Trinidad

[Dave B Smith]

Well, we're just back from a short birding trip to Trinidad. What a wonderful place! Now getting there from here (Venezuela) and getting back each took a full day, but we had a great, full, three days birding. We stayed at Asa Wright (bit pricey, but well worth it). While my wife felt it was "cheating" as we ticked a few species right off the veranda at the feeders, you couldn't help but appreciate the great close up views. We birded their property for two days (their on site guides were excellent) and then spent one day with a guide (another excellent guide, Mahase Ramlal) on Blanchisseuse Road. Our total trip list was 83 species with 30 being lifers(*). Best of all, I finally got to see an Ornate Hawk-Eagle.

Trinidad has a lot of the same species we have in Venezuela but they are definitely easier to see in Trinidad. I'll attach several photos I managed to show what I mean.

Everyone we met (and even those that passed us on the road) were very friendly. While they say crime is getting to be a problem in Trinidad, it wasn't obvious in the Northern Range where we were. I'm sure as you get closer to the cities it is a real concern.

I think to bird the entire Island and its sister Isle of Tobago, a 9 day vacation would be in order. I'm already looking forward to my next trip there!

Following is our trip list and then a few photos:
Magnificent Frigatebird
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Gray-headed Kite *
Double-toothed Kite *
White Hawk
Common Black-Hawk
Gray Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk
Ornate Hawk-Eagle *
Ruddy Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Blue-headed Parrot *
Orange-winged Parrot
Squirrel Cuckoo
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Oilbird
Common Potoo (photo)
Gray-rumped Swift *
Rufous-breasted Hermit *
Green Hermit *
White-necked Jacobin *
Black-throated Mango *
Tufted Coquette *
Blue-chinned Sapphire *
White-chested Emerald *
Copper-rumped Hummingbird
Long-billed Starthroat
White-tailed Trogon *
Collared Trogon
Blue-crowned Motmot
Channel-billed Toucan *
Red-rumped Woodpecker *
Golden-olive Woodpecker
Chestnut Woodpecker *
Plain-brown Woodcreeper *
Cocoa Woodcreeper
Great Antshrike *
Barred Antshrike
White-flanked Antwren *
White-bellied Antbird *
Black-faced Antthrush
Bearded Bellbird * (photo)
White-bearded Manakin *
Golden-headed Manakin *
Yellow-bellied Elaenia
Ochre-bellied Flycatcher *
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Tropical Pewee
Great Kiskadee
Boat-billed Flycatcher
Streaked Flycatcher *
Tropical Kingbird
Black-tailed Tityra
Gray-breasted Martin
Rufous-breasted Wren
House Wren
Tropical Mockingbird
Cocoa Thrush
Bare-eyed Thrush
White-necked Thrush *
Long-billed Gnatwren
Golden-fronted Greenlet *
Rufous-browed Peppershrike
Tropical Parula
American Redstart
Northern Waterthrush
Golden-crowned Warbler
Bananaquit
White-shouldered Tanager
White-lined Tanager
Silver-beaked Tanager
Blue-gray Tanager
Palm Tanager
Violaceous Euphonia *
Turquoise Tanager *
Bay-headed Tanager
Blue Dacnis
Green Honeycreeper (photos, male and female)
Purple Honeycreeper *
Red-legged Honeycreeper
Shiny Cowbird
Crested Oropendola

[Grousemore]

Interesting report,Dave,and informative as usual. Good list too; often felt Trinidad was underrated as a birding venue.

[JJP]

Asa Wright = Greatest porch in the new World

Are Oilbirds still being seen on the property for a fee?

[Dave B Smith]

Grousemore,
I agree, Trinidad doesn't get the birding visitors it should. It has so much to offer. I picked up a book on Birding Trinidad by Bill Murphy and it certainly gives a good account of the birding on the Islands.

JJP,
Yes, the Oilbirds can still be seen on the property. If you have booked 3 nights, it's included in your room cost. I'm not sure how it is arranged if you aren't staying there. We did go with a small group and entered the cave (actually more of a closed canyon). Groups are kept small and the trip only offered twice a week to prevent overstressing the birds. We had previously seen the huge Oilbird cave in Caripe, Venezuela and saw literally thousands of them coming out of the cave at dark. However, the views of the birds we got at Asa Wright were just from 30 feet and well before dark. It can't compare in numbers, but you can't beat the close up views.

[njlarsen]

Dave,
your estimate of 9 days birding to cover most of the birds seems ok; I have 10 days around May 1, 2004 (very rainy period), and got most of my target species, but not all. I stayed 3 nights at Asa Wright, three nights in Tobago (a fourth would have come in handy), and the rest of the time in the Pax guest house at the monestary on mount st benedict. Great birding trip. I had 10 species of hummingbirds at Asa W, and you still have one I did not get. The book by Bill Murphy is a great help.

What was the hold up with travel to and from Venezuela? I expect that from here (Dominica), the easiest way to Venezuela would go through Port of Spain Airport.

thanks
Niels

[Bill Atwood]

Niels, I'm curious, how did Pax compare to Asa Wright?

[Dave B Smith]

Niels,
Travel from Barcelona Vz was via Caracas with a 9 hour layover there before the connection to Trinidad. Then add in it was Carnival weekend and you can imagine what a zoo the airport was. And then of course the flight was late. We left home at 10 AM and arrived at Asa Wright at 1 AM the next day! We did take advantage of our time in Caracas for a good lunch a quick birding trip up the Avila. Coming back was worse, but then they blamed the unseasonal heavy rains in Caracas for all the delays.

If I had one hummer you didn't, I'd guess it was the Long-billed Starthroat. We saw a brilliant male on the Blanchisseuse road. Didn't see any at the lodge.

[Jacamar]

Great report, Dave. Stunning photos as well. What equipment did you use for them?
My family was once in Trinidad and Tobabo; mostly Tobago. We stayed for about two weeks. Unfortunately, I wasn't really interested in birds at the time. The only bird I can remember from the trip is a Blue-crowned Motmot which was sitting on a electric wire alongside the road.

[HelenB]

Sounds like a great trip, Dave. Asa Wright is another of those places I have to see before I die!! Australia, the Galapagos and Costa Rica are also on the list. Great photos - hope you have some new ones for the BF Database.

[Ben Rackstraw]

Counting down the hours now...

Heading off to Trinidad on Saturday.
7 nights at Pax, over to Tobago for 4 nights, back to Trini and the Asa Wright for 3 nights, and then 3 nights of RnR on the NE coast. Can't wait! Only one more day of work to negotiate!

Great pics Dave, hopefully I'll be able to post a few here when I get back!

[njlarsen]

Dave,
thanks for the update. I would guess that a visit to Venezuela for me would be initiated with a car rental from Caracas, so hopefully I would be able to avoid the layover :) How much did a ticket cost you between there and Port of Spain? You are correct, it was the starthroat I did not get; I did get all three hermits and the tufted coquette.

Bill, the trails at Pax are more lonely but there is not nearly as much of them: for nature purposes mainly one or two. I did have e.g., both vultures, ornate hawk eagle (from the downstairs veranda), screech-owl, pygmy-owl, paraque, rufous nightjar (most of these four heard, but the paraque seen well), white flanked antwren, golden-headed manakin, and plenty of other species there. The veranda at Asa Wright and the oilbirds there made that part of the visit worth-while; for the period at Pax we had hired a rental car and drove around to some other places on Trinidad (including a visit at a beach with loggerhead turtles and the swamp for scarlet ibis). Pax is more affordable for a longer stay, and the host there is both a nice person and have knowledge on birds. Ideally, you will visit both places. From Asa Wrigth, the only visit outside the grounds went to the old airfield for nightbirds and aras, we felt more secure doing that in the compagny of a car with guards; the places we visited from Pax we had no problem with, but I would not walk in Port of Spain at night more than I would do in bad parts of Miami or New York. Using a paid guide for a larger part of our trip or going on an organized trip probably would have resulted in a few more species but we do like to be on our own for some time during a vacation.

My trip resulted in 174 species total (Trinidad and Tobago), 112 new for me; I have never been to Venezuela or other parts of South America, nearest visit was to Mexico and to Dominica where I live. I did not try for the Guan, which is the supposedly only endemic species in T&T.

Take care
Niels

[Dave B Smith]

Chris,
The camera is a little Contax U4R used with my Nikon fieldscope 60. If you check the threads on this camera in the digiscoping forum you'll get lot's of info on it. I find it real handy. I used to lug around about 30 pounds of camera equipment so it got to where I just started leaving it at home because of the weight. With this little digital, it's so light it's always with me.

Here's another of the shots (White-bearded Manakin) from the trip.

Neils,
Can't use my ticket price for comparison. I bought it late and for Carnival weekend. You can find much cheaper.

[murph3000]

Just uploaded a narrative of our 1/24-2/3/2005 birding trip to http://www.birderbill.us/tt_1_05.htm

Hope you enjoy it!

--Bill Murphy, Indianapolis

[Phoebes]

Hi- we are headed to Trinidad on Saturday too. We will be diving off Tobago for a week and then at Asa from 25-28th. Looks like you will get in a little longer trip than we are!!! Lucky you.


Counting down the hours now...

Heading off to Trinidad on Saturday.
7 nights at Pax, over to Tobago for 4 nights, back to Trini and the Asa Wright for 3 nights, and then 3 nights of RnR on the NE coast. Can't wait! Only one more day of work to negotiate!

Great pics Dave, hopefully I'll be able to post a few here when I get back!

[Phoebes]

Hi- thanks for the added info! Can't wait! I ordered your book Monday but won't get it in time, unfortunately. I am sure we will find it at Asa.

Peg


Just uploaded a narrative of our 1/24-2/3/2005 birding trip to http://www.birderbill.us/tt_1_05.htm

Hope you enjoy it!

--Bill Murphy, Indianapolis

[stephennj]

Dave I just discovered this report.Teriffic stuff here and amazing photos to boot.Thanks for sharing this impressive report, you got some incredible species in here!
-steve

[neilmc]

We went in September 2007 and couldn't stay at Asa Wright because it was being refurbished, but we did get a day visit in on the day it reopened (our last day in Trinidad). This meant we spent a whole ten days at Pax which was a blessing because it's a wonderful location and fairly central for the rest of the island. Interestingly we did not meet any other birders at Pax, probably because it was off-season, but it attracts honeymoon couples and visiting academics (it's near the university) so there were lots of international people to talk to whose interests went beyond bird lists. Also if you go off by yourself you're unlikely to meet hordes of tourists which to us was an asset but might make some visitors nervous, just have to use common sense and not wander round dodgy areas at night.

Because we couldn't fly direct from Manchester to Trinidad we went with BMI to Barbados and changed there, having a few days in Barbados on the way back, and also spending four days in Tobago (total 3 weeks). Nigel Moorhouse from Sarus handled all the flight + hotel logistics for us very efficiently and the whole package cost much less than an off-the-shelf bird holiday (we only used guides for three or four day trips as we didn't want a hectic holiday).

Although Tobago's the primary holiday island, this was nice and relaxing but we probably won't go back whereas Trinidad we'll definitely return to.

[Dave B Smith]

We went in September 2007 ... "snip" whereas Trinidad we'll definitely return to.

Neil,
We felt the same way you did so now 3 years later I'm working in Trinidad!

While security continues to worsen, the birding is still quite good. This weekend I birded a half day at my "local patch" - the Wildfowl Trust and then a full day along the Blanchisseuse Road all the way to the coast. That trip added Bat Falcons (3 of them), Crimson-crested Woodpecker, and Silvered Antbird to my Trinidad list (which has grown from the 83 birds on my first visit to 211).

We plan to make our first visit to Tobago in July.

Here's a few more pictures of some of Trinidad's many great birds: