Richard, Lucy and Roy

Rounding out our group of eight:

Roy from the San Fransisco area of California.  Roy is a photographer.  He packed around a massive lens. 

He is an elderly gentleman and unfortunately the heat and humidity of a couple of our longer walks pretty much tuckered him right out. 

He spent most of the trip taking photos of whatever birds and animals were lurking around the lodges.

He's been a bird watcher and traveller all his life.  He had many stories to tell.

Lucy and Richard from Edmonton.  Richard was our trip leader; Lucy is his wife and is a botanist.  Yay.  We were lucky to have a double-whammy of knowledge with us this trip.  Birds and Plants.  Plants are my second favourite things to look at when I'm on a tropical trip. 

This trip was a tour with Eagle-Eye Tours, Windermere, BC.  Check them out next time you want to go somewhere on a birding/nature trip.  I will travel with this company again.

While We Were At Arrowpoint....

We were at Arrowpoint only one night.  Unfortunately, we arrived on a typical Sunday around noon and this is a popular getaway resort for people in Georgetown.  Two fellows were showing off at the dock on their seadoos, or whatever these personal watercraft things are called.  Some others came blasting out of the forest trails on mountain bikes - just before we set off for a birding walk.  Yeah, good luck with seeing any birds after that commotion. 

Thankfully, all these people left (were taken back into Georgetown on the resort boats) by late afternoon.

A pair of Blue-grey Tanagers  (Thraupis episcopus), outside my cabin 

Some sort of Anole lizard (Anole spp.)

An Ameiva lizard (Ameiva spp.)

Clouds in the evening at Arrowpoint

That night, we were celebrated with a traditional Arawak bonfire and dinner on the beach.  I had the honour of lighting the bonfire which is made to burn all night, except for the centre pole (which was still standing in the embers next morning).  This photo and the one below are courtesy of fellow traveller Martin.  Thanks!

The food was good here

Sunrise the following morning

Before we left Arrowpoint we had one more mission:  to see the very beautiful Crimson Topaz hummingbird.

It likes these flowers, overhanging the water. 

And we did see this lovely creature.  Here's a photo I found on-line at http://www.oiseaux.net/birds/crimson.topaz.html

Not even close to what it looks like 'in person'.

To catch up on my Life Sightings:

At Arrowpoint:
Crimson Topaz  Topaza pella
Long-billed Starthroat Heliomaster longirostris
Black-necked Aracari  Pteroglossus aracari
Chestnut-rumped Woodcreeper  Xiporthynchus pardalotus
Cinereous Antshrike  Thamnomanes caesius
Wing-barred Seedeater  Sporophila americana
Violaceous Euphonia  Euphonia violacea

Previously at the Botanical Gardens in Georgetown, before going to Arrowpoint:
Pearl Kite  Gampsonyx swainsonii
Limpkin  Aramus guarauna
Red-shouldered Macaw  Diopsittaca  nobilis
Green-rumped Parrotlet  Forpus passerinus
Yellow-crowned Parrot  Amazona ochrocephala
Red-billed Toucan  Ramphastos tucanus
Toco Toucan  Ramphastos toco
Yellow-chinned Spinetail  Certhiaxis cinnamomea
Cinereous Becard  Pachyramphus rufus

Other Birds and Animals of note at both places
Tricoloured Heron
King Vulture
Black-collared Hawk
Bat Falcon
Festive Parrot
Mealy Parrot
Great Horned Owl
Short-tailed Swift
Fork-tailed Palm-Swift
White-necked Jacobin
Blue-tailed Emerald
Glittering-throated Emerald
Swallow-wing
Crimson-crested Woodpecker
Wedge-billed Woodcreeper
Rusty-margined Flycatcher
Fork-tailed Flycatcher
Yellow Warbler
Black-faced Tanager - not my first sighting, but only once before in Ecuador
White-lined Tanager
Palm Tanager
Silver-beaked Tanager
Turquoise Tanager
Green Honeycreeper
Red-capped Cardinal
Slate-coloured Grosbeak

Long-nosed Bat
Ameiva, Tegu and Anole Lizards
Three-toed Sloth (and I can't remember where exactly)
Blue Morph, Owl and Monarch Butterflies

Elaine & Clif

Time to meet two other members of our little birding and adventure party. 

Elaine and Clif, from the Kitchener-Waterloo area of Ontario. 

My Tilley (hat) had company this trip.  Clif is the only person I've met so far who has managed to wear out or otherwise destroy a Tilley hat, twice!  The company, true to its word, replaced the hats.  [Go here to find out why you should have a Tilley hat.]

Elaine, The Spotter.  No kidding, birding tour companies ought to hire this woman to come along and spot birds for them.   I consider myself to be a pretty good spotter of the little feathered beasties, but Elaine totally blew me out of the trees. 

She was just warming up in this photo at Arrowpoint. 

By the time we reached Surama (in a few days), she was in top form.  Thanks to her, we all picked up several Lifer woodpeckers, a jacamar or two, and many other difficult-to-see birds. 

Yes, Clif and Elaine are great people and terrific adventure companions - exactly the sort of people one hopes will be in the group.  We had many laughs. 

Off to Arrowpoint

So finally one afternoon, we set off for Arrowpoint Lodge/Resort.  Yay.  It felt good to be leaving the city.  I had been in Georgetown for two days by this time, did the afternoon of sight-seeing around town, had had an early morning of birding Abary River (Rufous Crab Hawks, Blood-coloured Woodpeckers, etc), our group had been out on the Mahaica River to see the egrets and hoatzins, and we had spent a morning at the Botanical Gardens. 

Now we were setting off for some jungle adventures.  We crossed the Demerara River

And went up the quiet and beautiful Kumuni Creek

The Amerindian Arawak people live along the river

Here's a fellow taking some cut lumber into town to sell

And a couple more - the river is the highway

It's a peaceful place        

Arrow Trees  (I haven't tracked down the genus & species for this plant yet)  The big, sturdy leaf stems grow straight and are used for, yep, arrows.   

More of Georgetown

Now then, I was a little gloomy as I ended my last post.  Yes, the old colonial buildings are a little ratty looking in places, but they are still beautiful exhibits of the architecture of the era.  Amazingly, many have been preserved and are still in use.

City Hall

The Supreme Court, or Victoria Court

These are a city block or two away from St. George's.  It's in an area called Lacytown, which was part of a sugar plantation in the earliest (Dutch) settlement days.

A Cattle Egret, completely intent on hunting, not the least concerned with people on the sidewalk.

Modern Parliament Building

Stabroek Market.  Stabroek was the Dutch colonial name of the town.

We didn't go into the market itself, for a couple of reasons, safety being one of them.  The crowds outside were a little intimidating and police presence was high.  We found out later that a grenade had exploded in a market stall a day or two before.  Many of the street/sidewalk venders had been told to shut down their operations.  Everyone was pretty tense about the situation.   

We had a couple of errands, such as finding a cambio to buy some Guyanese currency and, of all things, cigarette lighters.  It was suggested by our tour company that we bring cigarette lighters to light candles.  In the interior, electricity is supplied by generators and solar panels.  There may or may not be electricity in the rooms after dark.  So, we went looking for lighters, since none of us smoked.  Apparently the good people of Guyana aren't supreme smokers, as a rule.  Cigs aren't sold in drug stores, general stores, grocery stores or any other little variety stores.  They and lighters are only sold by special street vendors. 

This is about all the sight-seeing I accomplished in the city, besides whatever was along the various routes to and from birding places, as well as the Botanical Gardens. 

I will probably post photos taken from airplanes at a future time.

For some more information about Georgetown and Coastal Guyana, visit http://www.coastalchange.ca/georgetown_caribbean.html

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.