thumb|right|View from the lodge [[veranda including a bird and feeder in the foreground]]

The Asa Wright Nature Centre and Lodge is a nature resort and scientific research station in the Arima Valley of the Northern Range in Trinidad and Tobago. The centre is one of the top birdwatching spots in the Caribbean; a total of 256 species of birds have been recorded there. The centre is owned by a non-profit trust.

The nature centre is on and includes a main estate house with inn and restaurant serving dishes such as callaloo soup with ingredients from an on-site organic garden.

The nature centre in 2001 acquired the Rapsey Estate, known as 'El Naranjo' for TT$3,3 million. The total nature centre holdings are now over 1,300 acres, but this still makes up less than 5% of the valley.

Wildlife

The centre is one of the most biodiverse areas in the West Indies and is home to more than 250 bird species. Bird species at the nature centre include purple honeycreeper, tufted coquette (a hummingbird), tropical mockingbird, and oilbird (a nocturnal fruit eater).

Red brocket deer, the elusive ocelot, the Brazilian porcupine and the southern tamandua have been recorded in the forests of the centre. Red-rumped agouti is another mammal that occurs at the centre and that can be often seen near the main house.

<gallery>

File:Asa Wright's home 1967.jpg|in 1967

File:089 Northern Range, Asa Wright Nature Centre - 28.11.07.jpg|On the veranda

File:0019waterfall.JPG|Waterfall in the grounds

File:Heliconia chartacea.JPG|Heliconia 'Sexy Pink' in the grounds

File:Chlorophanes spiza - male on feeder.jpg|Green honeycreeper at the feeders

File:TnT Asa Wright Weißnackenkolibris.jpg|White-necked jacobins

File:Trinidad bats.jpg|Fruit bats at the feeders

File:Joceyln Crane c. 1960.jpg|Jocelyn Crane visiting Centre c. 1960

</gallery>

Footnotes

References

  • Gould, Carol Grant (2004). The Remarkable Life of William Beebe. Washington DC: Island Press. .
  • Herklots, G. A. C. 1961. The Birds of Trinidad and Tobago. Collins, London. Reprint 1965.
  • Linblad, Jan. 1966. Journey to red birds. Trans. by Gwynne Vevers. Reprint: Collins, London. 1969.
  • Rudder, Joy (2009). The old house and the dream: The story of The Asa Wright Nature Centre. Prospect Press, Media and Editorial Projects Limited, Maraval, Port of Spain, Trinidad. .
  • Snow, D. W. 1956. "The dance of the Manakins." Animal Kingdom (59) 3: pp.&nbsp;86–91.
  • Zahl, Paul A. 1954. Coro-Coro: The World of the Scarlet Ibis. Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis / New York.
  • Worth, C. Brooke. 1967. A Naturalist in Trinidad. J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and New York.
  • William Beebe Tropical Research Station
  • Article on the centre from Nalis