FEATURE
brethren ‘have respect for living animals of all kinds,” and wouldn’t dream of hurting anything, not even the oversized, hairy wolf spider that enjoys hanging out in the shower with each one of us on a few occasions. Suddenly, I hear a squawk…from an
orange-winged amazon bobbing her head gaily up and down. The leaves of the decorative shrub rustle from her furtive dance. “Let me introduce you,” Damon smiles. “This is Laura. She’s one of the exotic pets here at the lodge.” The parrot is swaying in tempo to some inaudible melody that only she can hear. She preens for my camera: the coal-black eyes sparkle, while the jaunty yellow crown atop her forehead begins to jiggle. I hear myself saying, Pretty bird.
Laura
is a pretty bird. am taken back to my childhood and my beloved pet parakeet Chipper. As I dart back and forth snapping delightful pictures of the psittacine, I am filled with admiration and pride toward my new Lokono-Arawak friends.
Proud that former Chief David
Simon had the gumption to sign the Nancy Lewis Cullity Parrot Protection Act and be the first indigenous nation in all of Latin America to safeguard its avian treasures.
Proud that Damon Corrie had
the foresight and the dream of an eco- tourism enterprise capable of delivering such a grand Amazonian adventure in a country that many people can’t even locate on the map.
Along the Shores of the Mahaica River With our Amerindian guide Cleveland ‘Buddy’ Simon manning the tiny motor on our aluminum johnboat, and Erb ‘Ducky’ Simon navigating up front, Gustavo and I meander along the black waters of the Mahaica River. In search of bird-life. Near the shore, an egret wades in the marsh, hunting for tiny crustaceans and mussels amongst the red mangroves. A black-billed ani, nicknamed ‘old witch’ by the Lokonos, perches on a naked tree limb, looking on. A trio of green-rumped parrotlets apparently lost in gossip, chatter vociferously; their noisy banter shatters the early-morning solitude along the river. We pass by quickly, non- plussed; we are after a more regal sighting – the national bird of Guyana, the hoatzin. We follow the Mahaica for several miles, to the nesting area where Damon, Buddy and Ducky have all seen the ‘Canje pheasant’, as the locals call it, season
I hear myself saying, Pretty bird. Laura is a pretty bird. am taken back to my childhood and my beloved pet parakeet Chipper. As I dart back and forth snapping delightful pictures of the psittacine, I am filled with admiration and pride toward my new Lokono-Arawak friends.
BIRD SCENE 19
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