March 13-25, 2025 with Marcelo Barreiros & Doug Gochfeld & Local Guide John Christian
It's nice to do two Guyana tours two months apart to see how different the forest is in a short period. I recall being in Guyana in March of the past, and it was dry and very hot, but it was different this year. By the time I arrived in Georgetown, it was raining, and our local guide, John, told me it had been raining for a few days, so I felt myself lucky right away. We started the tour by visiting the Georgetown Botanical Gardens, as usual, and it was quite productive, with lots of main targets seen, including the White-bellied Piculet, Straight-billed Woodcreeper, and great looks at the Blood-colored Woodpecker. The main target for the day, the Festive Parrot, was seen feeding very well next to the road. Our morning along the Mahaica River was also very good with lots of Hoatzin, a couple of nice Long-winged Harrier flying over the river, a few Little Cuckoo, fantastic looks at male and female Black-crested Antshrike, Grey-lined Hawk, Silvered Antbird, Striped Cuckoo and a nice surprise, a very responsive Ringed Woodpecker. Besides that, we had a group of Guianan Red Howler Monkey and a single Giant River Otter swimming upstream when we got in our boat. On our way back to Georgetown we stop to see a pair of Rufous Crab-Hawk, Scarlet Ibis and Bicolored Conebill. The following day was the day to meet the majestic Kaieteur Falls and some amazing birds around it. We flew later than usual, but we had enough time to find good species like Rufous-crowned Elaenia, a male Guianan Cock-of-the-rock, the gorgeous Golden Rocket Frog and the bird of the day, male and female Orange-breasted Falcon chasing birds in front of the falls. A few minutes later, the female perched right in front of the cliff for several minutes.
Later, we started our journey through the mighty Amazon forest in Guyana and its surprises, like a group of Grey-winged Trumpeter, a pair of Collared Puffbird, an army ant swarm with Rufous-throated and White-plumed antbirds, Amazonian-barred and Chestnut-fronted woodcreepers and a Rufous-winged Ground-Cuckoo heard nearby. Right after lunch, in Iwokrama, a male Harpy Eagle flew over the clearing and, luckily, some of us were out to enjoy it and we called the rest of the group to see it perched for a few minutes before disappearing in the forest again. On our way to Atta Lodge, along the Linden-Lethem road, we had some great moments with a huge canopy flock including Ash-winged Antwren, Olive-green Tyrannulet, Black-spotted Barbet, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Yellow-backed Tanager, Green Aracari and Guyanan Puffbird. We also did well along the forest trails where we had some fantastic birds like Spotted Antpitta, Rufous-bellied Antwren, Ferruginous-backed Antbird, the amazing Capuchinbird on the lek, the rarely seen Black-throated Antshrike, Guianan Warbling-Antbird, Red-billed Woodcreeper, Amazonian Royal Flycatcher, Todd's and Spot-tailed antwrens, Red-necked Woodpecker and more.
We also had great luck with some of the most wanted canopy birds like Purple-breasted, Pompadour and Spangled Cotinga seen very well along the Linden-Lethem road, the gorgeous Guianan Red-Cotinga, another one which is almost always "heard only", Lilac-tailed Parrotlet came down in response to the recording and remained perched right in front of the group for a few minutes, Guianan Toucanet, Tiny and Black-faced hawks, Black-banded Owl and probably the most wanted one, a male Crimson Fruitcrow was seen during a morning birding along the Linden-Lethem road. Near to the Surama junction we saw a pair of Ornate Hawk-Eagle on their nest and later the other two hawk-eagles, Black-and-white and Black were also seen. For the first time we had enough (or barely!!) water on the Buro-Buro river to visit the Harpy Eagle nest and it was a fantastic adventure. A 7-month-old female was sitting on the nest which is built in a huge Kapok tree just by the river, creating a gorgeous scenario. We were unable to complete the Buro-Buro trail in the morning due to the weather, but the Savanna habitat in Surama was quite productive, featuring Great and Common potoos, White-naped Xenopsaris, Gray and Rusty-breasted seedeaters, Plain-crested Elaenia, and Sulphur Flycatcher near the water. Still along the Savanna habitat but further south, we spent two days exploring the huge Rupununi Savanna at its maximum, where we saw Bearded Tachuri, Crested Doradito, Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant, Double-striped Thick-knee and lots of Crested Bobwhite. The other main targets for the area, Rio Branco Antbird and Hoary-throated Spinetail, were also seen very well by the Ireng River, along with Streak-headed Woodcreeper, Spectacle Thrush, Pale-tipped Tyrannulet, Barred Antshrike and Spot-breasted Woodpecker.
We also had time to spend a few hours birding by the great Moco-Moco mountains with a few more new birds for us including Slaty-headed Tody-tyrant, White-bellied Antbird, Black-and-White Hawk-Eagle, Pearl Kite, a nice male Finsch's Euphonia, Black-headed Antbird, a flock of White-collared Swift and a nice surprise, thanks to Doug, who insisted on looking at all the swifts, two individuals of Tepui Swift were seen for everyone flying in front of the cliffs with some other species and photographed later.
This year, we did an extension to look for two very special birds, Sun Parakeet and Red Siskin. We first went to the Karasabai Village, home of the rarely seen Sun Parakeet but, before getting there, we saw 2 nice Giant Anteater along the way besides Aplomado Falcon, Jabiru, Wood Stork and Sooty-capped Hermit and passing the Village, with a local guide coming along, we found a group of 12 Sun Parakeet feeding right by the road, pretty much eye level. The birds remained feeding on the flowers for about 10 minutes and flew over the hill, disappearing after that. On the following day, we woke up early again to drive towards the Sand Creek Village, the only know place where we can find a population of Red Siskin nowadays. Right after a nice picnic breakfast, our local guide told us that a group of Red Siskin were seen feeding in an area not too far and we walked to see it and after a couple of minutes waiting, a group of a male and at least three females was spotted in a flooded area. Later, we found more individuals moving along with more birds. After lunch, we also went to a flooded area where we saw a pair of Sharp-tailed Ibis feeding.
We hope to see you guys soon!
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/346519
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/guy25bTRIPLIST.pdf
-- Marcelo Barreiros