Trinidad Day Three: Watching Birds And Exploring The Trails At The Asa Wright Nature Center And Lodge.

Trinidad Day Three: Watching Birds And Exploring The Trails At The Asa Wright Nature Center And Lodge.

Trinidad Day Two morning walk (2 of 21)
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The birds once again woke me up before dawn on my second morning at the Asa Wright lodge. I walked from my cottage to the main building in the warm, moist  tropical air.  Coffee is served at 6 a.m. . I drank a cup on the veranda and took a few photographs of the early birds that were feeding on the wild tobacco tree fruit, including this beautiful blue-grey tanager. blue-grey tanager

I again took a walk on the driveway leading to the lodge. There are many wild flowers and fruit trees growing along the 1/2 mile winding road. wild flower on trail

The flowers attract birds and insects but I didn’t see many  on this walk. They only bird I  saw was  another noisy crested oropendola flying overhead,bird in flight

However I saw a few at the veranda before breakfast, including the colorful male tufted coquette and male tufted coquette humming bird

this female purple honeycreeper. Here is a link to a gallery of more photographs from my morning hike. Trinidad Day Three. Morning walk. April 26 2019.female purple honeycreeper

After a nice breakfast with my new friends from England and  other guests from the United States and Europe I spent most of the morning observing and trying to photographs the many species of birds that visit the fruiting trees and flowers near the veranda. I saw many, including this green honeycreeper, female green honeycreeper

this male

and female silver-beaked tanager, I am not a bird expert so please feel free to forward a comment and correct me if I misidentified a bird. 

  The  common, but still beautiful, bananaquits  were everywhere.

Dozens of hummingbirds fluttered from the feeders to the flowers and fruit trees beneath the veranda. Here is a link to some more photographs of the beautiful birds I saw at the lodge. Trinidad Day Three. Morning veranda birds April 26 2019. 

I was pretty much alone at the lodge for the day. The large group of birders from England left and most of the other folks had scheduled day trips to other birding areas.  I had planned to spend a quiet day relaxing. But I am not good at relaxing.  After a nice lunch I decided to take another walk along the driveway to the lodge. 

The sound of birds, frogs,   cicadas and other insects filled the air. It was mostly sunny now and the temperatures approached 90 degrees. These tropical conditions reminded me I was only 10 degrees of latitude  north of the Equator. And I soon encountered some exotic tropical birds including the exquisite and reclusive guianan trogon perched in a tree near its nest. guianan trogon

And a cocoa thrush hopping on the forest ground in search of insects. 

I returned to the lodge and sat on the veranda to edit my photos from my walks. Here is a link to some more photos from my hike. Trinidad Day Three: Afternoon Driveway walk. April 26 2019. 

I didn’t sit in the shade of the veranda long.   I decided to explore some of the trails of the Asa Wright Nature Center. I walked down the Discovery trail  again. I was soon under the thick canopy of the tropical rainforest. The trees protected me from the intense sun but it was still hot and humid. Temperatures were still near 90 degrees.

I came to the Bell Bird trail and  followed it down the mountainside. 

I came to the trail to the oil bird caves that is located on the property. I followed it to the river that runs through the property. Along the way I encountered a few large land crabs. The are a lot faster than I thought they thought. They sauntered down the trail when I encountered them. land crab on trail

I ended  my hike  on this portion of the trail when I got to the river. The caves where the oil birds are located can only be visited with the guides from the lodge. I had  arranged a tour for the next morning. I walked back  up to the Bell bird trail and followed it through the lush growth of the  tropical rainforest. fern on trail

As I walked the trail along the hillside I heard the distinctive sound of  bellbirds in the treetops. It was hard to see them in the thick  vegetation of the forest. 

The trail eventually intersected with the Discovery trail. I again heard the loud and distinctive sound of the beel birds in the area. Here is a link to a video I posted on my YouTube page.  I walked up the trail and saw this exotic  bell bird in the same area we saw one on my walk the day before. bell bird in tree

It was hot and humid but I was hoping to see some more birds and maybe even a snake so I decided to hike on the Adventure trail. This steep trail climbed up the mountainside. It crossed a number of small streams flowing down the mountainside. The sound of frogs filled the air and I saw many  of them in the pools along the trail. 

As I made my way up the trail I also saw  many paths winding through the rainforest cleared by the steady stream of leaf cutting ants. I remember watching nature shows about them as a child, It was nice to finally see them in their native habitat. 

The Adventure trail merges into the Bamboo trail and I followed it to a waterfall and small pool.  I sat and listened to the calming falling waters.waterfall and pond

Nearby was the ruins of an old hydro-electric station that once supplied electricity to the old plantation. I thought about the residents of the plantation and wondered how excited they would have been when this source of electricity was built.It was late afternoon when I finally followed the trail back to my cottage.Here is a link to some more photographs from my hike. Trinidad Day Three afternoon trail hikes April 26 2019. 

The sun was setting as I returned at around 6 p.m. I showered and soon was off to dinner at 7 p.m. It was nice to share a meal with my new friends who returned from their day trips and discuss our adventures of the day.   Although I was tired I still joined a group of guest to take a night walk along the driveway. We saw a lot of critters including rainbow and coffee snakes, tarantula spiders and a number  of different insects.  It was late when I returned to  my cottage but I was another wonderful day at the Asa Wright Lodge. 

“If man doesn’t learn to treat the oceans and the rainforest with respect, man will become extinct.” 
Peter Benchley