I should be on my way to Ithaca right now. Instead, I'm in my PJ's doing some online shopping. The 13 or so inches from the blizzard are keeping (trapping) me inside. Other than shoveling the walkway for the dogs, I haven't left the house. I have plans to go to the mall and Bestbuy, but I'm thinking that will happen much later in the evening. The road conditions were horrible last night and this morning. Our Uniondale High School Secret Santa party last night ended with the participants shoveling, scraping, and plowing through snow. Thanks, Ush, for owning a Chevy Surburban!

I hope to make it up to Ithaca by tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully, the roads will be better than. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy being home for the holidays. Del, I hope we can squeeze in our yearly diner meal today!


Ebony in the snow

My polar dog, Lassie

Happy Holidays to all! I've been MIA for the past two days because I've been doing a lot of traveling. I boarded the plane with Auntie Vilma on Friday! Yup, I'm in the great US of A! I spent Friday adjusting to the time change, driving on the other side of the road, and the weather! It was nice to see Mom, Daniel, and my doggies after so many weeks.

Saturday morning, Mom, Auntie Nico and I drove to Maryland. We got here around 1pm. I surprised my family (except Grandma and Shelly who already knew). We always spend Christmas together with laughs and great times. This year was no different.

Now, I'm starting to panick. Blizzard warning for the NY metro area! 4-8 inches are expected down here in MD while 11-16 for Long Island. Great. I was dreaming of a "White Christmas," but would have prefered that it happened yesterday. Uncle Gerald and I are supposed to do some birding this morning. Not sure if that will still happen. We should probably start on our trip back home before the driving conditions get too bad. Weather.com says:

"A BLIZZARD WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. FALLING AND BLOWING SNOW WITH STRONG WINDS AND POOR VISIBILITIES ARE LIKELY. THIS WILL LEAD TO WHITEOUT CONDITIONS... MAKING TRAVEL EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. DO NOT TRAVEL."

Stay tuned.


Surprised Uncle Gerald!


Mom and I are silly people.


Mig and Mig

Sparky and Sweetie's visit to the vet was uneventful. Sabrina, Kaila's dog, also joined in for some veterinary care. To celebrate healthy dogs, we went for a drive to Chaguaramas where Sweetie and Sparky become semi-roaming dogs. I wanted to see how Sweetie does without a leash. She's very good about keep close! We went to Small Boats and Chagville Beach. Sparky chased down birds and Sweetie found two boxes of KFC chicken bones. Bad dogs!

We also took a drive to the road that leads to Macqueripe Bay. There's a picnic area with three beautiful trees and hanging swings. The four of us took several photos on the swing (see one below). The dogs are exhausted from a fun day. Sweetie is on the couch and Sparky is resting by my bedroom door. Even Kaila is relaxing.

Auntie Vilma is off to New York to spend the holidays with Auntie Sherma and Tonisha. I don't think she realizes what she's in store for! We're taking her to the airport around 10 or so. Bon voyage, Auntie!


Sparky at the vet


Four crazies on a swing

I fell asleep before I could start yesterday's blog. Here's a recap:

One new bird: the Grey Hawk. I believe Mitch and I saw this same bird on the Mt. St. Benedict trail but were too far away to identify it. I got lucky when I saw it yesterday. I was really trying to identify a flycatcher but the focus on my binoculars went passed the bird perched on the telephone wires to bigger bird perched an a branch in the background. The eyes of the Grey Hawk are ominous, black and hollow, a drastic contrast against it's lighter coloring. Another handsome raptor added to the list!

I'm taking Sparky and Sweetie to the vet today. Sweetie's already behind on her shots and who knows where Sparky is with his. Dad hasn't been good about keeping his veterinary care up-to-date.

It's the day before Christmas Eve and it feels like any other day. Cold weather is an unimagined concept for me, considering I have spent over 3 months in hot, humid climate. I looked up the weather on Long Island and Ithaca this morning. Yikes. High of 20 in Ithaca! And Syracuse has had over 70" of snow already this winter! I think I'll go to the beach today :-)

The day has come. With 10 days left in 2010, I am finally "going out!" Those other times with Dad count, but not really :-) I'm headed to Coco Lounge in Woodbrook for a 3Canal concert. Thanks to Jacob for the invite. It will be nice to see him again. I have only seen him once in three months, back when we met for our one-beer get-together near UWI.

Sweetie isn't feeling well. I'm not sure if she ate something she shouldn't have or what, but she nibbled at her breakfast this morning and didn't eat her dinner tonight. Usually, she has a ravenous appetite. Right now, she's sleeping on Sparky's bed (not that he sleeps on it anyway). If she isn't better by the morning, I'm going to take her to the vet. Sparky is also late on his vet visit. And so it begins: the beginnings steps to poverty from being a pet owner.

False alarm. Sweetie and Sparky are currently romping on the couch.


3Canal

The third pair of Ruddy Ground Dove chicks hatched today. I figured it out when Mama Dove #3 flew off the porch, dropping the shell of one of the eggs. Sparky ate it I think (that dog will eat anything). They are ugly-cute as usual.

Speaking of birds, saw two new birds today, identifying only one. Coming back from Centeno Livestock Station for my last farm collection of 2010, I identified a Savanna Hawk perched on a post. I pulled over to the shoulder, jumped out the car, and ran across the road to the other side where he was. As I whipped out my camera, he flew off to a couple posts down. I repeated the series of events and a few good shots of him. It's a really handsome-looking bird.

The apartment is a mess again, so I'll get to some cleaning soon though, I'm feeling lazy. Uh oh.


Sweetie!


My failed attempt to lure birds.

Best birding day so far! I met up with Mitch and Kathy at Pax House promptly at 9. They were ready and waiting. Our first destination was Waterloo. Our first bird of the day was perched on a power line just before the Hanuman Statue, a Red-breasted Blackbird. At Waterloo, we saw a lot of different birds, many I had seen before, but the Saffron Finch and the Spotted Sandpiper were new ones.

I saw Radha and Balram briefly. No food for the dogs again; the usual disappointing news. Radha gave us great directions to Carli Bay, a remote fishing bay south of Waterloo. The route was sketchy, and the birds were scare except I finally got to see and hear the Greater Ani. Wow, wow, wow! What a bird and what a series of sounds!

From there, we headed to the Wildfowl Trust in Point-a-Pierre, Trinidad. I had no success reaching the Trust by phone yesterday (you have to call ahead of time), but it was a piece of cake today. It's actually located on a natural gas and oil refinery called Petrorin. Weird, huh? We struck gold there. My first ducks, the Muscovy Duck, the Black-bellied Whistling Duck, and the Fulvous Whistling Duck were seen minutes upon arrival. Mitch, Kathy, and I made the loop around the marsh once, and Mitch and I ventured for another go around. We weren't sure about a bird (later decided it was a Green Heron). We found a hidden trail that led to an open expanse of water where we saw Neotropical Cormorants and Anhingas. So many birds in so little time. In total, I saw well over 50 bird species today with 21 newly-identified birds by sight (two unidentified), one by sound, the White-bellied Antbird (check it out at Xeno-Canto), bringing my total to 117. 200 is right around the corner! Liz, get ready for the Wildfowl Trust in March. You'll love it!

I should also mention that I had the opportunity to be bitten/chased by three caimans on three separate occasions, and that we hopped a locked fence to check out birds at the Trincity Sewage Ponds (as recommended by the birding book) where I saw one of the caimans.

Mitch and Kathy, thanks for birding with me. It was nice having people with which to share this experience. Enjoy the rest of your time in T&T!

Two birds away from 100 birds of Trinidad and Tobago! I went to Mt. St. Benedict this morning, site of 140 different bird species. For some reason, I think when I visit these places with high numbers of birds that I will leave seeing almost all of them. Not the case at Asa Wright and again, not the case today. I did see three new birds with the help of a fellow birder from the US. I was driving down the from the church and saw Mitch, a man with binoculars hanging from his neck. Ding! Ding! ding! Jackpot. I slowed down and asked if I could join him. On our short hike back up the mountain we saw the Streaked Flycatcher, the Yellow-breasted Flycatcher, and the Boat-billed Flycatcher. We're meeting up tomorrow morning with his wife, Kathy, for some more birding.

I finished painting about 96% of the second guestroom. It's in lilac and payaya. Funky! I lost steam about 7. One more room and the porch to go!

The pitter-patter of little feet. No, no. Not of a child, of two doggies! Sweetie came home today. She's a little on the timid side, but Sparky will definitely help her break out of her shell. The two of them seem to be getting along well so far. Sparky jumps around like a maniac and Sweetie just sits there watching him with a puzzled look. I check on them every few minutes to make sure that Sweetie doesn't find a hole in the fence and make a break for it. She is, after all, a Waterloo dog.

I just gave her a bath. She sat there patiently even after I took her off the leash. Now she's resting with Sparky in the guestroom. Spoiled little dogs.

 My trip to Barbados ended too quickly. It was nice to feel relaxed. In Trinidad, I am constantly preoccupied. Steph and I had breakfast at a place called NovelTea, packed up and headed to the airport. Her flight was a few hours before mine, so we said our goodbyes and I hit the beach!

Today's beach was Enterprise Beach, adjacent to Miami Beach. This was another touristy beach, but I didn't mind since I was only there for 40 minutes or so. I lucked out since their was a shower to rinse off. It would have sucked being salty and sticky on the plane. I grabbed some ice cream and headed back to the airport to check in and meet up with my mother's good friend, Alinda, her husband and son. They were to meet me around 3:15, 3:30 so I got comfortable on one of the chairs and "rested" my eyes. I ended up sleeping for about 40 minutes. I don't know what caused me to wake up, but the first thing I was saw Alinda. They had been waiting 10 minutes; not too bad. We took some quick photos and they went off to the mall and I headed for the gate.

Thanks for a great vacation, Steph! Great seeing you, Ali and Alron!

Back in T&T. Sparky and I were so excited to see each other. I missed my little furball. Good news for the visiting vet students. We more or less have our place in Tobago booked! Now to plan our itinerary.


Me with Alron, Alinda, and Ron

Steph and I left the apartment before 10 today! Huge accomplishment after our sleep-marathon the night before. We ventured to Bridgetown, the capital city. Super-touristy area with super-touristy prices. The highlight for me was getting sea turtle stamps at the post office. The cashier at the post shop looked at me like I was an alien when I asked for collector's stamps. I'm becoming more and more of a nerd with each day.

Steph and I walked around for a bit, had coconut jelly and water, a coffee milkshake, and headed for the beach. Today's beach was Carlisle Beach. It was a bunch of cruise ship tourists and us. There were also 5 Magificent Frigatebirds. It's really weird that we have not seen a single fish in the water since we've been here.

We're back at the apartment to rest up then hit the town for dinner.


Stamps of Barbados


I liked this sign

My first full day in Barbados was pretty sweet. I woke up early to the sounds of several different bird calls and went to the porch to catch the sunrise. I sat and watched the ocean as a cool breeze surrounded me. Paradise.

Steph was still resting peacefully so I decided not to wake her. Instead, I did some yoga, something I've been trying to get into for months now. I looked up some poses online, remembering what I once learned from Wii Fit. I had enough room to do the The Sun Salutation and the Corpse. Listening to meditative yoga music while doing them was probably not a good idea. I fell asleep for about an hour and got a crazy farmer's tan on my arms and legs. This was the first time I fell asleep doing yoga! I must have been pretty relaxed.

I went back to bed for a little bit and woke Steph up around 11:30. We were out of the apartment and in Oistins before 1. It was a day of beaching! Miami Beach, Oistins Beach, and Welches Beach. We got lunch at restaurant shack close by. Steph and I both ordered the grilled marlin. Yum-my! It was my first time having marlin, but it will not be my last.

We're resting up for a long day of touring the west coast tomorrow. We rented Inception from a local video store. Knowing myself, I'll likely pass out before the first 15 minutes.

New bird: The Scaly-naped Pigeon


Marlin with "ground food" and fried plantations


Steph with $6.50US Coconut Water. Food here is expensive!


Fooling around at Welches Beach


Sun Salutation!

I'm off to Barbados with my good friend, Stephanie. This will be our third vacation together! I can't wait to sit by the beach.

I went into work around 11 this morning. Turns out a few of the dogs at the Tobago SPCA have parasites in addition to the two Waterloo dogs I sampled on Friday. I found the usual batch: hookworms, Trichuris vulpus, Isospora canis, Strongyloides stercoralis, and Giardia! Possible some tapeworm eggs.

I left UWI a little have 1:30 and made it to Waterloo around 2:15. There was so much delicious food for Radha's birthday celebration. My eyes were bigger than my stomach, especially since I had Church's Chicken for lunch, but I tried a little of everything. Balram and his family gave my royal treatment, preparing my coconut leaf with curried mangoes, channa, jackfruit and potatoes, pumpkin, "mother-in-law," and buss-up-shut. There was even dessert, an assortment of Indian pastries. I ate with the kids, which meant I ate quickly. They were eager to bird-watch!

I really like the Waterloo kids. They started calling me Auntie. Kind of cool. They more or less had my camera the whole time, switching off between the 5 of them every five minutes. I only saw repeat birds today, but it was still fun teaching the kids about them. They were each entertained in a different way. Vishal #2 liked the bird books. Rive and Vishal #1 liked the binoculars. Devika, Rianna, and Vashti were the camera hogs. It was one of my best days in Trinidad. I felt welcomed, at peace, and grateful to be there.

Today was the first time I actually stepped foot inside the temple. I did not understand the ceremony, but it was mesmerizing. Tassa drums, singing, incense, money, prayers to the idols, circling of hands. There was so much going on at once. I was really impressed by how still the kids were. They also watched attentively... until they realized that Person X's time with the camera was up.

I look forward to more days with the kids. I spoke to their father about taking them to the zoo. They have never been! Sad. I have also looked into buying each of them binoculars. Hopefully, they will stay interested in the birds.


Ceremony in the Temple in the Sea


Devika bird-watching. Notice the footwear.


Group pose. These kids have learned in a short space of time that I'm a crazy woman.

I decided to have a day to myself. No Sparky. No people. I drove to Asa Wright Nature Centre about two hours away. Once off the highway, it's a breathtaking drive through rural villages and the Northern Range hills. As soon as I got to Asa Wright, I saw a new bird, the Tufted Coquette! I wasn't quick enough to snap a photo, but I was close enough (about 3 feet away) to identify it. I paid the $10 foreign visitor fee, and made my way to the veranda. Wow. I could easily spend hours there (under a mosquito net). There are hummingbird feeders set up and tables with fruits for other birds as well as the iguanas and agoutis. I was 20 minutes late for the morning walk so I waited around and chatted with other visitors and the staff until the 1:30 walk. In all, I saw six new birds today: the Tufted Coquette, the Cocoa Thrush, White-flanked Antwren (female), the White-Chested Emerald, a glimpse of the Bearded Bellbird, and the Northern Waterthrush. As for repeats, I saw the Crested Oropendola, Bananaquit, White-necked Jacobin, Purple Honeycreeper, Blue Honeycreeper, Blue-tailed Emerald, Trinidad Euphonia, Palm Tanager, Silver-beaked Tanager, Tropical Mockingbird Blue-grey Tanager, White-shouldered Tanager, the Amazonian White-tailed Trogon, and the Blue-headed Manakin. Not bad, but I thought I could get at least 20 new birds today.

I hopped into work to process some dog samples. The plan is to read microscope slides tomorrow then head to Waterloo for Radha's birthday.

I'm taking it easy tonight. Maybe some Google Earth map-making if I stay awake.


Northern Range. My photo doesn't capture the beauty of it in the least.


Green Honeycreeper!


My favorite T&T bird, the Crested Oropendola.


White-necked Jacobin

Major research progress today! I got the ball rolling on ordering supplies. Hopefully, they will be shipped to Cornell before the vet students come to T&T. I also figured out how to use Google Earth for my map-making and color-coding areas within a region! That only took an hour :-) I'm off to process some cattle samples, then to Waterloo to drop off puppy chow for Balram/pick-up some samples from the dogs.

Update: I went to Waterloo around 3 today. I was greeted by Radha and 9 new puppies that were dropped off yesterday. Some of them were pretty scrawny. Radha opened the Purina Puppy Chow bag from the TTSPCA (thanks Sara and Annette!) and within minutes, half of the dog food had been eaten. One of the cats even ate the puppy chow!

Balram invited me for prayers and a ceremony for Radha's birthday on Sunday. I'm totally going! He said that I will get many blessing for dropping off the food. Too bad I haven't really done anything to help the Waterloo dogs, but I will. I have to.

I got some good pictures today; sadly, one of a dog that was hit by a car and did not survive. Why can't people understand that dropping off dogs at the Temple is a terrible idea? I have to find a way to reach out to Trinidadians without being preachy or a know-it-all. I'm thinking the newspaper or TV news needs to be involved.

One new bird today. Still in the process of figuring out what it is!



Laughing Gulls


Rishi, my new friend


Enjoying the view

Note to self: Stop thinking that you can get any administrative things done in one day in this country! Trini driver's license ain't gonna happen.

I received a call on my Digicel phone today from an unfamiliar number. It was from Balram's wife. "A set" of puppies were dropped off at the temple today. When Trinidadian's say "a set," it really means a whole lot, and with all of the dogs already at the Waterloo temple site, puppies are not a good addition. Balram usually gets dog chow, but puppies need milk. Arrgh. How did I become the go-to person for this? I can't say that I mind it in the least. I want to do all that I can, but I more often than not feel like my efforts are, and will be, a drop in the bucket. I'll try to pick up a bag of chow and head to Waterloo this weekend.

More apartment cleaning.

Update: I sent an email to Sara at the TTSPCA. I will pick up dog and puppy chow tomorrow and deliver it to Waterloo in the afternoon! I have to keep hope alive! As my president would say, "Yes, we can!"

Today was more or less uneventful. I went to UWI to drop off the dog and cattle samples I collected in Tobago. I was only there about an hour and a half. Dad wanted me to follow him to the mechanic just in case his car overheated (his radiator is on the fritz). Kaila and I finished painting the living room! I'll take pictures of the finished painting products after I do some cleaning. Kaila and I went to get pizza at Pizza Boys to celebrate. Slowest service I've had since I've been here, and there's been some slow service! Pretty much my day in a nutshell.

Tobago. Paradise in the sea of other amazing islands. But Tobago takes the cake. It is the most beautiful place I've visited (I haven't traveled all that much). Every time I go to Tobago, I come back to Trinidad more relaxed and at ease. Not this time. It was actually stressful! Dad joined me for the trip. He was a vacationer. I was there to work. I, ideally, would have liked to spend all of Monday at the TTSPCA. Nope. Dad came by a few times either asking when I would be ready or waiting to pick me up. Even though I had more free time on Tuesday, Dad was antsy. He rushed through bird-watching at the Grafton Bird Sanctuary ("There are no birds here," he said), and we spent a lot of time driving around the island since some of the beaches were closed. Not my best trip to my favorite place, but my next visit should make up for it.

Three new birds: Black-faced Grassquit, Black and White Warbler, and the Channel-billed Toucan.


Stray on the beach


Ed and Suzie's Toucan


Me and Uncle Tony

K9 vs Cars at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva, Trinidad. I wasn't expecting much, but wherever there are dogs, you're likely to find me. Lots of people came out with their canines, wearing collars AND leashes, mind you. What shocked me was that many of the dogs also had dog tags with the owner's phone number(s) on it! Very different scene to what I've been used living here. Left me somewhat reassured that I could do something good with my project.

I think Sparky had a great day. He met new dogs, got lots of treats and free doggie goodies, and even participated in the Best Dressed dog contest. I think he was robbed. He didn't place, but was the Gold Winner in my book.

Can owners have separation anxiety? Sparky is at Auntie Vilma's and I keep thinking that the dog barks from outside are his.

Thank you to Radiohead and The Flaming Lips for being my painting soundtracks.

Enjoy the pics!


So proud of my Pupper


Sparky hanging out at the TTSPCA booth


Oh my goodness! Suzie looked incredible!


More of Susie!