TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 4–19 October 2008 28 March–12 April 2009 24 October–8 November 2009 Leader: Martyn Kenefick

Trinidad and Tobago lie only 16 km north of Venezuela and their combined land area is just 4% of England’s. With a species list of 463, good accommodation and food and English as the official language, this is the ideal introduction to South American birding. There is just one endemic bird, the very rare Trinidad Piping-guan, but over half of the endemic bird families of South America are present in the islands.

Day 1 Flight from London Gatwick to Tobago and transfer to the delightful Hummingbirds guesthouse (with swimming pool) close to the airport for dinner and an overnight stay.

Day 2 After breakfast we will take an early morning flight to Trinidad, a mere 25 minutes away, where we will be met by Martyn and make the transfer to the world-famous Asa Wright Nature Centre, our base for the next seven nights. There are several trails in the superb 400-acre grounds of our accommodation, which is located in the heart of Trinidad’s Northern Range Mountains. Many species can be seen during these walks including Little Tinamou, Gray-headed and Double-toothed Kites, Short-tailed, White and Zone-tailed Hawks, Ornate Hawk-eagle, Yellow-headed Caracara, Lilac-tailed Parrotlet, Orange-winged Parrot, Squirrel Cuckoo, Ferruginous Pygmy-owl, Short-tailed Swift, Ruddy Ground-dove, Gray-fronted and White-tipped Doves, Rufous-breasted and Little Hermits, Copper-rumped and Ruby-topaz Hummingbirds, Blue-chinned Sapphire, White-chested Emerald, Long-billed Starthroat, Tufted Coquette, Black-throated Mango, White-necked Jacobin, Collared, White-tailed and Violaceous Trogons, Blue-crowned Motmot, Chestnut, Golden-olive, Lineated and Red-rumped Woodpeckers, Streaked Xenops, Stripe-breasted Spinetail, Plain-brown and Cocoa Woodcreepers, Gray-throated Leaftosser, Barred and Great Antshrikes, White-bellied Antbird, White-flanked Antwren, Black-faced Antthrush, Bearded Bellbird, Boat-billed, Ochre-bellied, Slaty-capped, Streaked and Yellow-breasted Flycatchers, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Tropical Kingbird, Great Kiskadee, Rufous-breasted and Southern House Wrens, Long-billed Gnatwren, Golden-headed and White-bearded Manakins, Bare-eyed and Cocoa Thrushes, Chivi Vireo, Golden-fronted Greenlet, Golden-crowned Warbler, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Bananaquit, Tropical Parula, Trinidad and Violaceous Euphonias, Red-crowned Ant-tanager, Blue-gray, Palm, Silver-beaked, Turquoise, White-lined and White-shouldered Tanagers, Grayish Saltator, Green, Purple and Red-legged Honeycreepers, Yellow Oriole and Crested Oropendola. In fact, there are so many good birds here it will be difficult to drag you away from the trails at meal times! One day we will visit the caves in the grounds where Oilbirds breed and roost. There are good numbers of butterflies too, not only in the grounds but also throughout both Trinidad and Tobago, and these include the spectacular Blue Morpho. Photographic opportunities are excellent here.

Days 3–8 We will visit a number of different sites throughout the island interspersed with revisiting all the trails in the grounds of Asa Wright. The major sites to be visited include:

Caroni Swamp This is the best site for Scarlet Ibis, which breed here in large numbers. We will watch them flying in to roost on our boat trip whilst other birds possible (including a walk around the adjacent marshes) include Boat-billed Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-heron, Limpkin, Long-winged Harrier, Mangrove Cuckoo, Common Potoo, Green Kingfisher, Green-throated Mango, Straight-billed Woodcreeper, Pale-breasted Spinetail, Scrub Flycatcher, Black-crested Antshrike, Red-capped Cardinal and Bicoloured Conebill. We may also encounter Spectacled Cayman and Cook’s Tree Boa.

Nariva Swamp This is a large freshwater marsh on the east coast. En route we will stop for lunch at a beautiful beach. Specialities we will be looking for include Pinnated Bittern, Common Black-hawk, Pearl and Plumbeous Kites, Bat Falcon, Wattled Jacana, American Purple and Azure Gallinules, American Pygmy-kingfisher, Plain-breasted Ground-dove, Red-rumped Woodpecker, Silvered Antbird, Black-crested Antshrike, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Black-tailed Tityra, Giant Cowbird and Dickcissel. Mammals can include Red Howler Monkeys. The highlight, however, is the hundreds of Red-bellied Macaws that return to roost in the evening.

Agricultural Research Station This area of wet farmland is very good for a number of species including Pinnated and Stripe-backed Bitterns, Savannah Hawk, Merlin, Southern Lapwing, Least and Solitary Sandpipers, Green-rumped Parrotlet, Striped Cuckoo, White-winged Swallow, Gray-breasted Martin, Yellow-chinned Spinetail, Gray Kingbird, Pied Water-tyrant, White-headed Marsh-tyrant, Red-breasted and Yellow-hooded Blackbirds, Shiny Cowbird, Smooth-billed Ani, Carib Grackle, Blue-black Grassquit, Ruddy-breasted Seedeater and the recently-discovered Grassland Yellow-finch.

Northern Range Several roads traverse this mountain range to which we will make a couple of visits to various sites. The area receives nearly 4 metres of rain a year so it may be wet! Turkey and American Black Vultures are common here, but we are really looking for specialities including Blue-headed Parrot, Scaled Pigeon, Channel-billed Toucan, Band-rumped, Chestnut-collared and Gray-rumped Swifts, Bay-headed, Hepatic and Speckled Tanagers, the rare Swallow Tanager, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, White-bellied Antbird, Euler's Flycatcher and White-necked Thrush. Depending on the road and weather conditions, we may be able to make the five-hour (often muddy) return walk down to an Oilbird cave. Although extremely strenuous, it is well worth the effort to see these special birds.

Waterloo This coastal site holds Neotropic Cormorant, Brown Pelican, Great Blue, Little Blue, Striated and Tricolored Herons, Great and Snowy Egrets, Laughing Gull, Large-billed, Royal and Yellow-billed Terns, Black Skimmer, Short-billed Dowitcher, Willet, Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated & Western Sandpipers and Semipalmated Plover.

One evening during our stay at Asa Wright we may go out to look for nightbirds including Common Pauraque, White-tailed Nightjar and possibly Tropical Screech-owl.

Days 9–10 Firstly, we will transfer to Le Grande Almandier Hotel on the quiet, unspoilt north-east coast. This will give us a chance to visit new habitat and the opportunity to see the rare Trinidad Piping-guan and possibly nesting Leatherback Turtles. Other birds may include Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift and American Swallow-tailed Kite. Two nights at Le Grande Almandier.

Day 11 After a last morning around Le Grande Almandier, we return to the airport for the short flight to Tobago. On arrival, we will make the short transfer to Hummingbirds, our base for the next four nights. In the afternoon we will bird locally.

Days 12–14 Tobago has twelve landbirds that do not occur on Trinidad; also it is much better for seabirds. Today we will start our search for a number of the specialities, including Pale-vented Pigeon, Caribbean Martin, White-fringed Antwren, Blue-crowned Motmot and Scrub Greenlet. During the course of the next three days we will visit several sites on the island including:

Little Tobago Island We will take a boat trip out to the island to see seabirds. These may include Red-billed Tropicbird, Magnificent Frigatebird, and Brown & Red-footed Boobies The boat has a glass bottom so we will also enjoy spectacular views of the coral reef and its fish. Snorkelling is also an option.

Gilpin Trace This is one of the few patches of rainforest that escaped a devastating hurricane in 1963. In this beautiful forest we will look for Great Black-hawk, Rufous-vented Chachalaca, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, White-tailed Sabrewing, Venezuelan and Fuscous Flycatchers, Blue-backed Manakin and Yellow-legged Thrush.

Bon Accord Sewage Ponds In this extremely good area for waterbirds we will look for Least Grebe, Anhinga, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night-heron, American Coot, White-cheeked Pintail, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Wilson's Snipe and Red-crowned Woodpecker.

Day 15 After a last morning's birding and lunch, sadly we must leave Hummingbirds and make the short journey to Crown Point Airport for our return overnight flight back to the UK.

Day 16 Morning arrival at London Gatwick at the end of the tour.

General Information The general pace of the tour is relaxed with only a basic degree of fitness required to cope with one or two steep forest trails. Being in the tropics, birds are most lively in the first few hours of daylight so our tour is geared towards early starts (we normally leave 6.00–6.30am). We will bird until lunchtime; lunch will be either back at the accommodation or in picnic form, when a break will normally be taken in the middle of the day when it is hot and humid and bird activity is low. We will then birdwatch again from mid/late afternoon. There will be opportunities to take time off to shop, sightsee or relax as required. There are a number of health requirements and you must consult your GP in this respect. Please note that, even in the dry season, rain showers can be expected. We should see in excess of 200 species during the tour.

Group Size Minimum number for tour to go ahead: 4; maximum group size: 10 with 1 leader.

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