國家地理:特立尼達(dá)島上的獨特鳥類

Dawn on the tropical island of Trinidad. Birds are arousing in the trees, calling, flashing brilliant colors amidst the endless shades of green, and Roger Neckles is arousing too. For the last decade, he has been documenting the island's winged inhabitants.
"We've just got passed by a hummingbird. Did you hear that?"
“Close your eyes and just imagine you died and went to heaven, and you're in the Garden of Eden. It's just so incredibly beautiful, flowers everywhere, myriad variety of brilliantly colored birds, butterflies zipping all over the place. It’s just like paradise. It's fantastic.”
“This is the best time of the day for me, getting up, you know, 5 o'clock in the morning, then heading off into the stakes, you know, up in the mountains. And the atmosphere or temperature up here is just fantastic, with pure oxygen(s). It's the typical day in the office for me.”
Birds are Roger's passion, and the Asa Wright Nature Center where he works draws amateur and professional ornithologists from many countries, just to catch a glimpse of some of the planet's most dazzling and unique birds.
“It's so fast you know, you just really got to be quick on the draw, otherwise you’ll miss him. Got him. Here you go. Oh, look at that purple honeycreeper. Whoa. The color is so unique, the fantastic state of purple.”
There are some 460 species of birds on the island, and Neckles is trying to catch them all on film. It is painstaking work.
"But if you're not prepared to, to wait for the shot, you won't get it.”
Neckles has studied the birds' habits and calls tirelessly.
“Come on, talk to me. But these birds skillfully with their beaks and their feet, you know, stitch and weave these, these, these nests together, and they are really strong. They build them on the edges of, the very edges of the branches, and, and winds come, hurricanes will come, and you know, gale will swing them. They wouldn't blow down.”
Over the years, Neckles has found his own place in these woods.
“I came here in 1978, and I was so enchanted with its topography overland here in Trinidad and Tobago that I thought, ‘oh yes, I could do this’.”
“Oh, look, check this out, check this out, Look at this. Look at this… Watch this. Watch this...”
Through his research, Neckles has come to know all the wildlife on the island.
“Wow, you don't wanna get your fingers in there.”
But time and again, it is the birds that draw him into the woods. This morning he hopes to capture on-film a very tiny elusive bird.
“Oh, look at this. This is the most festive hummingbird in Trinidad and Tobago, the smallest hummingbird in Trinidad and Tobago. It’s tough to go get. Oh, look at it …”
He’s been trying for 6 weeks to get this shot, an agonizing wait that comes down to a breathless moment.
“I'm very very high right now. Though goose bumps are all on my arms, this is still fantastic.”
Neckles does not mind waiting for that perfect moment. Like the birds he follows, he lets the morning and its beauty unfold around him.
“No plans to give this up at all because, you know I feel I could do this for the rest of my life, and every time I go out, I see something new.”
熱帶島嶼特立尼達(dá)島上，剛剛破曉。鳥兒從樹上蘇醒過來，歡快的歌唱著，在綠色的樹蔭里揮動著五彩繽紛的翅膀徜徉著。Roger Neckles也醒來了。在過去的10年里，他一直記錄著島上這些會飛翔的居民。
“我們剛才經(jīng)過了一只蜂鳥，你有沒有聽到?”
“閉上眼睛，想象一下你已經(jīng)死了，到了天堂，來到伊甸園。這里簡直美的難以置信，到處都是鮮花，無數(shù)的各種各樣色彩鮮艷的小鳥，蝴蝶輕舞飛揚。這里就像是天堂，美不勝收。”
“這是我一天中最快樂的時光。早上5點鐘起床，然后像山上的森林出發(fā)。這里的環(huán)境和氣溫都非常怡人，有著充足純凈的氧氣。這是我在辦公室里有代表性的一天。”
鳥類是Roger的激情，未來一覽地球上最耀眼，最獨特的鳥類，他工作的阿薩·萊特自然中心(Asa Wright Nature Center)吸引力世界各國業(yè)余的和專業(yè)的鳥類學(xué)家。
“他們飛的太快了，你知道，要給他拍照必須動作快一點，否則你就看不到他了?？匆幌履侵蛔仙拿坌救?。他的顏色太獨特了，紫色中的極品。”
這個島上有460多種鳥類，Neckles希望給每一種都拍照。這是一項艱苦的工作。
“但是如果你想一直等著他出現(xiàn)來抓鏡頭，你不會如愿的。”
Neckles毫不厭倦的研究這些鳥的習(xí)性和鳴叫聲。
“過來跟我聊一下。但是這些鳥都能很靈巧的利用自己的嘴巴和腳，你知道，他們可以造出這么多堅固的鳥巢。他們把鳥巢建在樹枝的邊緣，非?？窟吘壍奈恢?，刮風(fēng)的時候，甚至颶風(fēng)來臨的時候，狂風(fēng)搖撼著鳥巢，但是從來不會被吹落。”
這么多年來，Neckles在這片樹林里找到了自己的位置。
“我1978年來到這里，我對特立尼達(dá)島的地形著迷了，我想，恩，我可以做這個。”
“哦，看一下，看看這個，看看這是什么……”
在多年的研究中，Neckles了解了這個島嶼上所有的野生生物。
“你不要把手指放在那上面。”
但是一次又一次，他被那些鳥兒吸引到樹林里。今天早上他想給一種非常小，非常難以捉摸的小鳥拍照。
“看看這個，這是特立尼達(dá)和多巴哥最喜慶的蜂鳥，島上最小的蜂鳥，很難找到到?？纯?hellip;…”
他為了這個鏡頭已經(jīng)等了6個星期，痛苦地的帶這個屏息的瞬間。
“我現(xiàn)在非常非常開心，雖然我胳膊上都是包，這仍然是很奇妙的事情。”
Neckles為了等待那個完美的瞬間不厭其煩的等待著。就像他追逐的鳥一樣，這個奇妙的早上和島嶼的美麗在他周圍綻放。
“我從來沒有想過要放棄這項活動，因為，我感覺我的余生都可以用來做這件事，每次出去，我都能看到新的東西。”