PeterHG's eighth BY

[michael-ibk]

Awesome Toucan shots! And the PTIF is great as well.

[Dave Williams]

Stunning photography as usual Peter, very envious of the Swallow-tailed Kite!

[TonyQ]

Yet more beautiful photos. The Toucan shots are superb 

[Galana]

Same here.

[xelas]

Beautiful Toucan!

[Zim Girl]

Agree, lovely pictures of the Toucan.

[PeterHG]

Thanks, @michael-ibk @Dave Williams @TonyQ @Galana @xelas @Zim Girl!

 

From Domburg we took a trip to the International Airport, a drive of about about 45 minutes. Not to catch a flight back, but to explore the savannas in the neighbourhood. You can follow a dirt track, along the fences surrounding the runway area. The number of species we managed to see, were slightly disappointing, but it did get us a few nice ones.

 

57 / SU 25. White-tipped Dove. Zanderij, February

 

 

58 /SU 26. Grassland Sparrow. Zanderij, February. Not the most exciting species, but a lifer nonetheless and the only time we saw one.

 

59 /SU 27. Fork-tailed Palm Swift. Zanderij, February

 

60 /SU 28. Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture. Zanderij, February. Suriname has 5 vulture species of which we saw 4. The Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture is quite common, though outnumbered by the Black Vulture.

 

61 / SU 29. White-headed Marsh Tyrant. Zanderij, February. Very conspicuous with its black body and white head and also quite common. I don't really know why, but this little bird became a firm favourite with us.

 

 

Our main target at the airport savanna was the Burrowing Owl. It is the only place in Suriname you can find it, as it breeds here in very small numbers. We had travelled the whole track around the airport without seeing them and decided to double back in a last attempt to find one. Sure enough, in the last hundred metres we saw one sitting on the fence. Not the most attractive of perches, but who cares. We found it. Another lifer.

62 / SU 30. Burrowing Owl. Zanderij, February. 

[TonyQ]

Well done with the Owl. Determination paid off.

The Marsh Tyrant is beautiful, so I can see why you liked it so much.

[Galana]

3 hours ago, PeterHG said:

Not the most attractive of perches, but who cares.

Welcome to the club. Never mind the background, get the bird!

I can see why the Tyrant appeals.

[michael-ibk]

So do I - interestingly enough it´s the first bird in your collection I haven´t seen "next door" even though it was common for you.

[Peter Connan]

Magnificent photos!

[xelas]

23 hours ago, PeterHG said:

I don't really know why, but this little bird became a firm favourite with us.

Must be the color of the head 😇?! Such a wise looking bird !

[PeterHG]

Thank you @TonyQ @Galana @michael-ibk @Peter Connan @xelas

 

63 / SU 31. Common Ground Dove. Domburg, Zanderij, February. Not nearly as common as the Ruddy Ground Dove.

 

64 / SU 32. Sulphury Flycatcher. Zanderij, February. Only seen twice. One of the many yellow-bellied flycatchers.

 

65 / SU 33. Bananaquit. Domburg, February. Well-known from our Costa Rica and Colombia trips.

 

 

From Domburg we made a morning trip to the 'Weg naar Zee' (Road to Sea), which shows you how uncomplicated a street naming system can be. We should have chosen a low tide to go there, but we thought we would go back later in our trip. We didn't. Still it was nice and got us some new additions. If there is one bird-of-prey you cannot really miss here, it is this one:

 

66 / SU 34. Snail Kite. Weg naar Zee, February.

 

And a juvenile:

 

 

[Peter Connan]

That Snail Kite has a mean bill! Great photo.

[xelas]

10 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

 

That Snail Kite has a mean bill!

 

Nature adaptation at works 😁!

 

 

[PeterHG]

Thank you @Peter Connan @xelas

On 3/27/2023 at 3:23 AM, xelas said:

Nature adaptation at work

Absolutely!

 

67 / SU 5. Wattled Jacana. Domburg, Fenbruary

 

68 / SU 36. Green-rumped Parrotlet. Paramaribo. February. Tiny parrots that are really hard to spot when they are foraging in the trees and bushes.

 

69 / SU 37. Smooth-billed Ani. Paramaribo, February. Quite common.

 

70 / SU 38. Ruddy Ground Dove. Domburg, February. Ubiquitous little dove. So small that whenever I saw it fly off somewhere, it took me a few seconds to realize that it was a dove.

 

And just to show that the garden held more than birds....

[TonyQ]

Beautiful photos @PeterHG

[Peter Connan]

Jip. Beautiful.

[pedro maia]

I know this is about birds but I love the spider .

[Galana]

Ditto on the Spider.

[PeterHG]

Thank you @TonyQ @Peter Connan @pedro maia @galana

 

Another visit to the Colacreek recreational area. Another weekday, rainy and grey, so nobody else there.

 

71 / SU 39. Cocoa Thrush. Colacreek, February. Only seen once, but I may not have paid enough attetion to the thrushes....;)

 

72 / SU 40. Shiny Cowbird. Colacreek, February.

 

73 / SU 41. Crimson-Crested Woodpecker. Colacreek, February. Quite similar to the Lineated Woodpecker, but, as the name suggests, with more red on the head. This is the male:

 

And towards the end of our stay, I also managed a flight shot of the female. I must confess Photoshop provided the patches of blue in the sky. I added that to some photos that will probably end up in the printed album as the vast majority of the photos have a rather depressing uniformly grey background. Photoshop does quite a convincing job in determining the sky and replacing it with a sky of choice, but I do tone it down a lot as I mostly find the standard end result very artificial. I know it's cheating...;)

 

74 / SU 42. Green Aracari. Colacreek, February. We heard it call and found it in a distant tree. A lifer.

 

75 / SU 43. Swallow-winged Puffbird. Colacreek, February. Also distant, but also a lifer.

 

76 / SU 44.  Cayenne Jay. Colacreek, February. We knew this was a good area for them, but we hadn;t been able to find them on our first visit. A little group was foraging in the trees, mostle hidden by the btranches, but fortunately a managed a few shots. Yet another lifer.

 

 

The area was also good for parrots. quite a few groups flew by, but they were visible for only a short time and often impossible to ID. But we found a few in the trees as well

77 / SU 45. Red-bellied Macaw. Colacreek, February.

 

 

76 / SU 48. Red-shouldered Macaw. Colacreek, February.

 

 

[BRACQUENE]

Beautiful Crimson-Crested Woodpecker Peter!

[Kalaharikind]

Lovely photos! The J Snail Kite looks even more impressive than the adult.

 

And seeing that I have a fine collection of rusted barbed wire perches, I really enjoyed your tangled wire foreground interest.    

[PeterHG]

Thank you @BRACQUENEand @Kalaharikind

 

We moved to another part of the country, not too far away on the other side of the River Suriname. We had found a very nice B&B there, a house on poles, with a balcony facing the breeze from sea, which always kept the temperatures low enough for the room to remain comfortable even without an airco. The balcony overlooked a beautiful garden with many fruit trees. Every afternoon the kind owner climbed up to our cottage to offer us some fresh fruit juice from one of his trees. The garden and immediate surroundings also got us some good birds.

 

79 / SU 47. Ashy-headed Greenlet. Commewijne, February

 

80 / SU 48. Glittering-throated Hummingbird. Commewijne, February. By far the most common hummingbird. We only saw a few species of hummers anyway. Unlike Costa Rica and Colombia, people do not use feeders to attract them.

 

 

81 / SU 49. Pale-breasted Thrush. Commewijne, February. Very common in all areas

 

82 / SU 50. Black Vulture. Commewijne, February. Ubiquitous. A close-up to show its attractive features.

 

83 / SU 51. Turkey Vulture. Commewijne, February. Clearly a close relative of the previus one...

 

84 / SU 52. Yellow-rumped Cacique. Commewijne, February. Only seen a few times.

 

 

 

[Peter Connan]

Beautiful!