Wildlife· Tobago· Windward Islands
Grafton Caledonia Bird Sanctuary
11° 12.2′ N · 60° 46.9′ W · approximate
An old plantation estate behind Grafton Beach where the owner began feeding birds after Hurricane Flora flattened the forest in 1963: motmots, cocricos, tanagers and hummingbirds still crowd the feeders, and trails wind through bamboo and secondary rainforest.
Practical
Not mapped in OpenStreetMap; position is a point inland of the Grafton Beach Resort near Black Rock village (OSM), placed from a 2000 birding report that puts the sanctuary on the estate directly behind the hotel (approx). The approach track is steep and unsurfaced (Discover T&T). Feeding times: 8 am and 4 pm (Discover T&T 2007, updated 2018); the 4 pm feed draws cocricos and blue-crowned motmots so tame they will take food by hand (Fatbirder). Recorded species include blue-crowned motmot, palm tanager, copper-rumped and ruby-topaz hummingbirds, barred antshrike and blue-backed manakin. Current hours and fees were not found: a buzz.tt listing (undated) shows it as closed every day, which may be placeholder data, so confirm locally before going. From a yacht: anchor at Stonehaven Bay or Mount Irvine and take a taxi or walk up from Black Rock.
Best for
Hand-feeding motmots and close-up rainforest birding
Season
Year-round; go for the 4 pm feed
Nearby
- Seahorse Inn (Grafton Beach)0.2 NM away
- Waves Restaurant (Stonehaven Bay)0.2 NM away
- Fort Bennett (Black Rock)0.3 NM away
- Stonehaven Bay Anchorage (Grafton Beach)0.5 NM away
- Great Courland Bay Beach (Turtle Beach)0.6 NM away
- Great Courland Bay Anchorage (Plymouth)0.7 NM away
- Turtle Beach Leatherback Nesting0.7 NM away
- Fort James (Plymouth)1 NM away