The plan to leave early and beat the traffic didn't happen as the vehicle had to get a new radiator put in that morning. The time for this to get completed was minimal although it did mean we hit the rush hour traffic and it took a while to get out of Georgetown and hit the tarmac road south. At the end of the tarmac road, one of very few e-birders was there waiting for us and had an Orange-breasted Falcon waiting for us. Good though distant views were had, and close by a superb White-headed Marsh Tyrant showed well. The journey from here onwards was now on a wide and very bumpy dirt track that lasted the entire way. The journey was fairly uneventful, although a in-planned stop to watched a group of Grey-winged Trumpeters cross the road was an excellent start to the forest, and lunch was had at a sort of truckers place. Typically it started raining here, but there wasn't time for hanging around birding as we had to crack on. The boredom of a long journey was fortunately saved by various amusing birding stories from the others. The reason for the rush all day was to get to the ferry crossing which was to close at 6pm. We arrived at 6.15pm but then met a jobsworth who wanted to see many documents probably for his own satisfaction, and then he accompanied us down to the crossing where with ten minutes to spare from ten hours of driving we boarded the 'ferry' and cruised for a whole five minutes to the opposite bank. Our river lodge was only a few minutes from here. Despite a very long drive, it was re-assuring to know the rainforest was on our doorstep, and good birding was to start in the morning.
Very few highlights today which were:
Black Currasow
Orange-breasted Falcon - 1
Grey-winged Trumpeters
Short-tailed Nighthawk
Swallow-tailed Kite
Pale-vented Pigeon
Swallow-winged Puffbird
Grey-winged Trumpeter - felt very fortunate to encounter this little flock crossing the road, however I was unaware of the crazy encounters of this species I was going to witness further on in the trip.
White-headed Marsh-Tyrant - not rare by any means but a much wanted bird for me.
Status Hotel - perfectly adequate and situated only five minutes walk from the botanical gardens
watching an Orange-breasted Falcon
our first and sometimes functional vehicle.
the main road linking Georgetown to the Brazilian border in the south.
