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May 12, 2007
Tobago, Day Two
We woke up early the next day since we were going on a tour of Main Ridge Rain Forest with local bird guide/former forest ranger, Newton George. This was a trip I had looked very much forward to since Trinidad and Tobago are famous for their birds. Newton is an amazing bird spotter--of course, he has the advantage of decades of experience birdwatching in Trinidad & Tobago, but his skills were still very impressive nonetheless. We arrived at the rain forest, which happens to be the oldest rain forest preserve in the western hemisphere, early and I was surprised to discover how cool it was. Walking through the rain forest, while not the lush tropical rain forest I had imagined, made me appreciate the value of the forest in a slightly Miyazaki kind of way but it was Newton's bird spotting abilities and local bird knowledge that really made the excursion memorable. Most impressive was when he spotted a common potoo from hundreds of feet away, a nocturnal bird which looks normal when relaxed and camaflouges itself to look like the base of a tree when it senses danger. My photo of it isn't very good but you can find really good photos of it here
Highlights also included the hummingbirds which swooped past our faces, including the White-tailed Sabrewing, which can only be found in Main Ridge Rain Forest and in Venezuela, watching a Red-crowned Woodpecker clean out its burrow, and seeing the Rufous-tailed Jacamar and the Blue-backed manakin (unfortunately, we did not see the pair we observed display).
We returned to the hotel for lunch and then boarded a glass-bottom boat to head over to Little Tobago, an island off the coast of Tobago. The island was really hot but I definitely enjoyed looking at the Frigatebirds and Red-billed Tropicbirds (Little Tobago is famous for being in Attenborough's Trials of Life, which documented the propensity of some Frigatebirds to attack Tropicbirds in an attempt to eat their regurgitated food).
Speyside at sunrise
Little Tobago
Yellow-crowned night heron
Tobago's national bird, the cocrico
Posted by Jennifer at May 12, 2007 12:39 AM
Comments
Who did you go on vacation with? As this smiling, relaxed, happy man in the photo cannot possibly be Adam. I recommend more holidays for him. Great that you snagged a potoo. Difficult bird, as the vicar said the actress.
Posted by: Terry at May 18, 2007 12:42 PM