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GUYANA: New Birding Frontier

Guyana means ‘Land of Many Waters’ from an Amerindian language. From the northern coastline along the Caribbean to the waterfalls tumbling from its high Tepuis in the south and west, Guyana is lush and pristine. Most of its 780,000 population live along the coast, and few roads lead to the interior. About 80% of the country remains virgin!
Kaieteur Falls drops an atonishing 800 feet, five times higher than Niagra and has many endemic plants growing along its edge. Rivers, forests and savannas offer incredible birding opportunities with many endemics and specialties like Rufous Crab Hawk, Blood-colored Woodpecker and the stunningly beautiful Guyanan Cock-of-the-Rock.

Combine with TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO!

ITINERARY

Day 1: Arrive / Cara Lodge
Arrivals through the day.

Day 2: Cara Lodge
Early breakfast and depart to seek the first of many specialties such as: Blood-colored Woodpecker, Rufous Crab-Hawk and the poorly-known White-bellied Piculet. Also on our list: Black-capped Donacobius, Point-tailed Palmcreeper and Moriche Oriole. Afternoon will include birding on the coast where many shorebirds and waders, including the beautiful Scarlet Ibis can be seen.

Day 3: Karanambu Ranch
Pre-breakfast birding in the city’s Botanic Garden which hosts Snail Kite, Gray Hawk, Pearl Kite, Carib Grackle, Red-bellied Macaw, Red-shouldered Macaw and many parrots including Orange-winged, Yellow-crowned and Festive Parrot. We’ll also seek: Yellow-chinned Spinetail, Black-crested Antshrike, Short-tailed Swift, Buff-breasted Wren and Golden-spangled Piculet.
Late morning chartered flight to Karanambu, the home of Diane McTurk, widely known for her work rehabilitating orphaned Giant River Otters.
Lunch at Karanambu before exploring the river by boat to look for wild Giant River Otters. As night falls we’ll visit the ponds to see the giant Victoria Amazonica waterlily, bloom at dusk. On the return trip we will spotlight for Black Caiman, birds and creatures of the night. On a good evening it is possible to see many species of nightjar including Nacunda, Least and Band-tailed Nighthawk and White-tailed Nightjar.

Day 4: Karanambu Ranch
Pre-breakfast excursion for Giant Anteater, Double –Striped Thicknee ands a near-threatened flycatcher: Bearded Tachuri. After breakfast we will bird the gallery forest along the river where we’ll hope to find such species as Spotted Puffbird, Striped Woodcreeper, and Pale-bellied Tyrant-Manakin. We will make a special effort to locate one of the oddest-looking members of the cotinga family, the Capuchinbird—also called Calfbird for their weird, almost cow-like, song.
We will also seek Boat-billed Heron, Pinnated Bittern, Sunbittern, Sharp-tailed Ibis, Green-tailed Jacamar, Spotted Puffbird, Black Nunbird, White-fringed Antwren, Black-chinned and White-bellied Antbirds, Finsch’s Euphonia and Rose-breasted Chat. Late afternoon we will travel by boat to look for wild Giant River Otters.

Day 5: Rock View Lodge
After breakfast we will travel slowly on the Rupununi River to Ginep Landing keeping an eye out for Crestless Curassow, Green Ibis, Jabiru and Drab Water Tyrant.
This trip offers an excellent opportunity to look for Giant Otters as there are several family groups which live along this stretch of the Rupununi. We could also see several species of monkey including Red Howler, White-faced Saki and Squirrel Monkey in the riverside trees. Eventually we reach Ginep Landing and Annai, the northernmost community of the Rupununi. The Rupununi Savannah is an extensive area of grassland with termite mounds and scattered or riparian woodland. Rock View Lodge, with its tropical gardens and flowering trees, resembles an oasis in the savannah and attracts many species of birds, particularly nectar feeders and frugivores. Needless to say, the bird life here is markedly different from that of the rainforest. Amazonian Troupial, Amethyst Woodstar, White-chinned Sapphire, Long-billed Starthroat and several Hermits patrol the grounds. After lunch we will go birding on the Panorama Trail for Cinereous Mourner, Finsch’s Euphonia, Reddish Hermit, Rufous-bellied Antwren, Green-tailed and Yellow-billed Jacamar. Evening BBQ at Rock View Lodge!

Day 6: Rock View Lodge
At dawn we’ll bird through the savannah and the foothills of the Pakaraima Mountains. After breakfast we will visit nearby forest patches, home to Amazonian Scrub Flycatcher and a variety of antbirds. In the surrounding grasslands and nearby forested hills, we’ll look for Green-tailed Jacamar, Spotted Puffbird, White-bellied Antbird, Finsch’s Euphonia, Savannah Hawk and Black Collared Hawk.
Afternoon birding in the foothills of the Pakaraima Mountainswhere at dusk nightjars and nighthawks tumble over the grasslands. Expect Nacunda Nighthawk and White-tailed Nightjar.

Day 7: Surama Eco-Lodge
After an early breakfast we will journey by road from Annai to an area of white-sand forest known as Mori Scrub. Target birds will include Guianan Red-Cotinga, Black Manakin, Rufous-crowned Elaenia and Yellow-throated Flycatcher. Rufous-winged Ground-cuckoo has also been seen nearby. Blue-cheeked Amazon can be found further along the road before we move on to the Amerindian community of Surama. The village is set in five square miles of savannah and surrounded by the densely forested Pakaraima Mountains. Surama’s inhabitants are mainly from the Macushi tribe and still observe many of the traditional practices of their forebears.
After lunch we walk through the forest where we have the opportunity of seeing Rufous-winged Ground-cuckoo, Gray-winged Trumpeter and Long-tailed Potoo and much, much more... returning to our lodge as darkness falls.

Day 8: Iwokrama Field Station
This morning after an early breakfast at Surama we travel to the Iwokrama Forest and visit the Cock-of-the-rock Trail, an easy 20 minute walk, to hopefully have views of the Guianan Cock-of-the-rock. Along the way we will visit a nearby Harpy Eagle nest assuming this is active (is usually active in October/ November). The nest itself is located in a huge emergent tree only a couple of miles from the village and if we are extremely fortunate, we may see one of the adult birds bringing a sloth or monkey to the nest to feed their chick. The journey continues onto the Iwokrama Canopy Walkway. We will also spend some time in the clearing around the lodge, as this is one of the best places to see another of Guyana’s “must see” birds, the Crimson Fruitcrow. This species is seen here on a reasonably regular basis, as it often comes to feed in some of the nearby trees. The unusually timid Black Curassow can also be seen as at least one family party has become habituated and regularly feeds in the clearing of Atta Rainforest Lodge, which is located near the canopy walkway.
After lunch we will spend the afternoon birding from the vantage point of 35 meters up in the canopy. Painted Parakeet, Rufous-throated Sapphire, Guianan Puffbird, Green Aracari, Waved Woodpecker, Pygmy Antwren, Guianan Streaked-Antwren, Dusky Purpletuft, Purple-breasted Cotinga, Guianan Toucanet, Pompadour Cotinga, Buff-cheeked Greenlet, Caica Parrots, and a host of canopy specialists may come within our view. As flocks travel past we will look for Paradise Jacamar, Yellow-throated Woodpecker, and Black-tailed and Black-crowned Tityras. Other species we hope to encounter include Spix’s and Marail Guans, Red-fan Parrot, Eastern Long-tailed Hermit, Crimson Topaz, Tiny Tyrant-Manakin, Golden-sided Euphonia and both Red-and-Black and Yellow-green Grosbeaks.
As darkness falls on the Canopy Walkway, we will hope to see the White-winged Potoo before we transfer to Iwokrama Field Station.

Day 9: Iwokrama Field Station
This morning we will have a pre-dawn breakfast before setting out by boat for half an hour or less to the foot of Turtle Mountain. Here we’ll explore the trails for a few hours first visiting Turtle Ponds where Rufescent Tiger-Heron, Sunbittern, Sungrebe, Greater Ani, and Green and Rufous Kingfisher hunt. We will continue through the forest, looking for Red Fan Parrot, Red-throated Caracara, Double-toothed Kite, White-plumed and Ferruginous-backed Antbird and Royal Flycatcher along the way. Climbing to an elevation of 900 feet, we get a view of the forest canopy below and chances of Green Aracari, White Bellbird or a fly-by of one of five types of Eagles.
Return to the Field Station for lunch Then later in the afternoon we will embark on the Essequibo and circumnavigate Indian House Island giving us a chance to see a variety of birds including five species of Tinamou, Marbled Wood-Quail, Band-rumped Swift, White-banded and Black-collared Swallows, and Guianan Streaked-Antwren before returning to the Field Station for dinner. After dinner we will go night spotting along the river again to observe the various forms of nocturnal wildlife including tree boas, black caiman and Spectacled Caiman.

Day 10: Cara Lodge
This morning we’ll bird along the trails behind the Field Station in search of Black-spotted Barbet, Golden-collared, Yellow-throated, Crimson-crested and Red-necked Woodpeckers, Guianan Toucanet, Black-headed, White-browed, Ferruginous-backed, Warbling, Scale-backed, White-plumed, and Rufous-throated Antbirds, and Ringed Antpipit.
Late morning transfer to the airstrip for chartered flight to Kaieteur Falls, the world’s largest free-falling waterfall. Though Venezuela’s Angel Falls are greater in total height, their filamentous drop occurs by stages whereas Kaieteur is a single, massive, thundering cataract 100 meters wide created as the Potaro River makes a sheer drop of 228 meters, nearly five times the height of Niagara. The spectacle is the more impressive for its remoteness and it is altogether possible that we’ll be the only persons viewing it.
Here we will hope to find White-chinned and White-tipped Swifts swirling over the gorge, and perhaps we’ll be lucky enough to see the astonishingly colorful Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock, White-tailed Goldenthroat, Orange-breasted Falcon and Musician Wren. The flocks of swifts often attract Orange-breasted Falcons and, with luck, we may see this species hunting swifts with the falls providing a spectacular backdrop.

Day 11: Flights Home or to Trinidad
Transfer to the international airport for the flight home or continuing on to our Trinidad & Tobago tour (March 2010).