October 24 - November 3 --- A Stay At Trinidad's Asa Wright Nature Centre (Part 2) : Birds From The Verandah

BTW, if you'd like more info on the Asa Wright Nature Centre check out their website  --- WWW.ASAWRIGHT.ORG 

It wasn't until the day after my arrival that I was able to get a daytime view of Asa Wright. Most of the accommodations are in cottages like the green ones you see in the photo below; my room was in the cottage on the left that's partially out of view.  It was comfortable, but you're only in there to sleep off an adventure-filled day; if you're not out and about or on a tour, then you're most likely in the main house or on the verandah. 

 Here are some of the larger cottages. Did I mention there are a lot of stairs and steps here?

The next photo  shows the entrance to the main house where you have reception, the dining room, and the lounge area which opens up to the verandah.  Most of the action and social activity takes place on the verandah, but with coffee at 6am, breakfast and lunch in the dining room, afternoon tea (another reminder this was a British colony) then the famous rum punch around sunset, followed by dinner, well, you want to burn all those calories off with a lot of rambling on the extensive trail system. Though you could probably sweat off a lot of pounds just by standing still as the humidity was pretty intense. Lightweight, vented clothing is a must there -- and a clothesline so you can wash your clothes in the bathroom sink and hang them to dry. If they ever dry. 

OK, now it's on to the birds. I'd brought (lugged) along my new Canon 500mm f/4 MK II lens but found that in many cases it had too much reach for the birds near the verandah; my 100-400 was good enough, and for the birds further away I put on the 1.4x teleconverter.  This White-necked Jacobin was perched at most 15 feet away from my seat on the verandah --

Bananaquit frenzy was rampant at the hummingbird feeders -- 

These Orange-winged Parrots were pretty far away, so this is an example of using the 100-400 lens with the 1.4x teleconverter  -- 

Silver-beaked Tanager at the feeding station just below the verandah -- 

The same with this Long-billed Starthroat --

There's a tree on the left-hand side of the verandah; you can get a better view of it from the lounge area window near the computer desk. One of the guides who became my friend, Lisbeth (Liz) Naipaul, has ID'd the tree as a Jamoon (Latin name: syzygium cumini) and its berries attracted quite a few birds. Here's a female Green Honeycreeper -- 

This Golden-headed Manakin was in the Jamoon tree too -- 

And this Male Green Honeycreeper -- 

More birds seen from the verandah -- 

Blue-Gray Tanager

Boat-billed Flycatcher

This Channel-billed Toucan was another 100-400 1.4x long-distance capture -- 

Oropendula

Pendulous (my term) Oropendula Nests

Another far-away capture -- Lineated Woodpecker --

Cocoa Thrush

And there are some non-bird residents around the verandah, too --

Agouti

Tegu Lizard

I think it's fair to say that, if you're like me who has never been birding in the tropics before, you can easily get 30 Lifers, perhaps all in one day. These and more were just from my first 2 days at Asa Wright. My friend Peg was right -- I was loving it here. And this was just the tip of the iceberg -- if one can say that about the tropics...