The Enthusiastic Birder: Trinidad & Tobago Birding Trip 2016 - Day 5

White-tailed Sabrewing - Campylopterus ensipennis

I hadn’t anticipated any trouble getting a flight from Trinidad to Tobago, so I waited until a week before our departure to book tickets—only to discover that the dates and times I’d been monitoring were fully booked. Left with no alternative, we settled for a Thursday evening flight, an overnight stay in Tobago, and a return on Friday afternoon. While this plan stretched our already tight budget, it did have its advantages: I’d get an early start on Friday and visit more birding hotspots, hopefully spotting more species.

To keep costs down, we found an affordable, one-room apartment close to the airport and arranged to pick up a rental car upon arrival. With everything set, I was ready for a full day of birding in Tobago.

At 5:30 a.m., I woke to the calls of my first lifer for the island—the Rufous-vented Chachalaca, a noisy, turkey-like bird seen and heard everywhere on the island. No wonder it is Tobago’s national bird! By 5:45 a.m., I was birding and made my first stop at Crown Point, a beach at the southern end of the airport’s runway. There, Brown Pelicans and Common Terns were busy feeding along the shore. Out at sea, a few birds perched on a boat, but identifying them from that distance proved difficult. I added the Laughing Gull and Grey Kingbird to my growing list for the trip.

Next stop was Bon Accord Sewage Treatment Plant, a popular birding hotspot. Without GPS, I relied on a map and road signs, eventually arriving at a sign for the Bon Accord Mangroves. Birding in this area was fruitful—I spotted lifers like the Mangrove Cuckoo, Brown-crested Flycatcher, White-winged Becard, and Scrub Greenlet. However, I wasn’t able to locate the sewage treatment plant, the true birding hotspot.

By 8:00 a.m., I had returned to the apartment and hit the road again with my family at 9:00 a.m. Our first stop of the day was the Tobago Plantation.

The Tobago Plantation

Black-crowned Night-Heron - Nycticorax nycticorax

The Tobago Plantations Golf Course was conveniently close to where we stayed. Upon entering the property, we noticed a large lake on the right-hand side. The most abundant birds on the lake were Black-crowned Night Herons of all ages, followed by Anhingas and a few Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. To the left of the guard station, on the golf course, a flock of Giant Cowbirds caught my eye—a lifer for me. Meanwhile, a local couple was busy photographing the Whistling Ducks and kindly offered to guide me to the Bon Accord Sewage Treatment Plant.

Bon Accord Sewage Treatment Plant

Least Grebe - Tachybaptus dominicus

I followed the couples to Bon Accord and realized I was just a short distance from the sewage plant earlier. There were a number of ponds with birds in them. My target bird, Least Grebe, a lifer, was seen in a small pond close to the back of the plant. A surprise which brought me some excitement was the presence of two Glossy Ibis, which are rare to the island. I later reported that sighting to the country’s rare bird committee. Another first for the trip was a Short-billed Dowitcher. I spent close to an hour at the treatment plant before saying goodbye to our friends who were taking photographs of the Glossy Ibis.

The detour to the sewage treatment plant caused us an hour and I decided to make adjustments. We travelled on the east coast towards our next intended stop Argyle Falls some 22 miles away, along the winding roads of Tobago. We made one stop at Barbados Bay and then was on the road again. We arrived at Argyle Falls about 12:00 noon and started our tour.

Argyle Falls

Trinidad Motmot - Momotus bahamensis

It was a 15 – 30 minute easy walk to the falls. The path was covered with a canopy of trees and bamboo with various birds calling. The lifers I picked out from among the trees were Trinidad Motmot, finally! Cocoa Woodcreeper, White-fringed Antwren and Fuscous Flycatcher. We spent just over two hours at the falls, it was cool and refreshing. Our next stop was supposed to be the Speyside Lookout but a wrong turn on leaving Argyle Falls put us onto the Main Ridge Forest Reserve road and because of the time we continued.

Main Ridge Forest Reserve

Green-rumped Parrotlet - Forpus passerinus

The trip through the forest was birding on wheels; we saw and heard Orange-winged Parrots, two Rufous-tailed Jacamar perched along the road, a Green-rumped Parrotlet on the powerline, Red-rumped Woodpecker on a metal utility Pole and a Great Black Hawk, both lifers. We made a stop at the reserve’s visitor center which was closed due to water outage. The guard dog was very friendly allowing us to pet him and tried to prevent us from leaving. The leaf cutter ant’s super highway through the lawns at the rare of the visitor’s center was a sight to behold and worth a mention in this bird blog. We were told of a stop just downhill of the reserve where it was possible to see the White-tailed Sabrewing and maybe even the Ruby-topaz Hummingbird. We drove about a mile or so and came upon a roadside stand with bird feeders setup under a shed and a feeding table with fruit in the background. I paid $14TT or approx. $2.30US to spend as much time as I wished at the feeding stations. Two types of hummingbirds were busy visiting the feeders – the White-necked Jacobins and yes the White-tailed Sabrewing. I was as happy as a kid in a candy store because I was told that it would be difficult to see the Sabrewing as it was in its nesting season. Disappointingly, there was no Ruby-topaz to be seen, none came to the feeder. Our drive through the forest took us three hours and we were well behind time but I still wanted to make one more stop - Grafton Estate.

Grafton Estate

White-fringed Antwren - Formicivora grisea

After a series of wrong turns, turn arounds and flat out being lost, thanks to the faulty information fed to me by my navigator and her map. We finally arrived at Grafton Estate after 5:30pm an hour and a half behind our scheduled time, which was feeding time at 4:00pm. There were no signs that a feeding took place that afternoon so we took a quick walk on a few of the paths. In the 30 minutes I spent I recorded two lifers – I finally got the Ruby-topaz Hummingbird but a female, not as colourful as the males, and a Yellow-breasted Flycatcher.

We were now really behind time when we left Grafton around 6:00pm with our check-in time being 6:30pm and our flight due for departure at 8:00pm. We still had to stop for a quick bite and return the car before heading to the airport. It was no surprise then, when we missed our check-in time and thus our flight, but was accommodated on the next one scheduled to leave at 8:30pm. I enjoyed birding in Tobago and will be back for sure.

New Species for the Day: 29
New Lifers for the Day: 16
Total Species for the Trip: 136
Total Lifers for the Trip: 92

Mount Pleasant: Rufous-vented Chachalaca, Ear Dove, Caribbean Martin

Crown Point: Brown Pelican, Laughing Gull, Common Tern, Gray Kingbird

Bon Accord Mangrove: White-cheeked Pintail, Magnificent Frigatebird, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Mangrove Cuckoo, White-winged Becard, Scrub Greenlet

Tobago Plantation: Giant Cowbird, Black-crowned Night Heron, Green Heron.

Bon Accord Sewage Treatment Ponds: Least Grebe, Glossy Ibis, Short-billed Dowitcher.

Argyle Falls: Trinidad Motmot, White-fringed Antwren, Cocoa Woodcreeper, Fuscous Flycatcher, Black-face Grassquit.

Main Ridge Forest Reserve: Great Black Hawk, White-tailed Sabrewing, White-tailed Sabrewing

Grafton Estate: Ruby-topaz Hummingbird, Yellow-breasted Flycatcher