Trinidad And Tobago Day Five. Another Day Exploring The Trails Of Asa Wright Lodge

The songs of birds  were once again   my alarm clock  on Sunday at the Asa Wright Nature Center and Lodge in Trinidad. The birds become active  about half hour before the sunrise. And when they wake up they let the rest of the  world know it. Located only 11 degrees of latitude north of the equator there is not much twilight in Trinidad. And, once again the skies were cloudy and threatened rain.  There were   clouds and showers every morning  at the Asa Wright lodge.  I grabbed my camera and left my cottage. I had my coffee on the veranda.  ++

This morning I decided to hike into the rainforest that surrounds the old plantation where the lodge is located. I followed the Chaconia Trail  that was located in the rear of my cottage. It climbed steeply down the mountainside to the river that runs through the property

Although I heard the songs of many birds on my walk, it was difficult to photograph them in the thick tropical vegetation growing along the trail. 

I walked down to the waterfalls and pool along the river and sat and enjoyed the serenity of this scene. 

A few frogs joined me in admiring the view. 

I said goodbye to the frogs and continued with my hike. I walked  past the old hydroelectric equipment I saw on my previous hike  and up  on the Bamboo trail. I followed this steep trail back up the mountain.  Once again the trail was crisscrossed with  the paths created by leaf cutter ants.  The songs of tropical birds filled the air. I was surprised when I found myself back on the driveway leading in to the lodge. I walked past this trail for three days and hadn’t realized it ran parallel  with the driveway.  It is always seems that, as soon as you become familiar with a city, town or resort, it is time to leave . Well, 

I had one more day to explore the trails at  the lodge. 

I walked back along the road and hiked up to the Bird Blind trail. Here I again  saw a pair of white-lined tanagers feeding on the wild tobacco fruit. . This is the female.

And this one is the male.

It was now near breakfast time, which is served 7;30 a.m., so I made my way back to the lodge,  Once again I had a delicious meal and good conversation with my fellow guests. We all had so much in common, a love of birds, nature travel and life. Here is a link to some more photographs from my early hike. Trinidad and Tobago Day Five. Dawn hike April 28 2019. 

After breakfast I again spent an hour sitting on the veranda taking in the beautiful scenery and watching the many birds visiting the lodge. There is always a guide present, and usually a group of birders, scanning the  area for a sighting of a new species of bird. This morning I saw two species this female tufted coquette,

and this hawk. I was told the species but I have forgotten. I just checked my Trinidad bird guide and still can’t identify it.  Please feel free to  help with any identifications or misidentification I may have made in my comments. 

There were also many of the birds I was now familiar with including the very common bananaquit and 

another I think a white-chested emerald hummingbird. I could spend days watching the birds that visit the flowers and gardens of the lodge.  But so much more things to do. Here is a link to some more photographs of the birds I saw on the veranda. Trinidad and Tobago Day Five veranda birds April 28 2019.

The skies cleared. Puffy white cumulus clouds appeared. I had to go out for another walk, once again on the driveway to the lodge. 

I walked out to the entrance to the lodge but didn’t see much wildlife, except for this lizard.It was still nice to observe the many exotic tropical plants, flowers, and trees. Here is a link to some more photographs from my late morning hike. Trinidad Day Five: Late morning hike April 28 2019. 

It was now time to eat again. I really was enjoying life at the lodge. I was  another  great meal and some more pleasant conversation with old and new friends. After lunch I spent some time on the veranda where I edited some of the many photographs I was taking. I still had time to photograph some of the birds that continued to show up at the lodge, including the beautiful male tufted coquette hummingbird.

Of course there were numerous green honeycreepers, this is a male,

and white-necked Jacobin hummingbirds visiting the lodge.  Here is a link to still more photographs I took. Trinidad Day Five: Afternoon veranda birds. April 28 2019.

Later in the afternoon I braved the intense sunshine and hot temperatures and took another walk. This time I walked down the Discovery Trail. On my way  I found this large tiger lizard enjoying the heat. 

I also observed some moths  butterflies out and about. 

There was not much bird activity as I entered the shade of the large trees of the rainforest. 

However, I  soon heard the loud, clanging cries of the bell birds. I slowly made my way to the source of the bird calls and soon found one of them perched in a tree. 

I watched the bell bird until it flew off and walked back up the Discovery Trail. This time I hiked back up on the bottom part of the Chaconia Trail where I began my day. 

They trail ended at my cottage. 

Instead of returning to take a much needed rest, I returned to the driveway for one last walk in the late afternoon. Unfortunately, i didn’t make any new discoveries of local  wildlife but it was still nice to enjoy the late afternoon beauty of the rainforest. The sun would soon set. It was my last night at the lodge and I wanted to have one last rum punch on the veranda before dinner. It is a wonderful tradition. I enjoyed my rum punch, an excellent dinner and again retired early after a long day exploring the trails of the Asa Wright Nature Center and Lodge. Here is a link to some more photographs from my afternoon walks. Trinidad and Tobago Afternoon walks April 28 2019. 

“Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.”
E. O. Wilson