Bird Guides of the World: Faraaz Abdool, Trinidad & Tobago

What is your favorite bird species?

The bird that I’m seeing or hearing at the present moment. Too tough to choose a species but if I could choose a family it’d be a tight finish between shorebirds and vultures. 

Trinidad Motmot

What is your name, and where do you live?

I’m Faraaz Abdool and I currently live in Trinidad & Tobago.

What are the main regions or locations you cover as a bird guide?

I began guiding in Trinidad and Tobago and that remains my home turf/stomping grounds and can guide there with my eyes shut – but I also offer tours to the Lesser Antilles, Guyana, East Africa, and Solomon Islands. Some are independent tours and others are through a partner company called Birding the Islands.

Trinidad Piping Guan

How long have you been a bird guide?

I did my first tour in 2013.

How did you get into bird guiding?

Someone asked me if I wanted to guide a couple who were interested, and I agreed. I always enjoyed showing people birds but I had no clue how to access the clientele. I had so much fun simply enjoying the birds with the couple, I knew it would be something I’d be doing much more of. 

Tufted Cocquette

What are the aspects of being a bird guide that you like best? Which aspects do you
dislike most?

I enjoy being outdoors, I enjoy birds, I enjoy showing people birds and seeing their reactions on seeing a bird well or for the first time, I enjoy great food and laughter from the belly. All of which are hallmarks of a birding tour. To think of something that I dislike; it would have to be dealing with the end of the tour – especially for longer trips when we’ve made relationships that must now come to an end. But very often I keep in touch with clients, we become friends, and we go to other places together and continue having a good time. 

Purple-throated Carib

What are the top 5-10 birds in your region that you think are the most interesting for visiting birders?

It depends on the type of birder, as we know birders come on a spectrum like everything else. Some folks are into the endemics, in the Caribbean there are many of them – Trinidad Motmot and Trinidad Piping-Guan from my native T&T, also Purple-throated Carib (endemic to the Lesser Antilles) takes the breath away from anyone who sees that bird properly. In Solomon Islands most of the birds there are birds people have never seen before due to the sheer level of endemism there coupled with the area’s remoteness. Even something as nondescript as Solomon’s White-eye would get folks excited. For my Africa trips the bird folks most often ask for is the Secretarybird. Others are seeking the outrageous, Tufted Coquette and Guianan Cock-of-the-rock come to mind. I had one very esteemed and famous author/illustrator request Caribbean Martin as well – a bird that often goes on the list while driving from one place to another. All this to drive the point home that all birds are amazing and deserve adulation (and to reiterate my answer to the first question).

Solomon’s White-eye

Carribean Martin

Can you outline at least one typical birdwatching trip in your area? Please briefly
describe the locations, the key birds, and the approximate duration of such a trip

Tough to say given that I take people to so many places. But for T&T trips we try to cover as many varied habitats as possible while going at an easy enough pace such that folks do not need a vacation after their birding tour. I also do not use any lures, bait, or audio playback while guiding as I’ve found that our physical presence in the habitat is already more than enough disturbance. On my trips, we start early, bird whichever location it is, then break for when the day warms too much. I am a bit of a foodie and this always factors in my tours, so folks are always very well fed – oftentimes by award-winning chefs. One of my clients this year asked me how is it that so many of my friends just happen to be chocolatiers. I advised them that friends must always be chosen wisely. 

Secretarybird

What other suggestions can you give to birders interested in your area? (for example, what to bring, which season to choose, etc.)

Weather-wise it is most pleasant from November through April in T&T. The Atlantic hurricane season dictates our trips in the rest of the Caribbean, so we advise any time between January to June for those islands. For Guyana we go when it is not raining at all as rain can make roads impassable – October/November and February/March are good months. East Africa we try to do in June just after the rains, so it’s as lush as can be. Solomon Islands we avoid cyclones so schedule those trips for July/August. Always bring mosquito repellent, sunscreen, a hat, a small umbrella or raincoat (sometimes showers can be unpredictable), good shoes, comfortable clothing (usually long pants and sleeves for bugs and plant irritants), and most importantly, good vibes.

Guianan Cock-of-the-rock

If any reader of 10,000 Birds is interested in birding with you, how can they best contact you?

Directly via email at faraaz.abdool@gmail.com is always the best bet! If you don’t get a response within a week (I can be tardy with responses depending on my schedule) you can use the contact form on my website.