St. George's Cathedral, Georgetown

This place is wow-worthy, whether you like religious architecture etc or not.  I am fascinated by huge, old buildings and the results of a myriad of tradesmen talents that produced these structures. 

I believe this is the South-facing side.  We entered the cathredral via the right door. 

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Since I am not a Believer and my childhood church-going time was spent in a small, rural Lutheran church, I don't know the names of the areas or of the special appointments in the place.  Sorry.  Here's a website that does inform of these things  http://www.stgeorges.org.gy/views.html 

The interior is magnificently enormous.

The stained glass windows are very lovely.  It was raining outside so we didn't see sun shining through.

The pipes - I didn't go behind to see the organ itself. 

Several plaques dedicated to the memory of outstanding community members adorned the walls.  This one particularly caught my imagination - the imagination of what it would have been like to arrive in Georgetown circa 1817.  This doctor would have been 21 years old.

That sentiment - of imagining what Georgetown was like in its colonial glory days - stayed with me throughout our time here.  It must have been quite beautiful.  Now it is a very faded glory, bordering on derelict.  We talked with a fellow who had grown up in Georgetown (likely 40-45 years ago).  He said it pains him to go to the city now.  In his day, there was a pride in the city; houses and gardens were beautiful and well-kept; the streets were clean and safe.  Now, unfortunately, there is garbage everywhere, the streets and sidewalks need repair. 

Astronomy Fix

I can't stand it.  I need to post an Astronomy Picture of the Day.  I just need to - in fact this one, from today, February 4, 2011 called Zeta Oph: Runaway Star  (click on photo to enlarge and do read the description below)

Zeta Oph: Runaway Star
Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, WISE Team

Explanation: Like a ship plowing through cosmic seas, runaway star Zeta Ophiuchi produces the arcing interstellar bow wave or bow shock seen in this stunning infrared portrait from the WISE spacecraft. In the false-color view, bluish Zeta Oph, a star about 20 times more massive than the Sun, lies near the center of the frame, moving toward the top at 24 kilometers per second. Its strong stellar wind precedes it, compressing and heating the dusty interstellar material and shaping the curved shock front. Around it are clouds of relatively undisturbed material. What set this star in motion? Zeta Oph was likely once a member of a binary star system, its companion star was more massive and hence shorter lived. When the companion exploded as a supernova catastrophically losing mass, Zeta Oph was flung out of the system. About 460 light-years away, Zeta Oph is 65,000 times more luminous than the Sun and would be one of the brighter stars in the sky if it weren't surrounded by obscuring dust. The WISE image spans about 1.5 degrees or 12 light-years at the estimated distance of Zeta Ophiuchi.

Georgetown

Marilynn, Martin & I were met at the Cheddi Jagen Int'l airport, which is some 30 miles inland.

This is a random house along with way.  Most were not this large and prosperous.

Cara Lodge, our residence for the next couple of nights, as some of you know from reading a previous post here.

It is a rather grand old building. 

The lobby and inner courtyard, with my little piece of luggage waiting to be taken to my room. 

There was a Pale-breasted Thrush (Turdus leucomelas) singing its pretty song in this tree.  Also a pair of Great Kiskadees (Pitangus sulphuratus) shrieking away. 

My room was the second door from the left.  Note the classic Georgetown louvered window to the left of the balcony. 

Prior to meeting M & M, I really hadn't given much thought to walking around Georgetown the day we arrived.  They, however, were setting off after lunch.  Mention was made of their trying to find a bookstore.  Since bookstores are my favourite indoor places in all the earth, I immediately invited myself along.

We found this maritime memorial park.  There were birds.  We had binoculars and cameras.  A security guard offered to let us in.  We quickly accepted.  It is a very pretty place in an otherwise fairly ramschackle part of the old city.   

The big white building behind is a high school. 

Ruddy Ground-Doves  (Columbina talpacoti)

Other birds:  Shiny Cowbirds, Blue-black Grassquits, a euphonia and a few other small birds that I don't think we identified.  Previous to finding this park, we saw a Burnished-buff Tanager (Tangara cayana), a Lifer for me, perched on a power line.

Many butterflies in this park, too.

Up next:  St. George's Cathedral....

Meeting Marilynn & Martin

My Guyana trip really started at the airport in Toronto.  A slushy storm had moved into the area during the day.  Greg, Holly & Henry attempted to get me out to Pearson Int'l, but it soon was decided finding me a taxi would be a better idea.  I arrived at the airport well ahead of time.  However, as usual, I had a bit of flight departure anxiety.  I'm not super familiar with Pearson, so when I got to the Caribbean Air check-in, I started talking with the people ahead of me in the line-up (just to make sure I was in the right place - besides, I talk with everyone anyway).  In the course of that conversation, I mentioned places I was going to in Guyana.  A voice from behind said "Excuse me, are you with Eagle-Eye?".  "Yes, I am". 

And so I met Marilynn

and Martin

two of the people with whom I would be travelling for the next couple of weeks.  They both live in Toronto and are long-time travelling and birding friends.  They are lovely people and very amusing company. 

Not only would we be in Guyana together, they had booked the same days in Trinidad at the Asa Wright Nature Centre as I had. 

The coincidences were strong that day!

Backyard Birds Today

Eurasian Collared Doves, Common Grackle, Brown Creeper, Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpeckers, European Starling, White-breasted Nuthatches - and not in this order.

Hoatzin

Hoatzin   Opisthocomus hoazin     Guyana's National Bird, locally called 'Canje Pheasant', with Canje being a river in Guyana.  Some people call them 'Stinkbirds' because they smell bad (see digestive system)

The Hoatzin is a very peculiar bird.  How peculiar - well, go read what Wikipedia has to say about it here.  It has a digestive system different from other birds, to digest its diet of leaves.  The young hoatzins have claws on their wrists to help them crawl back into trees, after they jump into the river to escape preditors, or bale out for other reasons - maybe just to take a little swim in the hot, humid afternoon.  Perhaps our fearless leader, Richard Knapton, will weigh-in with his knowledge re this bird.

Whatever, it was an absolute joy to see these birds.  They are wonderful.

 

Ha!  The birds are big, bulky and a tad awkward.  Their landings on thin vines are more than a little graceless!  (I think I'll start a Facebook album featuring bird bottoms - it is often one's sole view when birding from far below on the forest floor).

Click on photos to enlarge, if you want to.

Abary River, Guyana

More photos from the early morning at Abary River (pronounced  ah-BAR-ee).

Crimson-crested Woodpecker    Campephilus melanoleucos    This is another of my much-wanted birds.  I love woodpeckers, especially these big fellas. 

Roadside Hawk  Buteo magnirostris 

Pied Water-Tyrant  Fluvicola pica   Another new bird for me.    
 

Orange-winged Amazons   Amazona amazonica   My first look at them.  These birds were everywhere we travelled, in large groups.  I never tire of parrots, no matter how common they are.

A swampy area where several species of herons and other waders were hanging out, including Lesser Yellowlegs (see you Up North in a few months).

Not surprisingly, I got several Lifers this morning (my first trip to the Atlantic Coast of South America).  Many of these would become common sightings during the trip.  A few (*) were my only sightings.

Lifers

*Rufous Crab Hawk  Buteogallus aequinoctialis

Brown-throated Parakeet  Aratinga pertinax

Orange-winged Parrot  Amazona amazonica

Black-throated Mango  Anthracothorax nigricollis

White-chested Emerald  Amazilia chionopectus

*White-bellied Piculet  Picumnus spilogaster

*Blood-coloured Woodpecker  Veniliornis sanguineus

Crimson-crested Woodpecker  Campephilus melanoleucos

Black-crested Antshrike  Sakesphorus canadensis

Pied Water-Tyrant  Fluvicola pica

Brown-crested Flycatcher  Myiarchus tyrannulus

Yellow Oriole  Icterus nigrogularis

Other Birds

Cocoi Heron, Cattle Egret, Striated Heron

Black & Turkey Vultures, Osprey

Great Black, Black-collared, Gray & Roadside Hawks 

Snail Kites, Yellow-headed Caracara, Peregrin Falcon

Wattled Jacana, Lesser Yellowlegs

Rock Pigeons, Ruddy Ground-Dove

Greater Ani

Glittering-throated Emerald

Ringed Kingfisher

Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Common Tody-,  Dusky-capped & Fork-tailed Flycatchers

Lesser & Great Kiskadees, Tropical & Grey Kingbirds

Grey-breasted Martins

Yellow Warbler

Blue-Gray Tanager

Blue-black Grassquit

Carib Grackle, Shiny Cowbird

Rufous Crab Hawk

I'm having a hard time getting back into the groove of daily blogging.  There are some things to talk about from the very beginning of my trip at Pearson Int'l in Toronto, that isn't falling into place yet since it involves two people I travelled with - two lovely people, with whom I've become friends over the past three weeks.  I need to ask them if they mind being blog subjects.  Some people are more private than others, aren't they.

SO.....

In the meantime, I had quite a few target birds I really wanted to see in Guyana and Trinidad.  Birding guide Rhonda in Georgetown took me out to the Abary River where we found Rufous Crab Hawks and Blood-coloured Woodpeckers, along with many other bird species.

This is the Rufous Crab Hawk  Buteogallus aequinoctialis

There were two perched beside the river when we arrived at the trail head.

These beautiful raptors aren't considered 'threatened' yet but their mangrove habitat along the coast is.

No pix of the Blood-coloured Woodpeckers (Veniliornis sanguineus) though.  We did find them - a pair fussing about in some brambles.  I waded in far enough to see both birds, but they were unco-operative about a photo session.

Home Again

Back home, as of about 4:30 this afternoon.  I had a great trip.  A fantastic trip, really.  No doubt this blog is going to be crawling with photos of  Guyana and some of Trinidad for the next long while - er, that is assuming I managed to get a few semi decent photos.  I suspect most will be just a tad fuzzy, but that is not going to stop me from posting them, no sir. 

After Day 2, I stopped culling out the bad pix; that was right about the time I stopped jotting down daily journal notes (about par for the course with me on a trip).  I filled up an 8 gig card and got well into a second.  Could take a while to sort through things, but hey, I'm sure I'll be happy to spend the next few days doing so.

Guyana now tops my list of Favourite Places.  My travel pards and I voted Surama, Atta and Iwokrama our top favs of the trip.

We found some truly great birds and I met some very wonderful people.  

Chat more tomorrow.

xoxo K 

     

Go Long, Guyana. Hello, Trinidad

I leave Georgetown mid-morning, flying out of Cheddi Jagan Int'l Airport, arriving in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad about an hour later. 

I'm visiting the Asa Wright Nature Centre with a few excursions to other places on the island.

http://asawright.org/about/index.html