From the 23rd of April until the 2nd of May I visited Suriname for some quality neotropical birding in this exiting not-often-visited country. I managed to observe just over 300 species in a week, a fair number indeed! Two of the places we visited were The Plantage near Peperpot, with some nice (mosquito infected!) swampy forest and some open swamp habitat in the proximity of the lodge, and the fantastic primary amazon rainforest around Kabalebo lodge in the far mid-west only reachable by a small aircraft. I will focus in this short report on these two 'new' birding destinations.
The Plantage
This is a nice pleasant lodge 1.5 hours drive from the airport (they come to pick you up!), there is a fairly small trail system through the surrounding swamp forest, but they're planning to expend and they are currently building a canopy-tower. Around the entrance-road there is some nice scrub and and a swampy area with a lot of slender-billed kites. I birded the area for one full day and the following morning.
Species of interest:
cinereous tinamu heard only
slender-billed kite
grey-headed kite 1
green-rumped parrotlet
little cuckoo 4 sightings around the forest edge
little hermit
rufous-breasted hermit
amazonian white-tailed trogon
green-and-rufous kingfisher yes! A long awaited first for me, great bird!
Amazonian pygmy-kingfisher 3
green-tailed jacamar 1
ringed kingfisher
black-spotted barbet female
blood-colored woodpecker 5
arrowhead piculet 4
buff-throated woodcreeper
striped woodcreeper pair
black-crested antshrike pair
blakish antbird a family group near the forest edge (play the sound!) a probable split in the near future, which makes it a quite restricted species.
Guiana streaked antwren male
plain xenops
white-bearded manakin two males and female
crimson-hooded manakin a fine pair
bare-necked fruitcrow 3 and 1 fantastic perched bird
tropical gnatcatcher 3
cocoa thrush 1 along the trail, good species to see so well
ashy-headed greenlet 2
yellow-backed tanager 2
white-lined tanager 2
pectoral sparrow 2
blue-black grosbeak 1
Kabalebo
Kabalebo is a fantastic birding destination in the northern amazon-basin in the far west of Suriname. It is only reached with a two hour flight from Paramaribo, a fantastic experience with clear weather since 90% of the country is covered in forest! I enjoyed the company of an experienced and fun to hang out with bird-guide; Sean, pronounced seen (one of the very few bird guides in Suriname, ask for him at the Stinasu office in Paramaribo). The lodge offers very nice rooms, transport and food and most important an excellent trail system. Especially the fantastic long trails along the Kabalebo river are of rare quality. The airstrip with many flowering inga trees is very good for hummingbirds and its rewarding to spend your first and last hour of the day birding the airstrip. I visited the area for one evening three full days and a morning. Next follows a day by day list of the more interesting species recorded.
April 27th (afternoon, trail on the opposite of the river, to the right)
green ibis 1
great black hawk 1
pied plover 1
semipalmated plover 1
blue-and-yellow macaw
scarlet macaw
chesnut-fronted macaw
gray-winged trumpeter family group
white-chested emerald
reddish hermit
eastern long-tailed hermit 1
golden-spangled piculet 1
chestnut-rumped woodcreeper
fasciated antshrike 1 (leading several large mixed-species-flocks)
todd's/ spot-tailed antwren 1 unfortunately the sound was not heard
brown-bellied antwren
white-flanked antwren
long-winged antwren
warbling antbird
amazonian antshrike
cinereous antshrike
spot-winged antbird
dusky antbird
dusky-throated antshrike
thrush-like antpitta heard
black-faced antthrush heard
rufous-capped antthrush 1 fantastic views, lured in by tape
ferruginous-backed antbird amazing!
Tiny tyrant manakin 1, a much wanted bird for me
helmeted pygmy-tyrant
long-billed gnatwren 3
lemon-chested greenlet
April 28th morning: same trail as yesterday and airstrip
marbled wood-quail 2 flushed from the trail
capped heron 1
little chacalaca 1 heard
marail guan 2 nice!
Grey-winged trumpeter 1 came amazingly close by playing the tape of chick!
Red-fan parrot 1
fork-tailed woodnymph pair
great jacamar 1 performed excellent views
yellow-throated woodpecker 1 male
red-necked woodpecker 1
amazonian barred woodcreeper 1 nice!
Great antshrike
black-headed antbird male!
Blakish antbird 1
black-faced antthrush 1 great views
rufous-bellied antwren 1 female
long-billed gnatwren 1
airstrip:
white-chinned sapphire
tufted coquette 2 females
black-crowned tytera 1
afternoon: trail along the river, to the left opposite the lodge:
blue-throated piping-guan 1 great views in top of bald tree
ladder tailed nightjar 1 daytime along the river
black-eared fairy
white-necked jacobin
crimson topaz 1 fine male, flowering inga trees along the river
straight-billed hermit 1
chestnut woodpecker 1 beautiful
ferruginous-backed antbird
dot-winged antwren
boat-billed tody-tyrant 1! rare bird, taped in after we heard one in a flock
wing-barred peprites 1
black-tailed tytera 1 female
rose-breasted chat 1 male, much wanted bird for me!
April 29th morning river trail and floating downstream birding the river edge
marail guan 1
black curassow 1 heard
red-fan parrot 1 pair nice views fanning there neck feathers
little cuckoo 1
amazonian pygmy-owl 1 early morning spotlighting, very good views
lesser swallow-tailed swift 1 overhead
reddish hermit
eastern long-tailed hermit
brown jacamar 3 along river edge
green aracari 4
channel-billed toucan
golden-green woodpecker male, great views
golden-collared woodpecker
chestnut-crowned foliage-gleaner 1
gray antwren 1
guianan slaty antshrike
mouse-coloured antshrike
thrush-like antpitta amazing views
white-crowned manakin female
painted tody-flycatcher 1 rare bird, taped in, good views
silvered antbird
fork-tailed flycatcher juv
rufous-browed peppershrike
purple-throated fruitcrow heard
rose-breasted chat fine pair
white-shouldered tanager male good bird for Suriname
moriche oriole 1
afternoon boattrip on Kabalebo river:
little chacalaca 1
grey-breasted sabrewing female
crimson topaz fantastic male
chestnut-rumped foliage-gleaner heard
spotted antpitta 3 heard
black-necked aracari 4
violaceous trogon male
green-tailed jacamar 2
brown jacamar 3
+very good views of 3 giant river otters
April 31st , very long trail along the river that starts near the restaurant, very good!
Rufescent tiger heron 1
ZIGZAG HERON 1 ad, brief views, but we would be back in the afternoon!
Great black hawk
black curassow heard
common potoo heard early morning at the airstrip
black-eared fairy 2
reddish hermit
straight-billed hermit 2
brown jacamar
green-tailed jacamar
great jacamar
black-spotted barbet male
green aracari
golden-olive woodpecker
golden-collared woodpecker
yellow-throated woodpecker male
linneated woodcreeper 3 in a fantastic flock containing over 30 species
plain-brown woodcreeper 2
McConnell's spinetail 1 good views low in bamboo
slender-billed xenops 1
rufous-tailed foliage-gleaner 1
great antshrike female
spot-tailed/ todd's antwren again only seen high in canopy, not heard, goddammed!
Pygmy antwren male
guianan slaty antshrike male
spot-winged antbird male
spotted antpitta 1 after 50 minutes of taping finally came in!
Black-faced antthrush heard
spot-backed antbird pair
ruddy-tailed flycatcher 2
white-eyed tody-tyrant 2
tody-tyrant 'spec' weird bird, taped out an unknown sound, revealed a strange tody-tyrant with green wingbars, light eye, different sound than any tody-tyrant I know and unlike any in birds of Venezuela.
Cinereous mourner 1 male, much wanted bird for me, much rarer than the similar looking screaming piha
long-billed gnatwren 1
afternoon, same trail, first km only, because....
ZIGZAG HERON fantastic pair, an unforgettable experience, first I spotted a small movement in some dense tangles covering a small stream about 800 meters from the start of the trail. It turned out to be a beautiful female zigzag wiggling her tail. It disappeared in the undergrowth shortly thereafter, but meanwhile a male started calling. I taped the hooting sound and started playing the sound, it came in quite readily and gave amazing views the next 2 hour singing from a low tree. I made 4 pages of notes describing the poorly known display of zigzag heron! An all-time neotropical dream species for me!
Whiskered flycatcher 1
Inga tree at jetty near the lodge, very good!
tufted coquette 2 females 1 juv
crimson topaz male female and juv
amethyst woodstar female
AMAZILLIA SP. NOV. One of the reasons I wanted to go to the place. One birder before me noticed a very strange male amazillia type hummingbird. The bird is all green, with a slightly decurved bill, with a orange base of the lower mandible, it is rufous from the lower belly till the undertail covers. I had very good views, it appeared to have some rufous in the tertials aswell.
Fork-tailed woodnymph male
May 1st same trail yesterday afternoon, only short wile because flight back to Paramaribo at 11 am
great tinamu very good views of a bird I spotlighted early morning, sleeping in a tree!
Little tinamu
spix's guan 2 longer upperlegs and different call, marail and spix's bove occur but marail more common during my trip
dusky-billed parrotlet one of the first sightings in Suriname of a bird I know well from amazonian Peru
laughing falcon
black-necked aracari 3
black-banded woodcreeper 1 one of the rarer woodcreepers
white-shouldered tanager pair
guira tanager 5
fulvous-crested tanager pair
rufous-throated antbird fantastic views at an antswarm
rufous-capped antthrush 2 at the antswarm
white-plumed antbird only heard at the antswarm, luccaly I saw this species before in Peru