| IN THE NEWS | BIRDING SITES | FEATURE BIRD | BIRDING PEOPLE |
Welcome to Guyana Birding News,
We're pleased to bring you the fourth edition of the newsletter sponsored by www.guyanabirding.com. We hope you'll find this publication full of interesting information and useful resources for planning your next birding adventure to the unspoiled wilderness of Guyana.
As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions about how to improve both our newsletter and our website. For those of you who have traveled to Guyana, we invite you to send your trip reports, photos and tips for birding in Guyana.
Happy Birding!
IN THIS ISSUE
IN THE NEWS: All the latest news about Guyana birding
BIRDING SITES: Georgetown Botanical Garden
FEATURE BIRD:Rufous-winged Ground Cuckoo
BIRDING PEOPLE: Respected naturalist, boat captain, explorer and birding, wildlife and wilderness guide, Ashley Holland
IN THE NEWS
Exciting Bird Sightings
We’ve been receiving many reports of sightings of rare and specialty birds recently and thought we’d start our News section by sharing a few with our readers. No surprise to us, the birding hotspot of Iwokrama is the source of many….more >>
Guyana’s Birds Featured in Several Article
Guyana’s birds are once again being featured in print. The winter 2007 issue of Birds Illustrated ran a feature article on Guyana that was penned by author Neil Glenn…more >>
Fourth Product Familiarization Tour Success
In keeping with the previous three birding product familiarization trips organized by the Birding Tourism Program in 2006 and 2007, participants in the fourth trip that took place last November had plenty of positive feedback to report… more >>
Lodge Upgrades
We are happy to report that lodge owners in Guyana are responding to comments and requests for improvements by birders and nature tourists… more >>
Guyana Stuns with Climate Change Proposal
In November 2007, Guyana’s President, Bharrat Jagdeo, made a groundbreaking offer concerning climate change and Guyana’s forests… more >>
Guyana to Host CARIFESTA X
Those who like to enjoy a bit of cultural offerings with their birdwatching should consider planning their trip to Guyana around CARIFESTA X, which will take place from August 22-31, 2008… more >>
Pick of the Flock
In just under 300 pages, the Bradt Travel Guides Guyana guidebook written by Kirk Smock extensively covers most everything a visitor to Guyana would want to know… more >>
BIRDING SITES
Georgetown Botanical Gardens
Georgetown may not be the first place to come to mind when planning a birdwatching trip to Guyana, but the capital city swarms with Neotropical bird species. Actually, more than 200 species from 39 different families have been recorded here. And with its location at the convergence of the Demerara River and Atlantic Ocean, the area in and around Georgetown has a variety of birding habitats, but if you were to ask the experts from the Guyana Amazon Tropical Birding Society (GATBS; they’re based in Georgetown) for one of the best birdwatching locations in the city, they would surely take you to the Botanical Gardens.
The roughly 185 acres of the Botanical Gardens date back to 1877. They have always been a popular spot for locals and visitors, but more recently, the gardens have been seeing an influx of birders who scour the flora with their binoculars, scopes and cameras in search of some highly sought-after bird species….more >>
FEATURE BIRD
Rufous-winged Ground-cuckoo (Neomorphus rufipennis)
The Rufous-winged Ground-cuckoo (Neomorphus rufipennis) is known to be a difficult bird to spot in the field, but those birders lucky enough to have already ticked this one off likely couldn’t stop talking about its mix of vibrant colors. Rufous-winged Ground-cuckoos are found in northern South America, from Amazonian Columbia through southern Venezuela, into northern Brazil and in many regions of Guyana. Now that birdwatchers are seeking them out, sightings of the bird are becoming more common in Guyana… more >>
BIRDING PEOPLE
Ashley Holland
Ashley was born in England but moved to South Africa at three months of age, where he grew up on remote farms in the Transvaal. It was here he developed his love of wild and remote places. At the age of ten, Ashley moved to Botswana on the edge of Okavango Delta where his mother was running a lodge. After two years they re-migrated to England for a couple of years of education before moving to Guyana, where Ashley’s mother set up a bush camp on the Mazaruni River. In 1994 Ashley traveled to the Rupununi and fell in love with the area and lifestyle… more >>
