Tobago Birds

Since it's such a dull, dreary, miserable day I thought I would post a few bird pics taken on sunny days last week. Don't worry, my Caribbean phase is nearly over!

Unfortunately I'm not completely sure on ID for the above bird. My best guess is juvenile Ruddy Ground Dove? But i'm really not sure, if anybody knows............? By the way the Humming Birds that I posted on 12th Feb were Copper Rumped Humming Birds. Thanks to Ken Browne for pointing me to a good website.

This handsome fellow is a Blue Crowned Motmot. It's known locally as King Of The Woods and is the only species with a racquet tail on the island, you can just make it out in the photo. Much as I tried I couldn't get a picture without a twig running through it unfortunately.

Above is a Rufous Tailed Jacamar. This brilliant bird reminds me of a Bee Eater, it nests in tunnels which it makes in soft sandy banks and perches in the open, flying out to catch insects and returning to the same place to eat them.

This is a Southern Lapwing, think they are quite common throughout South America and are becoming more so in Trinidad and Tobago. I tried to get closer to it to pick out the plumage a bit better but although not flying away it just kept walking away at the same rate that I approached it.

We were walking through an old coconut palm plantation and kept hearing a very loud rattling call but couldn't initially tell where it was coming from. Eventually we tracked it down to a dead palm tree and there was what I think is a Red Crowned Woodpecker, possibly a juvenile but i'm not sure. Never did see the rest of the bird unfortunately.

This is one of my favorites although not a good shot as it was at a distance. It's a Blue Gray Tanager and this one is drinking from a water trough on the small island of Little Tobago. Apparently a local name for it is Blue Jean and the reason I like it is that it reminds me of a blue budgie.