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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JWN Andrewes" data-source="post: 438749" data-attributes="member: 7131">Cheers chaps, here's the balance of the trip, and I'll add species accounts when they're done.Day 9A second visit to the Cedae trail, with some great new birds - Black-throated Grosbeak singing from a tree-top, parties of Olive-green Tanagers foraging purposefully through the canopy, an Ochre-breasted Foilage-Gleaner in a mixed flock, and a soaring Mantled Hawk, turning in a pretty decent Cessna impression! But in spite of all these fine, Brazilian endemics the best bird of the day for me was a quite widespread species - Collared Forest Falcon, perched in a distant tree-top, my first Micrastur!Day 10In some ways the most frustrating day of the trip - partly due to the weather. The game plan was to visit an area of lowland forest near Rio - an extremely rare habitat - followed (after lunch) by searching for Restinga Antwren and then checking out some coastal marshes, maybe the beach for a bit of a seawatch. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the lowland forest area it was raining quite heavily, so it was decided to do the coastal stuff first. The marshes played host to White-cheeked Pintail (so weird seeing such an archetypal collection duck as wild birds!), Whistling Heron, Grassland Sparrow and a variety of waders, and at the coast there were Brown Boobies and South American Terns passing the beach. A foray into the rare Restinga habitat (a sort of sandy coastal desert strip close to Rio, being eaten up at an alarming rate by people building seaside homes) was primarily to see the endangered Restinga Antwren, which we did without too much difficulty but also gave us Crane Hawk and Hangnest Tody-Tyrant. So far so good. The dissappointment came after lunch when we returned to the lowland forest, full of anticipation. This patch of forest had survived because it is owned by a hotel, and the management had said they were quite happy to allow Andy to take parties of birders round the trails in search of such goodies as Elegant Mourner and Sooretama Slaty Antshrike. However, on our arrival at just before 2pm, we were told we only had till 3:20 before we had to leave! Well, we did our best, possibly got a couple of everso brief views of a calling Mourner, heard the Antshrike, and then had to leave, just as bird activity started to pick up after the mid-day lull! The only new birds I saw were Tropical Parula and White-winged Becard - I hate to think what we might have seen given a couple more hours - ah, well, way it goes. Day 11A visit to the High Altitude trail, the highest we'd been so far, with a chance of some new and very special birds. Chief among these was Swallow-tailed Cotinga, which was seen on a few occasions, perched in the tops of dead trees across the valley, with the best views of birds perched in a eucalyptus by the minibus when we returned to it at the end of the day! Other delights included skulkers like Mouse-coloured Tapaculo and Dusky-tailed Antbird, and showier specimens like Bay-chested Warbling-Finch and Diademed Tanager (a fine, fine bird). Again, amongst the endemic contingent there were a couple of widespread show-stealers - a Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper attending to its nest on a trailside bank, and an out of range (presumably newly arrived) Yellow warbler in amongst the Brassy-breasted Tanagers! (Well, we all like finding rarities, eh?)Days 12-14Quiet days spent winding down around the Lodge, with one trip back to the Cedae trail. Few new birds (Black-tailed Tityra, White-tailed Kite & Black Hawk-Eagle), but then little effort was expended - it was nice just to sit with a beer and watch the garden feeders!Days 15-17Chilling in Rio mostly, with Manx Shearwater added to the trip list on Copacabana beach! A visit to the botanical garden produced the hoped for Slaty-breasted Wood-Rails, as well as some tame Dusky-legged Guans. Last tick of the trip was also here - a party of White-eyed Parakeets, shrieking at a perched up Roadside Hawk. Then it's homeward bound, and after spending nearly three weeks being paranoid of being mugged for my optics, in a fit of travel-weary absent-mindedness I left my scope in the overhead baggage locker when we arrived to change flight in Paris! D'oh!! I'm still awaiting a reply from Air France if it's been found!So there you have it - 270 odd species, 189 ticks, 3 family ticks. I could certainly have seen more birds by travelling round more, but I'd rather not live out of a suitcase for two weeks, and it would also heve pushed the price up - this was a great way to re-acquaint myself with South American birding, after an absence of nearly twenty years (albeit with an intervening Costa Rica trip), and it was every bit as good, if not better rhan my expectations. I'll be back!My thanks go to the staff at Serra dos Tucanos for their friendly, efficient service, and to Andy and Cristina for a very well run and (more importantly!) bird rich operation.Jamespics - Maroon-bellied Conure and Versicoloured Emerald iat the Lodge, Channel-billed Toucan, Dusky-legged Guan & Slaty-breasted Wood-Rail in Rio Botanical Gardens.</blockquote>

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