Ribble to Amazon?

Bearded Tachuri, Guyana February 2009.

Not been too much "Amazon" on the blog of late as I spend my usual "wet season" break here in the UK. Just exactly where the wet season is at the moment is a bit debatable admittedly (with our recent run of awful UK springs). So I thought I'd slip in a few shots from the last two trips. Here goes:

This Common Potoo was found during an Ornitholidays tour at Karanambu Ranch in Guyana. I must admit to being astounded at the amount of white exhibited by this individual on the wing (more so when outstretched), but my excitement was soon quelled. Guyana, well it didn't really do it for me I'm afraid. The itineraries need attention (too much emphasis on birding open grasslands in my opinion) and not enough forest birding or effort spent finding some of the country's important birds.

Great Jacamar, Guyana February 2009.

Black Nunbird, February 2009.

Northern Caracara, Guyana February 2009.

However I must say that birding tourism is in its infancy in Guyana. Only time will tell whether it will become one of South America's classic destinations. One experience highlighted how behaviour and attitudes to birding and the birds had changed though. My local guide was particularly keen to reduce the amount of playback used to lure birds into view. A policy I fully respect. Yes, I do use limited playback when necessary abroad but always have the bird's welfare as an utmost priority. I rarely gained permission to use the iPod in Guyana (unless it was a lifer for my guide, funny enough), but attitudes to another aspect of bird tourism troubled me.

In order to view Hoatzins, Guyana's national bird, we had to travel by boat on a small river. Hoatzins frequent vegetation-choked water courses and boats are not very maneuverable so viewing can be difficult. So much so that the guide's assistant saw fit to throw small sticks in the cover to flush the birds out. This was not discouraged by our guide until I made my feelings towards this process known. A second instance involved the ever-popular Sunbittern (above), discovered feeding quietly in a roadside pool. This bird is famous for its dazzling wing "flash" in flight and a driver was instructed to disembark from our truck and shout at the bird as he approached in an attempt to make the bird fly. Personally I think we are losing our focus here when it's OK disturb birds in this manner, purely to obtain our objective and our materialistic desires are overriding common sense. Unfortunately I'm seeing more of this in the presence of birders in possession of cameras. Please note I did not use the term "bird photographers".

Tropical Sceech-Owl, Rock View Lodge, Guyana February 2009.

Adult Black-crowned Night Heron, Georgetown Botanical Gardens, Guyana February 2009.

Black-collared Hawk, Guyana February 2009.

Lesser Kiskadee, Guyana February 2009.

Red-shouldered Macaws, Georgetown, Guyana February 2009.

Swallow-tailed Kite over Iwokrama, Guyana February 2009.

Scarlet Ibis, Guyana February 2009.

Black Curassow, Atta Rainforest Reserve, Guyana February 2009.

Ladder-tailed Nightjar, Iwokrama, Guyana February 2009.

My latest tour was to Mexico, returning just before the Swine Flu outbreak. It'll be a great shame if Mexico suffers a few years in the doldrums due to this. Mexico has a lot to offer birders, with spectacular birding and scenery, nice people and is steeped in culture. I look forward to returning to Rancho Primavera where we saw these Orange-chinned Parakeets and the volcanoes near Ciudad Guzman where the Mountain Pygmy-Owl (below) was photographed very soon.


So that's a bit of "Amazon" (well, Latin America anyway), how about the Ribble ........?

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