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

[kittykat23uk]

A trio of striking birds were these yellow-rumped marshbirds, twittering away about something or other:

 

PA050446 adj Yellow-rumped Marshbirds by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Aside from our early win with the opossum, the only other mammals we saw were pampas deer

 

PA050454 Pampas Deer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050466 Pampas Deer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050471 (2) Pampas Deer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Another little star of the cerrado is this smart Cock-tailed Tyrant. Being largely restricted to unmodified native, seasonally wet and dry grasslands, and endemic to the Cerrado biome of central South America, the Cock-tailed Tyrant is now considered globally threatened due to ongoing habitat destruction throughout much of its wide range. Although this tyrant is principally found in southern Brazil, there are also populations in northern and eastern Bolivia, and eastern Paraguay, and at least formerly the Cock-tailed Tyrant was known from extreme northeast Argentina, but there have been no records in the last-named country since the late 1970s. The species is heavily dependent on the protected areas network, and the Cock-tailed Tyrant remains locally common in some national parks and reserves. 

 

PA050488 adj Cock-tailed Tyrant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050728 adj Cock-tailed Tyrant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

The great birds kept on coming with cracking views of a White-eared Puffbird. The White-eared Puffbird still-hunts from mid-level perches in trees and shrubs, and will take a wide range of prey, from insects to reptiles to crabs. These birds have one of the most southerly distributions of any species of puffbird; there is some evidence that the southernmost populations of White-eared Puffbird are migratory.  White-eared Puffbirds have also been observed to lower their body temperatures and enter into torpor during cool weather.

 

PA050545 White-eared Puffbird by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

PA050568 Sooty Tyrannulet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050575 Eared Dove by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

We spotted a pretty Burrowing Night Snake Philodryas agassizii

 

PA050588 Snake by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050599 Snake by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050616 Snake by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Then Mari was on the trail of another special bird, the Brasília Tapaculo. A little skulker of a bird, discovered by Helmut Sick during biological surveys prior to the establishment of the modern-day capital of Brazil, Brasília, this tapaculo occurs in swampy gallery forest and dense streamside vegetation in the states of Goiás, Distrito Federal, and west Minas Gerais, all in central Brazil. The species seems to be mostly rare, occurring at low densities, but it can be locally common and is known from six protected areas. Nonetheless, the Brasilia Tapaculo is currently listed as Near Threatened according to IUCN criteria. It's a smart looking thing, when it dains to give you a decent view! 

 

PA050652 Brasilia Tapaculo by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

We also saw this lizard, but I haven't managed to identify him:

 

PA050660 Lizard sp by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050733 Lizard sp by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

This strange nest belongs to a bird called the Firewood Gatherer, I don't think it takes a genius to work out why it's called that:

 

PA050788 Firewood Gatherer nest by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Here's a pair, just starting out with their nest:

 

PA050678 Firewood Gatherer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050684 (2) Firewood Gatherer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050698 Firewood Gatherer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

The nest creates a well protected place in which to lay the eggs, the entrance actually corkscrews before arriving at the nest chamber, making it difficult for larger mammals to access the nest. After the nest have been used and finished with, various other species will use the old nests for their own purposes much in the same way secondary cavity nesters use old woodpecker holes. 

 

[kittykat23uk]

More different tanagers were to be found.

 

PA050793  adj White-rumped tanager by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050803 White-rumped Tanager by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050835 Flowers by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050838 A bee? by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Lots of termite mounds dotted the landscape and made great vantage points from which various birds surveyed their domain.. 

 

PA050826 Peach-fronted Parakeet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050853 adj Campo Flickers by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050871 Black-masked Finch by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050877 Southern Crested Caracara by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050882 Southern Crested Caracara by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050889 adj Sharp-tailed Tyrant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050908 Sharp-tailed Tyrant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

[Tom Kellie]

 

 

~ @kittykat23uk

 

What a neckline!

 

That's such an elegant...or should I say elongated...profile.

 

What would a Pale-vented Pigeon have to say  to a Pitta if they talked necklaces together?

 

Tom K.

[kittykat23uk]

PA050915 Flower by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050917 Burrowing Owl by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

We headed to the small village of São João Batista da Canastra, just two kilometres from the second gate of the National Park, where we had our lunch break in a nice little restaurant. 

 

PA050945 White-throated Kingbird by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050949 (2) Sayaca Tanager by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050960 adj Sayaca Tanager by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050971 Maroon-bellied Parakeet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Hummingbirds frequented the climbers in the pergola over the front of the property and after we had a lovely meal we then were invited to spend some time in the back garden observing the hummers coming to a feeder. Bananaquits were also present. 

 

PA051010 (2) Stripe-breasted Starthroat female by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA051063 Stripe-breasted Starthroat female by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA051088 Bananaquit by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA051110 Bananaquit by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA051135 (2) Fork-tailed Woodnymph by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA051148 Masked Water Tyrant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

[kittykat23uk]

After doing a spot of birding around the town, and a failed attempt to look for another species of toucan we carried on back up onto the plateaux. 

 

PA051157 adj Grey-necked Wood Rail by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA051181 Maroon-bellied Parakeet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA051207 Glittering-bellied Emerald by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA051210 Streamer-tailed Tyrant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA051223 Grey Monjita by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

We spent a bit of time around the waterfalls on the plateaux and this area was also a place that Mari tried to locate the most sought-after bird, Brazilian Merganser. Unfortunately the ducks proved elusive. But we did get a chance to photograph the falls. So I tried a bit of slow shutter work and got some nice results.

 

PA050422 Waterfall by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA050424 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

These falls make up the the small upper part of this waterfall.  It menaders calmly for a bit before the rivulet of the Rio São Francisco plunges 160 meters in straight over the top of the plateaux. It is the sixth highest waterfall in Brazil.

 

PA050430 Waterfall by Jo Dale, on Flickr 

 

As it got dark we stayed on the plateaux to spotlight, hoping that we might get a view of one of the park's 150 or so maned wolves. Sadly, the weather, low clearance of the vehicle and long grass made this quite difficult, with poor Mari hanging out of the window for dear life trying to shine the spotlight around. As a result we didn't see much of note. With the weather closing in, and stomachs rumbling, we called it a night. 

 

[kittykat23uk]

6 October 2018

 

We had a bit of a dilemma of what to do on our last day. Bob was desperate to see an anteater, and really the only chance for that would be to return to the plateaux. Christa and Herbert absolutely didn't want to go back to the plateaux and instead desired to see the lower section of the park. My choice, well I was curious to see more of the park, as the different habitat brought different birding prospects. But I was torn because I didn't want Bob to miss out on his chance for anteater, plus I still hoped for a final chance for the wolf. So we did the only thing that seemed reasonable for all concerned. We agreed to do the morning at the lower section and the afternoon at the top of the park. Given that anteaters seemed to be most active in the late afternoon, and birds in the morning we all agreed this was a fair compromise. 

 

As it happened, this was probably the best decision because the morning brought thick cloud on the plateaux and we would not have seen anything at all had we been up there early on.. 

 

I think it's fair to say that I was really the only one in our group that had the patience for birding as opposed to photographing birds, and Mari took delight in showing me what Canastra had to offer. Gabriel took the others off to look for capuchins whilst we tried to call up some special avian friends. 

 

PA061247 (2) Black-chested Buzzard-eagle by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

We were in some farmland near a babbling river and Mari was trying to find me one bird that I had expressed a strong desire to see. sadly, the murky morning really doesn't do this little gem of a hummingbird justice, but I was still stoked to see a Frilled Coquette!

 

PA061395 Frilled Coquette by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

PA061409 Female Purple-throated Euphonia by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

We caught up to the others by the stony beach and Herbert kindly  tired to herd a rather large and rather creepy-looking spider towards me! Err yeah! Not a fan Herbert!  No idea what species it is, so please don't ask..

 

PA061417 spider by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

I much preferred this butterfly:

 

PA061424 butterfly by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Having failed to locate any monkeys, we carried on birding..

 

PA061438 Boat-billed Flycatcher by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA061446 Short-crested flycatcher by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA061454 Butterfly by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Another mega bird that Mari found for me was the beautiful Helmeted Manakin. I had seen this species in the Pantanal with Julio on our first trip there and it was a real rarity for that area. This one played really hard to get and I had to persevere for some time to get any decent shots.

 

PA061486 Helmeted Mannakin by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

This is the view of the Casca D'anta the main waterfall. Unfortunately you can't drive to it, you have to hike, which we had nether the time, nor the inclination for! 

 

PA061496 Casca D'anta by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA061503 Plumbeous Kite by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA061543 Yellow-headed Caracara by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA061552 Yellow-headed Caracara by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

PA061556 Red-legged Seriema by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

It was now getting on for lunchtime and so we stopped off at CiRene's Restaurante just outside  São Roque de Minas for another delicious meal of fresh fish.

 

There was time for a bit of birding afterwards, parrots this time feeding on the fruiting trees in the grounds:

 

PA061578 White-eyed Parakeet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA061588 White-eyed Parakeet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

And a very tiny parrot..

 

PA061596 Blue-winged Parrotlet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA061603 Blue-winged Parrotlet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Then we headed back to drop Christa and Herbert off before our afternoon drive to the top of the plateaux as they felt like taking the afternoon off. 

 

Edited February 18, 2019 by kittykat23uk

[kittykat23uk]

PA060434 Serra do Canastra National Park by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA060441 Serra do Canastra National Park by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA060442 Serra do Canastra National Park by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

In the afternoon were were back at the top of the park looking for giant anteaters. First we saw a Fork-tailed Flycatcher.

 

PA061612 Fork-tailed Flycatcher by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Then Mari managed to spot a shambling shape in the long grass, it was a Giant Anteater! We were able to approach quite closely, I suggested to Bob that he go first since this was his only chance of seeing one on the trip. We were able to follow for a very brief time, until the wind suddenly changed and the anteater caught wind of us. He turned tail and galloped away! 

 

PA061619 Our last Giant Anteater Sighting by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

We spotted a few more birds, but the weather was quickly closing in so we didn't have long before we had to head back.

 

PA061629 Southern Crested Caracara by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA061634 Southern Crested Caracara by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PA061658 Interesting seed head by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

20181005_085854 Views of Canastra by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

20181006_170919 Views of Canastra by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

We had another enjoyable evening of live music, delicious food and Cuba libres at a local restaurant before we retired to bed. The next day it was raining, I think Brazil was crying over our departure. We had an uneventful drive back to the airport at Belo Horizonte. I didn't take any new pictures on our final morning. We dropped Christa and Herbert at Linx Confins and headed on to get our respective flights after saying our heartfelt goodbyes to our wonderful guiding team. 

 

 

 

 

[kittykat23uk]

So that is the end of the trip. 

 

Here is a link to the bird list- to be honest this is probably an under-recording as I wasn't all that disciplined where the birds were concerned!

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10Crs-RvTsm_rxalY36RPlMfKM9ATA8XYFtMnQEb02EA/edit?usp=sharing

 

I'll also do a mammal one and add this later. 

[Zubbie15]

Thanks for sharing the rest of your trip @kittykat23uk, a very nice look at an area I wasn’t familiar with.

[Kitsafari]

the gilt-edged tanager is splendid! such a gorgeous feathered creature. love that puffer and that cock tailed tyrant - what a cute tail!

 

but for me the highlight of your second section is definitely the maned wolf. the background and history that you related made it even more special. what a stunning canid. 

 

a big thank you to you and @safarichick for working onthis TR. I'm not likely to go to SA anytime soon, so seeing its wildlife through your eyes is very special for me. 

[Wildship]

Great job on the trip report and thanks for all the hard work setting up the trip. I had a wonderful time.

[SafariChick]

Glad Bob got to see his Giant Anteater!  It really was a great trip overall!

[kittykat23uk]

Thanks all 

 

Here is the mammal list, 33 mammals seen, and we didn't really get that deep into the bats:

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xNFMStMk0fGJSG-xGyehK9tI6MBdMobc4pX310r8eCE/edit?usp=sharing

 

Thanks @SafariChick and @Wildship I really enjoyed travelling with you both. @Wildship if you have any photos you'd like to add or any thoughts on your six nights feel free to add.

Edited February 24, 2019 by kittykat23uk