On Friday morning, I woke ready and raring to go. I stepped outside our room to check the flowering immortelle tree outside the entrance of the inn and it was full of activity. The chachalacas were up there eating the petals of the flowers. They were joined on the tree by Tropical Mockingbirds, Pale-vented Pigeons, Palm Tanangers, Blue-grey Tanangers, Bananaquits, Copper-rumped Hummingbirds, Black-throated Mangos, and Great Audubon's Ghost! - a male Ruby Topaz hummingbird. Pamela hadn't seen it at Waller Field the other day, and this was one of the target birds for the day! It only stayed for a few moments then was off. I tried to get Pam to stand a vigil with me at that tree until we met Gladwyn, but the allure of breakfast and especially coffee was too strong for her, and every time she stepped away for a few minutes, the bird seemed to show up. (Hey, it happes to us all at some time or another) By the time Gladwyn arrived, we did manage to add another bird to our list - a Red-crowned Woodpecker which visted the same immortelle tree: After a few minutes getting together lunch for the day, we were off. On the way out, Gladwyn pointed out another area where the Ruby Topaz like to visit that was in walking distance of the inn, and infact we did see a few distant birds, but not well enough for Pam to put on her list yet. (And I was determined that she would not go home without seeing this bird well.) We continued on to the Roxborough-Bloody Bay Road, which bisects the island, and going from the ocean side to the carribean side through the Tobago Main Ridge Preserve - the oldest nature preserve in the western hemisphere. After gaining some elevation, we opened the windows and were listening for birds as we crawled along. Gladwyn quickly picked up on a Golden-olive Woodpecker, and as we got out to get better looks, he also spoted a bird I wasn't expecting to see - a Red-legged Honeycreeper, and then a few minutes later found the first of our target birds for the day (and one of the two main reasons we hired him)a Blue-backed Manakin. We got pretty good looks, but again I was able to appreciate how difficult it was finding, much less trying to photograph birds in the rainforest. Any pics I tried to take of these birds turned out simply black. We then continued on, made a quick rest stop at the Bloody Bay Recreational Site, where a forrestry building used to be, an the foundation for a new building is, although no work has been done on it for a while. The restrooms were still functional though, and there is a fantastic view. We then went to the entrance of Gilpin Trace, a rather well-known trail for birding and general nature watching in the rainforest. An enterprising gentleman there rents out rubber boots for those visiting the site, and we were glad to pay the few dollars each to do so. (There were a few occassions where I knew that I would've been pretty miserable if we hadn't!) We arrived at the same time as a class of children, which obviously worried Gladwyn a bit. A loud group of kids would likely scare the birds further away from the path, and more importantly would've made it very difficult for him to hear. We managed to get past them pretty quickly and further down the trail, and soon it was obvious that we'd made a very good choice in hiring Gladwyn. (Warning: shameless plug to follow) Now I realize that we were in an entirely new environment with unfamiliar birds & sounds, so we can be forgiven for not being able to pick up on a lot, but Gladwyn really had excellent birding skills. I swear at times he just sensed the birds. I found that a lot of birds sounded very similar to me in the rainforest, but he was able to tease out their identities pretty easily. And to say that seeing birds that are moving furtively through this sun-dappled and shadowed environment is difficult, would really be an understatement. I felt like we were brand new birders again - not just in see new birds, but in spotting ability! The other amazing ability that Gladwyn had, was that(like many of the guides we encountered on this trip)he was able to do the calls of many of the birds incredibly well. OK - so you get the sense we were impressed? With Gladwyn's help we continued adding birds to our lists - Yellow-legged Thrush, Scrub Greenlet, Stripe-breasted Spinetail, Cocoa Woodcreeper. Pamela spotted a flycatcher for us that turned out to be a Fuscous Flycatcher. We got some better looks at some birds we'd seen in Trinidad like Rufous-breasted Wren and White-necked Thrush. We heard a few birds whose vocalizations were easily as interesting what they looked like, like Olivaceous Woodcreeper and Venezuelan Flycatcher. We also got great looks at two other big target birds for the day: Rufous-tailed Jacamar:
And the other main reason we hired him, the White-tailed Sabrewing:The White-tailed Sabrewing was thought for a while to have been wiped out in Tobago by hurricane Flora in 1963. Thankfully, this was not the case, and the population seems to be recovering well.
While we were walking out, and I was desperately trying to take photos of everything, I noticed this one large bug. I haven't been able to identify it yet, but I got a few pics, and noticed when I got home that in one of them that it was checking out something I missed entirely while there:
On the right side of this photo it looks it was checking out a spider - but count the legs! There were TWO spiders (tarantulas?), right on top of each other. I wish I had actually noticed this at the time so I can see what kind of behavior was being exhibited, but I was so caught up in the activity of the bug, I never saw the spiders! UPDATE: see Patrick's comment about both the spider and id of the insect in the above photo.
When I caught up with Pam and Gladwyn, they had found another Blue-backed Manakin that provided better looks, but sadly no real good photos. After our 3 1/2 hour hike in Gilpin Trace, we returned the rubber boots and enjoyed a nice lunch near the entrance, where an inquisitive Motmot checked us out for a while and waited for handouts:Notice the dirt on it's bill? Motmots nest in tunnels dug out of high bank, and I suspect that this bird had been working on one for the upcoming nesting season which starts in March. We got to see a few of these tunnels in a bank near the entrance to the trace. After a fine lunch supplied by the restaurent at the Blue Waters Inn, we worked our way slowly back down Bloody Bay Road, with one of the highlights being Gladwyn calling in a Collared Trogon for pretty good looks.
Back at the inn, the thanked Gladwyn for a great day of birding and went in to cool off and relax for a while, and we both nodded off for a late afternoon nap listening to the ocean outside our door. Once we were up again, I spent more time watching the immortelle tree, hoping for the Ruby Topaz to return, when Pamela spotted another new bird for the trip - a Yellow-bellied Elania.
That evening at dinner, we ate while listening to a live steel drum band that I understand played every Friday night. What a treat!
That's it for this post. Next part will be Little Tobago Island...
The White-tailed Sabrewing was thought for a while to have been wiped out in Tobago by hurricane Flora in 1963. Thankfully, this was not the case, and the population seems to be recovering well.
Notice the dirt on it's bill? Motmots nest in tunnels dug out of high bank, and I suspect that this bird had been working on one for the upcoming nesting season which starts in March. We got to see a few of these tunnels in a bank near the entrance to the trace. After a fine lunch supplied by the restaurent at the Blue Waters Inn, we worked our way slowly back down Bloody Bay Road, with one of the highlights being Gladwyn calling in a Collared Trogon for pretty good looks.
