Trinidad & Tobago
October 1 – 10, 2011
Leader: Bill Murphy

Itinerary

October 2 / Tobago: Bon Accord & Hilton Ponds, Adventure Farm
October 3 / Tobago: Cuffie River grounds
October 4 / Tobago: Main Ridge Reserve (Gilpin Trace), Little Tobago Island
October 5 / Trinidad: Asa Wright Nature Centre
October 6 / Trinidad: Aripo Livestock Station, Manzanilla Beach, Waller Field
October 7 / Trinidad: Southwest and West Coast
October 8 / Trinidad: Northern Range
October 9 / Trinidad: Oilbird Cave, Caroni Swamp
Species / 10/2 / 10/3 / 10/4 / 10/5 / 10/6 / 10/7 / 10/8 / 10/9
TINAMOUS
Little Tinamou (Crypturellus soui) / h / h / h
DUCKS & GEESE
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis) / ●
Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors) / ● / ● / ●
White-cheeked Pintail (Anas bahamensis) / ●
GUANS & CHACHALACAS
Rufous-vented Chachalaca (Ortalis ruficauda) / ● / ●
GREBES
Least Grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus) / ●
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) / ●
TROPICBIRDS
Red-billed Tropicbird (Phaethon aethereus) / ●
PELICANS
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
BOOBIES
Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) / ●
Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) / ●
ANHINGAS
Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) / ●
FRIGATEBIRDS
Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
HERONS
Pinnated Bittern (Botaurus pinnatus) / ●
Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) / ● / ●
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Nyctanassa violacea) / ● / ● / ●
Green Heron (Butorides virescens) / ● / ● / ●
Striated Heron (Butorides striata) / ● / ● / ●
Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Great Egret (Ardea alba) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) / ● / ● / ●
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) / ● / ● / ● / ●
Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
IBISES & SPOONBILLS
Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber) / ●
NEW WORLD VULTURES
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
HAWKS, KITES & EAGLES
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) / ● / ●
Gray-headed Kite (Leptodon cayanensis) / ●
Long-winged Harrier (Circus buffoni) / ● / ● / ●
White Hawk (Leucopternis albicollis) / ●
Gray Hawk (Buteo nitidus) / ● / ●
Common Black-Hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Great Black-Hawk (Buteogallus urubitinga) / ●
Savanna Hawk (Buteogallus meridionalis) / ●
Short-tailed Hawk (Buteo brachyurus) / ● / ●
Zone-tailed Hawk (Buteo albonotatus) / ● / ●
Ornate Hawk-Eagle (Spizaetus ornatus) / ●
FALCONS & CARACARAS
Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway) / ●
Yellow-headed Caracara (Milvago chimachima) / ● / ● / ●
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) / ●
LIMPKIN, GALLINULES, RAILS & CRAKES
Limpkin (Aramus guarauna) / ●
Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris) / h / ●
Rufous-necked Wood-Rail (Aramides axillaris) / ●
Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata) / ● / ● / ●
Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) / ● / ● / ●
PLOVERS & LAPWINGS
Southern Lapwing (Vanellus chilensis) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) / ●
Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) / ● / ●
Collared Plover (Charadrius collaris) / ● / ●
STILTS & AVOCETS
Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) / ●
SANDPIPERS
Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata) / ●
Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus) / ● / ●
Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) / ● / ●
Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca ) / ● / ●
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) / ● / ● / ● / ●
Solitary Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria) / ● / ● / ●
Willet (Tringa semipalmata) / ●
Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) / ● / ● / ● / ●
Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla) / ● / ●
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) / ● / ● / ●
White-rumped Sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis) / ●
Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) / ●
Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus) / ●
JACANAS
Wattled Jacana (Jacana jacana) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
GULLS & TERNS
Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) / ● / ● / ●
Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus) / ● / ●
Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) / ● / ●
Least Tern (Sternula antillarum) / ●
Large-billed Tern (Phaetusa simplex) / ● / ●
Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus) / ●
SKIMMERS
Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) / ●
PIGEONS & DOVES
Ruddy Ground-Dove (Columbina talpacoti) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Rock Pigeon (Columba livia) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Scaled Pigeon (Patagioenas speciosa) / ● / h
Scaly-naped Pigeon (Patagioenas squamosa) / ● / h
Pale-vented Pigeon (Patagioenas cayennensis) / ● / ● / ●
Eared Dove (Zenaida auriculata) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
White-tipped Dove (Leptotila verreauxi) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Gray-fronted Dove (Leptotila rufaxilla) / ● / ● / ● / ●
PARROTS & MACAWS
Red-bellied Macaw (Orthopsittaca manilata) / ●
Green-rumped Parrotlet (Forpus passerinus) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Blue-headed Parrot (Pionus menstruus) / ●
Orange-winged Parrot (Amazona amazonica) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
NEW WORLD CUCKOOS
Squirrel Cuckoo (Piaya cayana) / ● / h
Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga ani) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Striped Cuckoo (Tapera naevia) / ●
OWLS
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium brasilianum) / h / h / h / h / h
OILBIRD
Oilbird (Steatornis caripensis) / ●
POTOOS
Common Potoo (Nyctibius griseus) / ● / ● / ●
NIGHTJARS & NIGHTHAWKS
Short-tailed Nighthawk (Lurocalis semitorquatus) / ●
White-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus cayennensis) / ● / ● / ●
SWIFTS
Chestnut-collared Swift (Streptoprocne rutila) / ●
Band-rumped Swift (Chaetura spinicaudus) / ● / ●
Gray-rumped Swift (Chaetura cinereiventris) / ● / ● / ● / ●
Short-tailed Swift (Chaetura brachyura) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Fork-tailed Palm-Swift (Tachornis squamata) / ●
HUMMINGBIRDS
Rufous-breasted Hermit (Glaucis hirsutus) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Little Hermit (Phaethornis longuemareus) / ● / ● / ●
Green Hermit (Phaethornis guy) / ● / ● / ●
White-tailed Sabrewing (Campylopterus ensipennis) / ● / ● / ●
White-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Black-throated Mango (Anthracothorax nigricollis) / ●
Tufted Coquette (Lophornis ornatus) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Blue-chinned Sapphire (Chlorestes notata) / ● / ● / ●
White-chested Emerald (Amazilia brevirostris) / ● / ● / ● / ●
Copper-rumped Hummingbird (Amazilia tobaci) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Long-billed Starthroat (Heliomaster longirostris) / ●
TROGONS
Green-backed (White-tailed) Trogon (Trogon viridis) / h
Guianan (Violaceous) Trogon (Trogon violaceus) / ●
Collared Trogon (Trogon collaris) / ● / ●
KINGFISHERS
Ringed Kingfisher (Megaceryle torquata) / ● / ● / ●
Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) / ●
Green Kingfisher (Chloroceryle americana) / ●
American Pygmy Kingfisher (Chloroceryle aenea) / ●
MOTMOT
Trinidad (Blue-crowned) Motmot (Momotus bahamaensis) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
JACAMARS
Rufous-tailed Jacamar (Galbula ruficauda) / ● / h / h / ●
TOUCANS
Channel-billed Toucan (Ramphastos vitellinus) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
WOODPECKERS
Red-crowned Woodpecker (Melanerpes rubricapillus) / ● / ●
Red-rumped Woodpecker (Veniliornis kirkii) / h
Golden-olive Woodpecker (Colaptes rubiginosus) / ● / ●
Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus) / ● / ● / h
SPINETAILS
Stripe-breasted Spinetail (Synallaxis cinnamomea) / h / h
Yellow-chinned Spinetail (Certhiaxis cinnamomeus) / ● / ●
WOODCREEPERS
Plain-brown Woodcreeper (Dendrocincla fuliginosa) / ● / ● / ●
Olivaceous Woodcreeper (Sittasomus griseicapillus) / h
Straight-billed Woodcreeper (Dendroplex picus) / ●
Cocoa Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus susurrans) / h / ● / h
ANTBIRDS
Great Antshrike (Taraba major) / ● / h / ● / ●
Black-crested Antshrike (Sakesphorus canadensis) / h / ● / ●
Barred Antshrike (Thamnophilus doliatus) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Plain Antvireo (Dysithamnus mentalis) / h / h
White-flanked Antwren (Myrmotherula axillaris) / ●
White-fringed Antwren (Formicivora grisea) / ● / ●
White-bellied Antbird (Myrmeciza longipes) / h
Black-faced Antthrush (Formicarius analis) / h / h
FLYCATCHERS
Forest Elaenia (Myiopagis gaimardii) / ●
Yellow-bellied Elaenia (Elaenia flavogaster) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet (Camptostoma obsoletum) / ●
Ochre-bellied Flycatcher (Mionectes oleagineus) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Northern Scrub-Flycatcher (Sublegatus arenarum) / ●
Spotted Tody-Flycatcher (Todirostrum maculatum) / ●
Yellow-olive Flycatcher (Tolmomyias sulphurescens) / ● / ●
Yellow-breasted Flycatcher (Tolmomyias flaviventris) / h / ● / h / h / h / h / ● / ●
Euler's Flycatcher (Lathrotriccus euleri) / ●
Fuscous Flycatcher (Cnemotriccus fuscatus) / ●
Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi) / ● / ●
Tropical Pewee (Contopus cinereus) / ● / h / ●
Pied Water-Tyrant (Fluvicola pica) / ● / ● / ●
White-headed Marsh Tyrant (Arundinicola leucocephala) / ● / ●
Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Streaked Flycatcher (Myiodynastes maculatus) / ●
Boat-billed Flycatcher (Megarynchus pitangua) / ● / ● / ●
Sulphury Flycatcher (Tyrannopsis sulphurea) / ●
Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Fork-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus savana) / ● / ●
Gray Kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Dusky-capped Flycatcher (Myiarchus tuberculifer) / h
Venezuelan Flycatcher (Myiarchus venezuelensis) / ●
Brown-crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus tyrannulus) / ● / ●
Bright-rumped Attila (Attila spadiceus) / h
BELLBIRDS
Bearded Bellbird (Procnias averano) / ● / h / h / h
MANAKINS
White-bearded Manakin (Manacus manacus) / ● / h / ●
Blue-backed Manakin (Chiroxiphia pareola) / ● / ●
Golden-headed Manakin (Pipra erythrocephala) / h / ● / ●
VIREOS
Rufous-browed Peppershrike (Cyclarhis gujanensis) / ● / h / ● / h / ●
Golden-fronted Greenlet (Hylophilus aurantiifrons) / h / h / ●
Scrub Greenlet (Hylophilus flavipes) / ● / ● / h
SWALLOWS & MARTINS
White-winged Swallow (Tachycineta albiventer) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Caribbean Martin (Progne dominicensis) / ● / ● / ●
Gray-breasted Martin (Progne chalybea) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Southern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx ruficollis) / ● / ● / ● / ●
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) / ●
WRENS
(Tropical) House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Rufous-breasted Wren (Pheugopedius rutilus) / h / ● / h / h / ●
GNATWRENS
Long-billed Gnatwren (Ramphocaenus melanurus) / h
THRUSHES
Cocoa Thrush (Turdus fumigatus) / ●
Spectacled Thrush (Turdus nudigenis) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
White-necked Thrush (Turdus albicollis) / ● / h
MOCKINGBIRDS
Tropical Mockingbird (Mimus gilvus) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
BANANAQUITS
Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
TANAGERS
White-shouldered Tanager (Tachyphonus luctuosus) / ●
White-lined Tanager (Tachyphonus rufus) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Silver-beaked Tanager (Ramphocelus carbo) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Blue-gray Tanager (Thraupis episcopus) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Palm Tanager (Thraupis palmarum) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Turquoise Tanager (Tangara mexicana) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Bay-headed Tanager (Tangara gyrola) / ● / ● / ●
Blue Dacnis (Dacnis cayana) / ●
Purple Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes caeruleus) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Red-legged Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus) / ● / ●
Green Honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Bicolored Conebill (Conirostrum bicolor) / ● / ●
Red-crowned Ant-Tanager (Habia rubica) / ● / ●
GRASSQUITS, SEEDEATERS & FINCHES
Saffron Finch (Sicalis flaveola) / ●
Blue-black Grassquit (Volatinia jacarina) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Black-faced Grassquit (Tiaris bicolor) / ● / ● / ●
Red-capped Cardinal (Paroaria gularis) / ●
SALTATORS & BUNTINGS
Grayish Saltator (Saltator coerulescens ) / ●
WOOD WARBLERS
Tropical Parula (Parula pitiayumi) / ●
Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) / ● / h / ● / ●
Blackpoll Warbler (Dendroica striata) / ● / ●
American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) / ● / ● / ●
Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) / ●
Northern Waterthrush (Seiurus noveboracensis) / h / ● / ●
Masked Yellowthroat (Geothlypis aequinoctialis) / ●
NEW WORLD BLACKBIRDS
Crested Oropendola (Psarocolius decumanus) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Yellow-rumped Cacique (Cacicus cela) / ●
Moriche (Epaulet) Oriole (Icterus cayanensis) / ●
Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) / ● / ● / ● / ●
Carib Grackle (Quiscalus lugubris) / ● / ● / ● / ● / ●
Red-breasted Blackbird (Sturnella militaris) / ● / ●
Yellow-hooded Blackbird (Chrysomus icterocephalus) / ● / ●
EUPHONIAS
Trinidad Euphonia (Euphonia trinitatis) / ●
Violaceous Euphonia (Euphonia violacea) / ● / ● / ●
ESTRELDIDS
Common Waxbill (Estrilda astrild) / ●
DAILY SPECIES TOTALS / 74 / 50 / 55 / 73 / 90 / 104 / 76 / 99
DAILY NEW SPECIES / 74 / 16 / 10 / 37 / 30 / 22 / 13 / 12
TOTAL FOR TRIP / 74 / 90 / 100 / 137 / 167 / 189 / 202 / 214

Total Number of Species: 214 (including 11 heard only)
Highlight species:

  • Red-billed Tropicbird –more than 100 individuals swarming on the windward side of Little Tobago Island
  • Anhinga – fledglings in the nest at Tobago Plantations was a rare sight
  • Tricolored Heron – a pair of young birds with a parent at Tobago Plantations was a great find
  • Ornate Hawk-Eagle – a soaring pair along Blanchisseuse Road was thrilling
  • Crested Caracara – 2 adults and 2-3 immature birds was outstanding along Manzanilla Beach
  • Rufous-necked Wood-Rail – Shawn Madoo pulled this bird out of his hat in the Caroni Swamp
  • Striped Cuckoo – one of our first Trinidad greats, a long view of a perched bird near the Aripo Livestock Station
  • Chestnut-collared Swift – an incubating adult on its cliff-face nest just outside the Oilbird Cave was a rare sight
  • Kingfishers – we found all four regularly occurring species during our visit, something rarely accomplished
  • Cliff Swallow – two individuals on the wire at Bon Accord were a rare sighting
  • Prothonotary Warbler – a gorgeous male at Bon Accord shone like a light bulb among the dark leaves
  • Common Waxbill – several birds along Ramahut Trace were lifers for the four birders who found them

Other Organisms Identified
Butterflies
Blue Transparent (Ithomia pellucida)
Cattle Heart (Parides reophilus)
Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebus sennae)
"89"(Calicore sp.)
Emperor (Blue Morpho) (Morpho peliedes)
Flambeau (Julia) (Dryas julia)
Gold Rim (Battus polydamus)
Owl(Caligo teucer)
Postman (Heliconius melpome)
Red Anartia (Scarlet Peacock) (Anartia amathea)
Red Rim (Biblis hyperia)
Sweet Oil (Mechanitis isthmia)
White Peacock (Anartia jatropae)
Mammals
Brazilian (Red-rumped) Agouti (Dasyprocta leporina)
Proboscis Bat,(Rynchonycteris naso)

Red-tailed Squirrel (Sciurus granatensis)
Silky Anteater (Cyclopes didactylus)
Small Asian Mongoose (Herpestes javanicus)
Common Opossum (Didelphis marsupialis)
Reptiles & Amphibians
Spectacled Cayman (Caiman crocodilus)
Cook’s Tree Boa (Corallus enydris cooki)

Machete Couesse (Mastigodryas boddaerti dunni)
Cane Toad (Bufo marinus)
Yellow-throated Frog (Mannophryne trinitatis)
Golden Tegu, "Matte" (Tupinambis teguixin)
Common Ameiva (Ameiva ameiva)
Green Iguana (Iguana iguana)
Richard's Anole (Anolis richardii)
House Gecko (Thecadactylus rapicauda)