Trinidad and Tobago Dec 09—18, 2005
Posted by Bob Sundstrom
Bob Sundstrom
Bob Sundstrom has led VENT tours since 1989 to destinations including Hawaii, Mexico, Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, Iceland, Papua New Guinea, the Southwest Pacific islands,...Related Trips
We had all just arrived for the start of our December 2005 Trinidad and Tobago tour, which began on the smaller island of Tobago. As we sat down to an excellent dinner at Cuffie River Nature Retreat, we watched—to our amazement—as a male White-tailed Nightjar perched repeatedly on a twig, perhaps 40 feet from our table. In the flashlight beam, the nightjar's plumage was visible in good detail—a wonderful way to begin our tour.
The first three days of our trip took place on Tobago, where we birded the best spots on the island from highland tropical old-growth forest to fresh water ponds, to the prolific seabird nesting area near the island of Little Tobago. Our walks in the forest were especially memorable. On our first full day on Tobago, we picnicked at the Grafton Estate, where the bird feeders were busy with Blue-gray, Palm, and White-lined tanagers, a Barred Antshrike, and Rufous-bellied Chachalacas. After lunch, we walked a forest trail. Red-crowned and Red-rumped woodpeckers appeared in the first few minutes and, shortly after, we were fortunate to see a pair of Stripe-breasted Spinetails near their huge stick nest above the trail. A slender, spike-billed Rufous-tailed Jacamar perched along the trail, Cocoa Woodcreepers came close (as did White-fringed Antwrens), and we had our first looks at Blue-backed Manakins.
On the next day, we hiked into old-growth tropical forest along the Gilpin Trace, and soon found a beautiful Golden-olive Woodpecker, several scintillating male Blue-backed Manakins (with iridescent blue backs and velvety red caps), a pair of Rufous-breasted Wrens, an Olivaceous Woodcreeper, and had exquisite views of two White-necked Thrushes. Our search for the rare and local White-tailed Sabrewing first led to some nice views of this large hummingbird as it hovered and flashed its white tail, looking for all the world like a white butterfly zipping through the forest. Later we saw two different female White-tailed Sabrewings sitting on nests! After a picnic overlooking Bloody Bay, we birded a bit along the road long enough to find a male Collared Trogon which perched for stunning scope views, showing off its red breast and finely patterned undertail.
After Tobago, we had five full days on Trinidad, which had considerably greater bird diversity—too much to describe in this brief space. We had six nights lodging and meals at Asa Wright, which will be fondly remembered. Our first morning there—and nearly every morning thereafter—we birded early from the famed Asa Wright veranda. The nectar feeders and fruit trays swarmed with Purple Honeycreepers and Green Honeycreepers, not to mention legions of Bananaquits. A Silver-beaked Tanager wowed the onlookers, its plumage like maroon velvet and its bill glinting like polished silver. Brilliant Turquoise Tanagers visited the nearby "tremor tree," and Channel-billed Toucans glowed from a treetop perch. Hummingbirds swarmed and challenged one another: flashy White-necked Jacobins, a miniature Tufted Coquette, glittering Blue-chinned Sapphires, White-bellied Emeralds, and Copper-rumped Hummingbirds. Massive Crested Oropendolas clattered in, and a pair of large Lineated Woodpeckers performed on a trunk opposite the veranda.
A walk down the Discovery Trail after breakfast brought many new sights: snapping White-bearded Manakins, a perched Common Potoo, a Violaceous Trogon overhead, and a tassel-tailed Green Hermit visiting ginger flowers. After a bit of searching and guided by its very loud "bok!" calls, we found a Bearded Bellbird male, for frame-filling scope views. Its long, rubbery wattles shook as it opened its mouth and shouted its many decibel call.
Each day on Trinidad opened new birding vistas. One day we birded our way north and at higher elevation along the Blanchisseuse Road. Along a side road, we found a wonderful flock of tanagers: Bay-headed and Speckled tanagers, mixed with vivid Blue Dacnis. Soon after, Dave (our local guide) hollered "Piping Guan!" We rushed back to where he was standing, and spent the next few minutes in astonishment, watching a huge, rare Trinidad Piping Guan—with blue face and silvery patches in the wings—the sole endemic bird species of Trinidad and Tobago. Later that day we watched a pair of Lilac-tailed Parrotlets, as they prospected an arboreal termite nest as a potential nest site of their own. Another day, we scoped Red-bellied Macaws, as they munched on enormous palm seeds held in their feet, like a monkey holding a piece of fruit.
On our final morning birding from the Asa Wright veranda, a male Tufted Coquette hovered among the vervain flowers, a Chestnut Woodpecker visited a fruit feeder, and an Ornate Hawk-Eagle perched in the trees just off the veranda. Our final day ended with a boat trip among the Caroni mangroves where, before sunset, the boat was tied opposite a mangrove-covered island. Near sunset, flock after flock of stunning, impossibly red Scarlet Ibises flew in and perched in the mangroves on the island, joined by hundreds of Snowy Egrets and Tricolored Herons. We raised our rum punches to the red glow of thousands of Scarlet Ibises, an ideal ending to our days of great birding on Trinidad and Tobago.