From march until July 2005 I was honoured to have my internship at the Brownsberg Nature Park in Suriname. Birdwise absolutely fantastic because I could spend a lot of time in the field. However other South-American countries have a much wider array of birds, Suriname doesn’t do so bad for it’s small area, and the culture and unspoilt forests compensate for a great deal. Because I spent almost all the time at the Brownsberg I have wrote a separate part about that area, while the other visited areas are chronologically placed. But first some

General information

Suriname counts almost 700 bird species, which is high for, like I said, such a small country. If you have any flexibility, try coming in the dry season (September to March): I was there during the wet season and you surely notice some differences.

One of the best things to do is contact otteottema@yahoo.com because he is actually one of the only professional ornithologists in Suriname. He also has a website: www.planktonik.com/birdingsuriname/

One of the best websites however is: www.webserv.nhl.nl/~ribot/ of Jan-Hein Ribot, with almost all the information you need about the Birds in Suriname. I used his (old) lists of birds per area frequently.

home.planet.nl~spaan688/ is the website of the foundation ‘Vrienden van Stinasu’ (friends of Stinasu), founded by Arie Spaans. These three people are planning to make the wonderful field guide ‘Birds of Suriname’ in about 5 years. Be sure to have that one with you. If you plan to go earlier, take ‘Birds of Venezuela’ by Steve Hilty. It covers almost 90 % of Surinam’s birds. Then however you still SURELY need the sound-part: ‘Birds of Venezuela’ by Peter Boesman is very useful therefore. Like Bret Whitney told me: “Audio equipment is critical in the tropical rainforests”. And it definitely is. Make sure you know as much as possible common birdsongs and calls before your ears are totally filled with tens of different birdsongs per minute. Also recording and playing equipment can be really helpful. Because I was unprepared at that part I used my digital photo camera (Canon Powershot A85) for audio recordings, so I at least had the sound, and once or twice even attracted the recorded bird. Just make sure you have both playing (boxes) and recording (any kind of microphone) equipment. If you want to find more information about birdsongs, visit:

www.math.sunysb.edu/~tony/birds/links.html or
www.mangoverde.com.

Other interesting sites (most copy-pasted from Jos Wanten’s report) are:

www.wytema.com/steven/suriname.htm
www.fatbirder.com/links_geo/america_south/suriname.html
www.camacdonald.com/birding/sasuriname
www.2docstock.com/Suriname
www.ecocam.com/nature/suriname
www.thayerbirding.com/suriname.htm

AND like I said, the culture is overwhelming. Due to it’s history Suriname harbors people from Africa, China, Java, Indonesia, Hindustanis, Muslims and you can keep on going. Actually these cultures all live besides each other. On of the most amazing views is a huge mosque next to a synagogue in the centre of Paramaribo. This also has it’s influence on the diversity in available food: nasi and bami (chow-min) are made in various ways, there’s also roti, doksi, bara or try one of the Chinese restaurants Dumpling no.1 or Fa-Tai.

Surinam’s are especially trained in preparing chicken in various ways; The food is mostly not very expensive, you can already get roti for 7 SRD (which is about 2 €). Like Jos says, most drinks are soft like Cola and Sprite (personally I liked Guzzler a lot), and 1L Beer cans called Djogo’s (“Biri, bigi wan” means: one bear, a big one). Be aware that you don’t pay to much just because you’re white.

Most Surinam’s have three prices for one product: one for the Surinamese people, one for the Dutch and one for the American (and other not-Dutch speaking) people. Finally, when I was in town I stayed in YWCA guesthouse and Stadszending. Both were 35 SRD a night, which is as much as € 10. I enjoyed discount at Stadszending because I worked for Stinasu, usually it’s SRD 60 I believe. Stadszending has airco, shared TV&fridge, but no cooking facilities. There are other Hotels etc of course like Residence inn, Eco resort and Torarica. For all kinds of information (where I got all mine) the best dutch guide is ‘Suriname’ by Jeannette van Bodegraven (ISBN 90-257-3577-0). In Dutch of course.

Transport

in contrast with Jos’ report, I will emphasize the ways you can manage yourself to go to the various places you’d like. The public buses are doing quite well actually, and are not cheap at all. In the surroundings of the city (Surinam’s call everything ‘the’ city (= Paramaribo), ‘the’ River (Suriname river), ‘the’ bridge (from Paramaribo over the river), ‘the’ rotunda (just before the bridge) or ‘the’ lake (Brokopondo lake or Ir.W.J.van Blommensteinlake) you can move with the taxi’s: within the centre 5 srd (currency = still probably about 3 srd = 1 $ / € ), to Weg naar Zee or Peperpot 20 srd. The only difference is that the public buses to Brownsweg and Nickerie are all ready to leave so you’re gonna have to make a choice (‘real’ public buses). From Brownsweg you can be picked up by Brownsberg drivers (arrange with Stinasu office).

The buses are almost incredible cheap: the state bus to Zanderij is 2 hours drive, but only 0,95 SRD; the state bus to Brownsweg = 4,5 SRD. Public buses are more expensive: you get to Brownsweg for 15 SRD. To have an overview I placed it all in a table:

TO	Departure place/time	Price	By
Brownsweg	Saramaccastraat	15	Public
	Also “ , tue/thu/fri/sat at 8:30	4,5	State
Zanderij	Heiligeweg	0,95	State
Nickerie	Sophie redmondstr, 1:00 (or when bus=full)	8,5	Public
Totness	Also “, same bus	8,5	Public
	A.Waaldijkstraat (= around the corner)	?	State (?)
Albina	Heiligeweg
Weg naar Zee	Heiligeweg, 5:30, 7:30, 13:30 and 15:30 ev working day and back +/- 40 min. later	0,55	State
FROM (to parbo)
Peperpot	Yellow overhang (bus stop) across Texaco	0,55	State

I used two taxi centrals, where the cars are parked, one north of the centre (Tourtonnelaan) and one near Stadszending (Sophie Redmondstraat): resp. Tourtonne (475734) & Ulstra taxi (470646).

The trips to Coesewijne and Raleigh falls were free for me because of research purpose, if you want to get ‘em cheap, try various eco-tours offices, because they all vary in price quite a lot. Blue frog travel for example is a good one. I visited Coesewijne to study a Reserve before tourist impact, but it will be ready by march 2006.

The Real thing:

Cultuurtuin (1&2 march, 15th march, 2&3 april, 18 april, 9th may, 24th may, 17th july)

The first morning I was in Suriname, I explored the Cultuurtuin. It’s located a bit NW of the centre along the Letitia Vriesdestraat. You can either walk 15-20 minutes from the centre, or take a cab. On foot, walk the Gravenstraat west ways, until you have a totally overgrown cemetery on your left hand side. At the end, go right, this is the Letitia Vriesdestraat, and walk past the football stadium. Here you can go left anywhere. Especially the area around the lake is interesting indeed. Nice birds seen here included Masked yellowthroat, Greycrowned flatbill, Pygmy kingfisher, Arrowhead piculet, Bloodcoloured woodpecker, Little cuckoo, Crimsonhooded manakin, Slenderbilled kite, Rufousbreasted hermit, Ashyheaded greenlet, Hooded tanager and Redeyed vireo.

Weg naar Zee (13th march, 16th april and 18th july)

Like I said, Weg naar Zee (road to Sea) is easily reached in 25 minutes by (24hour!!)taxi, or in 40 minutes by bus. The best thing to do is arrange a time at the same place, same driver, or take the bus at 14:00 from the corner where the road bends left to ‘Bedevaartsoord’. You have to pay (are supposed to pay) if you enter the hindu temple area. At the west side you can look over a wide area of mud flats situated on a dike of old cars. You can also take a steep bridge to the right along the coast just before the entrance (the last time I went there, it had a locked door on the bridge). As expected in the winter the mud flats produce thousands and thousands of Semipalmated sandpipers. I didn’t have any trouble finding Least sandpipers and heard one White-rumped and saw (another?) one flying. Other waders include Semi-p plover, Spotted sandpiper, Short-billed dowitcher, both yellowlegs and Ruddy turnstone (only one Willet the last time). If the tide is high you can either spot the sandpipers at high-water resorts more inland, as well as Solitary sandpiper, various raptors, Greyish saltator, White-necked heron and the beautiful Black-capped donacobius. Just before my departure I went another time, and started (at 6:10) at the cremation centre. Here I had a beautiful male Masked yellowthroat, Stripe-backed bittern, Zone-tailed hawk (!! Keep your eye on all those vultures !!), Striped cuckoo and hundreds of Orange-winged parrots with two couples of Yellow-crowned parrots flying from roost towards Paramaribo (so if you want to see that, take the 5:30 bus like me).

Peperpot ((4th,)21st of may and 16th of july)

The Peperpot plantation is sometimes difficult to find, but if you drive on (follow the bend) after the bridge, you will see a Texaco after 6 or 7 km at the crossing with ‘Weg naar Peperpot’. Keep going straight on, and about 100 m further (just before the third bump), take a right and there you will find the (hardly red-and-white) barrier marking the Peperpot-entrance. The side-trail previously mentioned by Jos Wanten was overgrown and blocked by a fallen tree when I was there, but that didn’t matter that much: the main track produced Green-tailed jacamar, Silvered, Black-throated and Blackish antbird, Blood-coloured woodpecker, 2 juvenile Rufescent tiger-herons, Turquoise tanagers and Black-spotted barbet but moreover a huge amount of different species, so you have hardly any time to ease down.

The second time (16th of july) my first bird (at 6:35 !!) was a Spotted puffbird, others were two Limpkins on the road, Crimson-hooded manakin,  Green-throated mango, both Arrowhead piculet and Blood-coloured woodpecker and a Ringed kingfisher flying over.

Besides Peperpot there is another trail which Paul Donahue told me about. He said it equals Peperpot (also Arrowhead piculet and Bloodcoloured woodpecker), and has some nice other birds. The route is as follows:

Totness (8/9th june)

I went to the Staats Logeergebouw in Totness, Coronie (overnight for 16 SRD, tel.= 235193/235131), where you are dropped of if you ask the driver. There is not much to do, and when I was there the former lagoons were mostly overgrown, which pointed my tour through the mangrove forest.

There are a few roads going to sea, where you can follow the coastline and take another way back. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ANTIREPELLENT. Because there are so many mosquitoes there… The first day I didn’t have long trousers because of the heat and that caused about 3000 bites extra. The lagoons which I didn’t visit are situated a few km (1 or 2) before Totness.

OK, Birds now: the track along the coast was pretty productive, with [yeah] Tropical pewee, Rufous crabhawk, Bloodcoloured woodpecker, Mangrove cuckoo, Mangrove scrub flycatcher, Bicoloured conebill, Yellow oriole, but no White or Red-crowned woodpeckers. The sea was also nice (including it’s hard mudbanks), with Scarlet ibises flying by, fishing Black skimmers, terns, herons and Brown pelicans.

Finally the wet meadows towards the sea produced 3 Southern lapwing, Cattle egrets, White-necked heron and cormorants.

Coesewijne (14th to 16th of june)

Like I said, Coesewijne is an area in development for ecotourism so it might be possible to have a guided tour to there. Otte was there a few weeks before me, but he only went one night. Savanna is a good place to spot nightjars: the first night I had tawny-bellied screech-owl, white-tailed nightjar and pauraque; the second night also Great potoo !!, blackish nightjar and lesser nighthawk (the latter on the way back from Bigi poika).

Other birds included Green-and-rufous kingfisher, Green-tailed jacamar, Lilac-tailed parrotlet, Cayenne jay, some typical savanna birds like red-shouldered, black-faced and burnished-buff tanager, rufous-crowned elaenia, crested bobwhite and white-tailed hawk. AND I had the luck of encountering a huge flock with loads of woodcreepers, among which Long-tailed woodcreeper, Guira tanager, Paradise jacamar, Pink-throated and black-capped becard and Violaceous trogon. The last morning I could do some walking just before the village, which produced Great snipe, Roadside hawk, Blue ground-dove, Grassland sparrow and ruddy-breasted seedeater.

Colakreek and Zanderij (6&7th may, 19&20th  july)

At 7th of may I went with Otte (first to Waterland, for nightjars) to Phedra, Berlijn and Zanderij. The day before that I spent the last day with my girlfriend at Colakreek, just to relax, but of course I was already up at 6 o’clock. My last day in Suriname (20th july) I also spent there.

The day with Otte we first had Spot-tailed nightjar, Limpkin and Striped owl at Waterland, and when it started to get light, we had a lot of drizzle and mist. In between we spent as much time out as possible, resulting in a lot of luck at Phedra, with Great tinamou (actually the first bird on the trail), Saffron-crested tyrant-manakin, Black manakin, White-fringed antwren, Rufous-crowned elaenia, and the top of the pops: a Bronzy jacamar !!  

Bronzy jacamar, 7/5/2005, Phedra, Suriname.

Otte had been playing it’s sound at various places before, and this time it responded only once, but he was apparently sitting right above our heads all the time. So when you try to attract a Bronzy jacamar, keep your eyes open because it could really good be there already. Afterwards we had both Pompadour and Spangled cotinga’s, Purple-throated fruitcrow and a Reddish hermit. You can reach Phedra by the way by driving the Afobakaweg (to Brownsweg and the Afobakadam), and take a left turn at pole 55, which is the intersection with the road to Zanderij. After a few km there are some trails on your left-hand side. We didn’t go to Berlijn because the bridge was far to dangerous to cross so we could spend our time better at Zanderij. As said in other reports, the best way to go birding there is drive all the way around the airstrip, and take the trails into the wooded areas. There we were (again) lucky enough to see Crested Bobwhite’s, Collared plover, Ruby-topaz hummingbird, Black-faced tanager and White-tailed hawk.

With my girlfriend I didn’t see much, although two spectacular birds were White-lored tyrannulet and a juvenile Bicoloured hawk in the evening! My last day I was planning to go to the Zanderij airport in the morning, but unfortunately there was nothing but mist. Despite that I did have Little tinamou, White-tailed goldenthroat, Lesser elaenia, Russetcrowned crake, Little chacalaca, Cinnamon-throated woodcreeper, Ruddy spinetail and Blackbilled and Bare-eyed thrush all in the vicinity of Colakreek. Also I had some nightjars at night, including one very well seen (damn why didn’t I take my camera??) female Spot-tailed nightjar.

Raleigh falls (only Fungu island) 29th june to 1st july

Due to some miscommunication I could only be at the Fungu Island for two days. Unlike Jos Wanten’s report and various others I didn’t have any ‘big’ numbers of macaws at the airstrip, again perhaps due to the season. I did have a Pied puffbird, Cattle egret, Capped heron, White-headed piping-guan, Little chacalaca, Black caracara, all toucans, and a reall surprising GRAY-BELLIED HAWK !!

Gray-bellied hawk, 29/6/2005, Fungu island, Raleigh vallen.

Other birds were Buff-throated saltator, a flock of 30 Lined seedeaters and Greentailed jacamar at the Fungu-island landing (emplacement), White-banded and Black-collared swallows on the river, and Pauraque (3!) on the trail.

Brownsberg

The Brownsberg Nature Park is first of all NOT a National park (as stated by the IUCN), it is only promoted that way by the government. Note that there is a lot of gold mining activity along the edges of the Park ,and only for that reason it can’t be a National Park. It is however a beautiful place to watch birds. Common birds here are taxonomically Variegated tinamou, Greater YH and King vulture, Swallow-tailed kite, Red-throated caracara, Spix’s guan, Black curassow, Gray-winged trumpeter, Ruddy pigeon, Gray-fronted dove, lots of parrots (Painted and Golden-winged parakeet, Blue-headed and Dusky parrot), Long-tailed hermit, Fork-tailed woodnymph, Violaceous trogon, Guianan toucanet, Green aracari and Channel-billed toucan, Golden-olive and Red-necked woodpecker, various woodcreepers and antbirds, White bellbird and Capuchinbird, Whitebreasted woodwren and Musician wren, and Bay-headed tanager with honeycreepers.

The top-20 (by Ribot) of commonest birds on the Brownsberg (which I can confirm) are:

Screaming piha

Green oropendola

Grey antbird

Thrush-like antpitta

Ruddy pigeon

Squirrel cuckoo

Buff-throated woodcreeper

Ferrugineous-backed antbird

White-necked thrush

Grey-fronted dove

Long-tailed hermit

Greater yellow-headed vulture

Mouse-coloured antshrike

White-throated toucan

Warbling antwren

Swallow-tailed kite

Golden-winged parakeet

White-tailed trogon

Black-headed antbird

Variegated tinamou

If you are interested in the entire list, click here, or visit the site of Jan-Hein Ribot.

The emplacement, including viewpoint and two small trails

Because there is a lot of spare time created during five months I also hang around a lot in the vicinity of the emplacement. First of all you’ve got a splendid view over the lake at sunrise just behind the Tapir lodge (this is what I refer to as ‘the’ viewpoint). Other nice places are the parking lot, for a nice overview of the surrounding trees and three low single trees, the Visitor center (or at least that’s what it’s supposed to be), and two trails leading from Baboen lodge and the visitor center towards the main access road (AKP). The viewpoint produced Purple-vented euphonia, Pompadour cotinga, Spotted tanager,  all 5 toucans, various flocks of honeycreepers (including Short-billed honeycreeper), and Great black hawk, various Swallow-tailed kites, White hawks, King vultures and the odd Bat falcon, Grey-headed kite or Short-tailed hawk soaring by.

At the area surrounding the parking lot (including the two trails) there are some nice bushes for feeding hummingbirds like White-chinned sapphire, Tufted coquette and White-necked Jacobin, and I also believe to have heard Guianan Red-cotinga (but I don’t have any sound-recordings, so I don’t know yet :@!), and I had a army ant swarm once guided by White-plumed and Rufous-throated antbirds. Other birds seen or heard were Wing-banded antpitta, and a 99% Slender-billed inezia!

Sunrise at the emplacement behind tapir lodge. At the lookout great views over the Brokopondo lake.

Mazaroni top

The trail towards Mazaroni top is short but can sometimes be quite productive. Besides that you have a better view for raptors and swifts (only maybe not for canopy-birds) at the end. Because of it’s short length it’s a good trail if you don’t have much time left.

I encountered my only Blood-red tanagers (twice) here, a White-tailed hawk once, and lots of Swallow-tailed kites and Greater yellow-headed vultures.

Irene/ Leo falls

Leo and Irene falls are the most intensively visited spots of the Brownsberg and therefore less interesting, especially in the tourist season. Except when you like to be disturbed by tens and tens of tourists of course. Also, for one reason or another there are never a lot of birds along slopes. So if you have the chance, try to avoid this trail. The birds I saw here were some manakins (Goldenheaded and White-fronted) at the first 500 m, hummingbirds and a flock at the parking lot, and a pair of Spot-winged antbirds 20 m downstream of the Irene fall.

Kumbu falls

There are two ways to walk towards Kumbu falls: follow the Rondwandeling trail, and head straight on where the Rondwandeling goes right towards Leo and Irene falls, or take the Mazaroni road and take the right junction towards Kumbu falls and Rondwandeling. I actually didn’t go much further than the 1,4–1,5 km sign, because there you get a lot closer to the falls, and you hear much less because of the noise of the water. However, this trail (from the Mazaroni road to 1,5 km) has proven very productive compared to it’s short length. It is also a nice varying trail with some fallen trees (when I was there), the connection to the Rondwandeling trail and the Mazaroni road, and the location nearby the emplacement. Spectacular birds here were Red-legged tinamou, Golden-green woodpecker, Wing-barred piprites, Tawny-throated leafscraper, Short-tailed pygmy-tyrant and Long-tailed tyrant. Otherwise you can expect the same birds as the Rondwandeling trail.

Rondwandeling

This trail actually goes along the first parts of all trails but stays on the plateau. Because it stays flat (no elevations) the trail remains small and that’s why you can look straight through the forest. Another important issue compared to descents and climbs is that you don’t have to pay attention to where you walk (although this isn’t really true because the Rondwandeling trail has many roots and rocks). Other birds than Kumbu falls were Black-chinned antbird, Dusky-throated antshrike, Red-and-black grosbeak, and most of my Rufous-tailed foliage-gleaners. I heard it is also the place for Black-faced antthrush (at least from 1,0-1,6), but he would not reveal himself to me for all those 5 months.

Witi kreek

One of the most joyful trails was actually Witi kreek: a long trail, all the way down and up again, but the effort is all worth it if you’re staying at the Brownsberg long enough!! Just the same as Irene falls you don’t have much birds on the slopes. But the quality of the birds is high, the trip towards the creek is long, and near the creek you also have some nice birds. The trip towards the creek is 3,6 km, at 3,8 km there’s a small ‘swimming’pool, and a little after that you can head on at the left side of the creek towards the gold mines. These last 2 km’s can also be quite productive (just remember you still have to climb up all the way). Along Witi creek I saw Collared and Long-billed gnatwren, HARPY EAGLE, Tiny tyrant-manakin (lek at 2,7), Collared and White-chested puffbird, Dusky-chested flycatcher, Black-faced hawk, Spot-winged antbird and White-shouldered tanager.

Black-faced hawk. 11/3/2005 Witi kreek, Brownsberg.

Mazaroni falls and road

Now this is the real work. Mazaroni road is the place to be for the birdwatcher: it’s a long straight road over the plateau,has good views and for some reason lots and lots of different birds, even on you’re way back. Just have breakfast before dawn and don’t stop until you’re really, really hungry or if you don’t hear any birds anymore (and since the latter probably is not going to happen…). Don’t ask why, I wouldn’t know, but the sides of the road are just loaded with birds. Antbirds, Parrots, Woodcreepers, Flycatchers, Tanagers, Manakins, Cotinga’s, you name it. Highlights were Royal flycatcher, Barred forest-falcon, Gray-necked wood-rail, Racquet-tailed coquette, Yellow-billed jacamar, Black-throated & Band-tailed antshrike, Ash-winged antwren, White-browed & Black-throated antbird, Spotted antpitta (seen!!), Olivaceous flatbill, Red-and-black grosbeak and Ringed woodpecker.

Band-tailed antshrike, 20/4/2005, Mazaroni road, Brownsberg, Suriname.

PP, Telesur and southern part of the BNP

It is most-likely possible to bird the southern part of the Park, you only have to ask permission from the research-department at ‘the Ark’. It is reachable by going left at the Mazaroni falls junction (Telesur trail) and right at the end of this road. Here PP starts, which also leads over the plateau, and from there 4 research trails descend towards creeks. However, these trails produce the same birds as other trails, and you only have more chance on, for instance, Jaguars or Tapirs. The only ‘extra’ birds I had on Telesur and PP were Scarlet macaw, good views on Sharpbill and Rufous-bellied antwren, Caica parrot, Rufous-rumped foliage-gleaner, White-throated pewee and Golden-spangled piculet.

A list of birds with special notices at the Brownsberg (unless noted otherwise:)

White hawk – seen quite often soaring from the viewpoint in the first month, afterwards almost never again.

Zone-tailed hawk – seen once at Weg naar Zee, but it might be there more often: it looks surprisingly much like a vulture!!

Ornate hawk-eagle - Uses the emplacement as dinner table (because of the lizards) and perches often in the big tree on the right of the viewpoint.

Gray-winged trumpeter – comes to be fed at the restaurant every day.

Double-toothed kites and Slaty-backed forest-falcons follow groups of smaller monkeys (Tamarins and Brown capuchins) because the monkeys arouse flying insects and the raptors alarm for bigger raptors.

Marail and Spix’s guan – often in fruiting trees (esp. figs). Here also pay attention to toucans and oter frugivores.

If you want to see parrots, take a telescope with you (which you hardly use in the rainforest)

Giant snipe – in a wet area with puddles along the road to Coesewijne

Semi-collared nightjar – seen sometimes just before dark (dusk) from the viewpoint.

Chapman’s swift – pay attention to those swifts!! Some of them certainly are chapman’s.

Great-billed hermit – I tried and I tried but I didn’t notice any.. just keep studying those single long-tails!

Tufted and Racquet-tailed coquette – keep an eye on small hummers; if they’ve got a small band on their back, it’s a coquette; females: tufted is rufous, raquet-tailed is pied

Yellow-billed jacamar -  I only had one encounter, on the contrary Jos’ group had quite some… again, maybe the season has got something to do with it.

Great jacamar – reacted on sound, but moreover was frequently calling in the forest just right of the viewpoint (there’s also a trail going through the forest to Kuyake lodge).

Brown jacamar – didn’t see it, but it’s supposed to sit in ‘bospapaya’trees just south of the Fungu island-emplacement.

Puffbirds – Be very lucky

Ringed woodpecker – I found it very difficult to interpret the text from Hilty into a genuine Ringed. They really look a lot like Waved, but note the tail and the belly (because the black collar is often very hard to see)

Antshrikes, antwrens and Antbirds – first of all, mind the habitat: some birds just don’t live at a place where you think it was that one

White-browed antbird – always stays low, and only reacts to sound. But if you play it’s sound, he might react.

Flycatchers – terribly difficult. Pay attention to eye-color, eyebrow, overall tint, bill-shape and species-specific marks (pale-tipped tyrannulet for example)

Tiny-tyrant manakin – huge lek at Witi kreek 2.7 to 3.1

Capuchin bird – heard calling about 200 m right of MW 1.5/1.7

White bellbird – hard to see, is all I can say. Heard calling at various places, which were most-likely dispersing young males. Adult males only call in sept/oct.

White-breasted wood-wren and Coraya wren – during my 5 months I had far more WB woodwrens than Coraya wrens; this might be because the pictures in Hilty are a bit misleading. Coraya has a long tail.

Pectoral sparrow – makes a superb high trill, which you might not hear. But if you pay attention to it, it’s more common than you think.

Red-and-Black grosbeak – Difficult, that’s all there is to say; I had three sightings in about one week (end of march) afterwards nothing.

Euphonia’s – mind the throat: only Violaceous (which I didn’t see at the BNP) has a yellow throat, others have purplish backs, orange bellies or otherwise.