Natural history of Trinidad and Tobago hummingbirds to the primitive cave-dwelling oilbird (that uses sonar to fly in the dark) to the spectacularly beautiful scarlet ibis. The islands are within a few miles of Venezuela, and the species are therefore typical of tropical South America. However, the variety (although quite exceptional for such a small geographic area) is somewhat impoverished compared to the mainland, as would be expected with small islands. The resident breeding birds are augmented in the northern winter by migrants from North America. Tobago has only about half the number of bird species of Trinidad, but about 22 birds have been reported only
Natural history of Trinidad and Tobago to be revised. To date (July 2014), the generally accepted recorded numbers of species of the various major groups of amphibians and reptiles are as follows: Frogs and toads (Anura): 37 species in total for the country. (33 recorded from Trinidad and 15 recorded on Tobago, with 4 of those from Tobago not known from Trinidad, and 2 of those from Trinidad known from just one specimen each. There is one introduced species, known on both Trinidad and Tobago). Caecilians (Gymnophonia): 1 species in total from Trinidad only. (Recorded from only 1 specimen). Turtles, terrapins and tortoises (Chelonii): 14 species