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The toucan with its colourful bill is one of the icons of South America. Our Channel-billed Toucan Ramphastos vitellinus is no exception. Despite its enlarged bill it is most elegant in flight and deftly wields its bill to picks berries when feeding. The channel-billed toucan is common throughout the forested areas of Trinidad. They generally keep to the tops of the trees but thanks to their strident calls can be easily located. |
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The White-necked Jacobin, Florisuga mellivora, is a large hummingbird inhabiting forested lands in Trinidad and Tobago, usually at higher elevations. As they feed high in the forest canopy they are often glimpsed as a flash of light as they fan their white tail. In disturbed habitat they may be found visiting flowering trees closer to the ground. The White-necked Jacobin is a species which is suspected of some seasonal migration to the mainland. |
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The Purple Honeycreeper Cyanerpes caeruleus is a common resident in Trinidad preferring forests and forest edges. It can readily be seen along most forested roadways, especially in the vicinity of flowering or fruiting trees. A flowering immortelle serves as a magnet for many nectar feeding birds and there will usually be some purple honeycreepers in attendance. The bright purple plumage is limited to the males, the females being predominantly green, with heavy streaking on the underparts. |
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The Lineated Woodpecker Dryocopus lineatus, is widespread in Trinidad frequenting open forest and sub-urban gardens with large trees. Its strident calls usually alert you to its presence before it is seen. Lineated Woodpeckers are often observed in pairs as they forage together in the tree tops extracting insects from dead branches.
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The Red-billed Tropicbird Phaethon aethereus, nests on small islands off Tobago, including St. Giles, Little Tobago and Smith’s Island. These small islands provide ideal breeding sites as they are safe from terrestrial predators but yet not far from rich feeding grounds where they can forage for their nestlings. Little Tobago island is easily accessible as a day trip for visitors and tropicbirds can be seen nesting at the sides of the island paths during the months November to April. |
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