Wild Tobago

  Not just turtles spend their lives in the open sea returning to land only to nest. Some birds too live on the wing over water. Faraaz Abdool describes the life of the Red-billed Tropicbird which nests on Little Tobago. All photos courtesy Faraaz Abdool.   Little Tobago: sanctuary for Red-billed Tropicbirds Red-billed Tropicbirds may be seen from the "lookout" area on Little Tobago. Photos by Faraaz Abdool     It begins with the cracking of an egg, precariously placed in nothing more than a loosely scraped clearing on the precipitous slopes of Little Tobago. A ball of greyish fuzz emerges, a brand new Red-billed Tropicbird – an angel of the Atlantic. In the weeks before it develops the ability to fly, the young tropicbird enjoys a continuous delivery of fresh flying fish each day from both parents. Unaware of the trials and tribulations ahead, it grows quickly.   Young tropicbirds typically enter the world without a sibling. They aren’t alone, however...

Faraaz Abdool brings you twelve of Tobago’s birds. Enjoy these stunning photos of island residents in their common habitats. All photos courtesy Faraaz Abdool; Trinidad Motmot by Joanne Husain   Tobago boasts some of the bird world’s most incredible representatives –   a mixture of South America and the Caribbean with seasonal migrants from as far as the Arctic Circle. Coincidental confluences of southward migration and the Atlantic hurricane season bring to Tobago some Europeans as well. Exciting rarities aside, let’s look at some of the island’s most familiar inhabitants.  Although Red-billed Tropicbirds don’t quite look like grizzled seafarers, they spend most of their life at sea. Dainty and delicate, they touch land only to breed, preferring uninhabited and often inhospitable offshore islands for protection from predators.. Lacking sharp talons or even an aggressive personality, Red-billed Tropicbirds are extremely vulnerable to human activity on their nes...

Here at the confluence of wild Atlantic and calm Caribbean, photographer-birder Faraaz Abdool finds a frenzy of feeding birds. Here, the St Giles group of islets and rocks off the north coast of Tobago are sanctuaries for these sea-faring residents. We departed Charlotteville under the blazing midafternoon sun, heading due north around the spit of land that marked the end of the world-famous Pirate’s Bay, also our point of departure from the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea. The waves kicked up a bit and the water darkened substantially as we powered our twin-engine vessel “Fish Machine” over swells that seemed to become more and more well fed the further we got from mainland Tobago.   Well into the rollicking Atlantic Ocean, even the air itself smelled different. My good friend, fellow guide and self-described old sea-dog Zolani (of Frank’s Tours) advised that we relocate ourselves from the bow to the stern, given the new conditions. He didn’t need...