Professor Joseph Stiglitz

In September, we were honoured to have Nobel Laureate economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz stay at our very own Asa Wright Nature Centre. Mr. Stiglitz is currently a university professor at Columbia University and has authored many books on economics. Having previously made a brief trip to Asa Wright during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2009, Professor Stiglitz was eager for another peaceful rainforest experience.
Our Education and Community Outreach Specialist, Mr. Kenneth Fournillier, interviewed him at Dunston’s Cave. During their conversation, Professor Stiglitz referred to the friendly staff as well as the fantastic guides, food and birds as the factors that encouraged him to return. He said he wanted to share such a discovery with his wife.
We would like to thank Mr. Stiglitz for willingly doing this interview and we also thank him and his wife for being terrific guests!
J.L. Ryan

ISES planners (from left to right) Omeeta Jaggernauth, Siobhan Thompson, Simone Sant-Ghuran, Judy Coward, Kathleen Maynard and Frances Pollanais-Le Foucade chat with Peter O’Connor at the Centre.

Last June one of our good friends at Lonsdale Saatchi & Saatchi, Marlene Chin, was a guest at the Spring Hill wedding of Shree Caesar (formerly of Marabella) and Kent Hash of Baltimore. Enthralled with the ambience of a “rainforest wedding”, she subsequently arranged for a group of wedding and event planners to visit Asa Wright and to experience that very special magic for themselves!
So, just after our reopening in September, on a rainy Saturday, a group of six International Special Events Society (ISES) members and friends who specialise in planning weddings and corporate events spent a day with us to learn more about the very special nature of the Asa Wright Nature Centre.
A presentation on the Centre’s facilities was followed by a site inspection tour of the Jade Vine Arbor and the Jonnie Fisk Conference Centre (formerly known as the Mango Room). The planners also took the opportunity to look at the rooms at the centre, from the huge high-ceiling chambers in the main house, to the charming cottages set amidst the flowering gardens.
A delicious lunch was served in the centre’s dining room after which the group relaxed on the iconic Asa Wright Verandah. Not withstanding the usual lunch time showery spell, the planners saw the wonderful potential of bringing to Asa Wright special events like intimate weddings and corporate retreats that are compatible with the essential peace and serenity of Spring Hill.
We now look forward to sharing our rain forest with some of the special events which might grace our premises in the future.

Deborah Castillo talks with potential visitors

Asa Wright Nature Centre (AWNC) Reservations Agent Deborah Castillo and I attended the British Bird Fair in England. The fair, which is held annually in the month of August, took place this year from the 19th to 21st and the AWNC occupied booth 12 in marquee 1.
The fair started on Friday and visitors crowded Asa Wright’s small booth, praising our staff for their wonderful experiences while staying at the centre. It is customary every year to greet guests who stayed with us, those who are planning their visit, and others who for many years have wanted to come but never did.
On Friday the 19th a talk was held in honour of Richard ffrench, who recently passed away. talk was given by Martyn Keneflick and attended by Mrs. ffrench, her daughter Julie and her husband, Allyson White (mother of Graham White), plus 160 persons who paid their respects to the great bird man.
I was privileged to attend this talk and I must say Martyn did a fantastic job in highlighting the AWNC and its affiliation to Mr. ffrench.
I am extremely grateful to all those who made these trips possible over the years. This is something that should be continued by the centre, mainly because of all the exposure the centre gets for the three days that of the fair. I believe that 90 per cent of the visitors to the Bird Fair know about the AWNC and only positive remarks have been heard coming from the visitors and participants.

By Ann Sealey
(Manager, Lodge Operations)

Naparima Girls’ High School students Angelina Dookeran (l) and Anuradha Soondar (r) are flanked by various teachers, Principal Patricia Ramgoolam and Vice Principal Ms. Fairy Lalla.

Bishop Anstey High School, l-r: Principal, Patsy-Ann Rudder, Lilly Paul, Ariel Mendez, Alicia Barrie, Mrs. Khan and Johanne Ryan, Conservation Officer at AWNC.

In late 2010, in honour of the Year of Biodiversity, Asa Wright Nature Centre held its Secondary Schools’ Art &
Essay Competition. Bishop Anstey High School copped the AWNC Art Competition Challenge Trophy while Naparima Girls’ High School won the Essay Competition Challenge Trophy.

Johanne Ryan, AWNC Conservation Officer, speaks to participants of the EMA Secondary Schools Environment Seminar. Photo: Ken Fournillier

We were privileged to host a group of sixth form students for seven days in July. This group, part of a project organised by the Environmental Management Authority, came to study the environment, and its threats, and spent one week discovering the benefits and beauty of our forests.
They also learned of the dangers to our ecosystems posed by quarrying, development and unmanaged agriculture. A unique aspect of the course they underwent was the arts and theatre presentations the students produced on their final evening in the Centre. That night the Mango Room became a mysterious forest as the students incorporated local forest folklore into their production, all directed towards the preservation of the environment.
We look forward to more of these student visits and initiatives.

While Asa Wright did not enter a team in this year’s “Pot Spoon” local cuisine competition at Blanchisseuse, in early July, members of our staff, led by Food and Beverage Supervisor Joanne Singh-Ramlal, and including Mariana, Kerron and Pamela took up the challenge and swept the prizes for the categories they entered! Well done to the “sweet han” crew of chefs from Spring Hill!

We had not seen a deer at Spring Hill for years. But in late June, while Head Guide Mukesh Ramdass was with Vic and Andrea Thomas on the Chaconia Trail, trying to photograph a Common Potoo at about 1.30 pm, they suddenly saw a full grown Red Brocket Deer quietly standing in the middle of the trail!
The deer, we presume it was the same one, was also spotted one night at about 7.30 pm crossing the driveway. We hope this deer is the first of many.
And Ann Sealy noticed these strange “floral mushrooms” growing near to the security booth. They had the distinct scent of mushrooms, but
were not harvested for the kitchen!
And finally, and this too is wonderful news, Pawi Birds (Piping Guans) were seen by a group out on tour at the top of our mountain. The Piping Guan has not been seen this close to us for years, but we have no photos of this sighting.

On July first we welcomed our new Chief Executive Officer to Spring Hill. Veronica Simon-Wallace joined the Asa Wright Nature Centre to fill a position which had been vacant for a while.
Mrs. Wallace is an energetic, committed individual with a wealth of experience in the commercial, financial and private sectors, and she has also worked with non-profit organisations and in the international sector.
She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and the University of the West Indies, and brings more than 20 years of management experience in the financial services worldto us at Asa Wright.
She also has over eight years of management experience with International Development Agencies, working on Youth Development, Entrepreneurial and Small Business initiatives.
Veronica states her objectives as being responsive to all the issues she will be handling, to communicate effectively with staff, guests and the Board, and to manage our cash flows and oversee the further development of the Centre. We all welcome Veronica and look forward to working with her.
And we also thank Lodge Manager Ann Sealey for holding on, in a dual role, while the CEO position was vacant.
AnnÕs energy and commitment to her work is legendary at Asa Wright, and we are sure that she too is grateful for the arrival of a CEO to lighten somewhat the work at the top!
We also welcome back our Conservation Officer Atkin Isaac. Atkin had left us for a while to take up a project at UWI, but he returned in June and has “hit the ground
running,” helping to develop our small museum and permanent nature exhibit. Read more about this in future Bellbird callings!

Since the dawn of the computer, technology and education have become inextricably linked. Teachers are constantly discovering new ways of nurturing this relationship, and the Asa Wright Nature Centre, of course, would like to keep pace with this trend. So when Mrs. Nadine McHenry provided the opportunity to collaborate with us on virtual field trips, we were intrigued.
Plans for this “Sharing the Environment” project kicked off in early 2010 with teacher training workshops at the Centre. Institutions in Trinidad (Atwell’s Educational Institute, St. Mary’s Children’s Home, Asa Wright Nature Centre) worked with those in the U.S. (Widener University and its charter school) so that students from each region could experience via Skype one another’s environment. Then, in May of 2011, students of Atwell’s Educational Institute and their new friends from the U.S. were able to embark on a field to rainforest at Asa Wright Nature Centre.
The first group of young “nature detectives” searched for local flora and fauna; producers and consumers. They spotted our regulars: agouti, golden tegus, hummingbirds, tanagers, several insects and even found a nest of baby spiders! Although our U.S. friends experienced a bit of difficulty viewing

Spring Hill hosted a delightful wedding on the weekend of 12th June, when Shree Caesar originally of Marabella wed Kent Hash of Baltimore, Maryland. Over twenty of the couple’s close overseas friends and relatives arrived at Asa Wright several days ahead of the ceremony, and enjoyed their own company in nature’s rain forest setting.
Not necessarily naturalists when they arrived here, we hope that the charm of our forest trails and bird songs would have been enough to convert some of these happy people into permanent nature lovers and bird watchers.
The overseas group was joined by almost a hundred local family and friends and family of the bride on Sunday, for the actual wedding.
The ceremony was conducted Pastor Martha Lutchmansingh in the beautiful Jade Vine Arbour, following which the party moved across to the Jonnie Fisk Conference Centre, popularly remembered as the “Mango Room”, for the reception.
The banquet was catered by our Joanne Singh-Ramlal and her team of chefs, and served by our impeccable dining room staff. The meal featured the best of Asa Wright’s wide selection of local culinary delights.
Guests danced into the night to a gentle blend of live entertainment and DJ music, with everyone remembering our adage that “noise disturbs wildlife”.
We wish the happy couple all the best for the future, for we believe that weddings held in paradise lead to marriages made in heaven.