My first Caribbean endemic bird

I don’t count myself a true birder as I don’t have a life list [of all the bird species I’ve ever seen]. But, I do have a record of all my Caribbean endemics. There is something special about seeing a species that is only found on one, or very few islands. The delicate greys and pinks of a Grenada dove scuttling along the forest floor, the yellow flash of a Barbuda warbler flitting through the undergrowth, or the green luminosity of a cavorting Jamaica streamertail hummingbird.

 Critically Endangered Grenada Dove, Mt Hartman, Grenada 

It took me years to see my first Trinidad piping-guan, my first Caribbean endemic bird. But I did hear them. After spending a month in the forest, I came back with memories of the thin, haunting piping call and dramatic wing rattle above our camp one dusk. It was good to know these critically endangered birds were there. After several failed trips to areas where they are ‘always seen’, I finally saw the large, turkey-like bird suddenly, immediately on stepping out of the car, one cool evening on a remote misty ridgetop. What a privilege to see one of what may be less than 200 individuals left in the wild. 

 Critically Endangered Trinidad Piping-guan, Morne Bleu, Trinidad 

For me there’s nothing like being in a tropical forest. I’m inspired by being enveloped in myriad greens and the unique scents and noises of forest life. Every time I enter a forest I feel the anticipation of new discoveries - a freshly laid egg in a nest, a rare orchid flowering, a mass emergence of butterflies. These forest habitats – moist, dry – extraordinary in their own right, are even more extraordinary when you realise how many species depend on them.

 

So, that’s my story of why I’m fascinated by tropical forest-dependent birds.