Ants Marching

While at Asa Wright in Trinidad I saw my first leaf cutter ants in the wild.

I'm a bit of an ant aficionado, and these gals were very cool.

You can see in these images the size differences in the worker ants, with the larger ones carrying the leaves ...

... and the smaller ants riding the leaf cuttings doing both cleaning duty, clearing the leaves in preparation for fungus farming in the nest, you don't want any foreign fungi to contaminate the crop ...

... as well as providing defense against small wasps that lay eggs on the ants, the larva once hatched eating the host ant. A rather unpleasant way to go.

The defense forces also included these larger soldiers, who are around to protect the colony from larger threats, such as me. 

These ants, all sisters, were tireless workers. (The males, true slackers, hatch, mate, and die.)

Each individual leaf cutting is small, about the size of a US dime. But in aggregate there was quite a bit of vegetation being moved. 

The above image shows a small part of the trial of ants, a trail that stretched several hundred meters from the nest down the hillside trail and then off into the forest and up into the trees. The video below shows the same part of the trail, with some ants coming back to the nest with leaf cuttings, and others going back for more.

I would have like to get more photos and video but I had to cut it short because it start to pour (rain in a rain forest, imagine that!) and digital cameras don't do well when wet.

But the ants kept on going. I suspect that they are still going.

Up Close and Personal

In a previous post I wrote about the Asa Wright Nature Center and Lodge, and how civilized a birding experience they provide, especially noting how nice the veranda was.

The birds like the veranda too.

Like this rufus-vented chachalaca ...

Photo courtesy Patty Rehn

 ... that made itself at home on my head ...

Photo courtesy Patty Rehn

... unfortunately confusing it for a rest room. Whoops.


Or this palm tanager, that helped herself to Ian's banana.

I don't think Patty really needed the bins for this bird.

The tanager did seem willing to share though.

Ian seemed ok with it, but found it hard to get pictures with the bird that close.

Not all the birds were this out going but many were happy to join us on the veranda. 

Hence the Name ...

Bananaquits.

When You Gotta Go ...

... You gotta go.

Red-billed Tropic Bird off of Little Tobago.

Bad Bird Picture of the Week

One of those "ornaments" flying in.

Damn.

Ornaments

Scarlet Ibis

From our last day on Trinidad.

Not Just Birds ...

... used the feeders.

During the day we had agoutis ...

... and golden tagu lizards, who thought they owned the place.

In the evening we were treated to a bat show. Nectar eating bats made good use of the hummingbird feeders.

(There are three bats in this image)

(That's its tongue in the feeder!)

And at night we had snakes patrolling the canopy, like this tree boa.

Although I don't think it used the feeders. But no doubt it preyed upon the creatures that did.

Christmas Ornaments

In a previous post I noted that I had visited Trinidad and Tobago. Patty and I left on December 22nd and returned on December 31st. We were on Trinidad form the 22nd to the 28th, transferring that day to Tobago. After three days on Tobago we returned to Trinidad to return home.

While on Trinidad we stayed at the Asa Wright Nature Center and Lodge, which is nestled in the Northern Range rain forest. We had signed up for a tour and were met at the airport by the Center staff and taken to the lodge to relax and enjoy the grounds.

The lodge has a veranda that overlooks the rain forest valley. More importantly, it overlooks a number of bird feeders which attract a bewildering number of colorful birds. Having never been birding in the tropics before it really was overwhelming.

And since we were there at Christmastime, and the birds were so colorful, and in trees, I saw it as a large Christmas tree with the birds as the ornaments.

So here are some of the ornaments. Look at them, noting the differences between sexes in the same species. And then imagine you're seeing all of them at the same time, flitting about, trying to make sense of it all. And that you woke up at 3:00 am to make your flight. and that with one exception, you've never seen any of these birds before.

Without the staff at the lodge, pointing out the different birds, it would have been impossible to make sense of it all.

Female Silver-beaked Tanager

Male Silver-beaked Tanager

Male Green Honeycreeper

Female Green Honeycreeper

Juvenile Green Honeycreeper

Male Purple Honeycreeper

Female Purple Honey Creeper

Juvenile Purple Honeycreeper

Crested Oropendola

 Bananaquit

Grey-fronted Dove

Golden-headed Manakin

(Manakins are the "Moon Walking" Birds)

White-bearded Manakin

White-necked Jacobin

Tufted Coquette

(The 2nd smallest Hummingbird on Earth)

White-chested Emerald

White-chested Emerald

(Note the apparent color difference base on how the light hits the feathers)

Cooper-rumped Hummingbird

Green Hermit

Great Kiskadee

Blue-grey Tanager

Green-backed Trogon

(Green?)

Tropical Mockingbird

(Even the familiar is different)

Male Violaceous Euphonia

Female Violaceous Euphonia

Female White-lined Tanager

Male White-lined Tanager

Turquoise Tanager

Trinidad Motmot

Female Barred Antshrike

Male Barred Antshrike

Spectacled Thrush

Northern Waterthrush

(The one bird I had seen before this trip)

Not everything was close, but they were still in view of the veranda.

Orange-winged Parrot

(These were very noisy, and would fly in very close but always land on the other side of the tree!)

Channel Billed Toucans

(These birds never came close)

~~~~~~~~~~

This is not a complete list of what we saw at Asa Wright, as I wasn't able to shoot them all! On the trip overall I saw 186 species, 146 of which were life birds.

And what a civilized way to go about it. The veranda at Asa Wright had a bar, comfy chairs, a staff calling out any new arrivals, coffee in the morning, tea and pastries at three everyday, and the complimentary rum punch at seven each evening.

If they could just something about that humidity!