One of the joys of this lifestyle is the opportunity to visit different attractions on the various islands. Trinidad has a large number of sites that are quite interesting. Our latest trip took us to the Asa Wright Nature Center & the Caroni Swamp.

Asa Wright is up in the mountains in the midst of a tropical rain forest. This a huge tract of land that's been preserved by Trinidad and it's full of birds, monkeys and other wildlife. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see as much of the wildlife as we had hoped, but the short hike we took - with a quite knowledgeable guide - was still interesting.

One of the areas he showed us were some "leks" for a species of bird (Golden Headed Manakins). We didn't see any birds unfortunately. These leks are all grouped together in a particular area and can best be described as a singles bar for birds. Each male clears out a spot on the forest floor where he dances, sings & cavorts with the goal of attracting a female. The males spend the majority of their time here, while the females are the ones who tend the nest & raise the young. When a female is ready to mate, she goes to where the leks are and chooses the male who impresses her the most.

Here's the sign pointing to an overlook to the leks and views of a lek.


"For a good time - look here" :D


This is a vine called a Monkey Ladder




Right outside the Nature Center building was this tall tree - maybe 80' tall that was full of unusual bird nests. I tried but couldn't get a picture of the birds entering as they would dive at these at what seemed to be full speed & just disappear into one.


A view of the whole tree top


Outside the veranda, where we had lunch, were a group of hummingbird feeders. Here's one I managed to snap before it zipped off.



After lunch and a break, we headed to Caroni Swamp. This is the home of huge flocks of Scarlet Ibis - the Trinidadian national bird. They fly out and forage for food all day and then return to a group of islands at dusk to settle in for the night. We took an open boat (about 25' long) through a canal to where these islands were and waited for them to return. It was amazing to see all the red as they flocked back to the trees.

The top photo is of Scarlet Ibises coming back to roost for the evening.

Here's our boat gliding through the canal in the swamp.


These are land crabs that hang out on the trunks of trees.


Here's a little blue heron who pretty much ignored the boat as it looked for dinner


Another view of the Scarlet Ibises coming back to roost


And settled in for the night