Farm, which until recently had been closed to birders for fear of our introducing hoof-and-mouth disease. We were fortunate to find the Ramlal group already there because more birders = more eyes = more birds found.

We started off by searching for target species -- Savanna Hawk, shorebirds including Solitary Sandpiper and Least Sandpiper, Green-rumped Parrotlet, and Red-breasted Blackbird, and a recent addition to Trinidad's avifauna, the Grassland Yellow-Finch, which was easily found perched atop grasses and on the barbed wire fence around the pasture. A much more difficult search, for the tiny gray-and-orange Ruddy-breasted Seedeater, took nearly half an hour, but Kenny's excellent birding skills served us well and enabled us all to have satisfactory, if fleeting, views of this species. Trapping for the cagebird industry has all but extirpated Ruddy-breasted Seedeaters and most other finches from Trinidad & Tobago, so this was a highly noteworthy sighting.

Farther along, after watching a close, fearless flock of boldly patterned Southern Lapwings, we heard but failed again to see a calling Striped Cuckoo. Throughout the trip we heard more than 20 Striped Cuckoos but were able to view only one, which stayed too briefly for the group to view it. A nemesis species indeed, as was Short-tailed Hawk, of which we spotted perhaps five, always circling with Black Vultures but never in view long enough for the group to view well. We did have good luck locating a solitary Cocoi Heron, an uncommon species related to the Great Blue Heron. Jogie Ramlal had graciously told us exactly where to find it in the area.

From the Aripo Livestock Farm we continued east to the town of Valencia, where we joined the other birding group at a roadside rest stop. I bought a round of beverages for the group to celebrate our good fortune at having found a Gray Heron. This became a tradition throughout the trip because of all the rarities we found.

En route to our lunch stop at Manzanilla Beach, we passed through Sangre Grande, the largest city in eastern Trinidad. The hustle and bustle of this city of Spanish ancestry is not unlike that of any other South American city, with colorfully painted houses lining noisy streets. Closer to the Atlantic we made a detour to check a Bat Falcon nest tree. The falcons had moved elsewhere, probably because the area had been partly deforested. Nevertheless, we enjoyed birding amid the cocoa trees. A colony of Crested Oropendolas was visible across a field, their long pendular nests waving in the breeze. Another brief stop yielded nice looks at their close relative, the Yellow-rumped Cacique.

When we arrived at the Manzanilla Beach lunch stop, we found the other birding group already there. We enjoyed our packed lunches while relaxing under palm trees. Over the turbulent Atlantic, murky with outflow from the Orinoco River 100 miles to the southeast, we could barely make out Magnificent Frigatebirds and Brown Pelicans.

From Manzanilla we headed south, along a former barrier island that separates the Nariva River and Nariva Swamp from the Atlantic. To our right, across a quarter mile of flowering Bird-of-Paradise (Strelitzia reginae), rose a gallery forest composed primarily of stilt-rooted Rhizophora mangroves, which in places reached a height of 80 feet. The mangroves line the Nariva River, over which we soon passed. We stopped to bird along Bush-Bush Creek. With playback pulled in a photon-fast Pygmy Kingfisher, which passed below us almost too quickly for it to register on our retinas. Again using playback, I lured a pair of Silvered Antbirds into view. The Bush-Bush area has been "improved" so much through removal of mangroves that most of the former common species can no longer be found.

As we drove through miles of coconut palms we saw the occasional Savanna, Common Black, and Gray Hawk and a few Yellow-headed Caracaras. Kenny again pulled a great bird out of thin air, shouting "Limpkin!" Then showed us the bird perched in a bush not far off the road. Kenny must have 10X eyeballs, that's all I can say. He is amazing at picking out birds that blend perfectly with their background.

Nariva Swamp turned out to be more heavily farmed than it had been in June, when I last visited it. Some years flocks of 100,000 Dickcissels spend the winter there, feeding on the wild rice. This year none were present. We found all of the expected species, including the marsh-tyrants, water-tyrants, spinetails, anis, and parrots, then successfully searched a patch of flowering legumes for the hummingbird of flooded savannas, the White-tailed Goldenthroat. This was an exceptional sighting, as none of my groups had viewed this species since the 1980s. We were seeing so many rarities that the group thought I was joking about it each time I remarked about how rare a bird was. I was not joking - it was a genuinely fabulous trip, and we were only on Day Four!

Normally groups loiter in Nariva Swamp until sunset, awaiting the evening flight of Red-bellied Macaws to their roost trees along Manzanilla Road. Kenny and I decided instead to drive back to an abandoned U.S. airbase called Waller Field, where at this time of year the macaws feed and roost in Moriche palms. Just before crossing the Nariva River bridge on our way there, Kenny spotted a bright orange Red Howler Monkey (Alouatta seniculus) quietly feeding at midlevel on the leaves of a streamside tree. Everyone got out of the van to watch it. Gradually moving deeper into the trees, it finally was lost to sight.

Waller Field had been scary last June when we visited it at night with Mahase Ramlal of the Asa Wright Natur e Center. An unmarked helicopter was probing the area with a powerful searchlight. A fleet of cars cruised the runways, lights off. Mahase had decided that the situation was too weird for birding and cut our nocturnal foray short. This time, however, all entrances to Waller Field were gated and guarded. Small billboards showed images of a planned industrial park and educational center to be constructed on the site. So long to birding at Waller Field. Sigh.

The Moriche patch was noisy with birds upon our arrival. A Rufous-tailed Jacamar whistled ecstatically nearby and soon was in the scope. Sulphury Flycatchers, Moriche specialists, chattered and squeaked as they flew from palm to palm. Soon flocks of Red-bellied Macaws and a few Yellow-crowned Parrots flew in and were studied through the scope. The real highlight came about when we discovered a small, dark heron standing motionless in a shallow swale along the pavement some 100 yards from us. At first glance it appeared to be a Striated Heron, but when I looked more closely I realized that it was almost certainly an adult Rufescent Tiger-Heron. Kenny is a big fellow who does not run much, but this time he ran when called. By moving as a group, a few steps at a time, we were all able to approach the bird closely. I took copious notes, assisted by verbal descriptions provided by the other observers, and was able to pass the bird and observe it from the far side. Rufescent Tiger-Heron was a first for any trip I had led, another unbelievably great stroke of good fortune for us.

As darkness fell Gus drove us to a remote area of the runway where, while waiting for darkness to fall, we marveled through the Questar at the rings of Saturn and the Great Nebula in Orion. We also viewed two satellites on their north-to-south polar orbits. Soon the sound of nightbirds could be heard. Kenny had brought a powerful spotlight that plugged into the van's cigarette lighter. I placed my MP3 player on the pavement, turned on the call of the Common Pauraque, and stepped back. Very soon we heard a Common Pauraque calling nearby. Kenny turned on his light and located several Pauraques by their eye shine. He showed us how their direct flight differed from the fluttery flight of the White-tailed Nightjars, which we also saw. The tape was effective in drawing them to us, even to the point of getting them to settle onto the nearby pavement. Kenny tried using a tape to call in a Tropical Screech-Owl. That elicited a vocal response, but the owl did not come any closer. We heard Common Potoos calling in the distance. All in all, it was a fine evening. We were only a short distance from Pax, so we were able to enjoy dinner at the normal time instead of at much later time, as we would have had we stayed at Nariva until dusk.

After enjoying dinner, we tallied up the species seen during the day, a total of 93 species, of which 30 were new for the trip, bringing the trip total to 146.

Back  Home  Next





























































Back  Home  Next

Jan. 28 - Tobago / Bon Accord and Hilton ponds, Buccoo Marsh, Grafton/Caledonia Wildlife Sanctuary
Our overlook birding this morning yielded species seen on previous days, including more great looks at the scintillating male Tufted Coquette. After an early breakfast we boarded the Pax van for the last time and headed for Piarco Airport, where we bade farewell to Kenny and Gus. We took BWIA flight 116, a turboprop, to nearby Tobago, arriving 20 minutes later. Our local bird expert, Newton George, was there with his van to meet us. Off we went to the Bon Accord ponds. Usually locked, this time Newton had been able to obtain permission for us to pass through the gate and walk along the dikes, another stroke of good fortune. No vultures circled overhead, only frigatebirds; vultures are absent from Tobago. In short order we added to our list lemon-eyed Least Grebes, Green Herons, a flock of alert Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, a flock of White-cheeked Pintails with a lone Blue-winged Teal, Lesser Yellowlegs, the first of many Red-crowned Woodpeckers, Caribbean Martins, and Black-faced Grassquits. As had been the case on Trinidad, Snowy Egrets were strangely absent. A Great Blue Heron, an uncommon bird on either island yet already the third for our trip, foraged at the edge of the mangroves, slipped quietly into the shadows at our approach, and then took off. Around us fluttered numerous butterflies that resembled our familiar Buckeye; these were White Peacock Butterflies (Anartia jatrophaes).

Next we birded a wetland northeast of the Bon Accord ponds, which held another flock of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks and a super find, a female American Wigeon, one of the very few records for Tobago. I walked the long way around and through the wetland looking for wintering Soras, none of which appeared. Yellow-bellied Elaenias, Brown-crested Flycatchers, and Red-crowned Woodpeckers kept up a racket during our visit.

By now the sun was high and so was the temperature. We stopped at a grocery store for cold beverages before continuing east to the Hilton Hotel ponds. Here we walked the dikes around three ponds, finding more Least Grebes, Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Common Moorhens, Spotted Sandpipers, and other water-loving species. Gray Kingbirds were particularly abundant, more so than on any previous visit I had made. Eared Doves flew over, a good thing because we had missed the species at the only other dependable location we would visit, the Caroni Swamp.

From the Hilton we drove north on Shirvan Road to a rustic barbed-wire gate that marks the entrance to Buccoo Swamp. This area has been a hotbed of controversy during the last two years, with Hilton executives clamoring to construct a 600-room hotel, a lake, and two golf courses in the center of this tiny wetland. They claimed that building a hotel there would make the swamp area more accessible to naturalists. On this visit we found the area to be much less disturbed than it had been in June, with no cattle present but also with almost no water remaining in the smaller of the two ponds.

A few Northern Waterthrushes emitted distinctive sharp chip notes as we proceeded slowly through the dark, partially closed understory. Newton stopped to show us a boxlike wooden crab trap that had been baited with coconut meat and placed at the entrance of a large crab burrow. Avoiding the thorny guava bushes, we pushed through the mangroves lining the swamp until we had gone as far as the mud would allow. Newton squeaked and brought in Barred Antshrikes, White-fringed Antwrens, and a furtive Scrub Greenlet, a species we would see better before leaving Tobago. After the local species had been noted, I played the call of the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl to attract migrants from North America (Tobago birds have no knowledge of the call of the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl and ignore it). Soon a small flock of active passerines was chattering in the low canopy above us. A splendid male American Redstart flared wings and tail like a small flag, while a basic-plumaged Blackpoll Warbler exemplified the other extreme, appearing drab green and gray.

One bird among the flock Newton at first identified as a Chivi Vireo, but as he examined it he exclaimed that he was not familiar with the bird. Through my binoculars I noted the vireo bill, yellow spectacles and throat, and double white wingbars - a Yellow-throated Vireo! This was a life bird for Newton, one of the few records of the species for Tobago, and the first sighting of the species in more than 30 years! Another outrageously good sighting for our trip, which by now was definitely premium-grade. We left Buccoo very satisfied with the birding and headed back toward the airport for lunch at Store Bay.

Everyone should sample native foods while travelling. Store Bay is a place I take all my groups because the kiosks there offer a wide variety of Tobagonian cuisine. Miss Emma's, Miss Jean's, Miss this-and-that, each offers a slightly different menu. I interpreted some of the less familiar names of dishes, such as buss-up-shut, roti, pelau, and bake and shark, along with the names of exotic beverages such as sorrel, sea moss, and mauby. For dessert I recommended homemade pumpkin-coconut ice cream.

After lunch we retraced our route to Buccoo and continued north to the Grafton/Caledonia Wildlife Sanctuary, where we walked the wide, well-manicured trails for several hours. After Hurricane Flora devastated Tobago in 1963, on this property the owner, Eleanor Alefounder, had begun feeding the wild birds whose forest habitat had been severely damaged. Birds in the area remain relatively tame to this day. We had barely begun our trek when a Fuscous Flycatcher hopped up and perched in full view on a fallen branch. Soon a second Fuscous appeared along the trail. We heard the call of a distant Olivaceous Woodcreeper, a Tobago specialty. I tried luring it in with my MP3 player. In less than a minute, a pair of Olivaceous Woodcreepers were working their way up a tree trunk not more than 10 feet from us. Seeing this species accomplished another exceptional goal, that of seeing every species of woodcreeper occurring in Trinidad & Tobago. To my knowledge feat that had never been achieved by any birding group.

We continued walking slowly through this pristine former cocoa plantation. We found White-fringed Antwrens to be common and unconcerned by our presence. The first Blue-backed Manakin called - loud, sharp whistles -- and then popped into view, to the amazement of the group. Dazzling jet black with a crimson crown and baby-blue back, this species is another Tobago specialty. Sitting upright in the shadows was an imposing crow-sized Blue-crowned Motmot, its racquet-tipped tail beating from side-to-side like a metronome as it gave a muffled, slightly trilled "Whooooooo." Pale-vented Pigeons called from all directions. Guan-like Rufous-vented Chachalacas shouted "ko-KREE-ko!" but for the most part stayed well hidden in the trees. Our first stunningly beautiful Rufous-tailed Jacamar also elicited gasps of surprise. These metallic, iridescent, long-billed "King Hummingbirds" were unafraid of us and continued to sally forth and snap up insects as we admired them. Near the end of our hike I used the MP3 player to coax a skulking Stripe-breasted Spinetail up out of the vines and into sight.

Having hiked more or less in a circle, we relaxed in a restored cocoa drying house admiring the hordes of birds that were flying in to feast on cracked corn and sugar water set out for them - a boiling swarm of Bananaquits, the intensely blue Tobago race of the Blue-gray Tanager, Bare-eyed Robins, Red-crowned Woodpeckers, Pale-breasted Pigeons, Ruddy Ground-Doves, and a new species of hummingbird for our list, a female White-necked Jacobin. This was a photo opportunity of a lifetime.

As the light began to fail we reboarded the van. Newton transported us from Grafton all the way to the northern tip of the island to the village of Speyside and our accommodations for the next three nights - the incredible Blue Waters Inn. Along the way we saw ample evidence of the damage caused by mudslides during a deluge on December 12. In many places the road had been reduced to one lane, but bulldozers had at least made the roads passable. We saw houses and at least one automobile that had been crushed by mudslides, and ugly scars on the sides of mountains where entire mature forests had slumped down, exposing bare clay and rock. A nice 31-year-old man named Tyrone, the barkeeper at the Blue Waters Inn, had been one of the two Tobago fatalities caused by mudslides. He had been buried by a roiling slurry of mud and debris while trying to move his Jeep to a safer place. May he rest in peace.

We arrived at the BWI, got our room assignments, showered, changed clothes, and gathered after dark for our buffet dinner, looking like new people. A Black-throated Mango used the bright lights in the dining room to find food, darting up to the ceiling time after time to capture aerial snacks. I had planned to hire a steel drum band to play for our group, but as luck would have it there already was a group scheduled to play that night. More good fortune.

After dinner we tallied up the species seen during the day, a total of 86 species, of which 24 were new for the trip, bringing the trip total to 170.

Back  Home  Next





























































Back  Home  Next

Jan. 29 - Tobago / Roxborough/Bloody Bay Road, Gilpin Trace
Birds are up early and so were we. At my request the Blue Waters Inn staff had laid out breakfast fixings for us the night before so we could eat before leaving for some dawn birding. Lacking only hot water for coffee and tea, we were fueled and ready for action when Newton appeared with his van. We boarded and were soon off on another fine day of birding in Paradise. Newton stopped at a bridge near the ruins of a sugar mill at the bottom of the entrance road. Here we watched Short-tailed Swifts drinking while in flight and had wonderful views of a Green Kingfisher and an adult Yellow-crowned Night-Heron.

Upon reaching Roxborough we began our 2,000-foot ascent up the Roxborough-Bloody Bay Road. The Tobago Main Ridge Reserve is the oldest wildlife refuge in the Western Hemisphere. It contains one of the most pristine mature rainforests in the world. The air was crisp and clear and became even more so as we ascended. Stopping frequently along this little-traveled road we saw plenty of Rufous-tailed Jacamars, Rufous-breasted Hermits, and Rufous-vented Chachalacas, as well as other species that did not have "rufous" in their names. A Broad-winged Hawk appeared above us, soaring on the sea breeze that the ridge deflected upward. Eventually it was joined by at least five others. Together they formed a small "kettle" of circling hawks. Closer to the ground, an occasional Gray-rumped Swift passed close enough for us to note the cigarette-ash-colored rump contrasting with the blackish tail. Another excellent sighting was of a female White-winged Becard, a medium-sized, large-headed species whose phylogenetic affinities are uncertain; thus rather than being placed with the flycatchers or cotingas as it had been until recently, it is currently assigned to a category called Incertae Sedis, which means "of uncertain placement".

One reason we had arisen so early was so we would be the first birding group on Gilpin Trace, a popular, heavily birded trail near the summit of the Main Ridge. We achieved our goal and found the normally muddy Gilpin Trace dry enough for us to forgo renting "wellies" from the roadside vendors. A few hundred feet down the trail we found ourselves deep in a cool ravine, steep ridges on both sides and a splashing stream below us. As we made our way slowly along the trail, past myriad philodendrons, we saw adult male Blue-backed Manakins and a few immature males, green with crimson crowns. Cocoa Woodcreepers and Stripe-breasted Spinetails called. About halfway through our trek a Golden-olive Woodpecker landed on a nearby tree trunk, giving us a fine view. Unexpected was a gorgeous male Yellow-legged Thrush sitting in plain view, moving from branch to branch and singing constantly instead of creeping stealthily through the shaded canopy. My MP3 player brought a pair of Plain Antvireos close to us. They seemed unconcerned with our presence and continued foraging on the ground and in the understory until we were out of sight. A White-necked Thrush, another shy bird of the deep forest, gave us a short but satisfying look. This is a species far more often heard than seen.

For many years Gilpin Trace was the only place in Tobago where the White-tailed Sabrewing hummingbird could be found. Once common, in 1963 Hurricane Flora destroyed most of the birds as well as their habitat. Not until 1974 was the species recorded again, when Adolphus James, Benton Basham, Olga Clarke, and I found a pair of them on Gilpin Trace and watched the female alight on her nest and begin incubating eggs. Today we encountered our first sabrewing within minutes of our arrival and saw more along the trail.

We met two other birding groups, the first led by an expert local guide named Peter Cox, the second by seasoned veteran guide and former president of the T&T Field Naturalists Club, David Rooks.

Returning to the trailhead, I bought homemade ice cream from a roadside vendor for anyone in the group who wanted it. The ice cream at Store Bay had been delicious, but this was even better. We followed dessert with a packed lunch enjoyed at a Forestry cabin high atop the summit of the Main Ridge. From the porch where we sat, we could look out over miles of unspoiled rainforest, to the indigo Caribbean. Two Great Black-Hawks glided past us at eye level and later passed again in the opposite direction, close enough for us to see the extensive white on the tail, much more conspicuous than the white band on the tail of the Common Black-Hawk.

Following lunch Newton drove us slowly back down to Roxborough, stopping several times so we could get out and bird. A challenge was getting an elusive Chivi Vireo to perch in the open long enough to be identified by sight as well as song. This species has been lumped and split and relumped with Red-eyed Vireo, but many ornithologists think that the song, appearance, and habits of the Chivi are different enough to split it from the Red-eyed Vireo.

Arriving back at the Blue Waters Inn well before dark, some of us tried our luck at spotting seabirds through binoculars. We were rewarded with distant views of large white birds with long streaming tail feathers - our first Red-billed Tropicbirds. Before dinner two of us walked about a mile along Starwood Road, which begins along the entrance road to the Blue Waters Inn and continues for about five miles, winding around the hills on the northeastern tip of Tobago. We saw several species we had seen earlier on the trip and had a chance to view the Blue Waters Inn and vicinity from above. A spot of rain caught us on our way back, but by sheltering under overhanging shrubs until the shower had passed we stayed almost dry.

After enjoying dinner, we tallied up the species seen during the day, a total of 65 species, of which 12 were new for the trip, bringing the trip total to 182.

Back  Home  Next





























































Back  Home  Next

Jan. 30 - Tobago / Merchiston Trace, Little Tobago Island
Our itinerary originally specified a morning glass-bottomed boat trip to Little Tobago Island, an uninhabited wildlife refuge that hosts hundreds of nesting and resting seabirds. Conventional wisdom had it that early morning was the best time to visit because the sea was calmer then than later in the day. Newton and I had considered how seabirds fish far offshore from dawn until early afternoon, at which time they bring their catch home in their crops to regurgitate to their chicks, and how the sea usually was no rougher in the afternoon than in the morning. I talked it over with my friend, Wordsworth Frank, our boatman and the owner of Frank's Glass Bottom Boat Tours. He affirmed our observations, and we agreed to cast off at 2 p.m. instead of 9 a.m.

Before retiring the previous evening, I had secured local transportation for those who wished to spend their free morning birding. Our driver, Norton, picked us up in the most comfortable vehicle we had been in yet - a late-model Nissan Laurel. We rode in luxury for a short three miles. Norton dropped us off near the Speyside Lookout, across from Merchiston Trace, an unpaved, winding track. This was relaxed birding, with time to stop and relish individual birds if we so chose. The day was superb - blue sky with lots of cumulous clouds and a slight breeze off the Atlantic. Merchiston Trace has lots of twists and turns. There is always something new just around the bend. We studied every bird we spotted, soaking in the opportunity to look at species we knew we would not be seeing again for a long time, if ever, after the trip ended. A Giant Cowbird was new for the trip, and we had long, mouth-watering views of jacamars and tanagers aplenty.

A horn-blowing caravan of cars in the distance attracted our attention at one point. The cars were festooned with red ribbons and flags. Riders hung out windows and waved from the back of pickups. Everything was bedecked in red, the color of the PNM (People's National Movement), the political party that had won the national election a few weeks before our arrival. This was their celebration parade.

All too soon we had returned to the overlook, met Norton, and been dropped off at the Blue Waters Inn, where we joined the rest of the group for lunch. Then it was time for siesta, sunbathing, or snorkeling.

At 2 p.m. sharp we boarded Frank's glass-bottomed boat from the concrete dock at the north end of the Blue Water Inn. What an improvement it was over our method in previous years, when we had to stand on the beach waiting for the boatmen to tell us to try to climb aboard when the waves were just right and the boat would not crush us. We simply stepped aboard and we were underway. Frank's son was soon pointing out various reef fish, coral formations, and other marine life through the glass panes in the center of the boat's bottom as we motored slowly over the reefs. Amid the brain coral, dead man's fingers (gorgonians), tube sponges, giant clams, and sea fans he pointed out French and Queen Angelfish, Sergeant Majors, Stoplight and Princess Parrotfish, Creole Wrasse, Black Durgons, Blue Tang, and others. The two-mile sea crossing was quite pleasant. As we approached Little Tobago Island, we were given an opportunity to look through the glass at the world's largest brain coral, some 40 feet across and appropriately named "Einstein". Arriving at uninhabited, starfish-shaped Little Tobago Island, also called Bird-of-Paradise Island and Ingram's Island, again we had a dry landing, simply stepping up onto a concrete pier and making our way to a rustic building that serves as the starting point for tours of the island. Two young female veterinary students were with us on the trip. They spotted an adult Brown Booby on the beach, sitting on a rock just above the waves. A healthy booby would never rest in such an exposed location. The students assumed that the bird was ill. We walked over to investigate. One student held the formidable beak closed while the other examined the wing bones, leg bones, and sternum. The bird was emaciated and showed staining on the vent from diarrhea. The prognosis was poor. The students placed the bird in the shade, the best they could do for it.

All of Little Tobago is a protected nature reserve. Because of the lack of fresh water, no settlements have ever been established there. We were the only humans on the island. We climbed long, broad concrete steps through a climax semideciduous dry forest that looked the same as it did to Christopher Columbus 500 years ago. Impressive anthuriums five feet across grew on the ground as well as high in the trees. Birds were active, with Bananaquits everywhere, Blue-gray Tanagers streaking past, White-tipped Doves walking in clearings, and Red-billed Tropicbirds flying overhead. We arrived at the abandoned warden's hut at the top of the trail and rested while watching the show above us. The tropicbirds played with the wind, often pairing up in dancelike flight formation, tail feathers streaming.

We hiked through the woods to the first lookout, from which we could view a rock cliff to our left. There were probably 100 tropicbirds wheeling before us. Numbers were impossible to estimate because the birds often flew out of sight behind the ridges. We carefully scrutinized the flock for a reported White-tailed Tropicbird. I glimpsed an individual with a dark yellow bill, but it was gone before I could check out the wing pattern, and we never saw it again.

Those who wanted to snorkel returned to the boat while the rest of us moved on to the second lookout, where we found ourselves in a roofed shelter at the edge of a cliff. Below us was an upthrust rock on which both Brown Boobies and Red-footed Boobies were resting. The Red-footed Boobies were all of the dark morph, medium chocolate in color with a white rump and tail.

Frank quietly led us back a few yards from the shelter and downhill just a bit to show us a Red-billed Tropicbird nesting on the ground under an anthurium. Seen at close range the bird looked much larger that it appeared in flight.

We stayed at the second lookout for a long time watching the spectacle before us. A Peregrine visited the site twice, and Broad-winged Hawks appeared several times. Crested Oropendolas and Tropical Mockingbirds occasionally flew past. It was the frigatebirds that held our attention. From a lazy soaring position a frigatebird would suddenly pull in its wings and drop like a rocket, pulling up behind an unsuspecting tropicbird and grabbing it by the wing or tail, then shaking it like a rag doll until it either lost its grip or the tropicbird regurgitated a fish. One frigatebird in particular repeated its plundering at least a dozen times while we watched. This was the site at which David Attenborough filmed his Red-billed Tropicbirds for his BBC series The Trials of Life. We were witnessing the same avian behavior that he had filmed and quite possibly the same birds.

Before returning to the boat, Frank took us down a long, steep trail to see something very special indeed - a nesting Audubon's Shearwater in its burrow. There was no question as to its identity, but even at point blank range there was hardly any way to discern what we were seeing - just a gray feathered thing in a burrow. Therefore we did not count it on our list. We rejoined the snorkelers, reboarded the boat, and returned to the Blue Waters Inn for showers and some preliminary packing for our flight to Trinidad the next morning.

After enjoying dinner, we tallied up the species seen during the day, a total of 50 species, of which 4 were new for the trip, bringing the trip total to 186.

Back  Home  Next





























































Back  Home  Next

Jan. 31 - Trinidad / Asa Wright Nature Center, Oilbird Cave
This morning we enjoyed breakfast and then bade farewell to the Blue Waters Inn and to the flock of Ruddy Turnstones with which we had shared the dining room and bar. Birding groups leaving for Trinidad normally arise at the ungodly hour of 3:30 a.m. and travel the length of Tobago in darkness, arriving at Crown Point Airport in time for the earliest flight back to Trinidad. I had determined to follow a more civilized plan, arising later so as not to subject the group to a grueling day. Newton got us to the airport in full daylight and in plenty of time to catch our 9:35 BWIA flight to Trinidad. Before he left we told him how much we appreciated his expertise and his unflagging enthusiasm.

We had not birded at all in a middle-elevation rainforest, so today we scooped up plenty of new species. The first was a flock of Gray-breasted Martins seen at the airport. Our local bird guide, David Ramlal, was waiting for us with his van, a fine vehicle with sliding doors on both sides. After collecting our luggage, we assembled outside, where I had an opportunity to introduce the group to Dr. Carol James, the T&T Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. Dr. James is responsible for preserving all the natural areas that we were enjoying. Meeting her was a good omen.

From Piarco Airport David drove through the city of Arima, home to the largest population of Arawak Indians on earth, then up the Arima Valley on Blanchisseuse Road. From the airport to the Asa Wright Nature Center we climbed 1,200 feet in elevation. The temperature drop was noticeable. Along the way we saw homes of East Indians with their Hindu prayer flags waving in the breeze. At one point we passed a ravine covered by an enormous expanse of what looked like grape arbors but from which hung christophene, a vegetable called choyote in Latin America.

Soon we reached the entrance to the Center. A staff member greeted us, explained the daily schedule, and handed out room keys. We scurried to our rooms and reassembled as quickly as possible on the veranda.

The Asa Wright Nature Center veranda looks out over about 10 miles of rainforest, down the Arima Valley and out onto the Plains of Caroni. The Central Range is clearly visible in the distance. Just below the veranda are five birdfeeding stations at which the staff piles fruit and fills the hummingbird feeders with sugar water. Bar stools along the open windows provide a perfect observation point from which to see all the activity at and under the feeders, in the bushes and trees in the vicinity, and overhead. Beneath the feeders as many as six Brazilian (Red-rumped) Agouti (Dasyprocta agouti) foraged at a time on fallen fruit. They shared the spoils with Black Tegu (Tupinambis teguixin) and Common Ameiva (Ameiva ameiva) lizards.

We had time to see about 30 species, including two new hummingbirds, the Green Hermit and the Little Hermit, before the lunch bell summoned us to the dining room, where we enjoyed a buffet luncheon. Afterwards we savored the in-your-face hummingbirds and other species on the veranda. Howard, a resident guide, and I studied a faded Myiarchus-like flycatcher in the Trema tree at the end of the veranda. After reviewing the field marks and referring to reference books, we identified it as a Northern Scrub-Flycatcher, an arid-land species completely out of place in the rainforest and a species apparently new for the Center. The Trema tree produced at least 20 species for us during our visit and was the first place to look when entering the veranda. Another surprise at the feeders was a pair of Red-crowned Ant-Tanagers, a species much more at home deep in the rainforest.

In midafternoon we joined Denise Etienne, another resident naturalist, for a hike to the Oilbird Cave. This rare, nocturnal fruit-eating bird is the only species known to navigate by echo-location. But first Denise had a special surprise for us, an immature Ornate Hawk-Eagle sitting in a tree far down the valley but clearly visible through the scope. We heard Channel-billed Toucans on this walk and throughout our stay at the Center, but only a few of the group saw them. The same held true for Blue-headed Parrots, which flew over from time to time but were seen up close by only a few members of our group.

We were honored to be accompanied on our hike by the new manager of the Asa Wright Center, Gilbert Bastyra. Born in Trinidad, Gilbert's education and hotel management had kept him away from the land of his birth for most of his life. Throughout our visit he was a welcome presence, learning as much as he could about the birds, joining us on the veranda and at meals, and in general making us feel as much as home as possible.

As Denise led us through the ornamental shrubs and trees close to the main house we were constantly in the midst of Bananaquits and tanagers. Denise pointed out the "Cyp" tree in which Lilac-tailed Parrotlets recently had been roosting, the pomerac or Malay Apple trees that were in flower and attracting hummingbirds, and a huge mango tree in which a pair of Lilac-tailed Parrotlets had been excavating a nest cavity in a termitarium earlier in the day. She pointed out a foraging White-flanked Antwren, the Trinidad version of the White-fringed Antwren in Tobago. Along the path, feeding on berries, were Bay-headed Tanagers and a Euler's Flycatcher, the only Empidonax flycatcher in Trinidad and one of the species often missed by birding groups. Always a skulker, a long-tailed Squirrel Cuckoo perched in the open before disappearing into the canopy. Perhaps the same individual was seen flying across the yard below the veranda twice later that day. A Tropical Parula was a good find not far from the main house, and Tropical Pewee was new for the trip, every bit as dull as our North American varieties. We heard a Gray-fronted Dove nearby, a bird that stayed in the same general area for the duration of our trip, never showing itself except in fast flight in the opposite direction from us.

Near the beginning of the Guacharo (=Oilbird) Trail was an explanatory billboard depicting the life history of the Oilbird. Denise gave us a brief introduction to what we would be seeing, then led us for about half an hour to Guacharo Gorge and the Oilbird colony. Along the way we found an Olive-sided Flycatcher, a migrant from the cold bogs of North America, perched at the very top of a dead tree. Another individual of the species was also noted, lower down in the same tree.

We walked through mature rainforest, examining leafcutter ants as they crossed the path, seedpods that looked like dolphins, coffee berries red and ripe, and an occasional Common Blue Morpho butterfly (Morpho peleides). In describing the species, I quoted David Rooks, who said, "The underside of its wings are brown, but the inside is a bright, scintillating, metallic blue, the bluest thing in the world. They fly through the forest with a rapid, undulating pattern and as they do that, they open those wings and they shoot blue laser lights at you. It's a sight that never fails to create excitement, and one that you'll never forget."

At the bottom of Guacharo Gorge, a few at a time we entered the cave that holds the world's most accessible colony of Oilbirds. Denise spotlighted several pairs sitting on their high-walled nests built on ledges along the cave walls. There were probably 50 or more Oilbirds in the cave. To avoid disturbing them, we ventured only a short distance into the cave. On the rock wall outside the cave, a pair of Chestnut-collared Swifts had built a nest, now abandoned. We searched for and found the source of a constant bell-like sound that filled the gorge - inch-long Trinidad Stream Frogs (Colostethus trinitatus), dull brown cousins of the brightly colored poison-dart frogs.

The return trip was quieter, since dusk had fallen on our side of the Arima Valley. Most birds were settling in for the night. In the distance we could still hear the wooden "BONK!" of a male Bearded Bellbird proclaiming his territory. At the top of the trail, at the huge mango tree, our first White-bearded Manakin flew across our path, its wings sounding like crepe paper being crumpled.

After enjoying dinner, we tallied up the species seen during the day, a total of 82 species, of which 19 were new for the trip, bringing the trip total to 205.

The evening entertainment was a video about Papa Bois, Soucouyant, Douenes, La Diablesse, and other figures that hold prominent places in Trinidad folklore.

Back  Home  Next





























































Back  Home  Next

Feb. 1 - Trinidad / Blanchisseuse Road, Brasso Seco Road
What a pleasant irritation to be awakened by a Spectacled Owl and then by a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl calling just outside your bungalow. The first birds, Tropical Mockingbirds, started singing at around 4 a.m. House Wrens joined in not long afterward, and by 5 a.m. it was an acoustical free-for-all, with a male Silver-beaked Tanager giving a stellar performance each morning just outside my room. The only problem was that I was too far from the rest of the group to alert them to the calls and too shy to shout "Spectacled Owl calling!" out my window.

I led a leisurely pre-breakfast birdwalk along the entrance road, seeking better views of species we had already seen. The photosynthesis in the Arima Valley is such that one feels as if the air is 100% oxygen. Green, green everywhere, except for an unmistakable gray, black, and white bird with red bare facial skin, a Black-tailed Tityra, the only one for the trip.

After the walk, the veranda beckoned us first, then breakfast, and then we were on the road again, birding our way up the valley with David. Our destination originally had been the lowlands, but I chose to take advantage of the absence of rain clouds on the horizon to head into the heights, making hay while the sun shone, as it were. We had already seen all the species we were likely to see at the normal destination for this foray, the seaside Caribbean village of Blanchisseuse. The habitat along the way was similar to that we had already experienced, so rather than driving for hours to and from Blanchisseuse, I decided to take our group to the cool heights of Morne Bleu instead.

Stopping at a few wide, shady pull-offs on this winding, narrow road, we explored the high elevation rainforest from the Center to the crest of Morne Bleu, picking up a high elevation specialty, Speckled Tanager. We also found Great Antshrike, a species that normally visits the AWNC feeders, but not while we were watching for it.

At the Morne Bleu pass we could see the Caribbean some 20 miles away and far below us. We turned east onto the Paria/Brasso Seco Road and stopped for lunch in the village of Brasso Seco (=dry branch, a reference to its lack of economic production in the late 1800s) at a building that offered cold drinks and a shaded dining area. Afterward lunch we walked up the road toward Paria Springs, an ecolodge owned by my friend Courtenay Rooks. Here we spotted several interesting raptors including a Zone-tailed Hawk that visited the area periodically while we were there and which, at one point, was conveniently in the same field of view as a Turkey Vulture, allowing side-by-side comparison of their shapes and coloration. Another Short-tailed Hawk was spotted very high, circling as usual with Black Vultures, but it slid behind a ridge and out of sight before being seen by the group. We saw many species we had seen already, heard but could not locate another Striped Cuckoo, and spent considerable time tracking down an elusive Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl that few of the group actually got to see.

Our return trip was more exciting than our morning trip. The birds seemed to be more active or at least more visible. We heard but did not see some new ones, including Red-rumped Woodpecker, Black-faced Antthrush, and Trinidad Euphonia. We saw our first Golden-headed Manakin, a chunky black bird with a flaming yellow head and a white iris that gives the bird a crazed look. One stop was particularly productive. We stopped to get a better look at a raptor perched on a horizontal branch about 100 feet off the road and somewhat below it. Careful examination through the scope revealed it to be an immature Gray-headed or Double-toothed Kite - at the time we did not concentrate on determining whether the underparts were streaked or barred, and the size difference between the two species was difficult to determine. I originally called it a Gray-headed Kite because what I could see of the flanks was devoid of markings, but later it was discussed that barring had been seen on the flanks, which is diagnostic for a Double-toothed Kite.

David heard a single-note call that he recognized as that of a Brown Violet-ear hummingbird, one of the rarest of the hummingbirds on either island and another spectacular find for the trip. The large hummingbird sat in a bare tree on a bare twig singing its song long enough for us to view it through the scope. This was only the third time the species had been seen on any of my trips. With the addition of that species, we had seen all normally occurring species of hummingbirds on both islands, something never before achieved on any of my trips.

A final highlight of the trip was a stop along a shady stretch of road where the trees formed a canopy over us. We were able to attract a gorgeous male Collared Trogon, green on the head and back and rose red on the underparts. After initially playing hard-to-get, it came closer and closer as if trying to entice us to take its photograph. No one could ever have gotten a better look at this species short of holding it in the hand. Trogons in general were tough to find during our visit, and it would have been a shame to have left Trinidad & Tobago without seeing this species. I was very relieved when we found it.

Upon our return to the Center, we resumed our veranda birding. One member of our group saw a strikingly handsome Chestnut Woodpecker at the feeder. The Trema at the end of the veranda produced Bananaquits, four species of tanagers, three species of honeycreepers, Blue Dacnis, the seemingly resident Forest Elaenia, Ochre-bellied and Boat-billed Flycatchers, Great Kiskadee, Grayish Saltator, Crested Oropendola, Shiny Cowbird, Yellow Oriole, and more. It also produced our first sighting of Yellow-olive Flycatcher, a species unrecorded on any of my previous trips. Ho hum (grin).

As dusk fell we finally got a glimpse of a pair of Lilac-tailed Parrotlets as they flew into the Cyp tree where they had been roosting for several days. They appeared black in the failing light. A few of us maintained a watch for a Short-tailed Nighthawk that had been seen on several evenings just before our arrival, flying batlike at dusk just above the treetops and across the Center's yard on its way up the valley. The nighthawk failed to appear, but we did witness fruit bats lapping sugar water from the hummingbird feeders, as many as three at once on each feeder. They stayed for only a second, never landed, and fed voraciously, as demonstrated by the fast drop in the sugar water levels. With 65 species of bats known from the island, bats are Trinidad's most common group of mammals.

After enjoying dinner, we tallied up the species seen during the day, a total of 92 species, of which 12 were new for the trip, bringing the trip total to 217.

Back  Home  Next





























































Back  Home  Next

Feb. 2 - Trinidad / Blanchisseuse Road, Waller Field, Aripo Savanna
This was our last day of birding. After an early breakfast prepared especially for us, we left the Center at 6:30 a.m. and began working our way to the mouth of the Arima Valley and out onto the Aripo Savanna. Before we had gone far, David pulled over at a switchback in the road, having heard a Gray-throated Leaftosser. This was a species we had heard, and we had even seen its burrow in dirt banks along roads, but we had not seen the species. We got out of the van, I played its song, and soon we had the bird sitting on a nearby branch and focused in the scope so that everyone could get a good look at it. Superficially resembling a woodcreeper in shape and coloration, the leaftosser actually is a member of the strictly tropic family called Ovenbirds.

While at the leaftosser site, we spotted another immature raptor perched not far down the slope from us. It looked very much like the immature kite from the day before. We discussed the size difference, as Gray-headed Kite is about 30% larger than Double-toothed Kite, but size is difficult to judge, so we looked for other clues as to its identity. Through the scope we could see heavy barring, which identified it conclusively as a Double-toothed Kite, our first for the trip. Another really difficult species to find, and we found it.

As we passed the christophene plantation, I heard the unmistakable song of a Pale-breasted Spinetail, a species we had not yet seen. David parked and I played the song of the species, which brought it up to us and into the brush above us. It made a number of short flights, never sitting in the open but sufficient for us to identify it visually. A pair of Rufous-breasted Wrens investigated the christophene vines at eye level only about three feet from us, singing loudly enough to be painful. Yet another totally unexpected species, a Slaty-capped Flycatcher, flew down the slope from the woods above us and landed in the open near us. Without doubt it was the best view any of us will ever have of this forest-loving species.

After bypassing Arima, David stopped in an area usually good for Giant Cowbird, a species that some of the group had yet to see. As we got out of the van, a pair of them flew from one tree to another and then finally out of the area, so our quest was successful. Once again we heard but could not locate a singing Striped Cuckoo, our nemesis bird.

We drove back to the site where we had found the Rufescent Tiger-Heron. Workers were busy cutting grass and planting flowers and trees. Because of the disturbance, no birds were present, so we continued on, eventually following to its end a road marked by two parallel paths through the grass. Our target birds were tropical species such as antshrikes and antbirds.

Almost as soon as we emerged from the van, I looked up and saw yet another totally unexpected species, a Crane Hawk. This species is instantly identifiable by the shape of its wings, which when outstretched are very pinched-in where they meet the body, giving them a paddle-shaped appearance. On my last visit Kenny and I had watched Trinidad's first pair of Crane Hawks at this part of Waller Field. They had not been seen for several months, so this was another exceptionally lucky sighting for us. Also among the thousands of Black Vultures were a Zone-tailed Hawk and yet another Short-tailed Hawk that could not be relocated to show the group.

A White-bellied Antbird was calling regularly not far from us, so our first order of business was to try to coax the bird to show itself. This took quite a while, with the bird calling and walking, calling and walking, right past the MP3 player, seemingly invisible. Upon closer inspection we saw that the bird had walked past us while at the bottom of a dry stream bed. With persistence we were able to watch this furtive, chestnut-backed bird as it stepped hesitantly among the detritis on the far side of the streambed or stood quietly in the shadows.

Efforts to attract a duetting pair of Black-crested Antshrikes were immediately successful, with a lovely pair of the species hopping into open trees near us. Our admiration was cut short as David recognized the call of a Moriche Oriole, a member of the oriole group dressed mainly in black, with small areas of yellow on the crown and rump. This is the rarest oriole in Trinidad and one that none of my groups had ever seen. By staying focused on the bird and carefully noting its position as it moved around in a distant tree, David was able to make sure that everyone had seen it before it flew. And fly it did, toward us and into a closer, taller tree where it was much easier to see, especially with the sun behind us instead of in our eyes.

Time to move on. We drove toward the south entrance to Waller Field and stopped at a spot where I had found Masked Yellowthroat in June. Within minutes we had a yellowthroat in sight, skulking deep in the tall grass. It moved closer in response to playback, flying across the asphalt and landing in a bush next to us before diving back into thick cover. The view was sufficient to show how much brighter yellow and larger that species is than our Common Yellowthroat. Underway again, David flushed a Common Ground-Dove from the road. He drove around the abandoned runways for awhile, trying in vain to relocate it.

From Waller Field we drove to the village of Cumuto, where David took us on a bumpy jaunt along an unpaved track through the Aripo Savanna, an unsuccessful quest for a pair of Bat Falcons that had been reported in the area. Our birding had become a pattern of feast or famine.

Returning to Cumuto, we stopped to eat our lunch at LC's store, across the street from a very active colony of Yellow-rumped Caciques, which entertained us with their extraordinarily wide range of musical calls and songs. We sampled more local flavors, and I satisfied our craving for chocolate by sharing a locally manufactured chocolate bar.

The flatlands were hot. We still had not been to the White-bearded Manakin lek or seen a Bearded Bellbird, both of which were at the Asa Wright Nature Center, so rather than head for the lowland Arena Forest, where all the birds would have been repeats, we returned to the coolness of the Center.

Mukesh, a talented young resident naturalist, served as our guide for our final nature walk in Trinidad. From the veranda we followed the same route as we had on the way to the Oilbird Cave. A Bearded Bellbird "BOCK'ed" from somewhere down the valley. We were again surrounded by frenetic Bananaquits, tanagers, and other members of their flocking fraternity. We continued down the Discovery Trail, past the turnoff at the huge mango tree that led to the Oilbird cave. The area had a warm familiarity to it, something that comes with enjoyable time spent soaking in the ambience of a place. I pointed out the insectlike call of a tiny canopy-frequenting flycatcher called a Short-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant. This species is not uncommon, but its call is generally overlooked because it is a single note given at a high pitch. Mukesh had never heard the species before and was happy to learn it. It does not respond to the call of the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl and I lacked a recording of its vocalization, so we had to be content with a "heard-only" for the species.

One species that did respond to Mukesh's pishing and which flew down from the trees and into excellent view, was our first Golden-crowned Warbler, a common yellowish member of the difficult tropical warbler genus Basileuterus. The scientific name of the Golden-crowned Warbler means "mosquito eater". We also finally had a decent view of the one trogon species we had not yet seen, a Violaceous Trogon.

In the same area I heard a call that David had taught us the day before, that of the Brown Violet-ear hummingbird. Sure enough, it was perched in the open on a bare twig in an area where the ground was decorated with the fallen deep violet blossoms of a Jacaranda tree. As we stood watching and listening to it, a male White-bearded Manakin flew across the clearing, urging us to continue down the trail to a lek that has been in continuous use for more than 50 years. From the trail we could see about a dozen puffy little black-and-white, neckless males, each perched a foot above the ground over a patch of dirt that they kept clear of fallen leaves. From time to time they would jump to the ground, bounce up to a twig, and jump to another perch or to the same one from which they had started, giving a sharp, loud SNAP with their wings as they did so. A passing female elicited what sounded like a small guerilla war of snaps as each male competed with the others for her attention.

The Bearded Bellbird was still sounding off down the trail. We continued walking in the direction of the call, passing a variety of complex llianas that looked like carvings. No army ant swarms were present, so the contingent of woodcreepers and antbirds that normally would have been calling in that area were absent. Only the bellbird broke the silence of the late afternoon jungle.

When we reached the point at which the Discovery Trail drops rather steeply to the Bellbird calling area, we stopped and tried to locate the bird visually. A calling Bearded Bellbird is highly ventriloquial, often tilting its head upward when it emits its powerful "BOCK", so the sound seems to come from no particular direction. We were looking for a bird the size of a fat Blue Jay, white with black wings and tail and a coffee-colored head, with a cluster of black wattled hanging from the chin and throat. One might think that such a contrasting pattern would jump out against a uniform background of green, but it does not.

As long as the bird continued to call we could continue to stalk it, but a silent bellbird essentially cannot be located. Calling on my past experience with bellbirds, I asked the group to wait until the bird started a rhythmic series of calls, then stop when the bird stopped, await an explosive "BOCK", a second "BOCK", and then to advance a few steps closer. This technique worked splendidly. We were probably less than 50 feet from the bird when we finally spotted it, sitting in an understory tree about 30 feet above ground level. The view was sensational and the bird was cooperative. We watched it for as long as we wanted, with no need to approach any closer. The bird turned around, preened, called, flew to a nearby perch, continued calling, and basically did everything we could have wanted. This was a Bearded Bellbird sighting to remember.

Some members of the group still had not seen a Chestnut Woodpecker well and were considering returning to the veranda to check out the feeders where one had been seen earlier. I planned to return by a different trail. They decided to follow that trail for awhile. Good fortune again smiled on us. Only a few hundred feet down the trail we found a pair of Chestnut Woodpeckers foraging on a hillside above us. Mission accomplished, the three of us headed back to the veranda to enjoy our rum punch and savor one last evening at what must be Trinidad's birdiest location.

I thought it fittingly that we had seen more species on this, our final day, than we had on any previous day. We had mopped up species we had missed on previous days and seen other species better than we had before. The group had come to know a great many species that only a week before had been strangers.

After enjoying dinner, we tallied up the species seen during the day, a total of 110 species, of which 10 were new for the trip, bringing the trip total to a staggering 227 species, of which 11 were in the "Never To Be Expected" category: Rufescent Tiger-Heron, Gray Heron, American Wigeon, Crane Hawk, Ring-billed Gull, Brown Violet-ear, Sulphury Flycatcher, White-winged Becard, Yellow-throated Vireo, Ruddy-breasted Seedeater, and Grassland Yellow-Finch.

Back  Home  Next




























































Back  Home

Feb. 3 - Travel day - Home
Our fabulous journey to the tropics concluded as those of us who were returning home boarded our flights at Piarco International Airport.

Back  Home

Table showing bird species seen each day

Other Organisms Identified (excluding insects, other than butterflies)































































Home

Other Organisms Identified (excluding insects, other than butterflies)

Butterflies

Anartia Butterfly, Anartia amather
Caribbean Buckeye, Junonia evarete
Cloudless Sulphur, Phoebis sennae
Giant Morpho, Morpho peleides
Long-tailed Skipper, Urbanus proteus
Monarch, Danaus plexippus
Owl butterfly, Caligo teucer
Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui
Postman, Heliconius melpomene
White Peacock Butterfly, Anartia jatrophaes
White-tailed Patch, Papilio sp.

Fish

Black Durgon, Melichthys niger
Blue Tang, Acanthurus coeruleus
Creole Wrasse, Clepticus parrae
Flathead Mullet, Mugil cephalus
Four-eyed Fish, Anableps anableps
French Angelfish, Pomacanthus paru
Princess Parrotfish, Scarus taeniopterus
Queen Angelfish, Holacanthus ciliaris
Sergeant Major, Abudefduf saxatilis
Stoplight Parrotfish, Sparisoma viride
Yellowhead Wrasse, Halichoeres garnoti
Yellowtail Snapper, Ocyurus chrysurus

Mammals

Brazilian (Red-rumped) Agouti, Dasyprocta agouti
Greater White-lined (Sac-winged) Bat, Saccopteryx bilineata
Red Howler Monkey, Alouatta seniculus
Silky Anteater, Cyclopes didactylus
Tropical Red (Red-tailed) Squirrel, Sciurus granatensis

Reptiles

Black Tegu, Tupinambis teguixin
Common Ameiva, Ameiva ameiva
Cook's Tree Boa, Corallus enydris cooki
Green Iguana, Iguana iguana
House Gecko, Hemidactylus frenatus

Home