Tobago 1- The Blue Water Inn

 

LATE REPORT OF A BIRDING TRIP BACK IN APRIL

A trip to Trinidad and Tobago and a stay at the ASA Wright Centre centre has been on my "to do list" for many years. However it's not cheap and a full on birding holiday like that, would not go down too well with Sue. Worse still, neither of the two options, of take her with me or leave her at home, were likely to have had a favourable outcome!

Then I managed to come up with a compromise, a cheap, fully inclusive week, at the Blue Water Inn on Tobago. The Blue Water Inn is on a lot of the Trinidad and Tobago birding itineraries. It is in a remote bay, on the north of the island, close to some of the best birding locations and it had bedrooms with verandas, opening up straight on to the beach. One look at the web site was enough to sell it to Sue, it was her dream location, and at about a quarter of the price of an organised birding tour I was all for it.

There was a downside, Tobago only has about half the number of bird species of Trinidad but that would be enough to keep me going for a week.

So, five blogs, birding around the Blue Water; Little Tobago; A day out with Newton George, More Time with Newton George and Common Potoo.

The Blue Water grounds are surrounded by hill forest and dense undergrowth, most of it impenetrable, but birding the grounds and the main track running through the area gave plenty of opportunities. Birds were everywhere particularly during the period after dawn and before dusk.  The morning chorus was deafening with most of the noise coming from the national bird of Tobago, the Rufous-vented Chachalaca.

Rufous -vented Chachalaca

Hearing birds was easy, seeing them and then getting a good picture, through the dense undergrowth proved to be a lot harder.

I saw a few of these Barred Antshrikes but the shots below were the best I could get. There is quite a difference between the male and female markings.

Barred Antshrike

Barred Antshrike (Female)

Other birds in the area included:-

Carib Garckle

House Wren

Shiny Cowbird (Female)

White-fringed Antwren

White-tipped Pigeon

This Yellow-crowned Night Heron was one of a pair that flew onto the beach whilst we sat having lunch. The first flew into a tree where it was difficult to see but this one was happy taking a gentle stroll along the beach whilst the diners took pictures of it. Probably one of my best shots of the holiday and it took no skill or field craft to get it.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Black-faced Grassquit

Blue-black Grassquit

Blue-grey Tanager

Caribbean Martin

Pale-vented Pigeon

Palm Tanager

Spectacled Thrush

And our two most common species, making regular appearances just outside our room and scavenging at breakfast.

 

Mocking Bird

Bananaquit

The Banaquit male was attempting to build a nest in one of the light fittings in the restaurant. He would make repeated visits with nesting material which he carefully wove into the nest structure. When he flew off the female would appear to make modifications and dispose of bits she did not like. Then each evening the nest material was cleared away by the hotel staff (a fire hazard ).

For the seven days we were there he duly returned every morning and started over again whilst his partner watched on, scolding him for the lack of progress. Sad to watch but there was no easy solution.

A Black-throated Mango nesting in a tree on the beach in front of the hotel rooms.

and a better shot of the same species (not at the nest).

Black-throated Mango

Copper-rumped Hummingbird

A Ruby-topaz Hummingbird - really stunning if you manage to get the lighting right - which I didn't.

Ruby-topaz Hummingbird

White-necked Jacobin

Four of the six hummingbirds on the island seen around the hotel area. Pictures of the other two on later blogs.

Tobago 2 - Little Tobago

 

Little Tobago is an island located about a mile off the North East coast of Tobago. It takes about fifteen minutes on a glass bottomed boat from the pier at the Blue Water Inn. 

The island is protected and is a great place to see migratory sea birds. You can only visit the island with an official guide and the boats trips usually combine a visit to the island with snorkelling over the coral reefs in the Blue Water Bay. Great if you like snorkelling, not so good if you wanted longer on the island.

There were lots of birds on the island. We saw the target sea birds but I am sure there were a lot more to be seen if we had more time.

There is a colony of Laughing Gulls on little Tobago and they were a very common bird around the Blue Water grounds. It was strange to see so many of them when I have travelled hundreds of miles back home in England to see one as a rare visitor to our shores.

Laughing Gull

The Yellow-bellied Elaenia, a fairly common bird around the Blue Water grounds but this one photographed on the Island

Yellow-bellied Elaenia

Then from the high point on the island, the birds we had come to see:- Magnificent Frigate Bird, Brown Booby, Red-footed Booby, Red-billed Tropic Bird

Magnificent Frigate Bird

Red-billed Tropic Bird

Red-billed Tropic Bird

Red-footed Booby

Flybys by the birds were mostly too distant for good photographs and the shots of the Brown Boobys were too distant to publish here, but we did see the occasional Red-billed Tropic Bird roosting on the ground, close enough to touch.

Red-billed Tropic Bird

We also saw short-tailed Swifts which I was unable to get in focus in the time I had available and we were shown nesting holes for Audubon's Shearwaters with young in the nests. The adults would not return until after dark and we could not disturb the young. So close to a life tick but it doesn't count.

I should perhaps have explored the possibility of getting more time on the island but with plenty of other places to visit, it did not seem worth the expense.

Tobago 3 - Newton George

 

It's always difficult when you are birding in a foreign country. Do you hire a guide to find the birds for you or do you do your homework and set off to find them yourself. I much prefer finding my own birds, the sense of achievement in exploring a different location and finding something new takes me back to my early birding days. Using a local guide somehow feels like cheating but if you don't get some help then you will clearly miss out on a lot of birds. So, one day out with a local bird guide is allowed, as it is only cheating a little bit.

Checking online it was clear that there were many good local guides on Tobago but one name stood out, that of Newton George.

With only a couple of weeks before we travelled I was not expecting him to be available but I e-mailed him anyway and fortunately got a positive response. Sue and I spent a day with Newton and three other birders on what turned out to be an eleven hour birding tour. Better still Sue, who is not a birder, actually enjoyed the day.

We started off in the south west of the island around the Bon Accord ponds and drainage channels and very productive it proved to be.

Spotted Sandpiper

Greater Yellowlegs

Green Heron

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

Southern Lapwing

Tropical Kingbird

Wattled Jacana

Anhinga

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Least Grebe

Brown-crested Flycatcher

Grey Kingbird

Red-crowned Woodpecker

Smooth-billed Ani

Then one of the highlights of the day, a Tricoloured Heron in full breeding plumage.

Tri-coloured Heron

White-cheeked Pintail

Blue-winged Teal

Juvenile Great Blue Heron

Solitary Sandpiper

There were birds everywhere and most seemed to have no fear of us walking in the area, although I did note that all the ducks took flight if we got too close. The sad thing is that they probably should be concerned. A large part of the ground we were birding on had already been marked out for housing and drainage work had already started.

Our next stop was the ponds at the Fairways Golf Course and the Plantations Boardwalk. 

Common Gallinule

Newton was intent on finding a Mangrove Cuckoo but unfortunately it wasn't to be. However there were plenty of other birds around although photographing them in the low light levels of the mangrove swamp was a bit more challenging.

Black-crested Night Heron

Brown-crested Flycatcher

Whimbrel

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Snowy Egret

We also saw a Potoo but I will put a picture of that in a later blog.

We then went on a bit of a tour along the coast, to look for sea birds, with the first stop at the Coco Beach hotel. It has a rock breakwater protecting a seawater bathing pool and there were a hundred plus birds roosting on the rocks.

Eared Dove - looking for food

Roseate Tern

Royal Tern

Then on to view a derelict pier just below Fort James in the Plymouth area. Again hundreds of birds, I should have been carrying a wide angle lens. We found Black Skimmers, Laughing Gulls, Sandwich Terns, Royal Terns and Cayenne Terns. 

I had not even realised that Cayenne Terns existed. They are in fact a subspecies of the Sandwich Tern and are found in the southern Caribbean and Atlantic coast of South America. They have a yellow bill and a slightly longer crest than the North Atlantic Sandwich Terns. It was useful to be able to see the two subspecies at the same location.

Black Skimmers Royal Terns and Sandwich Tern

Black Skimmers

Laughing Gulls, Black Skimmers, Royal Terns, Cayenne Terns (yellow bills)

And, a little further along the coast a Brown Pelican fishing in one of the coves.

Brown Pelican

More to come from our tour with Newton George in the next blog.