Brazil - the Pantanal and a bit of Atlantic rain forest (1 Viewer)

In August last year I joined a trip to the Pantanal, covering both the Southern and Northern part. As usual I couldn't get any of my friends to join me and so I went for an organized tour. Doing both the Southern and the Northern part of the Pantanal independently would require either a lot of money or a lot of time, since the two areas are not connected by road. I liked the idea of sampling both.

This was advertised as a small group photo trip. In my experience photo trips tend to spend longer in one location than is optimal to maximize species yield, and they certainly spend more time with good sightings, although there were only a handful of occasions where we had prolongued sightings of anything noteworthy.

The big draw was the opportunity to observe (and photograph) jaguars in the Pantanal, with a supporting cast of numerous birds and other mammals.

There were five of us, three `photographers' in the parlance of these tour, and two accompanying spouses. The latter were interested in wildlife, but didn't have the same intensity as their husbands, and just enjoyed what came our way.

The main tour was scheduled to be a 12 day trip (from Sao Paulo), and I asked whether it would be possible to extend the trip by visiting another location, to make the long journey from Europe worthwhile. We ended up with a four day extension designed to give us an introduction to the Atlantic rain forest. Location was somewhat restricted by keeping travel times from and to Sao Paulo manageable. One of the two couples joined the extension as well.

We lost a fair amount time in the field by the airlines messing us about (three half days), but of course this was beyond the control of anybody on the trip.

The weather was unusually hot for the season (winter). Photographers usually have a siesta in the early afternoon because the light is horrible for taking photos. I usually like to spend such time pottering about in the vicinity of the accommodation, but temperatures increasing to the high thirties put paid to that for the most part on this trip.

I had chosen to fly with TAP which provided the shortest journey times by some margin. The actual flights were fine but I had reasons to regret this choice. When I arrived in Lisbon in the early evening on my way out I was informed that my onward overnight flight to Sao Paulo had been cancelled (no reason was given). We were then made to wait for an inordinate amount of time, and sent on a wild goose chase across the airport, with no information on what to expect.

Eventually we were given boarding passes for the first flight next morning, and eventually reached a hotel close to midnight. I sent a text message and an email to Octavio, our guide, to let him know that I wouldn't be able to make our 10.00 meeting. For reasons I still haven't understood I hadn't received his responses by the time the wake-up call at 5.30 shrilled to my room, and when I boarded the aircraft I was worried about what to expect on the other end. This is one of the disadvantages of booking with a small outfit local to the destination, but apart from this I was extremely happy with my choice.

Fortunately eventually Octavio, the other two guests and I met up on the other end, and after I had apologized to everybody, around five hours late, the four of us set off towards Ubatuba on the coast.

By the time we arrived it was dark, and the planned half day of birding there had to be canned. After dinner I fell into bed, completely exhausted, but very happy that the holiday could now start.

This was my first journey to anywhere in the Americas south of Mexico, and I was apprehencive regarding the number of new families, let alone birds, on a non-birding trip. I also hadn't been able to find as much time to prepare as I would have liked, and I had resigned myself to the idea that there would be a lot of glimpses of birds that I wouldn't be able to identify.

Fortunately for me Octavio turned out to be a keen birder who worked extremely hard to show me as many birds as was humanly possible, educating me in their identification at the same time. Since this wasn't a birding trip I kept my own daily list, although Octavio kindly sent me a trip list without dates of sightings, which would at least allow me to weed out anything that I had misremembered or misunderstood.

We met for our first birding walk at first light, sticking to the grounds of the resort where we were staying. This is the off-season in Brazil, so this place, usually frequented by locals, was fairly empty. The grounds had trails cut through forest that ran right down to the sea, but for this early stroll we just went down to the local stream,

It was still fairly dark, so photography wasn't really an option while we suveyed the lay of the land, found some members of the heron family in the form of Snowy Egret, Little Blue and Boat-billed Heron and Black-crowned Night Heron, Double-collared Seed-eaters in reed bed, a Neo-tropic Cormorant, Grey-necked Wood Rail and Southern Rough-winged swallows. There was a Southern lapwing, and some of the usual common birds were now becoming active, such as Great Kiskadee, Picazuro Pigeon, Ruddy Ground-dove, Saffron Finch, Black-cheeked Gnatcatcher, Cattle Tyrant and Social Flycatcher.

As the light improved, we spotted a White-barred Piculet and a Masked Water Tyrant was parading at the stream side. Photography was becoming possible, and we took advantage of that. Octavio had warned us that these four days shouldn't be considered as a photo trip, but occasionally there were good opportunities and some of my favourite pictures from the trip come from these days (mostly hummingbirds).

On the way back we had a look at the feeders, not all of which had been stocked yet, and found mostly tanagers, in the form of Ruby-crowned, Brazilian, Green-headed, Red-necked, Azure-shouldered as well as the ubiquitous Bananaquits.

Masked Water Tyrant
White-barred Piculet
Brazilian Tanager female
Brazilian Tanager male
squirrel species

Andrea

After breakfast we went for a walk on the mangrove trail on the property, and this gave us the first experience of furnerids in the form of Rufous-tailed Antwren, Plain Xenops, Spot-backed Antshrike, Plain-Winged Woodcreeper, Unicoloured Antwren, and Scaled Antbird. Octavio certainly showed that he was an excellent spotter, and I began to wonder just when my own sight had deteriorated to an extent where he could make out details on birds I could hardly find.

His id skills were particularly handy with the numerous flycatchers we found, Planalto Tyrannulet, Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, Yellow-olive Flatbill, Grey-hooded Attila and the more easily identified Yellow-lored Tody-flycatcher. We found an almost full set of possible thrushes in the form of Yellow-legged, Rufous-Bellied, Pale-breasted and Creamy-bellied. Tropical Parula and Masked Yellowthroat were the only warblers.

As we came out of the forest the feeders had become much busier, and
we found the previous mentioned tanagers as well as Golden-chevroned Tanager, Red-rumped Cacique, Blue Dacnis and Green Honeycreeper, and our first hummingbirds. There was one Sombre Hummingbird, numerous Festive Coquettes, and quite a few Violet-capped Woodnymphs as well as the odd Glittering-throated Emerald.

Octavio declared that there would now be a break, but from a photography point of view there was plenty of action near the two feeding stations, and I think we all enjoyed the time to just look at these mostly colourful birds and take pictures.

Spot-backed Antshrike vanishing into the underbrush
Red-necked Tanager
Golden-chevroned Tanager
Green-headed Tanagers at an amply-filled Feeding station
Festive Coquette

Andrea

Looking forward to this, I hope to visit both areas in the future. Great photos too, more please!

A while after lunch we got going again, noting Palm Tanager and House
Wren and Pied-billed Grebe as new species on the property. We
travelled by car for around 20 minutes to another part of the forest.
Octavio was very disappointed with this location that afternoon. It
was very quiet, and it did not pick up as dusk approached.
Nonetheless we did find a few good birds.

A Ferruginous Antbird made the start. We came to a meadow, and there
found White-thighed Swallow as well as a Long-tailed Flycatcher,
followed by a Cliff Flycatcher. None of these allowed for pictures,
although maybe a 500mm lens would have helped.

Then one of the target birds thankfully made an appearance in the
form of a Buff-throated Purpletuft. This site was supposed to be good
for Spotted Bamboowren, which we duly heard but did not see. Instead
had to make do with Grey-capped Tyrannulet, Plain Parakeet and Robust
Woodcreeper. A Chalk-browed Mockingbird from the car gave us another
species to count.

After dinner we tried an owl walk, but we were thwarted to some
extent by locals splashing about in the creek where we were hoping to
get a view at owls flying in. All we managed to do was to see some
night herons leaving their roost site.

The next morning it was already time to leave this location, but not
before one more pre-breakfast walk. This was a good decision since we
managed to see a Blond-crested Woodpecker, a species we had only
heard on the previous day, Channel-billed Toucan and White-bearded
Manakin.

After breakfast we packed the car and drove to a private property in
the forest along some mountainous roads. We bought some huge bags of
sugar to say thank you to the owner, who had numerous hummingbird and
some fruit feeders.

This visit turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. We
spent a few hours here until late morning, and were in hummingbird
heaven. I'm sure veteran travellers to Middle and South America have
experienced this, but for me it was truly amazing. There were ens of
hummingbirds on the relatively small property and they were not at
all shy. They would fly within centimetres of one's head, clearly
much more concerned with watching over their favourite feeder than
anything else.

This gave us ample opportunity to try our hand at taking pictures of
flying hummingbirds, but I have to admit that I didn't manage a lot
of shots that didn't also show the feeder. But then there were also
hummingbirds at rest to be found, and while they tended to sit in the
shade the colours on some of them were nonetheless amazing. I also
made the experience that identifying hummingbirds in the flesh is
somehow much harder than one might think when looking at the book. I
think I may have a couple of photos which will have to go to the id
section of the forum.

With Octavio's help with recorded Saw-billed, Rufous-breasted and
Reddish Hermit, Swallow-tailed Hummingbird, Black Jacobin, Festive
Coquette, Violet-capped Woodnymph, Versicoloured and
Glittering-throated Emerald and Brazilian Ruby. Some of these paid
only fleeting visits and so where not photographed, but the others
made up for that.

Meanwhile we had fly-over White-necked and Short-tailed Hawk as well
as Black Vulture and White-collared Swift and Octavio and I left the
garden when a Green-backed Trogon called nearby.

On the fruit feeders we saw Violaceous and Chestnut-bellied Euphonia,
as well as assorted tanagers that weren't new for the trip.

Eventually we had to tear ourselves loose to continue our journey to
our second coastal location. I think we could all have stayed there for the rest of the day!

Green-headed Tanager
Violaceous Euphonia
Green Honeycreeper male
Green Honeycreeper female
Violet-capped Woodnymph (by far the most common species on the
property)

Lots more hummingbird pictures to come.

Andrea

Just a few more pictures.

Buff-threated Purpletuft record shot (should have been with previous post)
Versicoloured Emerald? (does not show red loewr mandible as expected)
Glittering-throated Emerald female (I think)
Reddish Hermit
Saw-billed Hermit

Andrea

And some more.

Violet-capped Woodnymph
Sombre Hummingbird
Brazilian Ruby
again
Festive Coquette


Andrea

Our next destination was Ihabela, an island off the coast and also Octavio's home. The short ferry ride added Magnificent Frigatebird, Brown Booby and Kelp Gull to the list.

We settled in to our new-ish hotel while Octavio went off to see his family, and then he picked us up again for a boat ride. We visited an island that has a breeding colony of South American Terns, and often hosts other species, but on our visit we were unable to find anything else. New species encountered (somewhat bizarrely to see by boat, but we were close to shore most of the time) were Southern Crested Caracara and Southern Mealy Amazon, which apparently have a stronghold on the island. We also found a sea turtle (probably green) and a shoal of fish jumping out of the water, apparently perceiving a threat (either from our boat or from something we couldn't see).

The next morning we set off not long after first light in Octavio's car to explore the rain forest on the island. The island is hilly, and with the exception of the land-facing coast, is undisturbed, and now protected by law.

There is one road (not very well maintained) that crosses the island and leads to a beach on the other side. It's a single-lane road, and the rule is supposed to be that one travels one way from first thing to 15.00, and in the other direction after that, but we did encounter the odd traveller who didn't stick with that. There wasn't much traffic, but there does seem to be a certain amount of traffic carting people to said beach. We didn't descend on the other side because of the poor quality of the road and Octavio's worry for his car.

The plan was to take a picnic breakfast and lunch, and to slowly drive up the road, getting out whenever there was any bird action. We travelled with open windows to ensure that we could hear. Frequent stops were made. This really was proper rain forest birding now, and my first experience of same. I knew before that this was going to be difficult, but I hadn't quite anticipated how much trouble I'd have to make out some of the birds Octavio seemed to be picking up as soon as any part of them became visible, alerted by any noise they made. I got the impression my eyes have deteriorated a bit over the last couple of years - at least he could make out details on bird where I could hardly distinguish the birds at all.

In the course of the day we heard tinamous (Solitary and Brown) but they weren't particularly close. Other species that would have been new but stayed on the `heard only' list were Yellow-throated Woodpecker, Grey-fronted Dove, Wing-barred Piprites and Greenish Schiffornis.

Early in we could hear Blue Manakins displaying, and Octavio had high hopes that some individuals would be at a previously favoured place that was accessible from the road, but apparently the birds have shifted and the location where we could hear them (and occasionally glimpse them too) was down a very steep hillside that made it inaccessible. We did get decent views, but I didn't try for photographs since the light was very gloomy.

A golden-crowned warbler appeared early on, as did an Ochre-collared Piculet. In the course of the morning we found Ochre-breasted and Buff-fronted Foliage-gleaner, Sharp-billed Treehunter, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Lesser Woodcreeper, Plain Antvireo added a number of furnarids to the list.

We added a number of tanagers with Olive-green being the only new species. Red-crowned Ant Tanager and Green-winged Saltator also made an appearance. A Yellow-Olive Flatbill even allowed a record shot.

At times birding was slow, but once or twice we had a small bird wave, fortunately typically not too high in the canopy. White-throated Spadebill gave us an unusual looking flycatcher, and Hooded Berryeater a bird that we all enjoyed as we got higher up on the hill. Chestnut-crowned Becard appeared as we were nearing lunch.

As we had lunch on a viewing platform just beyond the crest of the hill we could see there was a bit of mist creeping in from the sea, reducing visibility although it was otherwise a sunny day. We saw Grey-rumped Swifts now that we had clear views of the sky, and a briefly glimpsed raptor might have been another White-necked Hawk (at least that was the best match from what we had made out between us).

On the way back we did find a few new birds, although it was generally more quiet than it had been in the morning. A Plumbeous Pigeon, a Sepia-capped Flycatcher and a Surucua Trogon (the Southern nominate subspecies with a red belly, now sometimes separated) kept us interested. Later we also saw Scaly-headed Parrot, Pale-browed Treehunter, Black-goggled Tanager and Oustalet's Tyrannulet provided the last new species for the list on the day.

Without Octavio talking me through the key identification points for each bird I would certainly have floundered, and I began to realize just how well he knew all the birds on the islands. I found out only later that he has written a book about the Atlantic rain forest (only available in Portuguese).

I took few pictures in the course of the day - it was just too difficult under the conditions, and I concentrated on looking, so most of the photos below are from the boat trip.

South-American Tern juvenile
Little Blue Heron and surf
sea turtle
Yellow-Olive Flatbill
Ilhabela landscape

Andrea

The next morning we only had half a day on Ilhabela before we had to travel back to Sao Paulo. We tried various bits of forest where there were trails, but none of them went very deep.

We managed a handful of new birds. Distant views of Toco Toucans weren't going to excite us since we expected to do much better with this species in the Pantanal. A potentially much more exciting Green-billed Toucan had to remain heard only, as did White-spotted Woodpecker. Maroon-bellied Parakeet was a new species, however, and we again saw Southern Mealy Amazon, Scaly-headed Parrot and Plain Parakeet.

Squamate Antbird was the only furnarid we could find, and with Grey Eleania we found a new flycatcher too. On the previous day we had heard Bare-throated Bellbirds, and today we managed a very distant view. Good thing they're white!

Rufous-crowned Peppershrike, which we had only heard the previous day, also made it onto our lists. I didn't take any photos the whole morning because all sightings were either distance or short.

We had some time to pack and, after a late lunch, we took the ferry back to the mainland and drove back to Sao Paulo for the night.

The scheduled trip began the next morning, when we all gathered at the airport (we had all stayed in different hotels). The second couple had arrived from Europe over night, and we were ready to get to the Pantanal. However, the airline had replaced the direct flight to Campo Grande by a two-lagged version with four hours' wait in Cuiaba, and that with three day's notice. Octavio had been incensed, and we were resigned - there wasn't really anything he could have done about it. Certainly he wouldn't have been able to get seats with another airline at that point.

This meant that our arrival in Campo Grande was delayed, and we lost the second of three half days of birding.I can also report that the air-conditioning at Cuiaba airport is not worth its name. This was when people were starting to comment on the temperatures, given the time of year.

Eventually we made it into Campo Grande around sunset, collected our luggage, and packed it into a van which drove us to our next location, Aguape, a lodge in the Southern Pantanal.

The reason this particular place was on our itinerary is that it is probably the only place in the world that provides an excellent chance to encounter ocelots. Aguape is a general holiday place and a working fazenda - quite a few of the other guests were Brazilian. Fishing is one of the offered activities, and it seems to be very popular. Some fishermen started to throw scraps when cleaning their fish, and now some of the ocelots may be encountered in this way, around dusk or later.

Octavio had booked us on an outing that afternoon, but by the time we arrived it was almost 21.00. Nonetheless we all agreed that after a very hasty dinner we would have a go - we were only staying for two nights, so this night was half of our ocelot chances.

We mounted an open vehicle and drove off, spot-lighting as we went. We encountered Marsh Deer, Southern Tamandua, Giant Ant-eatera and Capybara, but no Ocelots. We fell into bed when we returned.

When the next morning dawned we finally got a chance to take in our surroundings. Aguape is large-ish and can accommodate something like thirty paying guests. The buildings are close together, with a bit of a garden around them, and then there are paddocks and fields grazing cattle. There's a river not too far.

Keen to explore I left my room round sunrise and had a look around. Hyacinth Macaws, Monk and Nanday (Black-hooded) Parakeets (being fed), Scald Doves, Chaco Chachalacas, Picui Ground Doves, Rufous Horneros - we had definitely arrived in the Pantanal. And as people began to assemble for breakfast, so did a couple of Toco Toucans waiting for leftover fruit. They gave rather better views than the ones on Ilhabela!

Andrea

Sorry for the surfeit of Toco Toucans in my last post, but I realized only as the journey progressed that views as good as this are rather rare. I did enjoy it while it lasted, but I didn't appreciate it properly until later.

Here are some more pictures from around the farm buildings.

Giant Cowbird
Nanday (Black-hooded) Parakeett
Cattle Tyrant
Rufous-bellied Thrush
and one more (sorry) Toco Toucan

And there's one more bird that deserves an entire post dedicated to its pictures:

Hyacinth Macaws were threatened not that long ago, and are still vulnerable, recently mostly due to habitat loss for farming. The arrival of eco-tourism in the Pantanal has made a real difference to attitudes, and it's certainly been a success story for this, the largest species of parrot. At Aguape there was a pair preparing to nest in a tree just outside the reception building. Clearly they didn't mind being started at or they would have chosen another location!

The birds weren't prsent all day but certainly frequently enough that they took up a lot of space on our memory cards! There are more pictures to come of this spectacular species from another location, with a somewhat different focus.

Andrea

We spent the early morning taking photographs around the lodge, there being plenty of birds available, and once the sun came up a little higher, the light was very good too. Breakfast was interspersed with more bird watching since it is held on a roofed terrace, and the feeding station as well as a bird bath, are adjacent.

More new birds appeared in the form of Purplish and Plush-crested Jay, Red-crested and Yellow-billed Cardinals, Campo Flicker, Picui Ground Dove, Shiny Cowbird, even a Greater Rhea allowed itself to be seen on an adjacent paddock, as did a Jabiru, the giant stork of these parts.

Eventually we embarked on an excursion by boat on the Rio Aquidauana, with the stated aim of visiting a Band-tailed Manakin lek. It turned out that getting on shore through the mud required skills I evidently do not possess, and having sunk in over my boots once I elected to stay with the boat, where the mosquitoes found us before too long. When the others returned they reported that there hadn't been much lekking and it hadn't been worth taking any pictures.

We slowly returned to the lodge, collecting the first set of waterside birds in the form of Ringed Kingfisher, Southern Lapwing and Pied Plover, Cocoi Heron, and Great Egret. As it was quite warm now we had Turkey and Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures overhead, and an American kestrel sat on a wire. We saw the only Grey Baywing of the trip.

After lunch it was getting hot, and a siesta is the general mood. At 3.00 we want to get going again, but I spend a good part of the break looking for more birds. I'm rewarded by a pair of White Woodpeckers that pay a visit to the taller trees surrounding the lodge.

Southern Lapwing
Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture
White Woodpecker
Plush-crested Jay
Campo Flicker

Andrea

The aim of the afternoon is an excursion in an open vehicle with, hopefully, the Ocelot being the early evening highlight. We don't have far to go until we hit a wet patch, and in the course of the day we have a full set of ibises: Plumbeous, Buff-necked, Green and Bare-faced, as well as a very distant Roseate Spoonbill. Two Jabirus come in to land very close to us, clearly in no way bothered by our vehicle. We also see our first Yacare Cayman, and a Pampas Deer grazing.

Eventually we move on to a meadow where we get out of the car. Numerous Nacunda Nightjars who had been roosting in a field, rise up as we approach and whirl around before settling down again. They are disturbed a few more times by, in some cases, nothing more than a mixed flock of Black-bellied Whistling duck and Brazilian Teal flying over.

As we take pictures of the nightjars we look for other birds too, and find the only Chotoy Spinetail and Yellowish Pipit of the trip. As the sun is moving towards the horizon we drive on, very happy to find a group of Coatis. Unfortunately the light is now bad, and they are in a meadow with tallish grass which means that most of the time, only their long tails, carried upright, are visible.

Eventually we reach the fish cleaning station. As a special favour to us, the owners of the neighbouring homestead have been asked not to feed any Ocelots tonight to increase our chances on our final attempt to see the small cats.

Our driver bets out of the jeep and picks up a bucket with bits of fish. He goes to the cleaning station, turns on some lights, and starts pretending that he's cleaning fish. With our photographic equipment ready to go we are all waiting with bated breath: Will it work tonight?

For a while nothing happens. Then Octavio says, very softly: It is there - I can hear it, and by listening very carefully we can hear soft calls. We have attracted a female Ocelot. It stays in the forest at first, but becomes bolder as bits of fish are thrown in its direction. Apparently there are several different animals that sometimes frequent the various feeding stations. They don't seem to be dependent on getting fish here, since they don't always turn up, and any one individual might not be seen for weeks at a time.

We begin to take pictures, and as we are all very quiet and move slowly, the animal gains confidence and eventually seems to completely ignore us, coming right out in the open. It's fully dark now, and the mosquitoes have arrived as well. As a grand finale Octavio suggests luring the animal back into the forest to take photographs of it among the trees. I haven't brought a big flash for my camera, so I have stopped taking pictures some time ago, but I do go along to extend the time I'm allowed to watch this small predator. It is a beautiful animal, and it certainly shows it has its own head by refusing to jump onto the branch it's meant to jump on.

Eventually the Ocelot vanishes back into the forest, and elated we return to our jeep and make back for the pousada. Our spotlight again finds a Giant Anteater, quite close, and more pictures are taken by those suitably equipped.

But this isn't the end of the day: At dinner, a Crab-eating Fox patrols the area where the birds were fed this morning, and an armadillo emerges from its burrow onto the lawn outside the terrace. After a full first day in the Pantanal we fall into our beds, very happy with what we have experienced. Pousada Aguape has certainly delivered!

Jabiru
Nacunda Nightjar
ditto
Ocelot
ditto

]Andrea

Nice report & photos, Andrea. Another must see place added to the ever expanding target list!

Very cool shot of the Purpletuft, not an easy bird to photograph.

Thanks for the positive feedback! It is always nice to hear that people are enjoying the report and like the idea of visiting the location themselves.

We had one more morning at Aguape, and some of us went for an early breakfast followed by a morning drive while others elected to go for a lie-in. The highlight was a Southern Tamandua that allowed us to get out of the car and approach it, and daylight view of Crab-eating Fox.

We were still finding new birds, such as the only Muscovy Duck of the trip, Red-legged Seriema, and quite a few new parrots in the form of the only Blue-and-Yellow Macaws of the trip (in flight), Turquoise-fronted Amazon as well as Blue-crowned, Blaze-winged and Yellow-chevroned Parakeet. A Roadside and a Savanna Hawk allowed their pictures to be taken and a Crane Hawk flew by. We found a Great Rufous Woodcreeper which frustratingly evaded my camera. We found another White-Rumped Monjita, which we'd also seen on the previous day and wouldn't see again.

Next point on the programme was a transfer to our next destination - by small plane. Octavio told us that one of his client had once insisted on doing this transfer by road and it took something like eight hours, with gazillions of gates to be opened and closed.

Turquoise-fronted Amazon
Blaze-winged Parakeet
Savanna Hawk
Southern Tamandua
Crab-Eating Fox

Andrea

The plane was late, and so Octavio and I went for another walk to see whether we could find any new birds. A Lineated Woodpecker, in a tree hole, and a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl were the rewards. The latter was sitting on a fence post, and let me approach ridiculously close to take its portrait - it clearly wasn't at all stressed by people being around!

Then the plane did arrive and we flew around 15 minutes or so to Fazenda Barranco Alto, which is fairly well known among wildlife enthusiast. We were welcomed with very refreshing, slightly diluted fruit juice and sat down under the huge mango tree that provided shade in front of the guest quarters.

We heard that it was very warm for the time of year, and we could only agree with that assessment as the temperatures rose through the lunch period. When it is this hot there are no afternoon activities until 15.30 or so, and it really was very quiet on those days when I did brave the mid-day heat. Siesta it was again before we left on our first jeep drive.

First stop was a pair of Burrowing Owls - how appropriate to be greeted by another member of that order! But when the guys with the big lenses got out of the car they were very quickly left without a subject to photograph, so on we went, seeing Greater Rheas close by.

The many lakes gave us a number of birds that like water, such as Great and Snowy Egret, the only Whistling Heron of the trip, Striated Heron, Smooth-billed Ani, Black Hawk, Rufescent Tiger Heron, Black-collared Hawk, Unicoloured Blackbird, but also Southern Screamer and Blue-throated Piping-Guan. Most of these were too distant to even try for photos. We also found a perched Common Potoo that had a lot of leaves in front of it.

A Southern Crested Caracara fighting with a very long stick provided general amusement, as it tried to bend, break, or otherwise get his chosen building material under control.

When nothing much was happening we chatted to our driver, a scientist carrying out work on anteaters, in particular Southern Tamandua. We were looking for mammals, and we asked her whether she couldn't get us a daylight sighting of a Giant Anteater, and she promised to do her best. She also told us about the yellow flowering trees, but I'm afraid I have forgotten most about it. Apaprently the period they are in flower is quite short.

What we found instead was the only Lowland Tapir of the trip. Unfortunately the animal was on the far side of one of the many lakes, and it was already in the process of leaving the water when we drew up. I ended up with one photo - but of course I didn't realize that this would be my only chance at this species.

As the sun was starting to set we found a pair of Bare-faced Currasows, and after dark Pauraques provided one last new bird as they were starting to feed.

Ferruginous Pygmy Owl
Burrowing Owls
Greater Rheas
Tapir
Tree

Andrea

Somebody kindly pointed out to me that the photo I attached as number four in post #7 is actually a Green-winged Saltator rather than the Flatbill claimed.

Andrea

A lovely report indeed - and pleased to see the day broken into digestible chunks with a few pix each time - otherwise S American trips reports can be a bit overwhelming.

There are some great shots too - could I ask what camera you were using.

Cheers
Mike

The next morning we set off on another drive at 6.30, to make the best of the period before it gets too hot. We stop whenever there's something to be seen, getting out of the vehicle if we find a photographic subject that's willing to put up with that.

We learn that Hyacinth Macaws have some kind of social gathering first thing at which they interact with each other and perform some kind of morning gymnastics, if the anthropomorphism may be allowed. We see a Jabiru nest with Monk Parakeet sub-letters, and we find a new parrot in the form of Peach-fronted Parakeet.

At a reedy pond we see Scarlet-headed Blackbirds and we try for photos, but the ground is very boggy and it's impossible to get close. Rusty-collared Seedeaters can be found at the same location, and I notice Lesser Kiskadees for the first time.

A Yellow-headed Caracara adds to the raptor tally, and we find a Red-legged Seriema still roosting in a tree - somehow one doesn't expect birds like that to sit in trees. A Southern Screamer is seen in the distance.

Other new birds are Yellow-chinned Spinetail and Grey-crested Cachalote, as well as White-headed Marsh Tyrant.

One of the many ponds is holds some waders, and we record White-backed Stilts, a Solitary Sandpiper and a group of Black Skimmers. A Pampas deer shows that there are a few mammals around, if only we can find them.

Another reedy pond holds a Snail Kite that flies up as we pass too close for comfort, and a group of Black Vultures near one of the ponds looks a bit incongruous just sitting there. One of my fellow travellers notices a Great Horned Owl, and we reverse to the gap in the trees which allowed him to spot it. The owl looks at us for a moment and then starts to groom itself.

The last 90 minutes of our drive are fairly quiet, and when we get back to the fazenda around 11,00 it's fairly warm again. We enjoy our cold fruit juice under the enormous mango tree and watch a Scale-headed Parrot eat one of the still decidedly unripe fruit. Some of them seem to fall down every day, and at lunch time a small herd of sheep arrives to eat them. This happens every day, it seems.

After lunch it's so hot that we're told there's no point to go out again before 15.30, and we all have a bit of a fiesta. Little do we expect that the afternoon has something special in store for us.

Thanks for the kind words, Mike. I must admit that I also find reports hard where there are long lists of birds, so I try to do this in a slightly different style. My camera is a Sony SLT, the A77 to be precise, with a 70-300mm zoom. Nothing that special. I like a camera that's a sensible compromise between portability and image quality, and for me that combo hits the spot.


Buff-necked Ibis
Yellow-headed Caracara
Black Skimmers
Scarlet-headed Blackbirds in typical habitat
Rusty-collared Seedeater

Andrea

And some Hyacinth Macaw morning gymnastics and interaction. We saw this several times, always relatively early in the morning.

It seems the secret to being allowed to observe this is to find the right tree for the day - they didn't seem to always use the same location. It was lovely to observe this! After 10 to 15 minutes they'd fly off, presumably to go about their daily business.

Andrea