As I’m away from beautiful Torry for a few months, I thought I’d compensate by writing a regular diary about birding at the place I’m currently staying. I’m at the Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu, or Regua as it’s more commonly known. Regular viewers will recall that I visited this reserve in southeastern Brazil two years ago. I’ve been keen on the idea of a return ever since. My research provided one or two good reasons and so I’m here for a while to look into various aspects of bird sounds and how people listen to them. This means I have the arduous task of listening to and sometimes seeing lots of birds. Of course Regua is nowhere near as good as Torry for birding, well except if one considers diversity, but I will try to make do.
The reserve has changed a bit in the two years since I last visited. New wetlands have been created, more trees planted, and existing plantings have matured. It’s also become a more popular destination for birders and the lodge was full when I arrived on Sunday evening. I’m actually staying in the volunteers digs below the lodge but was invited for dinner by the proprieters of Regua, Nicholas and Raquel Locke. The dinner was really good, as it usually is at Regua, and Nicholas gave a talk about the reserve and some of the issues they have to deal with.
Anyway, some birds ensued. The next morning dawned cool and damp after some overnight rain and it stayed overcast for most of the day. There was a lot of activity in the trees around Casa Treis where I’m currently staying. Best of the action included a pair of stout Crested Becards, some trilling White-barred Piculets and a few Mottle-cheeked Tyrannulets. I was pleased to see a pair of Hooded Tanagers, which I had seen in exactly the same area two years ago. I’ve never seen this species anywhere else. There were lots of hummingbirds visiting two flowering trees in front of the house, with most being Glittering-bellied Emeralds or Violet-capped Woodnymphs.
I spent some of the morning walking around the restored wetlands. Along the first part of the trail, which goes through scrub, there was a good mixed flock comprised of Brazilian, Fawn-breasted and Ruby-crowned Tanagers, a lovely Yellow-browed Tyrant and my first new bird at Regua: a pair of White-winged Becards. I’m not sure how I’ve conspired to miss this species before but it goes to show how the diversity of the tropics always means there are some obvious gaps on most people’s lists. The wetlands were covered in Moorhens (which sound a bit weird out here), Brazilian Teal, Purple Gallinules, Masked Ducks and White-faced Whistling-ducks. I was pleased to get great views of a Pileated Finch, which I’d only seen briefly two years ago. It’s a bird that can look rather plain and grey much of the time, but comes alive when it unfurls its fiery red crest. Other birds around the wetlands included Yellow-lored Tody-flycatcher, Chestnut-vented Conebill, Tropical Parula and Masked Yellowthroat.
Early afternoon I was doing some reading in front of Casa Treis, a task from which I was regularly distracted by the comings and goings of hummingbirds. Every thirty minutes or so various small hermits would come visiting. There was one that was obviously a Reddish Hermit, showing the diagnostic black spot on the chest. Another was more problematic and the books I had didn’t always help that much. This hermit was the same size as Reddish but had more extensive white at the tips of the tail feathers, a duller, greener rump and no chest spot. I think it might have been a female Minute Hermit but this picture by Nick Athanas makes me a bit uncertain. Maybe female Reddish Hermits in southeast Brazil can look like this.
Late in the afternoon I had a walk around the Nursery Trail which goes through some good lowland forest. On the first part of the trail I had good views of a Fuscous Flycatcher. I have the aim of getting a bit better at tyrants while I’m here and it was useful to see this species well. I get the feeling that a lot of the apparently tricky tyrant flycatchers in southeast Brazil aren’t really all that tricky but that the books aren’t really good enough to give you the confidence to sort them out. The illustrations are famoulsy no good (particularly in Sousa) but the lack of text makes things harder. Reckon I’ll be needing a good browse of Ridgely & Tudor and HBW soon. Also putting in welcome appearances were a male White-bearded Manakin, a Long-billed Wren (which really do live up to their name when you get a good look) and a Chestnut-backed Antshrike – a species it’s hard to avoid at Regua.
A scan of the forest canopy across the valley put me onto a couple of Channel-billed Toucans and a distant male Swallow Tanager. I was more surprised to see a pair of elegant Lesser Swallow-tailed Swifts, a species I’ve not seen in southeast Brazil previously. The highlight of the day came with a splendid Crescent-chested Puffbird that perched very close to the trail for several minutes. I was frustrated to miss this endemic on my previous trip so it was good to have such fine views on my first day back at Regua. Puffbirds are what the kids are into.
At dusk the valley behind the wetlands was filled with the hulking shapes of White-collared Swifts and on my way back to the house I had views of a Pauraque perched on the trail. A few were whistling as night fell. In the evening I got to sample the delights of Guapi Assu’s pizzeria and the peculiar sweet maltzbier they brew round here. A couple of Burrowing Owls were seen along the way and an Oppossum crossed the road on our wa back. Despite having birded Regua and nearby areas pretty extensively two years ago, I ended the day with three lifers and several other birds I’d only seen once previously.
Yesterday morning I went out to get some recordings. My greatest success came with a Tufted Antshrike along the Nursery Trail, another bird remaining faithful to where I’d seen one two years ago. Then it was a hard bird to see, keeping resolutely in thick cover, but this morning it was much more cooperative, sometimes coming into the open within a couple of metres. Some other highlights were a family of Capybara on the wetlands, a pair of Moustached Wrens, lots of White-flanked Antwrens and a Blond-crested Woodpecker.
When I got back to the house, I decided to check the books for a bird that I’d seen on the wetlands yesterday and was delighted with the realisation that it had been a Pinnated Bittern. I’d thought maybe it had just been a funny looking immature Rufescent Tiger Heron, but the dark streaking on the mantle and pale bill would suggest otherwise.
If you’re really good, I may at some stage write up a trip report for my recent travels around Mato Grosso (Amazonia, the Pantanal and Chapada dos Guimaraes). It’s a 440 species epic, if you think you can handle it. Come on then. Outside. You think you’re hard don’t you.
The reserve has changed a bit in the two years since I last visited. New wetlands have been created, more trees planted, and existing plantings have matured. It’s also become a more popular destination for birders and the lodge was full when I arrived on Sunday evening. I’m actually staying in the volunteers digs below the lodge but was invited for dinner by the proprieters of Regua, Nicholas and Raquel Locke. The dinner was really good, as it usually is at Regua, and Nicholas gave a talk about the reserve and some of the issues they have to deal with.
Anyway, some birds ensued. The next morning dawned cool and damp after some overnight rain and it stayed overcast for most of the day. There was a lot of activity in the trees around Casa Treis where I’m currently staying. Best of the action included a pair of stout Crested Becards, some trilling White-barred Piculets and a few Mottle-cheeked Tyrannulets. I was pleased to see a pair of Hooded Tanagers, which I had seen in exactly the same area two years ago. I’ve never seen this species anywhere else. There were lots of hummingbirds visiting two flowering trees in front of the house, with most being Glittering-bellied Emeralds or Violet-capped Woodnymphs.
I spent some of the morning walking around the restored wetlands. Along the first part of the trail, which goes through scrub, there was a good mixed flock comprised of Brazilian, Fawn-breasted and Ruby-crowned Tanagers, a lovely Yellow-browed Tyrant and my first new bird at Regua: a pair of White-winged Becards. I’m not sure how I’ve conspired to miss this species before but it goes to show how the diversity of the tropics always means there are some obvious gaps on most people’s lists. The wetlands were covered in Moorhens (which sound a bit weird out here), Brazilian Teal, Purple Gallinules, Masked Ducks and White-faced Whistling-ducks. I was pleased to get great views of a Pileated Finch, which I’d only seen briefly two years ago. It’s a bird that can look rather plain and grey much of the time, but comes alive when it unfurls its fiery red crest. Other birds around the wetlands included Yellow-lored Tody-flycatcher, Chestnut-vented Conebill, Tropical Parula and Masked Yellowthroat.
Early afternoon I was doing some reading in front of Casa Treis, a task from which I was regularly distracted by the comings and goings of hummingbirds. Every thirty minutes or so various small hermits would come visiting. There was one that was obviously a Reddish Hermit, showing the diagnostic black spot on the chest. Another was more problematic and the books I had didn’t always help that much. This hermit was the same size as Reddish but had more extensive white at the tips of the tail feathers, a duller, greener rump and no chest spot. I think it might have been a female Minute Hermit but this picture by Nick Athanas makes me a bit uncertain. Maybe female Reddish Hermits in southeast Brazil can look like this.
Late in the afternoon I had a walk around the Nursery Trail which goes through some good lowland forest. On the first part of the trail I had good views of a Fuscous Flycatcher. I have the aim of getting a bit better at tyrants while I’m here and it was useful to see this species well. I get the feeling that a lot of the apparently tricky tyrant flycatchers in southeast Brazil aren’t really all that tricky but that the books aren’t really good enough to give you the confidence to sort them out. The illustrations are famoulsy no good (particularly in Sousa) but the lack of text makes things harder. Reckon I’ll be needing a good browse of Ridgely & Tudor and HBW soon. Also putting in welcome appearances were a male White-bearded Manakin, a Long-billed Wren (which really do live up to their name when you get a good look) and a Chestnut-backed Antshrike – a species it’s hard to avoid at Regua.
A scan of the forest canopy across the valley put me onto a couple of Channel-billed Toucans and a distant male Swallow Tanager. I was more surprised to see a pair of elegant Lesser Swallow-tailed Swifts, a species I’ve not seen in southeast Brazil previously. The highlight of the day came with a splendid Crescent-chested Puffbird that perched very close to the trail for several minutes. I was frustrated to miss this endemic on my previous trip so it was good to have such fine views on my first day back at Regua. Puffbirds are what the kids are into.
At dusk the valley behind the wetlands was filled with the hulking shapes of White-collared Swifts and on my way back to the house I had views of a Pauraque perched on the trail. A few were whistling as night fell. In the evening I got to sample the delights of Guapi Assu’s pizzeria and the peculiar sweet maltzbier they brew round here. A couple of Burrowing Owls were seen along the way and an Oppossum crossed the road on our wa back. Despite having birded Regua and nearby areas pretty extensively two years ago, I ended the day with three lifers and several other birds I’d only seen once previously.
Yesterday morning I went out to get some recordings. My greatest success came with a Tufted Antshrike along the Nursery Trail, another bird remaining faithful to where I’d seen one two years ago. Then it was a hard bird to see, keeping resolutely in thick cover, but this morning it was much more cooperative, sometimes coming into the open within a couple of metres. Some other highlights were a family of Capybara on the wetlands, a pair of Moustached Wrens, lots of White-flanked Antwrens and a Blond-crested Woodpecker.
When I got back to the house, I decided to check the books for a bird that I’d seen on the wetlands yesterday and was delighted with the realisation that it had been a Pinnated Bittern. I’d thought maybe it had just been a funny looking immature Rufescent Tiger Heron, but the dark streaking on the mantle and pale bill would suggest otherwise.
If you’re really good, I may at some stage write up a trip report for my recent travels around Mato Grosso (Amazonia, the Pantanal and Chapada dos Guimaraes). It’s a 440 species epic, if you think you can handle it. Come on then. Outside. You think you’re hard don’t you.