The sky cracked open as we ascended into the modest hills of Trinidad’s Northern Vary. Turning into one of many side-roads off the famed Arima-Blanchisseuse Street, we continued our journey uphill. Every nook revealed a staggering quantity of injury to the street brought on by speeding streams of runoff after extreme rainfall late final yr. As we are saying right here, de street wash ‘wey. After a long way alongside this street, we pulled over and commenced sauntering alongside as an alternative.
The thick roadside vegetation hid many Rufous-breasted Wrens and the odd Stripe-breasted Spinetail. Slowly, the shapes of birds have been starting to materialise. We simply wanted to search out someplace that was much less cluttered to permit us some likelihood of seeing birds! And so, we continued.
The strident whistle of a Cocoa Woodcreeper was the prelude to its presence, low on a close-by tree. Cocoa Woodcreepers are the most important species of woodcreeper in T&T, and so they have a proportionately huge invoice. We noticed as this fowl methodically peeled off sizeable chunks of bark in quest of breakfast. I by no means understood why some woodcreepers would test solely a small space of 1 tree earlier than flying off to a different tree. Can they confirm how worthwhile a selected tree could be by some sampling methodology? Or do they simply have little endurance with unfruitful bark-flipping? Both method, this Cocoa Woodcreeper gave us beauty on a few timber earlier than disappearing into the forest.
Cocoa Woodcreeper
We finally stumbled on a stretch of clearer vegetation the place there was a Rufous-breasted Wren calling shut by. Whereas ready for a visible of this fowl, a flock of 4 or 5 Purple-crowned Ant-Tanagers flew in. Regardless that they surrounded us and have been fairly vocal, they have been troublesome to pin down. The females are nearly the identical shade of brown as fallen branches and I’d solely see a flash of gray as they took off. I did get a glance via binoculars at a superb male that hopped up right into a shaft of morning mild, the pinkish-red feathers of his chin appeared to glow within the darkness of the encompassing foliage. Alas, he was gone earlier than I had an opportunity to elevate my digital camera.
We continued strolling, the sounds of a Channel-billed Toucan calling from the cover and a extra distant however no much less distinctive vocalization of a Shiny-rumped Atilla beckoned. Some farming exercise within the space meant that there had been some method of clearing created. As if to stamp its approval on the habitat alteration, a Pale-breasted Spinetail voiced its content material with the human disturbance. These birds are usually present in scrub and open habitat, how this particular person was capable of find this subject inside the Northern Vary is testomony to the size of human disturbance alongside the roadway.
A white splotch within the distance turned out precisely as I had hoped: White Hawk. These magnificent raptors are additionally identified predators of open habitat. I used to be particularly touched to see this fowl, I discovered just a few days in the past that somebody shot one in every of these birds from one other valley I had been aware of. I photographed it a number of instances, one in every of these images is the title picture when wrote about how I had fallen in love with the valley itself. Many mates and friends loved seeing this explicit fowl soar, hunt, and even sit for hours within the valley.
White Hawk
Not a lot else was happening. We have been unsuccessful in finding a fruiting or flowering plant or tree in adequate view to warrant an prolonged keep. A number of the immortelle timber have been in flower, embellished with in depth epiphytes and the pendulous nests of the Crested Oropendola. The orange flowers have been attended to by a bunch of pollinators together with White-necked Jacobin, Black-throated Mango, Purple Honeycreeper, and Inexperienced Honeycreeper. Nonetheless, most of those views have been excessive up, in opposition to the brilliant sky. We opted to return to the car, transfer on, and fowl one other path.
As we have been on our method again, we seen about six Violaceous Euphonias and a pair Golden-fronted Greenlets making a ruckus in a thick bramble. An enormous shadow caught our eye on the alternative finish, by the point we whispered “Black Hawk-Eagle” to one another it already was in view virtually overhead. Miraculously, it dipped down and alighted on one of many woody vines solely about thirty metres away! It glared at one thing within the leaf litter (is there some other method raptors have a look at something?) and flew off into the valley, the place it caught an updraft and drifted into the white sky.
Black Hawk-Eagle
Perceiving the world by sound reveals a lot that might in any other case slip via the cracks. On our exit sharp ears picked up the sounds of Inexperienced Hermits at a lek. Getting a visible of Trinidad’s largest hummingbird wasn’t going to be simple within the darkness of the undergrowth, although. However definitely not unimaginable.
Inexperienced Hermit within the darkness. For the photographers, the info for this picture: 1/80s, f4.5, ISO12800.
Additional alongside, over the crest of the best peak of the roadway at nearly 600m above sea stage, we pulled into one other side-road. Right here, a substantial quantity of the forest has been eliminated for the primary hundred or two metres into the street, together with a number of fruit-bearing timber that used to draw a myriad of upper altitude specialists. That miserable information apart, we loved a superb view of a feminine Collared Trogon simply out of earshot of the human exercise on the entrance. No {photograph} as yours actually was busy with a bowl of cereal. Shortly after she flew off, there was an episode of deja vu that I wasn’t ready for.
One other big spectre bearing the identical profile because the beforehand talked about shadow glided simply past the cover, flared its wings and tail and landed in a close-by tree. Undoubtedly a hawk-eagle, however which? Measurement and broadness of the wings coupled with a protracted tail pointed to both of two species however we weren’t capable of discern any color or sample from such distance and with that stage of obfuscation. We knew it was sitting there, presumably us, however we have been unable to find it. Consider me, we tried!
I nonetheless marvel about what may’ve been. I do know that there’s an Ornate Hawk-Eagle that frequents that space. Was it this fowl? Was I actually that near not one, however two hawk-eagles, on one morning? With none proof – visible or aural – it’s anybody’s guess.