Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago - one country, 2 islands - 2 islands, 2 cultures.    Trinidad is busy, hectic, people wandering everywhere and lots of potholes.  Tobago is quiet, laid back and peaceful with no potholes.

For years we have spoken to the people on the Trinidad and Tobago stand at the bird fair.  We have just had our 40th wedding anniversary and decided to splash out on a visit there. Sally is not a birdwatcher so we needed a mixture of birds, culture and leisure and this trip covered all that.   Booking through MotMot Travel we settled on 5 days at the Asa Wright nature centre, 2 days at Grande Riviere for Turtles and 7 days on Tobago with a few trips added in.  I met a lot of interesting people on this trip all doing basically the same thing - British, Americans, Scandinavian and even a member of the House of Lords.

I have hundreds of photos of hummingbirds and honeycreepers, some on feeders, some with bits missing and some with the bird having disappeared by the time I pressed the button.  I might publish some of those another time but will concentrate here on what must be regarded as the 'signature' birds of these places.   There has recently been a discussion on here about bridge cameras; for those interested all my photos were taken on a Canon SX50 which I bought to avoid taking the DSLR abroad.

The Asa Wright Centre is a charitable trust set up to protect part of the rainforest in what was previously a coffee plantation.  Famous for the feeders around the veranda it has a lot to offer on the trails around the forest. Superb guides are available to take you around the site and out into Trinidad, including to the Scarlet ibis at Caroni swamp.

The main birding claim at AW must the most accessible oilbird site in the world.   These are night flying birds which feed on palm nut oil.  Nightjar like in appearance I have never seen anything like these.

They are found in one cave on the site.

You cannot help but hear Bearded Bellbirds as you walk around and these were calling well while we were there.  High up in the canopy they were surprisingly difficult to spot despite being the size of a small chicken.

Other obvious birdlife included Trogons and Mannakins with Ant Shrikes scuttling in the undergrowth.

The below photos show, in order, Green Backed Trogon, Guanian Trogon (prev. Violaceous) and Barred Ant Shrike male.  The differences in the 2 Trogons is not obvious but note the tail markings and eye colour.

After Asa Wright we moved on to a hotel on the beach at Grande Riviere.  The beach here is closed at night to allow the turtles to lay eggs.  Access is permitted with a guide and red light and we were shown 12 turtles within as many yards.  That night over 200 Turtles came ashore.   Sometimes a young turtle will get confused and try to lay in daylight.  Good for photography but not for the Turtle and they do get disorientated.  Sally found herself helping the locals with one of these, digging a hole to help her bury eggs and redirecting her so she could find her way back to sea (she has never stopped smiling since - that is my wife not the turtle).  

The other claim to fame at Grande Riviere is that it is the main site to see Trinidad Piping Guan.  With the help of a local guide that was achieved.

The Guan (local name Powee) looks as though its piping call should sound like a turkey but in fact it is a high pitched but quiet Peepeepee which does travel a long way.

Our final stop was at Blue Waters Inn on Tobago where we had booked a rather famous local guide for 3 trips.  Newton George is a character but certainly knows his birds.  Of the 3 trips the shortest but the one I looked forward to most was a boat trip to the island of Little Tobago where Boobies, Noddy Terns and Red Billed Tropic Birds breed.  The Tropic Birds are harassed by Frigate Birds every time they come to land.

It took me a long time but managed a few reasonable photos of Tropic Birds which fly past a quite a rate.

Despite being the featured bird of Trinidad the Trinidad MotMot is best found on Tobago. 

Finally just to keep Sally happy I must include a couple of woodpeckers.  The Red Crowned is a small and quite common bird but is quite photogenic.

Below are a male and female

I can never cover how good this holiday was in a short article.  This was paradise in more ways than one.