The Enthusiastic Birder: Trinidad & Tobago Birding Trip 2016 - Day 2

White-headed Marsh Tyrant (F)- Arundinicola leucocephala

Day two called for an early start as we were headed to the mountainous northern range and home to the world famous Asa Wright Nature Centre. I was honored, thanks to Dr. John Webster who introduced us, to have one of the islands leading birders and wildlife Photographers and an all-around nice guy, Wendell “Stephen Jay” Reyes as a guide.

He collected us at 6:30am for the approximately hour and half drive up the mountain. The normally busy and congested streets were free of traffic at this time and we were able to have a casual drive as we talked about birds, birding and photography. He also pointed out a few birds as we drove along. At one junction we saw a Fork-tailed Palm Swift fly into the dry branches of a palm tree and further along we saw a small group of Black Skimmers, a lifer, and a Fork-tailed Flycatcher.

Asa Wright Nature Centre

Purple Honeycreeper - Cyanerpes caeruleus & Bananaquit - Coereba flaveola

Wendell skillfully navigated the winding road leading to Asa Wright, while my wife and kids were fast asleep in the back seat. We arrived just before 8:30am, paid our fees and entered. We were told that the first tour would begin at 10:30am, so we had a few hours to observe birds from the well-known balcony looking over the rain forest, with hummingbird feeders hanging and fruit filled feeding stations just below. The hummingbirds were plentiful buzzing to and fore. The most abundant were the White-necked Jacobin and the Copper-rumped Hummingbird. One of the hummingbirds on my must-see list, the Tufted Coquette, was nowhere to be seen. Wendell told me that the Coquette was not a species that came to the feeders and he took me to another area on the veranda overlooking the flowers. This hummer, the second smallest in the world, feeds on Vervain Flowers. I was able to see the Tufted Coquette just before and just after the tour. The tour started at 10:30 as promised and lasted for 1 ½ hours. Our guide, Tonya, showed us the flora and fauna of the rain forest, including the interesting and very busy Leaf cutter ants and a noisy insect called a Cicada which brought the forest alive with sound. We were able to see most of our targeted species, White-bearded and Golden-headed Manakins, Violaceous Euphonia and the star of Asa Wright, the Bearded Bellbird but we did not see the Guianan Trogon. We left Asa Wright at about 1:00pm after seeing 31 species most of which were lifers. It was then on to our next stop, Aripo Livestock Station.

Aripo Livestock Station

Aripo Livestock Station is a working station and permission is needed to enter the property. That was easily obtained by Wendell, who seemed to be a regular there. This was a location where birding from the vehicle was necessary as the fields were fenced to secure a breed of livestock called “buffalypso", which looks like a water buffalo, and said to be unpredictable. One of our target birds at this location was the Savannah hawk which I did not see. There were hundreds of Black Vultures everywhere but it was the lone Turkey Vulture that got my attention as it was a lifer. Other lifers included a Piratic Flycatcher, White-headed Marsh Tyrant, Pied Water-Tyrant and Green-rumped Parrotlet to mention a few. To close off a rather rewarding day I saw a Saffron Finch on the journey back to the guest house.

White-eyed Parakeet - Psittacara leucophthalmus

The day of birding was not yet over however, as Wendell received a telephone call about a rare bird which had just arrived at a location called St. Ann’s. I had been hoping that he would ask if I wanted to tag along and he did. The bird we were searching for was a White-eyed Parakeet. We got to the location just seconds too late and missed the birds but we followed the loud call of this parakeet which led us to a tree where the main flock was situated. We were able to get pretty good images of the bird in flight and stationary. I had another bonus, a Boat-billed Flycatcher. This is a bird that is identical to the Great Kiskadee in appearance but has a larger bill and a different call.

This was the last birding stop for day 2 and we headed home for a rest knowing that day 3 would be another long day of birding.

New Species for the Day: 47

New Lifers for the Day: 43

Total Species for the Trip: 73

Total Lifers for the trip: 59

Asa Wright Nature Centre: White-tipped Dove, Short-tailed Swift, White-necked Jacobin, Rufous-breasted Hermit, Green Hermit, Little Hermit, Black-throated Mango, Tufted Coquette, Blue-chinned Sapphire, White-chested Emerald, Copper-rumped Hummingbird, Forest Elaenia, Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, Bearded Bellbird, White-bearded Manakin, Golden-headed Manakin, Rufous-browed Peppershrike (h), House Wren, White-necked Thrush, Silver-beaked Tanager, Bay-headed Tanager, Purple Honeycreeper, Green Honeycreeper, Violaceous Euphonia.

Aripo Livestock Station: Turkey Vulture, Wattled Jacana, Spotted Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Yellow-headed Caracara, Green-rumped Parrotlet, Yellow-chinned Spinetail, Pied Water-Tyrant, White-headed Marsh Tyrant, Piratic Flycatcher, Southern Rough-winged Swallow, Blue-black Grassquit, Red-eyed Vireo*, Rufous-breasted Wren*, Long-billed Gnatwren *, Red-breasted Meadowlark, Yellow-hooded Blackbird.

Saint Ann's Road: White-eyed Parakeet, Boat-billed Flycatcher.

While Driving: Black Skimmer, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Great Egret, Saffron Finch.