10,000 Birds

JUNE 14, 2023

Mentions of Trinidad being the “land of the hummingbird” served to further irk me later on, and the fact that the airline selected this logo to reference that makes me bring up a little bit of breakfast. One can only see the truest purple when the light is just right! Could this be a real bird?

Trinidad 130

Trinidad Experience Experiments Rights 130

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2022

Or as most of us will term it – right place, right time. I make mention of birding done naturally ; the definition of which is taken as an action that is untainted by extraneous effort; consider birding within the framework of not interfering in the probability of seeing a species.

Trinidad 162

Trinidad Hunting Rights Birds 162

10,000 Birds

JUNE 8, 2022

Clearly a maddening situation for any right-thinking thrush. Back in Trinidad, both Spectacled Thrush and Cocoa Thrush would nest in our backyard. I had never seen other young thrushes before that last walk I just mentioned as the other species tend to breed in more remote environments far away from concentrated human settlement.

Trinidad 147

Trinidad Emotional Breeding Cats 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2015

These and several other species might end up being armchair ticks if and when we take a closer look at their evolutionary history. Taxa that could end up being split into one species occurring north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and one south of the isthmus. (2). Two subspecies of the same species that differ within Costa Rica. (4).

Costa Rica 247

Costa Rica Species South America America 247

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

As mentioned in many other posts on this blog, the avifauna of Trinidad & Tobago consists of several species and family groups occurring very interestingly, in threes. Short-tailed Nighthawk (above and below) Overall, this species seems to be poorly known, which is understandable given its habits. Well, kind of.

Trinidad 130

Trinidad Bats Falcons Groups 130

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Yet they also bring up questions, which I’m going to talk about right now before diving into the specifics of the guides themselves. An associated issue is that the Belize and Costa Rica guides share many of the same descriptions of species, written by Howell. Other species are splits and lumped and have had their names changed.

Costa Rica 244

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 244

10,000 Birds

JULY 8, 2020

The Trinidad Motmot is the only endemic species on the island. In addition to the species mentioned before, it is easy to have incredible looks at Red-crowned Woodpeckers , Barred Antshrikes , and Rufous-vented Chachalacas as they frequently are attracted to the fruit feeders. But I know, we’re here for the birds.

Trinidad 198

Trinidad Parrots Species Hunting 198

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2012

Asa Wright Nature Centre in Trinidad holds a prominent position on that list of luminaries. The dichotomous republic of Trinidad and Tobago may be something of a cipher to anyone unfamiliar with the point where the Caribbean ends and South America begins. Who else has not one but two different manakin leks right off their trails?

Trinidad 250

Trinidad South America America Ecuador 250

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2013

states and thirty-seven counties, and added a whopping ninety-two species to my life list. I didn’t travel much this year, with a June family trip to California and Nevada and a four-day trip in July to Trinidad and Tobago being my only opportunities to get birds not in the northeastern United States. My life Gyrfalcon.

2013 198

2013 New York City New York Trinidad 198

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2019

Folks want to know what they can see, if it’s worth traveling to Trinidad and Tobago, if they should to to Ecuador for three days or three weeks, or if one should drive to Wisconsin to look for a vireo with white eyes or a blue head. The gray hawks weren’t the only north-south sister species that meet in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Birds Owls South America 203

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2013

Confusing, right? gundlachii ), currently embargoed by the United States, is widely considered a distinct species. anthracinus subtilis ), on the other hand, was a formerly distinct species now absorbed back to the Common core. How about the fact that a Blackhawk is not a Black Hawk? The Cuban Black Hawk ( B.

Chicago 255

Chicago South America 2013 Illinois 255

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

Having extensive experiences with this species did not prevent me from enjoying them, for as I said – they show themselves. As darkness enveloped the scene, the booming calls seemed to pass right through me as the displaying Pinnated Bittern lurched forward, its neck expanding and contracting with the expulsion of each wave of sound.

Falcons 298

Falcons Experience Experiments Birds 298

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2022

It may seem like an unnecessarily recurring theme in my posts about birding within Trinidad & Tobago, but the more I write on the subject the more it becomes apparent that the number three must have some significance, somewhere. The three main peaks of the Trinity Hills are what gave it its name, and by extension the island of Trinidad.

Trinidad 264

Trinidad Birds Tigers Groups 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 27, 2020

Fortunately, I live in Trinidad and Tobago – a twin-island nation that boasts the second highest density of bird species in the world. With 489 species recorded (including rarities and vagrants) across a land area that totals less than 2,000 square miles, T&T facilitates quick and easy changes of scenery. White Hawk.

Trinidad 262

Trinidad Pelicans Humane Fish 262

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

Trinidad and Tobago has historically had seventeen species on record, sixteen on Trinidad and six on Tobago. Oftentimes even the uncommon to scarce residents play nice, one can easily view fifteen species on a single visit to the twin island republic. And why are these new species suddenly being recorded?

Trinidad 264

Trinidad South America Venezuela 2019 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2023

On the slow crawl into the farm, the first sighting was a small group of Green Ibis – a new species for me. Endemic to the Guianan shield, this species has captivated me since I first laid eyes on a photograph of it. Most notably of which was a pair of Blood-colored Woodpeckers.

Farming 245

Farming Guyana Birds South America 245

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2018

Trinidad Colorado is located just a few miles north of the Colorado – New Mexico border, and home to the Trinidad Reservoir. Jeanne and I parked the 5th wheel in the Trinidad Lake Campground, and found it to be perhaps the nicest campground we had ever been in. Guess I was just not holding my mouth right?

Colorado 113

Colorado Texas Trinidad Albuquerque 113

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

Covering 1,261 species with data and taxonomy current up to August 2017, the field guide is an exciting achievement. And, then there are the more familiar birds–Wood-warblers, sandpipers, hawks–some species migrants, some species with a wide range. Can you guess which of the species cited above are endemic?

America 214

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 214

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2020

These intrepid travelers have captivated the very essence of my being, years ago when I used to work on an industrial port on the west coast of Trinidad I noticed each year these alien looking birds would appear, stick around for a while and then depart. Last weekend I wasn’t on the hunt for any species in particular though.

Trinidad 220

Trinidad South America Blackbirds Industry 220

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2016

But, even better, part of the profile is a heat map that allows you to view the number of species you (or others) have seen in different regions from the county level to world wide! You can’t even see my visit to Trinidad and Tobago on this map but you definitely notice Kazakhstan !). And, much to my delight, I won !

New York 172

New York Kazakhstan Trinidad Branding 172

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2018

In talking to the local guides, and Rangers, they all agreed that they had not been seeing too many species around in the last couple of weeks. We had Elk right in our camp with us every day. Pronghorn Antelope are about as common as Jackrabbits throughout Wyoming, but this guy walked right by me one morning.

Wyoming 115

Wyoming Wolves Grizzly Bear Mountain Goats 115

10,000 Birds

JUNE 10, 2020

Eventually, I learned to read the “status and distribution” section to whittle my must-see list down to species that were actually possible within T&T. I figured that hey, it’s a resident so it’s here all the time, I must see it at some point, right? Many of them were outrageously plumaged. Streaked Xenops.

2012 236

2012 Bears Experience Experiments 236

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2019

Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire) and that border is known as the Bond’s line. Within its 400 pages, the Birds of the West Indies covers 712 species, 550 of them regularly occurring and 190 of those endemic to the region, many of them to single islands. Humiliated, Bloch pulled away.

Saint Kitts and Nevis 193

Saint Kitts and Nevis Antigua and Barbuda Dominican Republic Cuba 193

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2012

This bird represented only the second documented record of this species in Florida. 2012 has certainly been a bumper year for me with an estimated year list of around 3,000 species after extensive travels to South Africa, Ethiopia, South Korea, Indonesia, the Russian Far East, United Kingdom, Peru, Guatemala and Panama.

2012 179

2012 Birds Guatemala Florida 179

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2019

This year the big prize must go to Tom who has pushed himself, right to the wire to acheive a magnificent score for a self-funded, wife-organised, wife-sponsored Little Big Year , accounting for 57% of the total. Trinidad Lake SP–Watchable Wildlife Trail. And Pat gets to keep the awards in the remainder of the categories.

2018 113

2018 Australia Woodpeckers Sparrows 113

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2018

They noted 598 species as a team, bringing the year total to 2118 and pushing the life list to 3555. Watch out for Tom during October to see this anomaly put right. Trinidad Lake Watchable Wildlike Trail and Hides, Colorado. They are hungry, tired and don’t need to be chased. Claire and Grant went walkabout for 20 FOYs.

2018 113

2018 Australia Woodpeckers Los Angeles 113