The largest of the five is the ubiquitous Cocoa Woodcreeper.
They all have subtle nuances about their behavior I have come to thoroughly enjoy over the years. Four of those are resident on Trinidad, and one is found only on Tobago. T&T has five recorded species of woodcreeper, all resident. From the largest to the smallest, I was completely intrigued by their superficial similarities yet significant differences which only became apparent after careful scrutiny. They all followed the same general model, different permutations of the same ingredients. Very soon, the other members of this unique family were on my radar. Prevalent in the cocoa estates of the fertile central belt on the island, it remained a special bird in my mind for many years. Turns out that the Streak-headed Woodcreeper was a formerly uncommon resident of Trinidad, its range gradually increasing to cover semi-degraded and altered habitat. A comment that stirred my interest in the family more than anything.
I got a picture and sent it to a birder friend of mine who unforgettably remarked “any woodcreeper is a good woodcreeper”. Its diminutive stature, rich brown coloration and dissimilarity with all other birds I had known before rendered me speechless. Yes, you read that correctly – it was seemingly reversing the laws of gravity. I remember the first time I saw one, it was a Streak-headed Woodcreeper and it was hopping up the underside of a branch. Absolutely nothing prepared me for woodcreepers, however. Woodpeckers were quite prominent, both in non-fiction works like the encyclopedia and in entertainment. Not all the birds, of course, but many of the distinctive and conspicuous species. If anyone else had this book growing up you’d be well aware of how its pages were the equivalent of the unending scrolling on Facebook.īut this book taught me about eagles, owls, storks and herons. As a child, poring through the pages of the Encyclopedia of Animal Life (I was gifted this 25 years before I appeared in Audubon magazine myself) birds gripped my attention. Getting familiar with birds is a process.
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