Pedro´s Big New Year

[Dave Williams]

Very close to the 300 now Pedro!

I was surprised to see the various colour combination of White-headed Duck when I was in Spain , yours is a juvenile I think.

[Galana]

Both Nightjars in a single drive. Well done.

[xelas]

What a night drive, and what a splendid night photos!

[michael-ibk]

Very cool Pedro. 🙂

[PeterHG]

Two different nightjars, wow!

[Peter Connan]

Lovely shots of the Nightjars!

[pedro maia]

I´ve been to lazy to go aout and look for birds here, it´s clear that I´m not going to reach my goal for new species in Portugal, the only nice bird I saw during my Algarve vacation was this Bonelli eagle (actually it was in Alentejo, in the spot I go to look for Golden eagles, I hadn´t seen a Bonelli eagle for 2 years so I was quite happy to see this juvenile.

 

 

 

[pedro maia]

Anyway, this summer my wife wasn´t feeling like going on a wildlife trip, we had to decide on where to go for a week with our daughter, with the mess that was going on in airports we prefered a direct flight so the decision was to fly to Salvador, Bahia, and go to a place where we spent 3 days in 2013 before going to the Pantanal, that was Praia do Forte, it´s a beach destination, I´m not a huge fan of beaches but it´s quite a nice place, very safe which is important in Brazil, we would avoid the resorts and go to the very same and very good inn where we stayed on our previous visit, there´s nice food, lots of caipirinhas, the girls could get some sun in the pool and the beach and I had seen that there were some promising birding spots.

 

Praia do Forte isn´t just about the beach, there´s the Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica), a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and the Misiones Province of Argentina, where the region is known as Selva Misionera (taken from wikipedia).

 

The Atlantic Forest has several variations, right in Praia do Forte there´s the Restinga, in the Klaus Peters park, 5 minutes walking from our inn:

 

The bridge leading to the park with the Timeantube lagoon

 

 

Inside the park

 

 

I went there alone several times and never felt unsafe, once a lady warned me not to walk alone with the camera but truth is I didn´t have any problems, maybe I was just lucky.

 

A 10 minutes drive away from Praia do Forte there´s the Aruá forest, a proper forest, and there is the Aruá hostel, owned by Luciana and Coe, Coe would be my guide for a few mornings, a very nice guy and a great guide, he knows the forest like the palm of his hands and showed me lots of very cool birds.

 

https://www.facebook.com/aruaavesenatureza/

 

A couple of pictures of the forest:

 

 

 

Birding in the forest wasn´t easy for me, I struggled to see birds that were just in front of me, I struggled to photograph them before they took off and I also struggled with focusing and with the light, but still I had a great time birding over there and that´s what matters.

 

Coe in the Klaus Peters park

 

 

One of my main targets in the Aruá forest wasn´t a bird but a mammal I hadn´t seen before and was very keen to see, the Three-toed sloth which occurs there, and we saw quite a few, spotted by Coe, of course, a very cool animal:

 

 

And this one was as cool as it can be because it was a female carrying the smalest and cuttest baby sloth (pictures taken by my daughter):

 

 

 

 

How cool is that?

 

Before starting with the birds count (not a huge count but enough to make me happy) I must show another of the highlights of the Aruá forest, I had to take a photo of this creature, it flew by us and I thought it was a bat but no, it was a White witch, Thysania agrippina, one of the largest insects in the world with a 30cm wingspan (I never heard of this creature):

 

Edited September 12, 2022 by pedro maia

[pedro maia]

There are surprisingly few maritime birds in the area, I only saw one, the first in the count, it was one of my targets and wasn´t very hopeful of seeing it but I did, i saw two, both juveniles, one over Praia do Forte and this one in Mangue Seco, 2,5 hours north:

 

#1, Magnificent frigatebird (Fregata magnificens)

 

[pedro maia]

#2, Striated heron (Butorides striata)

 

 

Already seen in the Pantanal.

[pedro maia]

#3, Snowy egret (Egretta thula)

 

Already seen in the Pantanal and in the USA.

[pedro maia]

#4, Great egret (Ardea alba)

 

This one I can see it close to home.

[pedro maia]

#5, Lesser yellow-headed vulture (Cathartes burrovianus)

 

Only one sighting and also not a new species for me.

Edited September 12, 2022 by pedro maia

[pedro maia]

#6, Black vulture (Coragyps atratus)

 

Very common. I´m pretty sure I also saw the Turkey vulture but if I did I deleted the pictures, not a big deal but it won´t count. One of my targets was the King vulture and at some point I thought I saw one in the the middle of a Black vultures group but it was another raptor.

[pedro maia]

I knew I had it, not the best picture but it will count.

 

#7, Turkey vulture (Cathartes aura)

 

 

[Dave Williams]

I feel your frustration re the forest/woodland birding! I had the same in South Africa, you hear the birds but seeing them is a different matter all together.

We, like so many, have the same dilemma. Holidays that suit both ourselves and our partners.Not everyone wants a full on wildlife experience. I think a new topic is needed somewhere on the ST site @Game WardenPlaces to suit opposing needs! I have found a few to share.

 

[michael-ibk]

11 hours ago, pedro maia said:

Birding in the forest wasn´t easy for me, I struggled to see birds that were just in front of me, I struggled to photograph them before they took off and I also struggled with focusing and with the light, but still I had a great time birding over there and that´s what matters.

 

An excellent despription about the joys of tropical birding. 

 

Super-cool Sloth (baby!) sighting, and that Witch is pretty awesome as well.

[pedro maia]

#8, Double-toothed kite (Harpagus bidentatus)

male

 

female

 

This was a great sighting in the Aruá forest, male and female of this scarse small raptor together.

[pedro maia]

#9, Snail kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis

 

Only one sighting entering the Klaus Peters park, saw a few of these in the Pantanal.

Edited September 13, 2022 by pedro maia

[pedro maia]

#10, Short-tailed hawk (Buteo brachyurus)

 

The only sighting high above the road entering Imbassaí, a beach 10km north of Praia do Forte, it was flying in a group of black vultures so at first I thought it could be a king vulture, I was ok with the kite as it was a new species for me.

Edited September 13, 2022 by pedro maia

[pedro maia]

#11, Black-and-white hawk-eagle

 

This is my bid for EBC of the year, a beautifull and rare raptor seen at the Aruá forest but I couldn´t get a better picture, I think I saw another one in the Klaus Peters Park, flew past me very close but I didn´t even had a chance to lift the camera.

[pedro maia]

#12, Yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima)

 

A couple of sightings, I had seen one entering the Pantanal.

[pedro maia]

#13, Crested caracara (Caracara plancus)

 

 

Very common

[pedro maia]

#14, Roadside hawk (Rupornis magnirostris)

 

Another common raptor

[pedro maia]

#15, American kestrel (Falco sparverius)

 

 

I was very happy to see this one (there two actually) in Mague Seco as I had a brief glimpse of one in Cape Cod but with no chance to take a picture.