there's a small bird in a distant tree

The 'birds and wildlife' part of my Guyana trip began with a visit to the botanical gardens (where a great horned owl was a nice sight) and to a narrow coastal strip of forest, where two great local birds - blood-coloured woodpecker and rufous crab hawk - put in appearances within five minutes of our arrival.  If only the birds had been so cooperative through the rest of our trip.

Then we flew to Kaieteur Falls.  Five times the height of Niagara Falls, with the water falling 227m (741 ft) in a single drop, they are spectacular but attract few visitors, our group of eight having the place to ourselves on our visit.  On the bird front, the resident Guianan cock-of-the-rock (the orange one above) showed themselves well.

From there we visited three different eco-lodges around the one million acres of primary rainforest that makes up the Iwokrama Protected Area.

Two of my target species for the trip, the jaguar and the harpy eagle, were nowhere to be seen (an old harpy eagle nest was no compensation), but I had not had particularly high hopes for these two.  Some other desired birds were absent too, largely due to a lack of rain this year.  Rivers and ponds were low or in some cases dry, and even up on the 30m high forest canopy walkway there were times when the forest was eerily quiet.  Several times our desperate guide was reduced to pointing out small birds on distant trees that were barely identifiable even through his telescope.

Even then, however, it was actually full of life, you just had to look hard to spot it.  Frogs and toads blended perfectly with the leaf litter, as did the butterflies when they perched.  Our guide found a snake and I could not see it even when he shone his laser pointer directly at a vine and said "it's there!" - it was only when the head appeared on the path that I realised that the vine was not a vine at all, but a superbly camouflaged vine snake!  Some birds, too, were well camouflaged, like this roosting blackish nightjar:

Generally though, when they appeared, the birds were highly colourful, like the toucans and macaws, for example.  Many of the best-looking birds followed a consistent colour theme, from scarlet ibis and crimson fruitcrow through Guianan red cotinga and red-and-black grosbeak, to the amazing red-necked woodpecker and red-fan parrot.  Even the mammals we saw the most often were the red howler monkey and the red-rumped agouti.

Accommodation was fairly comfortable and the food was okay although as ever when I travel I found myself missing a good cup of tea with milk in.  The final place we stayed in, however, deserves a post all of its own.