Trinidad & Tobago - Part 2

After publishing the last post, I realize that there was something I missed that I wanted to mention. On the veranda in the mornings (and usually throughout the day) there are Asa Wright employees and guides around that can help identify the birds around you, even call in many of them, as well as answer almost any questions that you might have. As far as I am able to tell, they are all locals and Asa Wright takes great pride in the talent that they bring in - they really are great and merit mention any time one is talking about birding from Asa Wright's veranda.

So, where was I? Oh yes, a light rain started a short while before the breakfast bell rang, but that didn't seem to discourage the birds much. (Or the agoutis that also gather food under the feeders.) It certainly was hard to pull oneself away from the bonanza of new and interesting birds that were just 10'-12' away. After a breakfast (eggs, toast, cereal, local fruits - including the best bananas we've ever tasted) we officially checked in and made arrangements for our included trip to the Caroni Marsh (more about that later), then returned to the veranda, where we would meet our guide, Mukesh, for an guided walk along the center's Discovery Trail. But before we leave, we manage to pick up another couple of species on the veranda, including our first looks at a distant Linneated Woodpecker, and two Channel-billed Toucans at a favorite perch.

With the threatening on-and-off rains, everybody grabbed rain-gear and/or umbrellas and we were off. Mukeesh was an extremely good guide, knowledgeable about all the flora and fauna of the area, as well as being a friendly and amiable guy. In less than 20' down the trail we were already picking up new species not seen yet from the veranda. The first was a male Golden-headed Manakin that took a bit of time to get everybody in the group on, but once everybody had struggled to see him, he popped right out in the open to show off a bit. Continuing down the trail I learned from speaking with Mukesh that two species I had been hoping to see were not as easy these days as they had been in the past. Several trip reports and older materials spoke of seeing Chestnut Woodpeckers at the feeder, and of Ornate Hawk-eagles nesting on the grounds with one know site. The woodpeckers used to visit the feeders but haven't really done so for a few years now. As for the Hawk-eagles, they are sometime seen flying over the valley from the veranda, but not as regularly. Soon after mentioning the woodpecker, someone called out that they had one on a tree. I got the briefest of glimpses of a bird that flew through the trees, and across the trail about 30 yards behind us, and even Mukesh was hustling to get on the bird (he later would say that it was the best bird of the walk, although many would not see it.) Unfortunately, we were unable to locate it again, and it will not go on my list (for now, but I plan to see it someday!) but the upside is that in searching for it, we did locate a Squirrel Cuckoo!
For the next hour or so, I cannot remember the order in which we saw many of the birds, there were so many new species that things became a bit of a blur. A shy White-necked Thrush foraged along the forest floor. Trogons called softly from nearby trees, but were found with a good deal of work. (White-tailed and Collared Trogons were spotted on this walk). Orange-crowned Parrots called raucously from above the canopy. The day before somebody had spotted another one of my target birds in a tree near the trail - something I had hoped to see later in the trip and was somewhat unexpected for me in the mountains. A Common Potoo! Continuing along the path, it was impossible to ignore the loud "BOK!" call of the Bearded Bellbird, and between showers, Mukesh did his best to get everybody on at least one of these birds which were calling from very high up in the canopy. I tried to get a photo or two, but with the distance, and shooting almost straight up, all I got were silhouettes. This photo almost shows the fleshy wattles that give this bird it's interesting name:
Heading back up the path, I was asking Mukesh about a muddy mound with holes in, when I slipped on the edge of it and went down - bins, camera and all into the mud. As he was answering that it was a leafcutter ant's nest, I jumped up almost as fast as I went down, and then immediately went down again. (I can only imagine how funny it must have looked to somebody else) My clothes, arms, and binoculars all had a nice coating of mud, but somehow I managed to get the camera partially out of harm's way - bins and clothes can be cleaned easily enough - I didn't want the camera out of commission for the rest of the trip though! While I was attempting to clean myself up, several Plain-brown Woodcreepers (and apparently a single Cocoa Woodcreeper which I couldn't get on by the time I cleared my bins enough of mud) were foraging nearby as well as a Crowned Ant-tanager. You'll note the lack of photos here.

As we approached the lodge, another guide that was along the trail pointed out a Golden-olive Woodpecker, which I saw briefly and got one pic of before it flew away.


We returned to the veranda to relax for a while before lunch, and picked up a few more species including Bay-headed and Turquoise Tanagers:

I have to be honest, I don't even know what I ate for lunch that first day - not that the food was unidentifiable or bad, because it was neither - each meal was great. My brain was simply overloaded with everything that we were seeing.

The rain continued after lunch and we felt that our day would be best spent continuing to bird from the comfort and shelter of the veranda.

The rest of the day we continued to see the 'regulars' and get to know them better. The Palm Tanagers, which seemed to know no fear and came into the veranda and the reading room. The Blue-grey Tanagers, which I've seen photos of for years, and now had these beautiful birds just feet away from me. White-lined Tanagers, who remind you a bit of of blackbirds, the males are a deep black and the females a rich cinnamon color:

The Copper-rumped Hummingbirds were always nearby, rain or shine:

The Crested Oropendolas occasionally made cautious sorties to the feeders:

And of course, the constant feeder birds - the Green Honeycreepers, Purple Honeycreepers, Bananquits, Bare-eyed Thrushes, etc kept it continuously interesting, while a few other new species kept everything fresh and on your toes. We added a beautiful male Barred Antshrike, and a rather brazen female Great Antshrike to the list. And once I was comfortable spotting the Copper-rumped Hummingbirds at their regular locations, I started seeing the next most common hummingbird at the veranda, the White-necked Jacobin:
We also spotted our first Tufted Coquette from the veranda - a female which, although not as gaudy as the male, still has her own beauty.

At some point in the afternoon, we stopped back at our room (I'm sure to change clothes, get fresh batteries, etc) and noticed that a male Tufted Coquette was workin' the little purple flowers in the bush next to our door! It would only stay for about half a minute or so then move on, and I stuck by that spot in the drizzling rain for 45 minutes or more trying to get a pic with no luck. It simply zipped around too fast and there were too many branches for the auto-focus to work. Still got great looks though. Also in the area outside of our room, we saw our first Violaceous Euphonia and Ochre-bellied Flycatchers.

Each day, afternoon tea is served on the veranda at 4pm so that you can have a little something to eat to help tide you over in the afternoons. Then one of the highlights of the day is at 6pm when rum punch is served, and folks discuss what they saw and where throughout the day. The dinner bell rings promptly at 7pm and everybody files into the dining hall to continue conversations as well as dine buffet-style on the variety of foods prepared by the excellent kitchen staff of the lodge.

In the evenings, one of the guides will usually lead a "night walk" around the grounds, looking for spiders, roosting birds, bats, and owls. And even though it was raining pretty hard by the time we started a hearty group of six of us went out, and were rewarded with quite a large tarantula that was under the eaves on one building, a few land crabs that were in the dirt banks along the road, as well as in the stream beds, and a few roosting Great Antshrikes. I think that I finally made it back to the room - soaking wet - at about 9pm or so. Exhausted and elated, I took a quick shower, scrawled a few notes, and knocked off for the night.

The days can be quite long but very satisfying here, which is something I've been trying to convey with these two posts covering just the first day, and I know I have still probably left out quite a bit!

Next... day two!