Most cruisers come to Trinidad to repair their boats and/or to store them on land during the hurricane season (June through October) as Trinidad is below the hurricane belt. They are often busy with repairs and things related to their boat and most don't take the time to tour Trinidad. Trinidad is not considered to be a vacation destination. However, to our delight with Mike & Bev we discovered some wonderful places and events that would forever remain with us.

With our friend Sigrid from sailing vessel Optimus with whom we rejoined here in Trinidad, Mike, Bev and Maria decided to go to the Grande Riviere, the second largest nesting grounds in the world for Leatherback turtles, stopping first at the ASA Wright Bird Sanctuary. We set out in the early morning on Tuesday to go to Tobago by ferry but missed it and quickly decided to take a "nature" trip. After a 1 � hour drive we entered the ASA Wright Nature Center, also known as a Bird Sanctuary. The center is located in the northern middle part of Trinidad and was formerly part of a cocoa, coffee and citrus plantation. It is internationally known by bird watchers as some birds can only be easily observed here, the most unusual of all were the White-bearded Manakin and the Bearded Bellbird . These two birds were very unusual in looks and behavior.
With excitement and amusement, we watched the fascinating mating display of the White-bearded Manakin at a communal "lek". This little beautiful bird (see picture in Trinidad album) is a small white & black bird which breeds in Trinidad and in South America. To mate, each male clears a patch of forest floor to bare earth, and perches on a bare stick. He, along many other males around the same area, displays its "attractiveness" to females flying nearby by making rapid leaps between sticks and the ground while making a loud wing snap which sounded like Spanish Castanuelas in a Flamenco dance. It was very amusing to see a bunch of these little birds in an open ground (the communal "lek") jumping on and off, all in unison. Our guide pointed out that it was good human males did not have to go through such rituals in order to conquer a female. His references to bird mating and human mating were numerous and funny - we wonder if he was lonesome for a female companion!

The other bird that was quite impressive in his looks and his mating (advertising) songs. He had a beard hanging from under his beak! We had never seen or heard of such thing. This bird found mostly Trinidad and in some northern countries in South America and it is fairly rare because of destruction of its habitat and trapping of the cagebird trade. The male is approximately 11 inches long and weighs about 6 � ounces. His coloring, though not vibrant, shows striking contrasts - white or grayish-white, with black wings and warm brown head (see picture in the Trinidad album). His beard is not made of feathers but of black mossy wattles. The males' mating calls (they call these "advertising calls") are a very lound dull bock repeated every few seconds, followed by a less loud, metallic hammering tonk-tonk-tonk. Apparently some of the calls the birds make differ from region to region.

We took some video clips of these birds but are having difficulty uploading them online. However, you can read more about these birds online - Wikipedia has excellent descriptions. A fun write up about a day trip to the center with some pictures of the birds one sees there can be found at http://www.mytobago.info/reviews/trinidad.php