A morning with Pawis!

Flashback to Trinidad.... Well I've already posted a bunch of stuff about my now long gone by trip to Trinidad in July, but I still haven't written about perhaps my most memorable day (and night) that I enjoyed while there.

the wonderfully wild Blanchiseusse Road

The morning started early with a short drive up hill from our headquarters at Asa Wright lodge in Trinidad. This scenic road climbs up and over the northern range toward quaint seaside towns like Blanchiseusse but for now we weren't going too far. Once again, I was impressed by the extent of bird habitat throughout this area!

another view from the Blanchiseusse Road in Trinidad's Northern Range

... and the scenery up here is nothing to sneeze at either! Of course all of this was the icing on the cake, I had another specific goal in mind on this day. I had high hopes of seeing Trinidad's only endemic bird. A species locals call Pawi, known to ornithologists as Pipile pipile, and that visiting birders refer to as the Trinidad Piping Guan.

the sign says it all... a conservation billboard sponsored by Asa Wright & local gov't

Birders visiting as recently as a decade ago had almost no hope of seeing this spectacular specialty bird. Their numbers had dropped so dramatically that only a handful were known to occur and they were rarely (if ever) seen in remote forests to the extreme NE corner of the island.

Guans, are like big turkeys that feed in the canopy not surprisingly they taste good! ;p Facing critically low numbers, Asa Wright partnered with the Forestry Department of Trinidad and started a public education campaign using roadside billboards like the one seen above and other means of outreach to attempt to save the Pawi years ago. These programs have proven successful as my initial impression was that seeing Pawi was a mere pipe dream, yet I now know this is a reality. Especially once I realized they sometimes see these within a short 20 minute drive of the center. I was thrilled!

Blue-black Grassquit digiscoped with Leica APO Televid scope & C-Lux 2 camera

We completed the short drive to a high area near the center as first light broke. We parked at a clearing and stepped out as the birds were first waking up. There were large numbers of the ubiquitous Palm Tanagers here, a Long-billed Gnatwren called, Gray-breasted Martins sailed overhead, and Scaled Pigeons perched up to soak in the first rays of light. A Blue-black Grassquit was displaying and doing its short "jump up" display here as well.

As I continued down the trail I turned my attention back toward the task at hand and began searching for a familiar shape I'd seen throughout the American tropics, the unmistakable shape of a guan! I hadn't walked very far when I spotted a large dark ovate figure in the tree tops. I half suspected I'd found a paper wasp or termite nest at first.

the Pawi in the flesh! digiscoped near Asa Wright NC, Trinidad

I brought my binoculars to my eyes and was thrilled to find this was indeed the real deal, a living breathing Pawi! What a wonderful treat! Here was a bird I'd been led to believe I had no hopes of seeing from those who had come before me and even from reading the recent texts. But there was no denying this bird.

Pawi digiscoped w/ Leica APO Televid scope & C-Lux camera

Before long the bird began foraging on small berries in the canopy and was joined by a second bird. We watched the two for a while before they both moved to the edge of the road and then set their wings disappearing into the tree tops opposite.

Pawi digiscoped near Asa Wright Lodge, July 2008

The clock hadn't even struck 8:30 AM and the day was a complete and utter success. Over the next couple hours we explored more of the lovely northern range and added a whole bunch of fantastic birds to our list: Common Black Hawks, Black-faced Antthrush, Short-tailed Pygmy Tyrant, Streak-breasted Spinetail, Streaked Xenops, Collared Trogons, White-necked Thrush, and Turquoise & Speckled Tanagers were just a handful of birds we enjoyed before returning to Asa Wright for lunch!.... the evening held another great surprise though.... more to follow!

If you'd like to join Leica for our 2009 Trinidad digiscoping workshop, see:

www.caligo.com/trinidad