Trinidad &Tobago Feb 19—28, 2006
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
A ten-day tour of Trinidad and Tobago is an ideal introduction to tropical birding in the Americas. The first three days of the tour take place on Tobago, birding the best spots on the island. Some of the group often arrive a day early to relax and acclimate at Cuffie River Nature Retreat, a very private setting with wonderful food and rooms. After Tobago, we spend five full days on Trinidad, which has considerably greater bird diversity, with six nights lodging and meals at famed Asa Wright Nature Centre. A sampling of highlights from our February 2006 tour captures the magic of this trip:
February 20: Our first full day on Tobago, we walked the near grounds of Cuffie River Nature Retreat before breakfast. We had a nice view of a pair of Barred Antshrikes near the bridge, and a female Rufous-tailed Jacamar a little further out the entrance road. White-necked Jacobins swarmed the feeders and fed at brilliant orange immortelle trees. We scoped a Blue-crowned Motmot, compared Gray and Tropical kingbirds, and had good looks at Black-faced Grassquit, Orange-winged Parrot, and Chivi Vireo. After breakfast we departed for the rainforest trail known as Gilpin Trace. At the rest stop above the trail, we had good views of a pair of Great Black Hawks, as well as a diversity of birds in a fruiting tree. (Later, during lunch at this spot, the same tree would feature a pair of Collared Trogons, Red-legged Honeycreepers, and White-lined Tanagers, among others.) Near the start of the Gilpin Trace, we watched a beautiful Golden-olive Woodpecker and a pair of large Cocoa Woodcreepers. Shortly after, Stripe-breasted Spinetails and Rufous-breasted Wrens foraged close together. Sightings of rare White-tailed Sabrewings began with hovering birds, and later we scoped perched sabrewings and one on a nest. Blue-backed Manakins nearly stole the show, as we had scope views and close-ups of multiple males, brilliant blue with velvet-red caps.
February 22: On our final day on Tobago, we took a boat trip to Little Tobago. Elegant Red-billed Tropicbirds flew in profusion, as did Magnificent Frigatebirds. We scoped Red-footed Boobies of two color morphs, and walked very close to a Brown Booby on its nest. A downhill trail got us very close to multiple Red-billed Tropicbirds with nestlings, and two different nesting Audubon's Shearwaters in shallow cavities. The same evening we caught a brief 5:00 p.m. flight to Trinidad, and soon we were headed up to Asa Wright Nature Centre for dinner and our first night there.
February 23: Our first, brilliant morning on the famed Asa Wright veranda. As the sun rose, the bats dispersed, and the birds began to visit the feeders. First, a Cocoa Thrush and a pair of Blue-crowned Motmots attended the fruit trays, as agoutis scampered underneath. Before long, it was as busy as a beehive. Purple and Green honeycreepers jockeyed for space with Bananaquits. A male Red-legged Honeycreeper shone like a glittering gem. Crested Oropendolas clacked and trilled, bumping smaller fruit eaters aside. Velvety Silver-beaked Tanagers, wing-flashing White-lined Tanagers, noisy Great Kiskadees, and a furtive Great Antshrike were on the scene, among others. Hummingbirds jousted at a series of feeders and systematically patrolled blossom-rich shrubs: flashy White-necked Jacobins, feisty White-chested Emeralds and Copper-rumped Hummingbirds, and richly iridescent Blue-chinned Sapphires. A tiny female?and then a dashing male?Tufted Coquette drew everyone's full attention. A Green Hermit visited, its long tassel tail hanging like a tufted brush. A Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl that had tooted all morning finally revealed itself, perched on a high branch, its tail marking time with each hoot. And then it was time for breakfast.
A walk after breakfast down the Discovery Trail brought us views of gem-like Bay-headed Tanagers, Violaceous Euphonias, and brilliant Blue Dacnis, among a flurry of birds visiting a fruiting tree. A Common Potoo sat on its day roost, and a male White-tailed Trogon?its breast a deep yellow?was a sensation. A male Golden-headed Manakin, with an all-black body and golden-yellow head, was acclaimed amid scope views.
The afternoon was just as pleasant and productive. Walking along the entrance road, we scoped one of the day's three Violaceous Trogons, and watched a trove of Turquoise Tanagers, Violaceous Euphonias, and Bay-headed Tanagers as they preened in a cecropia tree. Back on the veranda, toward the end of tea time, two Channel-billed Toucans flew in, a study in rich yellow and red. And, rum punch in hand, we saw a Short-tailed Nighthawk fly almost onto the veranda!
February 27: Our last full day of birding had arrived, and we would make the most of it. The final morning on the veranda was sensational, including a pair of Chestnut Woodpeckers at the feeders, exquisite in their rich brown and buff. After breakfast, we walked down to Dunstan Cave for superb views of Oilbirds, as dozens of adults perched on nests, some shrieking wildly.
The final afternoon event took us into the immense mangrove estuary known as Caroni Swamp. Aboard the boat, we stopped for Green-throated Mangoes, a Cook's tree boa outstretched on a horizontal limb, and a reddish-brown silky anteater rolled up in a ball on a branch. A Straight-billed Woodcreeper nearly landed in the boat. By 5:30 p.m. we were tied to the mangroves, rum punch in hand, watching Scarlet Ibises begin their flights across the estuary, streaming by in unbelievably crimson skeins. Large flocks of Tricolored Herons and Snowy Egrets flapped low over the bay. The Scarlet Ibis flocks grew in size as sunset came, some numbering in the hundreds, and a roost islet was soon heavily flecked with the reds, whites, and blues of the many wading birds?a splendid culmination to a memorable tour.