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!