Trinidad and Tobago Feb 23—Mar 04, 2011
Posted by David Ascanio
David Ascanio
David Ascanio, a Venezuelan birder and naturalist, has spent the last 26 years guiding birding tours throughout his native country, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, the Amazo...Related Trips
Our 2011 Trinidad and Tobago tour began in a rather unexpected way: it was raining during the dry season! Although northern South America was hit by the El Niño weather pattern in 2010 (bringing a severe drought), it is said that the year after tends to be wet (a La Niña year), and this was certainly true in Trinidad and Tobago.
 |
White-necked Jacobin— Photo: David Ascanio |
Despite the rains, we saw birds—and what a way to enjoy birds! Starting in Tobago we were astonished to see a female Masked Duck with 5 ducklings, several egrets and herons, Mangrove Cuckoo, and amazing views of male Ruby-topaz Hummingbird. In the highland forest we had scope views of the near-endemic White-tailed Sabrewing and Venezuelan Flycatcher, and some Caribbean specialties included Black-faced Grassquit, Caribbean Martin, Rufous-vented Chachalaca, Scrub Greenlet, and Red-crowned Woodpecker. Given its size, Tobago is the perfect place to begin birding the Neotropics due to a combination of high bird density without overwhelming diversity, which allows easy bird identification. Our visit to this small island ended with a boat trip to Little Tobago where we had views of Audubon's Shearwater, Red-billed Tropicbird, three morphs of Red-footed Booby, and various nests of Brown Booby.
We then flew to Trinidad where we took a step forward in understanding bird diversity. Trinidad's larger size and greater habitat diversity allows a richer birdlife. We spent four nights in the famed Asa Wright Nature Centre visiting the Blanchisseuse Road and walking two trails of the centre to enjoy Oilbird, Bearded Bellbird, and White-bearded Manakin. In the lowlands we had the opportunity to visit the Aripo Livestock Station and the Nariva Swamp, and were rewarded with permission to enter the Wallerfield area where we saw Epaulet (Moriche) Oriole and Sulphury Flycatcher.
There were a number of special moments during our trip, and one of the most memorable was finding a Rufous Nightjar singing and scoped at the Aripo Livestock Station—a lifer for our local guide Mahase! On a couple of occasions we were reminded that sometimes birding is about being in the right place at the right moment: As soon as we entered the Nariva Swamp, a Pinnated Bittern flew in front of our van and landed in the marsh contiguous to the road! A second experience occurred near the entrance to Asa Wright where we enjoyed Green-backed Trogon and Violaceous Trogon in the same tree.
Bird species were not all we enjoyed on our trip. During off-time and checklist sessions you learned about manakin lek dynamics, the life of Cotingidae, island biogeography, acoustic power of the habitats, the natural history of the Oilbird, and some prominent ornithologists including Paul Schwartz, John Gould, and William Beebe.
Our trip concluded with a visit to Waterloo Bay and a boat trip to the Caroni Swamp. In the latter location we enjoyed Scarlet Ibis raining from the sky as we observed more than 2,300 individuals coming to roost—another memorable moment!
On our tour we reported more than 210 bird species represented in 60 families in which an interesting aspect is the origin of the species—the way the bird species colonized the island either from the Caribbean, the Amazon-Guianas, the Andes-Coastal Cordillera of Venezuela, or the plains of the Orinoco.
Trinidad and Tobago is certainly a small country, but a great bird destination. Altogether we enjoyed a potpourri of incredible and contrasting species and experiences. Several remarkable moments included:
• Silver-beaked Tanager at the feeder at Asa Wright.
• Honeycreepers showing astonishing purple-blue feathers at Asa Wright.
• White-necked Jacobin bathing with the heavy rain.
• Ruby-topaz Hummingbird feeding at the feeders in Tobago.
• 12 species of birds of prey seen in a single day. In total we had 20 species of
birds of prey.
• 13 species of hummingbirds for the whole trip.
I hope to see you again on one of my R&E tours (Relaxed and Easy tours) covering habitats from cloud forest to extensive seasonal flood plains. Also, if you are interested in a tour rich in endemic bird species and beautiful scenery, please consider joining me on our Southeastern Venezuela tour. Last but not least, I am sure you will enjoy the Amazon River Cruise where we sail the tributaries of this amazing river while exploring many small rivers and channels to look for antbirds, tanagers, aracaries, toucans, and birds of prey. The Tropics of America host the richest bird locations in the world, and I hope this introduction to South America will encourage you to continue visiting these wonderful ecosystems of our continent!
To see the videos taken of several bird species, please visit the Internet Bird Collection, http://ibc.lynxeds.com/users/david-ascanio