GUYANA - DAY 6 - JANUARY 20TH 2014

SURAMA AND SURROUNDS ALL DAY

SHOWERS AT FIRST THEN BRIGHT SUNSHINE

Another long day began at 5:30am with breakfast of fruit, pancakes, tea and coffee, it was still dark as we left the lodge at 6am. Our destination was the forest track to the Harpy Eagle’s nest site, this was to be one of the highlights of the trip.

BLUE-THROATED PIPING GUAN



We travelled along the main road (a dirt track) for a few miles before stopping for a walk along the edge of the forest. Swallowtail Kites flew over as we watched one of the most beautiful woodpeckers, the Cream-coloured Woodpecker, we saw a pair of them and they are stunning birds. A flock of tanagers held several varieties with the Flame-crested and the Spotted being the most appreciated. We also found Guainan Streaked Antwren, Paradise Jacamar, Channel-billed Toucan, Warbling Antbird and many more.

THE COMMON GROUND DOVES ARE TINY -
SMALLER THAN SPARROWS

The forest trail to the eagle’s took an hour to negotiate and we never stopped for birding, we did see a Little Tinamou. Once at the nest we were immediately disappointed as there were no birds in the tree, however, after being there for ten minutes we decided to scope the nest and saw a juvenile bird hunkered down. But at the same time that we discovered this bird it took off, never to be seen again, so all we got was a few seconds. We waited around for an hour or so with no joy so we made plans for a second visit and headed off back to the road.

BLACK-NECKED ARACARI

From the forest we drove back to the lodge for a long lunch, it got quite hot so we waited until 3pm before setting off on our next excursion. Our plan was to walk down to the river Burro Burro and then spend the night there on a hammock camp – this is a new initiative by the lodge and we were the very first clients to actually sleep over night in the hammocks, an exciting prospect.

Our 3.5km walk took us through the forest on a different trail to that of yesterday and we saw some great birds. A couple of highlights that stick out in my mind were when Gary our guide called out a group of Grey-winged Trumpeters, amazingly they came to within a few feet of us they held the whole group spellbound. Another good sighting was of a Capuchinbird, it an extraordinary sound but it is a rather drab looking specimen, however, it is well sought after by the birding fraternity because of its strange profile when it raises it head-feathers, it really does look like a Capuchin monkey! Then we spent some time waiting for a Rufous-capped Antthrush to show and Gary our guide quickly got us onto it, a superb find.

ONE OF THE HELLICONIAS - PHILAETHRIA DIDO

We arrived at the camp at dusk and spent the last couple hours of the day setting up our hammocks and birding the camp area which is situated on the banks of the Burro Burro River. We ate dinner, cooked by the lodge staff that had driven down to the camp earlier, sitting round a camp fire underneath a clear sky and a myriad of stars.