Going Big in Brazil 2018 - A big trip in search of some of Brazil’s biggest beasts!

[kittykat23uk]

34 minutes ago, xelas said:

I will be looking forward to your next "seeking safari travel companieon" thread ; maybe your guiding services for my driving ones?!

 

Oooh yes! @xelas That would be a great team as I do not drive much. How about 2020 ? Next year I may already have stuff lined up... drop me a line sometime and we can make a plan

[Wildship]

Great photo's Jo. @xelas, Jo knows her wildlife and music.

 

 

[kittykat23uk]

Thanks Bob! I'm betting you got some nice shots too? 

[xelas]

3 hours ago, kittykat23uk said:

How about 2020 ?

Perfect timing, Jo. I will have 365 days to play with ! 

[kittykat23uk]

One night at BDP we had a visit from the giant armadillo project where they showed us the amazing camera trap images that they had collected outside the armadillo's burrow and at a local watering hole. Nearly all of Brazil's famous Pantanal cast were represented! We really appreciated the presentation and wished them all the best for their continued research. Gabriel later sent us a link to the Natural World documentary "Hotel Armadillo". Its available online but password protected. Please PM me if you would like the details. 

[kittykat23uk]

16 September 2018

 

It was sadly time to move on today to Barranco Alto. We were to be transferred by Rita in her open sided safari truck. This turned out to be NOT A GOOD PLAN. But before I get ahead of myself, our drive started fantastically well when Jane spotted some movement in a stand of spiky bushes. I immediately shouted out "its a Tamandua" and we all quickly piled out of the vehicle and rushed over to the little creature. The Tamandua seemed oblivious of us but was very obscured as it made it's way through this thick brush. Even so I was just absolutely delighted to see the cute little critter! 

 

P9161043 Southern Tamandua by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161062 Southern Tamandua by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Manoela graciously offered to scramble into the thick scrub behind the Tamandua and encourage it to climb a branch so it could be in view. The trick worked and the Tamandua casually made it's way up into a low fork of a bush where we were able to obtain decent views. 

 

P9161096 Southern Tamandua by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161106 Southern Tamandua by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

As we continued our drive, our luck ran out somewhat when the heavens opened and we were given the full on "Bohemian Rhapsody" experience. Thunderbolts and Lightning (very, very frightening) all around us, rain pissing down and drenching everything in sight, scrambling to protect camera gear from the torrential rain as we plodded along towards our eventual destination. The seats..got soaked, my bum...got soaked, everything got soaked! 

 

When the rain finally eased off, some wildlife came out. Crab-eating foxes:

 

P9161131 Crab-eating Fox by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161157 Crab-eating Fox by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161171 Crab-eating Fox by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161187 Crab-eating Fox by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161223 White-tailed Hawk by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161250 Snail Kite by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161255 Muscovy Duck by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161256 Muscovy Duck by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161274 Southern Screamer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161291 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161296 Brown-chested Martins by Jo Dale, on Flickr

[kittykat23uk]

Arriving at Barranco Alto lodge, we were greeted by the owners and the lovely Stefan who was to be our guide for the duration. @Atdahl has already waxed lyrical about his "bromance" with Stefan, so I shall not labour the point, except to say that it's all true and he is simply a delight to be around - he has such a relaxed appreciation of nature, I found his presence to be very calming. 

 

The lodge is set back from the river, a wide open lawn leads down to the backs, with copses of trees lining the river banks. We took some time to get settled in before lunch, changing out of wet clothes and warming up a bit. 

 

All the wildlife was trying to dry out too.

 

P9161353 Bare-Faced Curassow by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

I noticed something large moving in the lawn and vaulted over the perimeter fence to see what it was. Turned out to be a large tegu:

 

P9161364 Tegu by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

P9161382 Smooth-billed Ani by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161401 Smooth-billed Ani by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Since I was halfway to the river, I decided to carry on and see what was around. Caiman were common along the river banks.

 

P9161402 Yacare Caiman by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161409 Yacare Caiman by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161428 Pied Lapwing by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

The lapwing ran up to the top of the bank, giving good photo opportunities

P9161446 Pied Lapwing by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Less confiding was a Little Brown Job.

 

P9161453 Pale-breasted Spinetail by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161458 Pale-breasted Spinetail by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

As I carried on following the river, further birds revealed themselves.

 

P9161473 Green Ibis by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161484 Bare-faced Curassow by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161494 Amazon Kingfisher by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161506 Black-collared Hawk by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

I headed back as it was getting on for lunchtime. 

[kittykat23uk]

After lunch we had some down time before our game drive. So I went to look for armadillos which can be found a little way back along the road. I found a very confiding individual and spent a lot of time watching him sunbathe. 

 

P9161566 Six-banded Armadillo by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161573 Six-banded Armadillo by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161582 Six-banded Armadillo by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Six-banded Armadillo by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161630 Six-banded Armadillo by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161636 Six-banded Armadillo by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

When it was getting on for time to meet up for the game drive I had a wander back. 

P9161661 Green-barred woodpecker by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161680 Little Blue Heron by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161730 Little Blue Heron by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161751 Vermillion Flycatcher by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

[offshorebirder]

Some great photos in that last post @kittykat23uk - I especially like the 6B Armadillo portraits.

 

And congrats on the Tamandua - a wonderful sighting for sure!

Edited November 24, 2018 by offshorebirder

[Atdahl]

Well, it's too bad about getting soaked on the transfer to BA.  But, it sounds like it was worth it thanks to the Tamandua sighting.  Plus, I am sure all thoughts of cold and rain went away quickly when you saw Stefan's smiling face waiting for you at BA .

[SafariChick]

I will just add a few images from the times Jo has already written about. 

 

Giant Anteater close-up

 

 

Full tail fan

 

 

These burrowing owls are so darn cute

 

 

The Potoo's camouflage is so amazing - except those big yellow eyes kind of give it away!

 

 

The day we left Baia das Pedras, I was also very excited to see the tamandua on the way to Barranco Alto. I didn't manage to get as good shots as @kittykat23uk but I was happy to get anything considering how hidden this little one kept itself. 

 

 

 

I loved that for once a crab-eating fox stayed still long enough for me to get a decent shot!

 

 

 

 

 

a rear view of a little agouti 

 

 

Ok now I'm caught up to where Jo left off. In the afternoon, we went back out for a drive. We didn't see a lot -- on these afternoon drives it would get dark fairly soon since we would go out about 3;30 and it would get dark around 5 or 5:30 as I recall -- but we saw some nice birds and watched a bunch coming in to roost for the evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After it got dark, I managed to get these VERY artistically blurred photos of a crab-eating fox

 

 

 

and we all enjoyed seeing this boat-billed heron - don't think I'd ever seen one before

 

Edited November 25, 2018 by SafariChick

[kittykat23uk]

The afternoon drive also netted us our only Collared Peccaries of the trip along with a brief sighting of another Giant Anteater. Nether of these animals stayed long enough for photos. I was also stoked to see the boat-billed heron, one of my most wanted birds for this trip. 

 

P9161809 Campo Flicker by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161900 common pauraque by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9161916 Boat-billed Heron by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

I took a bit of footage of the egrets coming into roost.

 

We also found a little frog

 

P9161934 Frog by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

This artwork in our room was something else! 

 

20180916_142959 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

[kittykat23uk]

17 September 2018

 

Stephan had planned to take us on a boat trip, but the weather was already not looking too hopeful and by the time we actually got out on the river it was already starting to tip it down. So we quickly abandoned this idea and headed back to the vehicle store where we discussed what to do. The weather seemed set in for the duration so we decided to try and make the most of it by going for a drive using one of the enclosed vehicles. During the course of the drive we saw quite a few birds, crab-eating fox and Pampas Deer. The weather really didn't improve until after lunch. 

 

P9171960 Great Kiskadee by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9171999 Burrowing Owls by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

We drove around one of the lakes, the light was bad, but there were at least some birds..

 

P9172023 (2) Neotropical cormorant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172033 (2) Solitary Sandpiper by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172036 (2) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172060 Amazon Kingfisher by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172072 Ringed Kingfisher by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172108 Collared Plover by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172139 Greater Rhea by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Monk Parakeets make their homes in old Jabiru nests

 

P9172154 (2) Monk Parakeet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172174 Collared Plover by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172165 Collared Plover by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172196 (2) Double-collared Seedeater- female by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172210 Double-collared Seedeater by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172232 Nanday Parakeets by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172288 Least Grebe by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172294 Purple Gallinule by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172310 adj Red and Green Macaw by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172345 adj Red and Green Macaw by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

[kittykat23uk]

We carried on, further birds were to be found around the lake:

 

P9172393 Roseate Spoonbill by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172439 Little Blue Heron by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172453 Sayaca Tanager by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

After lunch there was the usual bit of free time before we headed out again. I passed the time with the birds. The cooks throw a bit of food out the back door for the birds and peccaries. 

 

P9172492 Crested Oropendola by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172503 (2)  Yellow-headed Vulture by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172557 White-lipped Peccary by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172572 Yellow-faced Amazon (parrot) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172582 White-lipped Peccary by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

I chased some hummers around for a while

 

P9172586 adj Glittering-Bellied Emerald Hummingbird by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172587 adj Glittering-Bellied Emerald Hummingbird by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172588 adj Glittering-Bellied Emerald Hummingbird by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172618 Rufous Cachalote by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

The rain had stopped and we were able to go for a drive. First we encountered a Grey Brocket Deer that was busily scent-marking his territory. 

 

P9172667 Grey Brocket Deer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172685 Grey Brocket Deer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Then we spent some time with a flock of about 1/2 a dozen red and green macaws that were feeding in a tree. 

 

P9172699 Red and Green Macaw by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

We were delighted to find another Giant Anteater that lingered long enough in the open for us to approach.  

 

P9172782 Giant Anteater by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172791 Giant Anteater by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172804 Giant Anteater by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172809 Giant Anteater by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9172815 Giant Anteater by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

On our way back, a tapeti scampered across the track but dived into cover that was too thick to get any kind of decent image. Finally, another six-banded armadillo was seen.

 

P9172847 Six-banded Armadillo by Jo Dale, on Flickr

[SafariChick]

I will add a few photos from 17th September as well.

 

The Great Kiskadee greeted us on the boat

 

 

Swimming capybara from the short time we were in the boat:

 

 

Breakfast!

 

 

Turquoise-fronted Amazon

 

 

 

I like the Giant Anteater's jaunty gait here

 

 

and one more Anteater for good measure

 

Edited November 25, 2018 by SafariChick

[kittykat23uk]

Here's a video of the giant anteater.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS2gxDwkd5c&feature=youtu.be

 

We also saw another one after the Tapeti, which I had forgotten about until I checked my photos. I didn't get any good shots of that one though. and I think we also saw a third, brief one earlier in the evening (Hard to recall as we saw so many!). 

 

If you are of a certain age you may have come across the character known as the "Crazy Frog".  This has it's origins "in 1997, when a 17-year-old Gothenburg student Daniel Malmedahl recorded himself imitating the noises produced by a two stroke engine. He posted this on a website and caught the attention of a Swedish television researcher, who convinced Daniel to perform the sound live on air. After it debuted on television, recordings of his performance began appearing on file sharing networks and various websites under the filename "2TAKTARE.MP3" ("Tvåtaktare" is Swedish for "two stroker").

 

The sound was adopted as the sound of a Formula One car as early as 2001 in the form of "Deng Deng Form" and later "The Insanity Test" both of which were a static background of a Ferrari Formula One car accompanied by the sound (and I still can't watch this without falling around in stitches!).

 

In late 2003, another Swede, Erik Wernquist, encountered the sound effect and, not knowing about the previous incarnations of the sound, was inspired to create the 3D animated character he named "The Annoying Thing" to accompany it. 

 

The animation received attention through filesharing and word of mouth, and when Ringtone Europe and Jamster België (now both merged into Jamba!) got wind of this, realizing the monetary possibilities through capitalizing on the underground cult-status they licensed the rights to the creation, renaming it "Crazy Frog" and starting to market it in mid-2004".- Source Wikipedia.

 

The Crazy Frog has to be one of the most annoying things of the early 2000s, being used for ringtones advertised extensively on music video channels and eventually spawning it's own pop hits.

 

And so it was with great amusement to me that the frogs in Brazil seem to have themselves perfected the sound of Formula One cars. Which you can hopefully enjoy courtesy of this recording that I made.

 

 

  

Edited November 25, 2018 by kittykat23uk

[SafariChick]

ha ha yes @kittykat23uk the frog recording works great!

[SafariChick]

18th of September

 

On this morning, we had decided we would do a boat ride and leave very early, bringing breakfast with us to eat on an island out on the river.  

 

It was amazing to be the only ones out on the river and hearing the abundance of birdlife as they woke up for the morning. Here's a video showing some of the birds but mainly for the sound of them. Oh and there is a caiman or two in there as well! 

 

 

Some birds we saw along the way:

 

I have down that this is a ringed kingfisher but I am not sure, it looks so blue?

 

 

Yellow-billed Cardinal

 

 

Bare-faced Curassow

 

 

After a little while, Stefan pulled the boat over to the bank. @kittykat23uk had told him she was keen to see Motmot. Manoela at Baia das Pedras had told us to ask Stefan about a certain trail where they were sometimes seen so she had. This was the trail. So we got out and, after pausing for a few minutes to enable Christa and Herbert to have a cigarette in a more open area  (the trail was quite narrow),  we started walking. It was not long at all until we found one! It seemed we were quite lucky as they are not necessarily that easy to find so quickly or see so well. I was quite pleased with the photo I got and I'm sure Jo has good ones!

 

 

At some point we stopped for breakfast and I believe that was when we had a fairly brief river otter sighting but my photos are not good - hoping Jo has better ones to post! To be continued in next post.

 

[SafariChick]

Some more photos from the morning on the river:

 

Rufous-tailed Jacamer:

 

 

The peaceful river:

 

 

Capped Heron:

 

 

Cute capybara family

 

 

 

Rufous-tailed Jacamer:

 

 

Ringed Kingfisher with breakfastI especially like this one - check out the teeth on the fish!

 

Black and white tegu

 

 

It was a lovely morning.

Edited November 26, 2018 by SafariChick

[kittykat23uk]

Not being one to sleep in, I awoke early and went for a walk. The mist produced a beautifully atmospheric sunrise

 

20180918_055028 Sunrise by Jo Dale, on Flickr 

 

View from the boat trip. 

 

20180918_090535 River cruise by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

I was delighted to see the Blue-crowned Motmot- one of my most-wanted birds of the trip. Such a stunning bird!

 

P9180081 Blue-crowned Motmot by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180098 adj Blue-crowned Motmot by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180100 adj Blue-crowned Motmot by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

It would have been nice if this Sungrebe had got out of the water to show if his stripy feet! Sadly it didn't..

P9180160 Sungrebe by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Thankfully the sun was out for our boat trip this morning. It was a lovely way to spend a morning. 

 

P9180169 Capybara by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180178 Capped Heron by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

On an Island, Black skimmers were breeding

 

P9180221 Black Skimmer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180223 Black Skimmer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180246 Yacare Caiman by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180299 Capybara by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

We were entertained by this skimmer taking offence at a capybara getting too close it its nest. 

 

P9180312 Black Skimmer telling capybafra to move away from its nest by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Rufous-tailed Jacamars are also one of my favourite birds, I'm a sucker for anything bold and colourful.

 

P9180339 Rufous-tailed Jacamar by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180347 Rufous-tailed Jacamar by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180353 Rufous-tailed Jacamar by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

A Ringed Kingfisher seemed to have caught a fish too big to swallow here:

 

P9180359 Ringed Kingfisher & Prey by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180379 Tegu by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180383 Tegu by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180408 Black Skimmers by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180409 Black Skimmers by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

I did take a photo of a neotropical otter but to be honest we had a much better sighting later on in the trip so I'll hold off posting that for now.

Edited November 26, 2018 by kittykat23uk
added sunrise shots

[kittykat23uk]

We took a drive in the afternoon and what a drive it turned out to be! We started with some birds as usual around the lakes.

 

P9180420 Nanday Parakeet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180427 Greater Rhea by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180437  Red and Green Macaw by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180446 Red and Green Macaw by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Surprisingly there were no anteaters around and we were starting to think that this drive wouldn't be much cop. Okay maybe we had been spoiled by the amount of anteaters we'd seen already, but it was hard to believe we were not going to see one this evening. But Nature had a more precious gem in store for us this night. 

 

P9180452 Roadside Hawk by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180458 Lineated Woodpecker by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180507 Scarlet-headed blackbird by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180510 Plumbeous Ibis by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

We stopped for sundowners at one of the lakes. Egrets once again were coming to roost. 

P9180521 Egrets roosting by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

[kittykat23uk]

The sun started to set and a myriad of colours played out in the evening sky, getting more and more intense with each minute that passed. 

 

20180918_170507 Sunset by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

It was absolutely stunning:

 

20180918_174953 Sunset by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

The sky looked like it was on fire:

 

20180918_175123 Sunset by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

We lingered longer than usual for a sundowner, (although that's a loose term in my case as the only alcohol on offer was beer, which I don't drink. I mean what's a girl got to do to get a decent drink around here?!) whilst the light show slowly dissipated into an inky blackness. 

 

Once the show was over we moved on, spotlighting as we went. At the edge of the beam on the edge of a fence line we spotted three shadowy shapes, they seemed quite uniform in colour initially I thought they must just be deer. But Stefan took time to critique their movement carefully, and then uttering in that soft understated tone he has the words we hoped to hear, "it's pumas guys!"  

 

So then, all hell broke loose! Stefan instructed our driver to drive quickly a short distance to head the cats off at a gap in the boundary. Sure enough, it was the right decision as we were then perfectly placed as first one of the cubs, then the mother and finally the second cub crossed the only gap in the bushes where we could get a clear view. The second young cub stopped briefly to glance into the spotlight, before it followed it's mum off along the boundary, where we had no means to follow.

 

P9180535 Puma by Jo Dale, on Flickr 

 

P9180541 adj copy Puma Cub by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180542 adj copy Puma Cub by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

We felt so privileged! This was just the second time this year that Stefan had seen a puma!   We had of course chosen to come to Barranco Alto for the chance of Puma as we knew that other safaritalk members such as @Atravelynn got lucky here too, but they are by no means a sure thing here so we were incredibly lucky and to see two cubs too! That was so amazing!

 

But even then on such a massive high the drive wasn't quite over yet, we saw a Great Potoo

 

P9180552 Great Potoo by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

and finally I spotted a long tail merging from a bush, at first I thought it was an armadillo but it turned out to be another Southern Tamadua! 

 

P9180569 Southern Tamandua by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180575 Southern Tamandua by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P9180579 Southern Tamandua by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Just Awesome! 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2018 by kittykat23uk

[SafariChick]

We really were just ecstatic about the pumas! We were talking about them hopefully the whole trip, but to actually see them was just breathtaking! And I'm so thrilled Jo got some shots as I tried and failed miserably!

 

I will just add a few other photos from the evening drive:

 

One of my few halfway decent photos of Toco Toucan:

 

 

Blue-crowned Parakeet

 

 

Some more sunset photos:

 

 

 

 

 

[SafariChick]

Here is a short video I took of the red and green Macaws in the tree - there were quite a few of them at once.

 

 

[Atdahl]

Wow, what a great day.  Congrats on the puma sighting!  That must have been a huge thrill.  Stefan didn't find one of those for us so maybe the "bromance" is over .   Nah...just kidding Stefan!