French Guiana (2 Viewers)

[pbjosh]

I mean, to be clear, I don't completely ignore the seasons. But even beyond the time I spent contiguously from Colombia - Peru (nearly 2 years) I tend to plan most trips with a less aggressive schedule to allow for weather delays / hard to find birds / desire to hang out somewhere longer / etc. And aside from rain / landslide issues, in terms of finding the birds, I really don't think that it makes much of a difference from about 20 N to about 20 S. Off season birding can be better sometimes as more species are running around in mixed flocks, antbirds are more vocal during the rainy season, tinamous and quail-doves can't year you as well on wet leaves / if it is actually raining (though on the flip side leaftossers are much easier to find when it is dry as you hear them rustling leaves)... but I guess in the end it all balances out.

 

[pbjosh]

With limited time, I was thinking of sticking to the Tresor - Sentier de CdR - Kaw axis and maybe basing myself somewhere like Amazonia Lodge. I'd also build in some time for coastal habitats (around Cayenne or Kaw?) to boost my list of New World shorebirds and give myself a break from lowland humid forest birding. Quite happy to wing it solo here as I can get around OK in French, but I know just enough now about South America to recognise I know very little (!) - I'll miss a lot on my own, so if the trip gets confirmed I'll see if your friend is available for a day's guided birding.

Also just to comment on this again... there is good shorebirding around Cayenne for sure. I spent a morning birding with Hugo and we went to a few random spots but I didn't pay a lot of attention. I assume eBird would point you at the productive spots. Of the few we visited, Vieux Port de Cayenne on the W side of the city was the clear winner.

For forest birding, I would say that Kaw Rd / Tresor is probably the least interesting site - really worth getting to Bonaventure if you don't mind sleeping in a hammock!

 

[kb57]

Also just to comment on this again... there is good shorebirding around Cayenne for sure. I spent a morning birding with Hugo and we went to a few random spots but I didn't pay a lot of attention. I assume eBird would point you at the productive spots. Of the few we visited, Vieux Port de Cayenne on the W side of the city was the clear winner.

For forest birding, I would say that Kaw Rd / Tresor is probably the least interesting site - really worth getting to Bonaventure if you don't mind sleeping in a hammock!

Thanks for the advice - I was prioritising Guianan COTR, particularly after your disparaging remarks about it's Andean cousins - but maybe I shouldn't be spending too much time in that area.
I have no problem in theory sleeping in a hammock although I've never done more than nap in one, open-sided structures do seem to give you a better nights sleep in a humid forest environment - my issue is the need to negotiate a few more days away. I've also got such a poor South American bird list that anything with an east of Andes distribution is guaranteed to be new to me, so I'll have less of a focus on restricted range species - there are groups I either missed in Colombia (jacamars for example) or would like to see more of (woodcreepers, antbirds, manakins...). If in your experience Camp Bonaventure is 'birdier' than the Kaw route sites that's an important consideration for me.