Diario de alisajankie

Today, Wednesday 18 November, 2020, I joined the iNaturalist Community. I hope to be able to post my photos of animals and plants soon.
Recently an Iris grew in my front lawn.
There is a pond with a caiman not too far.
I have noticed butterflies such as White Peacock, Thaos Swallowtail, Sweet Oil and the South American Moth.
Over the years, lots of plants and animals are no longer seen or lost because of cutting of trees to build houses. The original pond was filled. There was a large variety of trees, some I hardly see.
We used to have candlebush, and immortelle, I do not see those anymore.
There are still some species of Bois Canoe (Cecropia peltata) around.
When I was a child, Red Peacock butterflies were in abundance. I do not see them as much because most of the natural flowers such as Christmas bush, Sida acuta etc. are gone. I used to see a few shrubs of Lantana camara growing wild, the red and orange variety but I do not see those anymore.
There was a large Mahogany tree not far from my house. It is long gone. Its seeds used to blow into my yard and I used to throw them in the air and watch them act as a helicopter propeller.
A little way from my home, I used to see two Kapok or Ceiba pentandra. One had fallen when I was younger and the other, I am not sure if it was cut down. A lot of Corbeau used to perch on the one that remained. When I was a child and in my 20s, a woodpecker used to visit.
Recently, the birds I see often are Palm and Blue gray tanagers, Tropical Mockingbirds, Kiskedees, Carib Grackles, Southern Lapwings, Corbeaux and Crested Orependolas. Now and again, a couple of Caracaras are seen and heard. The smaller birds attack them. Now and again, I see pairs of parrots flying, most likely yellow headed Amazon parrots. There used to be a few of them. I saw a pair of macaws already. I have seen a Pygmy owl close by and a Barn owl once flew quietly over my head. Over ten years ago I used to see a male parson bird and his female companion. Now and again I might see an Oriole, Cuckoo and Parrotlets.
We used to have iguanas and manicou. I haven't seen them in quite sometime.
A large caiman came into our yard on Sunday 20th September, 2020. Our place is fenced, I don't know how he got in. He could have climbed the chain link fence. He was around 6 feet long.
At dusk there are bats flying around.
We used to have tonka bean trees around but they are gone. Bats used to drop the fruits in our yard.
There was a very tall Coccoloba latifolia once, it towered above the other trees, I can't say for sure how tall it was. The dried leaves used to come over into our yard. I hardly see that tree around. I remember the leaves especially.

One of the most beautiful places I have ever been to is the Southwestern Peninsula of Trinidad. I try my best to go every year. It is a lovely pristine environment. I have a place in my heart for Los Blanquizales. A lot of people call it the Great Icacos Lagoon.
Cedros is the name of the area. There is no specific town called Cedros. The Spanish arrived and saw Cedar trees hence the name Cedros which is Spanish for Cedars. The Native Peoples called fat pork "icaco". This is where the Spanish got the name Icacos from.
I had gone to Columbus Bay for the first time in the early 1990s. My dad was still alive and drove us down there. I saw the stacks in the water. Today has three but I feel as though I had seen four. In those times, I didn't know about journalling and documenting so I rely on memory which is not always a good thing. I prefer document and photograph.
I wanted to visit Cedros so in 2010 I had planned a visit with my Form 5 form class. They were a great bunch. We went with a maxi taxi all the way to Columbus Bay. We went Icacos after. I had so much fun. I was amazed when I saw Los Blanquizales, that was my first visit to Icacos.
At Icacos, there were fallen coconut trees, a sign of the coastal erosion happening. The road was eroded as well. There were lots of verveine plants. We got back to school in time for 2:30 p.m.
From San Fernando to Cedros, the journey is about 2 hours. Yes a very long drive. I usually pass through the Creek, Oropuche, Rousillac, La Brea, Point Fortin, Cap de Ville, Granville. That route is actually faster. In 2018, I passed through Debe, Penal, Siparia, Santa Flora, Palo Seco, Erin, Buenos Ayres, Cap de Ville. That way was pretty lengthy but has some nice Historical sites on the way.
Cedros has so much biodiversity. I have seen huge stinging nettles, Malachite butterfly, Flambeaux, Red Peacocks, Nymphea, Mangrove, Caracaras, Corbeaux, Bats, an area with those lovely purple flowers whose seeds explode in water and an abundance of trees.
The Ste. Marie Road where the Health Centre is located has a lot of trees and bushes however near the L'Envieusse beach, rapid deforestation has taken place. A bad idea because the beaches down there are basically sand and mud, hence easily eroded. I believe Ste. Marie Road leads to Islote Bay. L'Envieusse beach has Mangrove, Iron Pyrite (fool's gold) and a shipwreck. There is a structure made of ballast bricks that most likely came from Scotland in the 1800s. When you journey along Ste. Marie Road, there is Ste. Marie Extension on the left. This takes you to Galfa proper. There is fool's gold, sandstone cliffs and mud that smells of methane gas. The area was once mined for oil and natural gas.
Along Ste. Marie road, there is a road on the right that takes you to Green Hill where the underground WWII bunker is. Further down on the right has the road that takes you to the Balka Devi Mandir and the mud volcano. Further down, the road splits, if you keep left, you end up at a private beach, Beaulieu and if you take right, you end up at L'Envieusse. There is an old house, said to be haunted and next to it is the Galfa Graves. One person died in 1813, the other in 1818.
At the Los Blanquizales marshes, there are so many birds! I have seen Herons a lot but one time I saw this huge black and white raptor. It was far off but the breast was white and its wings were black. The wingspan was pretty long, it looked like almost one metre to me. I also saw a Jabiru Stork once. Huge bird!
I hope to visit there soon!
© Wednesday 25th November, 2020. Alisa R Jankie