Birdwatching with Newton George - January 2005
Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 10:10 pm
We had heard a lot about what a special guy Newton is before we arrived in Tobago, both from this site and from other birders, and we had no hesitation in arranging a trip with him while we were at the Blue Waters Inn. He travels all over the island (and to Trinidad), but he lives in Speyside so staying at the BWI gives you a slightly later start for a rainforest tour! The problem is that his fame is spreading and he is now getting very busy so fixing a day with him needs to be arranged early on in your holiday. There were 4 of us in the group and this was ideal. He met us a couple of days before to find out exactly what we wanted to see and agreed to give us a “double whammy” of the rainforest and some waterbirds in the Louis D’Or marshes.
He collected us in his minibus at 6.30am and having paused to see the resident kingfishers and herons on the way out of the drive, had us looking at rufous-tailed jacamars, golden-olive woodpeckers, blue-backed manakins and collared trogons before we had even got into the rainforest reserve. With over 30 years of experience, he knows exactly where to look and what the birds sound like, and he called several of the manakins and trogons into our view. And so the day went on: despite heavy showers (well, deluges actually) we spent hours looking at wonderful birds, and more wonderful birds. Newton comes armed with huge umbrellas so we didn't even get all that wet. We watched white-tailed sabrewing hummingbirds bathing in forest pools, spinetails building an enormous 2’ long nest beside the path and displaying male blue-backed manekins flitting backwards and forwards through the foliage and, just as we were beginning to get weary, he revived us by finding a spectacular red-legged honeycreeper. He then took us to look at some wonderful tri-coloured herons, wattled jacamars and greater and lesser yellow-legs on the way home.
We saw 50 species in the course of the day and Newton was as excited as if he was seeing them all for the first time. His knowledge is immense and his enthusiasm absolutely unquenchable. We have never had a day’s birding like this and it was an unmissable experience.
He collected us in his minibus at 6.30am and having paused to see the resident kingfishers and herons on the way out of the drive, had us looking at rufous-tailed jacamars, golden-olive woodpeckers, blue-backed manakins and collared trogons before we had even got into the rainforest reserve. With over 30 years of experience, he knows exactly where to look and what the birds sound like, and he called several of the manakins and trogons into our view. And so the day went on: despite heavy showers (well, deluges actually) we spent hours looking at wonderful birds, and more wonderful birds. Newton comes armed with huge umbrellas so we didn't even get all that wet. We watched white-tailed sabrewing hummingbirds bathing in forest pools, spinetails building an enormous 2’ long nest beside the path and displaying male blue-backed manekins flitting backwards and forwards through the foliage and, just as we were beginning to get weary, he revived us by finding a spectacular red-legged honeycreeper. He then took us to look at some wonderful tri-coloured herons, wattled jacamars and greater and lesser yellow-legs on the way home.
We saw 50 species in the course of the day and Newton was as excited as if he was seeing them all for the first time. His knowledge is immense and his enthusiasm absolutely unquenchable. We have never had a day’s birding like this and it was an unmissable experience.