Birding in Tobago

Yesterday, Skip and I stepped off the ship to explore Scarborough, Tobago on foot. The Botanical Gardens were only a couple of blocks from the dock so we headed there.

We walked around a little bit. I found a bench up a hill and in the shade so I sat there for a while. It sprinkled rain a bit but the canopy of the trees only allowed a few misty drops through.

This is the view of Skip at the centre area from the sidewalk beside my hillside bench.

The first bird I was was a bananaquit

sitting on one of the Christmas lights adorning a tree. I had seen one before - at St. Barth's last year.

This tropical mockingbird

sounded just like the ones I see in Texas.

I thought this was a dove until I uploaded my pics and looked closer. It's actually a spectacled thrush.

This was some type of flycatcher.

There were a couple of these black iguanas.

I think this little guy is a blue-tailed emerald hummingbird. His forked tail and straight black bill are  the diagnostics.

These Carib grackles are smaller than the ones we customarily see in Texas.

There were several of these doves.

I also saw a black-faced grassquit but didn't get a very good shot.

I believe this is a blue-grey tanager.

I'm pretty stoked that I put 9 birds on my Caribbean birding list just walking around a tropical garden. Doing a birding trip here would be an awesome experience.