Tourism Ministry hosts birdwatching tour for UG students

Last Saturday, the Tourism Ministryand the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) hosted a birding famil-iarisation (FAM) tour at the Botanical Gardens, Georgetown, for students studying Tourism at the University of Guyana (UG).The event was one of a number of activi-ties planned for Tourism Awareness Month 2010, being celebrated under the theme: “Community Based Tourism: Preserving the Unique tourists alike; and is be-ing touted as a haven for birders, with more than 864 bird species from 79 families. Georgetown alone has some 280 bird species which belong to 43 families. Other bird-ing hot spots include Kaieteur National Park, Iwokrama, the Rupununi, the Essequibo region, and the coastal areas, the re-lease stated. Narine said that the Botanical Gardens are used to conduct most birding field exercises be-cause it is very accessible which 182 species havebeen recorded to date, host most of the inland migrants.The lucky UG stu-dents had a chance to get a glimpse of one of the newer finds in the Botanical Gardens, the Least Bittern (Ixobrychus exilis). It was the fourth sighting of this species in the Gardens. Prime birding destination Narine said that it would normally take days to spot so many birds in the interior, but   “Georgetown is a primebirding destination, with marine migrants as well as inland migrants; and forest species, savan-nah species, and wetland species with a rich biodi-versity. And it provides a wonderful habitat for   them.”   He said the Botanical   Gardens are a well-known  Character and Culture of Communities”. and many species of birds can be found there. He members of the touring group at the Botanical gardens and recognised park to-day, drawing the interest of many birders; and the Birding Society uses it as a training centre for per-sons interested in learn-  According to a releasefrom the GTA, the stu-dents were led by AndyNarine, a bird guide from the Guyana Feathered Friends organisation and a field specialist of the Guyana Amazon TropicalBirding Society.‘Destination Guyana’ is certainly a paradise for nature lovers, adven-ture seekers, and eco- explained that it is cur-rently the migrating sea-son, and birds have come to Guyana from the coast of Florida and Canada. So far, 121 North American winter migrant specieshave come, 98 of which are regular migrants comprising inland and marine birds. Narine noted that the Botanical Gardens, in ing about birds.According to Narine, persons can normally see some 50 species during a two-hour tour of the gar-dens, and the Tourism students saw more than 40, including some of the rarest and most exclusive species that would at-tract a lot of people to the Gardens, like toucans, macaws and parrots.