SUBJECT: Teenage Mission Experiences

AUTHOR: Heidi Burgdorff, Age 15, lives with her parents, 2 sisters, and cousins in the village of Kaikan, Guyana, near the Venezuelan border.

DATE: March 4, 1997

Uncle Ken and Aunt Kaye,

Hi! I hope you are fine, because I am. My grandparents have been here almost a week. They brought us food, clothes, books and other things. We were really excited to see them. My grandpa surprised us all by showing up with a beard. He looked really different! Tomorrow my Uncle David leaves, so I am writing this to you now. I guess you want to know the birds that I've seen.

Here is my personal list as of today:

1- Pearl Kite,
2- Band Rumped Swift,
3- Palm Tanager,
4- Crested Oropendola,

Pearl Kite

5- Blue-gray Tanager,
6- Bananaquit,
7- Squirrel Cuckoo,
8-Great Kiskadee,
9- Lesser Kiskadee,
10- Smoothbilled Annie,
11- Blackcrowned night Heron,
12- Cattle Egret,
13- Wattled Jacana,
14- Brown-chested Martin,
15-White eyed parakeet,
16- Yellow-headed parrot,
17- Tropical Kingbird,
18- Yellow Orioles,
19- Ruddy Ground Dove,
20- Yellow-backed Oriole,
21- Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture,
22- Orange-winged Parrot,
23- Ruddy Pigeon,
24- White Banded Swallow,
25- Channel-billed Toucan,
26- Blue-black Grassquit,
27- Scarlet-rumped Cacique,
28- Spix's Guan,

Spix's Guan

29- Greater Yellow-headed Vulture,
30- White-bearded flycatcher,
31- Moriche Oriole,
32- Barred Antshrike,
33- Lined Seedeater,
34- Stripe-tailed yellow Finch,
35- Rufous-tailed Jacamar,
36- White-browed spinetail,
37-Streaked flycatcher,
38- Swallow-tailed Kite,
39- Swallow-wing puffbird,
40- Scaled Pigeon,
41- Red-billed Toucan,
42- Swallow-tanager Chlorophonias,
43- Rufous bellied Euphonias,
44- Silver-beaked Tanager,
45- King Vulture,
46- Sotty Capped Hermit,
47- Lineated Woodpecker,
48- Cayenne Jay,
49- Roadside Hawk,
50- Tropical Mockingbird,
51- Green Kingfisher, and
52- Neotropic Cormorant.

We have seen a bunch more, but haven't been able to identify them yet. If you came you could probably help us! There are many different types of hummingbirds here, but they move so fast and they don't look like any in the book! I hope you can come down. The birds are very beautiful. We haven't even gone on a serious birdwatching event. These are just ones we see around the house or up at the church! I'm sure if we went hiking through the jungle, down the river, or to another village, that we would find a bunch more!

Well, I guess that is all for now. You can click on our web page (http://www.tagnet.org/gma) to hear some stories. I've written a few. I really hope you can come and visit us. Its wonderful here! Goodbye!

Heidi Burgdorff

You may write to Heidi at: gates@andrews.edu

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Last Updated: March 10, 1997