Trinidad & Tobago Birding Trip 2016 - Day 1- Monday August 1st

Day 1 August 1st

Palm Tanager - Thraupis palmarum

Birding started even before the airplane stopped.  Cattle Egrets were on a fence on the grass fields around the runway; next I saw my first lifer and one of the most common birds on the island, Ruddy-ground Dove.  This dove resembles our Common Ground Dove but has a more reddish-brown colour.  Other lifers seen were Grey-Breasted Martins, which resembles our female Caribbean Martin, and White-winged Swallows.  Other birds seen at the airport were Great Kiskadee, which is also a very common bird for the island, and two familiar birds namely Carib Grackles and Shiny Cowbirds.

 

Blue-gray Tanager - Thraupis episcopus

We stayed at a guest house not far from the capital, Port of Spain.  Of course I continued my birding and landed a few more lifers at this location including my first bird of prey, a Zone-tailed Hawk.  This bird was soaring with a kettle of Black Vultures but stood out because of its banded tail.  The other new birds recorded were all lifers.  There were the Black Vulture, Tropical Kingbird, Blue-grey Tanager, the beautiful and colourful, Yellow Oriole and a Crested Oropendola. 

Spectacled Thrush - Turdus nudigenis

The family and I then spent the day at the local zoo (The Empire State Zoo) and the botanical gardens close by.  The zoo showcased a number of the island’s fauna along with a few imports.  We were mainly interested in seeing the imports especially the Giraffes and the big cats. There I recorded a few more lifers.  I saw for the first time the Spectacled Thrush, an interesting pair of Barred Antshrikes, my first swift for the trip, Fork-tailed Palm Swift, Palm Tanagers and a female White-lined Tanager.

Bat Falcon - Falco rufigularis

After concluding our visit to the Empire Zoo and Botanical gardens we took a stroll around the historic Queen’s Park Savannah, the largest open space in the capital.  The field was littered with Southern Lapwings.  Lapwings of all ages were all over the 260 acre property.  I recorded two lifers on that stroll around the Savannah: my first woodpecker, a Lineated Woodpecker and a Bat Falcon feeding on its prey.  This was the last bird recorded on Day 1.

Number of Species recorded: 26

Number of Lifers recorded: 16

List of birds and Locations

Piarco Airport: Cattle Egret, Ruddy Ground-dove, Great Kiskadee, Gray-breasted Martin, White-winged Swallow, Carib Grackle and Shiny Cowbird.

Maraval : Black Vulture, Zone-tailed Hawk, Tropical Kingbird, Blue-grey Tanager, Yellow Oriole and Crested Oropendola

Empire Zoo and the Royal Botanical Gardens: Striated Heron, Fork-tailed Palm Swift, Orange-winged Parrot, Barred Antshrike, Spectacled Thrush, Tropical Mockingbird, White-lined Tanager, Palm Tanager, Bananaquit.

Queen’s Park Savannah: Southern Lapwing, Smooth-billed Ani, Lineated Woodpecker, and Bat Falcon

Here are some of the images from Day 1

Yellow Oriole - Icterus nigrogularis

Blue-gray Tanager - Thraupis episcopus

White-lined Tanager - Tachyphonus rufus (F)

Barred Antshrike - Thamnophilus doliatus

Spectacled Thrush - Turdus nudigenis

Palm Tanager - Thraupis palmarum

Great Kiskadee - Pitangus sulphuratus

Ruddy Ground-Dove - Columbina talpacoti

Bat Falcon - Falco rufigularis

Trinidad & Tobago Birding Trip 2016

 

     After months of planning, on August 1^st, 2016, my family and I took off for our very first family/birding trip to the twin islands Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.  I set for myself what I considered to be a modest goal of 100 new species.  I said “modest” because T&T has recorded over 400 species of birds, due inpart to its closeness to South America and the varying habitats available on the islands. In preparation for the trip, I needed a field guide and I shortlisted two of them, Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, by Kenefick, Restall, Hayes (Helm Field Guides) and A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago ffrench.  An article on the website 10,000 Birds entitled “The Birds of Trinidad and Tobago: Two Guides, One Book Review” by Donna Lynn Schulman helped me to select Kenefick, Restall, Hayes’ guide.

  

My gear was made up of:

• Cameras: Rebel T3 and a Nikon Coolpix P90
• Lens:Sigma 120-400mm f/4.5-5.6 AF APO DG OS HSM Telephoto and Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
• Speedlight: Canon Speedlite 430EX II
• Storage: 3x 16GB Lexar Platinum II, 8GB and 4GB Sandisk Extreme SDHC 
• Accessories: The Flash X-Tender (Better Beamer), Zeikos ZE-OCSCC Off Camera Shoe Cord

There was no room for tripod or a macro setup.

The flight got on its way at 9:05am and made one stop on the island of St. Vincent before arriving in Trinidad at 11:30am.  My birding started even before the airplane stopped.

The next few posts to follow will detail the day by day account of sightings and locations. My lifers are bolded in the day list that will be at the end of each post.  

So here we go…

Red Red Knot

Red Knot in Breeding plumage

No bird epitomizes the drastic change that takes place in birds during breeding season than the Red Knot (Calidris canutus) .  This bird completely transforms from a drab grey and white, its non-breeding colour seen during the months of September to April, into a fiery reddish colour plumage during its breeding season which is during the months of May to August.  The two times I have seen this bird here in Barbados was first in 2014 in the month of November and 2015 in the month of September, both in its non-breeding plumage, but for the first time on our shores, I was privileged to see one in breeding plumage.

 

Red Knot in non-breeding plumage

The red knot is a medium-sized shorebird measuring 9 to 10 inches.  It breeds in the Canadian Arctic and winters in South America.  Red Knots are one of the many shorebirds whose population is in decline because of loss of habitat, climate change, human developments and over harvesting of its main food source, Horse-shoe Crabs.  This caused it to receive special protection as a threatened species and put efforts in motion to stop the decline.  Let us hope that all efforts to save these birds are successful. 

See a short documentary on the most famous Red Knot, B59 aka Moonbird, which was done for a local TV show “Breakfast with the Birds” hosted by Dr. John Webster for World Migration Day 2013.

The 2016 Southern Migration Season

Mallard X @ Lears Gap, St. Michael

July 1^st is traditionally considered the start of the southern migration season among local birders and so far it is proving to be exciting.  The rains are here and with heavy rainfalls, ponds and wet areas were created and replenished.  The hunting season is also due to start tomorrow, July 15^th and the preparation and flooding of these man-made wetlands provides additional attraction to the migrators, but sadly many will not survive the experience.   

The first sign that the migration was on its way was the sighting of the first migratory shorebirds for the season, a Pectoral and Spotted Sandpiper.  Both birds were seen on the 6^th of the month.  I had a surprise on July 9^th when I saw a large duck swimming in a pond created by three days of rainfall. From the photos I took it was concluded that it was a hybrid Mallard.  It was even more surprising when another Mallard (hybrid?) was seen on the 12^th along with a Red Knot in breeding plumage. Knots in their reddish breeding plumage and Mallards, are very rare for the island.  On July 13^th, a report of a Roseate Spoonbill was heard, but this is yet to be confirmed. This bird was spotted east of the island and efforts are being made to locate it.

It is unbelievable that this much excitement is being generated with the 2016 Southern migration season just beginning.  If it continues like this, I will be one happy birder with plenty to blog about.

 Stay tuned!

A rarity to Barbados a Red Knot in Breeding Plumage @ Chancery Lane Swamp

PS. I saw the Red Knot at Chancery Lane on the afternoon of July 13^th. This bird brings my 2016 checklist to 79 species for the year.

Bye Ocean!!

This update was taken from the Facebook page of the Barbados RSPCA 

A tremendous thank you to our wonderful boss, Mrs. Charmaine Hatcher. Last week a Great Shearwater Bird washed up on our shores. No one is certain how or why she ended up here. These birds spend their lives in the great oceans, only coming to land to breed.We are no experts on these birds, so quite a bit of research was done in short order. For the first few days Mrs. Hatcher had to force feed her. Despite having not eaten for God knows how long, her instinctual fear of humans was clearly displayed with her curved beak. It was fascinating to see this bird only after a few days pick up the routine feeding time and even became excited to see Charmaine during the morning feeds.

Charmaine would fetch her a five gallon container of sea water daily, to pour into a wading pool.
Lo and behold, this girl became so comfortable she began “diving” and fishing on her own. No more force feeding.

We were ecstatic!!!
She appeared strong enough to be released and this weekend was going to be her big day. A fishing vessel owned by a family member was going to be her ride out into deep water, saving her energy and time heading into the open ocean. 

On Friday morning our hearts sunk… overnight she had taken a most dreadful turn for the worse. We are completely baffled at the turn of this event.
We took her up to the surgery to stomach feed her. Even before we got started, she quietly passed away in Mrs Hatcher's arms.

Sometimes in life no matter how hard you try or how much you may want…you cannot save them all.
We, over the many years have painfully learned this.

Thank you for all your efforts and attempts to restore a balance in this girl’s life.

RIP “Ocean”