Early morning walk at Karanambu before we boarded our light aircraft that took us back to Georgetown, from there we travelled by boat to our last lodge at Arrowpoint.
KARANAMBU LODGE – FLIGHT TO GEORGETOWN – BOAT TRANSFER TO ARROWPOINT LODGE
Our last couple of days had arrived and oh so quickly! We had time for a walking excursion into the local dry-forest at Karanambu before breakfast, so we met at the usual time of 5:30am for tea/coffee. We waited for it to get light before setting off into the bush, we stopped after only 50 meters to admire a perched Aplomado Falcon just outside the camp compound, what a cracking species to start off the day. Next we waited for a Blue-backed Manikin to show after we heard it calling, but alas it never came out.
The main objective of our early morning walk was to see the Capuchinbird, specifically we hoped for a number of them to show up at a ‘lek’, we staked out their usual ‘lekking-tree’ and waited and waited……………….and waited some more……..but the birds did not show up, a big disappointment to say the least. In fact the forest in general was very quiet, we could hear Screaming Piha and Black-crested Antbird but not much else.
On our way back to the Lodge we tried for the manikin again and got a surprise when a Barred Falcon flew out of the same bush, the manikin failed to show.
After breakfast we had an hour to ourselves to pack, take last minute photographs and say goodbye to Diane, Salvador and Andrea. We then loaded into the jeeps for the transfer to the airstrip some 20 minutes away, our plane arrived a little late, we boarded the 14 seater plane and took off for Georgetown. In the air for just over an hour we landed at Olga Airport and transferred to a nice air-conditioned bus which took us into the town centre. Most of the group wanted a short tour of the town which included a visit to the famous wooden cathedral. This building is the largest wooden free-standing structure in the world and apart from a good lick of paint is in good shape, the interior is well worth looking at.
From Georgetown centre we drove to a jetty along the Demerara River where we boarded a boat for the last leg of the journey to Arrowpoint. This hour-long journey was pretty much bird less, we saw Ringed Kingfisher, Greater Ani but nothing else until we arrived at the river-side lodge called Arrowpoint.
We had a very late lunch, it was 4pm by the time we sat down to eat! Afterwards It was a bit late to go birding, so we just looked around the compound and wooden cabins. There was a colony of Yellow-rumped Caciques in the nearest trees to the main building, other trees held Silver-billed, Palm and Blue/Grey Tanagers whilst small flocks of Red-bellied Macaws and Yellow-headed Parrots flew back and forth above us. The usual collection of flycatchers sat on the wires along with Grey-breasted Martins and White-winged Swallows.
Dinner was served at 8pm followed by the checklist which was the shortest of the trip so far. We had reached 340 species and expected up to 10 more tomorrow, so our target of 350 was still possible.