Longtime readers of this weblog and eager observers of the birdlife of Trinidad & Tobago could recall a suspicious recurrence of teams of three inside the avifauna of the dual island nation. My final put up about this phenomenon was virtually two years in the past, inside which I made point out of all its earlier iterations.
For many who are new to this, enable me to elucidate. Trinidad & Tobago at present has a species rely of 499 (accepting bids for species #500!), together with a number of members of iconic Neotropical households. Migratory birds bolster the full from each north and south given the islands’ equatorial location. An intensive investigation of this checklist of species distilled a recurring theme of threes – not in contrast to the recurring decimal one will get when dividing some numbers by three. This tickled my mind a bit, and the extra I appeared, the extra I noticed. So far, that is what we’ve coated:
Grassquits | Bitterns | Trogons | Antshrikes | Spinetails | Manakins | Hermits | Honeycreepers | Warblers | Myiarchus | Nighthawks
Right now, I’m including to this checklist with one other trio: Dendrocygna, or whistling-ducks.
Why have I waited this lengthy to cowl this household? Properly, just a few weeks in the past I lastly acquired my digicam onto a small group of Fulvous Whistling-Geese at a close-by rice paddy. I’d seen the species earlier than, firstly at a waterfowl conservation facility (does it nonetheless rely?) and in addition in Kenya. Regardless of the birds solely giving me distant views and a quick flyby, I used to be nonetheless completely happy to have caught a glimpse in my native island.
Fulvous Whistling-Duck
My private favorite of the three is the distinctive White-faced Whistling-Duck. Not just for its apparent attractiveness or cheerful vocalisation, but additionally it was the primary duck I had seen within the wild in T&T. The yr could have been 2009 or very early 2010, and I had simply realized of a marsh close to to the place I lived on the time. Whereas poking round there one morning I noticed a flock of round twenty geese flying within the distance. I photographed them however didn’t publicise the picture as I clearly keep in mind an out of focus reed introduced itself within the picture as a inexperienced smear throughout among the geese. They have been, the truth is, White-faced Whistling-Geese and, as I later came upon, the best variety of that species seen at any single time in T&T. So far as I’m conscious, such an aggregation of White-faced Whistling-Geese has since by no means occurred right here. Oh, the fantastic thing about being a naïve birder!
I keep in mind going for a drive after a job interview in the identical rice paddies I discussed earlier, someday in 2013. As I used to be shifting by means of the swaying grass, I seen some motion virtually instantly subsequent to my car. Guess what, a pair of White-faced Whistling-Geese. And guess who didn’t have their digicam? I do know, one other cardinal rule damaged: by no means attend a job interview with out your digicam. I returned to the identical space the next morning for the break of day, waited a pair hours hid within the grass – I ultimately was gifted a flyby.
The geese have been a lot additional aside than what labored compositionally, so I moved one nearer to the opposite. I can’t keep in mind which was the unique and which was transposed, however I stay shocked that I used to be in a position to carry out such an operation so seamlessly with out using Photoshop.
White-faced Whistling-Duck
Lastly, to spherical off the triangle, is ol’ dependable: Black-bellied Whistling-Duck. Resident on each islands (versus the opposite two who’re solely not often seen on Trinidad and virtually by no means on Tobago), this duck is without doubt one of the extra acquainted sights round wetlands and alongside inland waterways. Within the moist lowland forest the place I at present dwell, we sometimes hear them at evening as they fly over, on some unknown commute. They’re, the truth is, largely nocturnal, this could have been stunning had I not been listening to their shrill whistle at nighttime.
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
The place’s the subsequent group of three going to come back from? Time will inform!
