white-necked jacobin | Miles To The Wild

Theo & Gloria Fergusson, the owners of Yerette must have one of the best lifestyles in the world! Their beautiful home high atop a hill in the lush Maracas Valley in Trinidad is a sanctuary for 1000’s of brilliant glittering hummingbirds! Out of all the bird species we don’t have in Australia, hummingbirds are the one I miss the most so I like to take any opportunity to see them overseas. The general consensus on Trip Advisor is “magic” and I have to agree!

The word “Yerette” means hummingbird in the original Amerindian language.Trinidad even features them on the national Coat of Arms, currency and passport, as the hummingbird is an important symbol of the country. Caribbean Airlines has the hummingbird as their logo as well.

At Yerette, visitors are able to see and observe 13 of the 17 hummingbird species recorded in this country, of hummingbirds at a very close range. These include:

1.Black-throated Mango

2.Blue-chinned Sapphire

3.Brown Violetear

4.Copper-rumped Hummingbird

5.Green Hermit

6.Green-throated Mango

7.Little Hermit

8.Long-billed Starthroat

9.Ruby Topaz

10.Rufous-breasted Hermit

11.Tufted Coquette

12.White-chested Emerald

13.White-necked Jacobin

I managed to see 10 out of the 13 (bolding) and did my best to identify the photos below but many are too dark or blurry. I did get Tufted Coquette at Asa Wright’s so it’s really necessary to visit both places to see as many Trindadian hummingbirds as possible.

The price of admission is $TT150, and includes a light meal, interesting presentation by Theo on the hummingbirds and access to all the hummingbird feeders in the garden where you can TRY to take photos of these rapidly flittering flying jewels. Theo has photos for sale which are better quality than most people will get on their own. You need to book in advance by calling 1-868-663-2623 as there are sessions at different times of day. They will email you precise directions when you book. It doesn’t matter which session you choose as hummingbirds must feed every 10 minutes throughout the day.

The area where Yerette is located.

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Entering Yerette and the hummingbird garden. dscn3622 dscn3623 dscn3624 dscn3625 dscn3626 dscn3627

Theo’s presentation on the hummingbirds. dscn3646 dscn3628 dscn3633

Green-throated Mango dscn3639a dscn3641

Green-throated Mango dscn3650 dscn3658

White-necked Jacobin dscn3661

Copper-rumped Hummingbird dscn3670

Little Hermit dscn3684

Black-throated Mango dscn3688

Rufous-breasted Hermit dscn3692 dscn3699

Ruby Topaz dscn3702

Ruby Topaz dscn3702a

Ruby Topaz dscn3703a

White-chested Emerald dscn3704

White-chested Emerald dscn3705a

Brown Violetear dscn3708 dscn3710 dscn3715

Purple Honeycreeper

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Green-throated Mango dscn3724 dscn3727 dscn3732

Ruby Topaz Hummingbird? dscn3740a

Blue-chinned Sapphire dscn3744

Black-throated Mango img_6938a

Ruby Topaz Hummingbird?

White-necked Jacobin img_6898a Yellow Oriole

Blue-chinned Sapphire dscn3749 dscn3747

It started raining as we headed back down the steep hill, you can see how high it is.

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The large and showy White-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora) can be seen very easily at any lodge within its range usually at the hummingbird feeders and adjacent trees. Of course the male is the most brilliantly coloured but the female is pretty albeit more subtle.

Male

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Female dscn2928

Male in flight dscn2932

The have a huge range from Mexico, south to Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and south Brazil. It is also found on Tobago (sub-species F. m. flabellifera) and in Trinidad (sub-species F. m. mellivora). Honestly, you would have to be extremely unlucky NOT to see them if you visit any of these countries and stay at lodges with hummingbird feeders!

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