Trinidad & Tobago - Part 9

We woke up Sunday morning thinking that we'd be heading home and probably not adding much to our bird list. Throughout the trip, for some reason, I would start thinking that I didn't get any good pics of a certain species or another, and would try to get as many pics as I could. This particular morning I was worried that I hadn't got any good pics yet of a Blue-gray Tanager, and thought that the flowering immortelle tree would make a nice setting for a photo so I concentrated my efforts there:
Our ride picked us up at 8:30am, and we were happy to see that it was Ingle again. We enjoyed the ride west across the island, talking about what we'd seen the last few days and chatting about the world, politics, education, and the job market in Tobago. We'd made pretty good time crossing the island on a Sunday morning and Ingle suggested a quick side trip near Bon Accord to see if we could pick-up any wetland birds along the way. We readily agreed and within a few minutes were looking at Snowy Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Anhingas, and Common Moorhens. We also had great looks at Southern Lapwings: Then we got to see another bird that I had hoped to see, but wasn't quite expecting to - White-cheeked Pintails. Again we had great looks but they were too far away for photos. (And the digi-scoping set-up was all packed away for the trip home) Oh well, I was happy just to see them.

At the airport in Tobago, we stopped for a quick breakfast. When we were at the inn, our meals were accompanied by turnstones and chachalacas - at the restaurant across from the airport it was Carib Grackles:
At the airport we caught up again with our friends Dave and Linda and heard all about the Cuffie River Nature Retreat - the other Tobago location that Caligo makes arrangements for. Back in Trinidad, we had a few hours before our plane was scheduled to leave, so Pam and I took a walk at the airport in hopes of seeing the Yellow-headed Caracara again, and I really wanted to find Red-breasted Blackbird. We dipped on the blackbirds, but did get spectacular looks at a Savannah Hawk perched atop a light pole, much the same way we often see Red-tailed Hawks here:

Finally, the last birds we saw before re-entering the terminal (and the last new birds for the trip) were Ruddy Ground-Doves:
And although that was the last bird of the trip - it was unfortunately not the end of our trip. We had just began a day long odyssey of boarding and "de-planing", re-scheduling and re-scheduling again of connections, and hours in the American Airlines terminal in Trinidad. Sunday for us ended at 11:15pm and finally getting vouchers for cab fare and hotel arrangements, which we were able to use for a few hours. Then we had to be back at the airport in the early morning to re-check-in and board the plane for the third time, fingers crossed. Apparently third time's the charm for American Airlines, as we got off the ground and finally heading home.

I've not yet had a chance to enter sightings into AviSys, but I believe the tally for the trip was about 135 species of birds, 4 of which were "heard-only" birds, and 97 of which were "lifers."

In closing, I want to thank everybody for their comments, compliments, encouragement, and especially patience with this series of posts. The trip was truly amazing and a life changing experience, and I encourage all birders to seriously consider a trip like this in the near future. I plan to create one last post with links to information for anyone wanting to take a similar trip!