15-Day Birds of French Guiana with Hugo Foxonet

Arrive in Cayenne late in the day, meet the group and drive for about an hour to the first base in the Kaw Mountains. After settling into Amazon Nature Lodge, the surrounding forest may provide an introduction to nocturnal birds such as Crested Owl, Black-banded Owl and Roraiman Screech-Owl.

Use the morning around Amazon Nature Lodge for fruiting-tree, flowering-plant and understorey birding. Tangaras, cotingas, hummingbirds and discreet forest species are among the possibilities. In the early afternoon, board a pirogue in the Kaw Marshes reserve, where wetland birds may be joined by caimans and aquatic turtles. Return to the same lodge.

Revisit the Kaw Mountains, including an active Guianan Cock-of-the-rock lek and habitat used by White-throated Manakin. Following lunch, travel about four hours west toward Mana, pausing in savanna for open-country birds and possible Giant Anteater. An evening session may target potoos and owls. Stay at Hôtel Le Samana.

Begin in the Awala marshes near the Suriname border, an area noted for localised residents, migrants and occasional rarities. Continue through the Mana rice fields, where water levels and migration can produce concentrations of shorebirds, gulls, terns, herons and egrets. Caribbean Flamingo, Scarlet Ibis and Black Skimmer are among the source-listed coastal possibilities. Overnight remains at Hôtel Le Samana.

Spend another morning around Mana for species missed earlier, then check moriche-palm habitat while travelling toward Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni. After looking for Large-billed Tern on the Maroni River, visit forest tracks east of town for a careful search for Rusty Tinamou and other Guiana Shield birds. The attempt requires patience and offers no guarantee. Use Hôtel Lac Bleu for the night.

Make a second Rusty Tinamou attempt on a different track before continuing to Kourou for two nights. Coastal and mangrove habitats around the town may hold Mangrove Rail, raptors, nightjars, hummingbirds, manakins and Scarlet Ibis. Views toward the Îles du Salut also offer a chance, not a promise, of West Indian Manatee. Stay at Hôtel Atlantis.

Leave early for a full pirogue day on the Petit-Saut reservoir, travelling among flooded forest and islands. The setting may produce macaws, parrots, woodpeckers and forest raptors, while Red Howler Monkey, Black Spider Monkey and Giant Otter are mammal possibilities. Later, examine wetter open habitat along the Guatemala road and a macaw roost near dusk. Return to Hôtel Atlantis.

Search forest tracks near Macouria for Guiana Shield specialities, including Perrot’s Woodcreeper, Red-and-black Grosbeak and Guianan Gnatcatcher. After lunch, make the approximately four-hour eastbound transfer to Saint-Georges-de-l’Oyapock. The next two nights use traditional wooden carbet accommodation at Chez Jojo.

Work open habitats around Saint-Georges for range-edge and scarce French Guiana birds, then follow the Saut Maripa track through a different forest community. Finish along the Oyapock River, scanning rocks and rapids for species such as White-banded Swallow and Ladder-tailed Nightjar. Stay again at Chez Jojo.

Depart Saint-Georges early and explore the Mataroni track network for forest birds, with White-throated Pewee one of the highlighted specialities. Continue to Camp Bonaventure for three nights. Accommodation here is a hammock in a traditional open wooden carbet; beds are not available.

Walk Camp Bonaventure’s trails and forest tracks for scarce understorey, canopy and ground birds. Antonia’s Hermit and Black-throated Antshrike are two of the locally important possibilities, alongside trumpeters, curassows, antbirds, woodcreepers and flycatchers. A night outing may seek several potoo species. Sleep in the camp’s hammock carbets.

Climb Savane-roche Virginie, a granite inselberg rising above the canopy and offering a wide forest view. Bromeliads, orchids and wild pineapples grow on the rock, with colourful poison frogs possible at ground level. Birding concentrates on the distinctive summit and forest-edge community. Return to Camp Bonaventure.

Use a final morning at Camp Bonaventure for any missed forest species, then travel toward Matoury. Search threatened natural savannas for rails, nightjars, raptors, manakins and grassland birds. After dinner, an optional evening visit to Salines de Montjoly may coincide with Leatherback or Olive Ridley turtles nesting or hatching. Stay at Hôtel La Marmotte.

Finish with viewpoints over Cayenne’s coastal mangroves, where rails, Toucan, cuckoos, raptors and other shoreline specialities may occur. Before the late-afternoon flight to Paris, make one final field stop on a trail near the airport.

Complete the overnight flight and arrive in Paris, marking the end of the 15-day programme.