This post does not contain serious eye-candy nor riveting text. In fact it slipped me to upload this earlier as I was completely swamped with some other (bird-related) responsibilities.

Over the past few years we have been rewilding our yard here in the suburbs of the island of Trinidad. Some of you who may have been either following my posts on this topic or undertaking a similar adventure yourself would be well acquainted with the exhilaration of some fruit of that labor.

Within the last few weeks, I noticed a young female Ruby-topaz Hummingbird stopping by to feed on a rapidly maturing fiddlewood we have growing at our fenceline. I saw her feeding on one of our vervain plants before, but she is only allowed to feed for a brief moment before our resident and excessively aggressive Copper-rumped Hummingbird chases her off. Recently, however, she has been feeding on this fiddlewood every morning and often perches for an extended period of time.

Ruby-topaz Hummingbird

The more exciting find (for me, at least) was a Southern Beardless Tyrannulet that flew into the same fiddlewood and spent considerable time preening and cleaning its bill on the rough bark. Considerable time at least until I dropped what I was doing in the kitchen and ran for my camera. Naturally, as soon as it noticed it was noticed, it bolted.

Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, a name longer than the bird!

Have you been seeing any new yard birds recently? Rewilding is a long term project and results often take years to show themselves. Butterflies and other insects would show up first, but the birds will eventually come.

Written by Faraaz Abdool
Faraaz Abdool is an internationally published freelance conservation and wildlife photographer/writer who specializes in birds and the issues they face worldwide. He graciously serves on the Trinidad and Tobago Bird Status and Distribution Committee (formerly the Trinidad and Tobago Rare Bird Committee), and leads birding trips on both islands. Faraaz also runs yearly birding and wildlife tours to East Africa. Although he doesn’t keep a life list, Faraaz has been a keen birder for many years, separating Black and Turkey Vultures at distance as a little boy, skipping class to gaze at Magnificent Frigatebirds as a teenager and quitting his job as an electrical engineer to put all his energy into conservation as an adult. Faraaz cultivates wildlife consciousness via his words and images, in a last-ditch attempt to reconnect humans with nature and save the world.