Naturalist Notes: Golden-olive Woodpecker

Golden Olive Woodpecker 

There are 5 species of woodpeckers in Trinidad. Pictured above is the Golden-olive which is one of the smaller woodpeckers, and is found on both islands. Most male woodpeckers  have a red malar stripe (from the base of the bill to the side of the neck) while the the female lacks this trait. This species primarily feed on insects, but will occasionally take fruits.  

© Denise Etienne

Naturalist Notes: Golden Tegu Lizard

Golden Tegu Lizard

I have encountered endless of these Golden Tegu lizards in the Northern part of the island. It is locally called a Matte, in Tobago they are known as Salipainter. They normally get to about 3 feet in length, with black and gold stripes along their bodies. They eat insects, birds, mammals, fruits, fish and even bread at times. They are definitely not picky eaters!

Even though they are ground lizards, the female often climbs into an active termite nest well off the ground to deposit her eggs. Once the eggs hatch, out comes the babies with an availability of food, the termites!

© Denise Etienne

Yellow Oriole

Wandering me
What do I see?
A bird brilliant and yellow,
That appeared to be calm and mellow.
It sang as sweet as a flute
While I tried to be mute.
He was flying wild and free
Quite stunning, don't you agree?

~DeniseEtienne


The above is an excerpt from the book:
A Collection of Paintings and Poetry, Birds of Trinidad
Watercolor painting © Beatrice Bork, 
Poem © Denise Etienne

Naturalist Notes: Blue-headed Parrot

In keeping with the Parrot theme, Blue-headed Parrots are fairly common throughout the forest in Trinidad. It is not recorded in Tobago.

Like most of the other Parrots it is generally green, but the head, neck and upper breast is blue in color. It is just about 10 inches in length.

This is definitely a gregarious species, in the past I have occasionally seen flocks of up to 50 or so flying over the Arima valley. They eat fruits and seeds, one of their favorite fruits are Hog Plums.

© Denise Etienne