Mitu Updates? (1 Viewer)

cajanuma said:

Hi Alan and Filip,

We managed to see them all so they weren't too difficult. I would think the antbird is the hardest: the only known site is on the Cano Carbon trail and we tried on a couple of occasions at what I guessed was the right spot to no avail. I called Jurgen Beckers on our last evening and he explained where the correct site was - he had only heard it there once, his only record - and on our last morning a female responded to a brief bout of playback, coming in close for good looks and calling (http://www.xeno-canto.org/166806). I suspect we were rather lucky. I'm sure it's more widespread in the very specific habitat they like (see the habitat photo in this paper: https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/wilson/v111n02/p0195-p0209.pdf), the problem is finding more sites with that habitat. PM for more precise directions.

The softtail and the chat were both on the Matraca trail as detailed in the birdfinding guide. They happened to be in the exact same spot about 1km down the trail. The chat was vocal on both days we spent on the trail (http://www.xeno-canto.org/166936), the softtail was more of a chance encounter. However, in Jurgen's experience the softtail is more common, and I would think that by spending enough time on the Matraca trail your chances would be very good. We did not have recordings of it as none are available on xeno-canto, but if you could get your hands on one then your chances would be even better.

Capuchinbird is fairly common along the Cano Carbon trail near Sabanitas, and is vocal until mid-morning and again in the late afternoon. A local guide is mandatory along this trail as it is indigenous land. Alvaro, the head of the Sabanitas community who guided us, does not know much about birds but he does know the Capuchinbird ('pajaro toro') so he is helpful in that regard.

Keep in mind that the above applies to February, which is in the dry season. Many of the good birding sites are apparently flooded in the wet season and inaccessible, I don't know whether water levels are low enough in October to allow access to the best sites.

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cajanuma said:

Hi Alan and Filip,

We managed to see them all so they weren't too difficult. I would think the antbird is the hardest: the only known site is on the Cano Carbon trail and we tried on a couple of occasions at what I guessed was the right spot to no avail. I called Jurgen Beckers on our last evening and he explained where the correct site was - he had only heard it there once, his only record - and on our last morning a female responded to a brief bout of playback, coming in close for good looks and calling (http://www.xeno-canto.org/166806). I suspect we were rather lucky. I'm sure it's more widespread in the very specific habitat they like (see the habitat photo in this paper: https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/wilson/v111n02/p0195-p0209.pdf), the problem is finding more sites with that habitat. PM for more precise directions.

The softtail and the chat were both on the Matraca trail as detailed in the birdfinding guide. They happened to be in the exact same spot about 1km down the trail. The chat was vocal on both days we spent on the trail (http://www.xeno-canto.org/166936), the softtail was more of a chance encounter. However, in Jurgen's experience the softtail is more common, and I would think that by spending enough time on the Matraca trail your chances would be very good. We did not have recordings of it as none are available on xeno-canto, but if you could get your hands on one then your chances would be even better.

Capuchinbird is fairly common along the Cano Carbon trail near Sabanitas, and is vocal until mid-morning and again in the late afternoon. A local guide is mandatory along this trail as it is indigenous land. Alvaro, the head of the Sabanitas community who guided us, does not know much about birds but he does know the Capuchinbird ('pajaro toro') so he is helpful in that regard.

Keep in mind that the above applies to February, which is in the dry season. Many of the good birding sites are apparently flooded in the wet season and inaccessible, I don't know whether water levels are low enough in October to allow access to the best sites.

Click to expand...

cajanuma said:

the softtail was more of a chance encounter. However, in Jurgen's experience the softtail is more common, and I would think that by spending enough time on the Matraca trail your chances would be very good. We did not have recordings of it as none are available on xeno-canto

Click to expand...

cajanuma said:

As of today this is no longer true! http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Thripophaga-cherriei

And for Alan, we also had Black-bellied Thorntail at Inirida, though as with Mitu I think its more a matter of finding a good flowering Inga tree than of any specific spot

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