Brazil with Bird's Wildlife & Nature - 8th June 2023
The Hyacinth Macaws left their roost in the Porto Jofree palms noisily and groups of
Shiny and Giant Cowbirds dispersed up river while hundreds of Egrets of all
shapes and sizes headed the same way.
There was just enough time to have a quick look at a dozing Great Horned
Owl in the gardens before our boat out onto the river. Five Black Skimmers (I may have whooped!) languidly bounded by and
the Pied Lapwings were on the beach again.
Black Skimmers
And so the water bourn search for the Jaguars began. The boats were all in touch with each other
but we sort of did our own thing and cruised up and down the channels watching
the various Herons including our first Boat-billed, Anhingas, Large Billed and
Yellow BilledTerns and Neotropic Cormorants.
A Green and Rufous Kingfisher was briefly seen and Blue-throated Piping Guans
moved back and forth along with gaudy Orange Backed Troupials and various
Parrots and Raptors.
Snowy Egret
Anhinga
Great White Egret
Jabiru
Cocoi Heron - they can can look quite Great Blue-ish at times
Cocoi Heron
The imposing Large Billed Tern
Large Billed Tern
Eventually the shout went up and off we went at speed! It
was exhilarating and at the end of it we had two immense male Jaguars lounging
in the shade of a riverside tree while the numerous small boats politely and
quietly took turns to move in for a good look.Both were sleepy but the bigger of the two watched us for a while before
laying back down again.Smiles all
round.
Jaguar
The second male
I do not think that any of us were prepared for just how
large these cats were with huge heads and massive paws. Every now and then you
would remember that you were bobbing around in a little boat just 20 meters
away looking like a floating smorgasbord of snack sized offerings.
With zzzz on the mind we left them to it and made out way
back for lunch feeling fortunate to have been so close to such magnificent wild
cats. The Yacare Caiman were exceptionally large on this stretch of river and we saw our first Black and Gold Howlers in a riverside tree. The females have the more appealing orange gold fur.
Black and Gold Howlers
Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture
Yacare Caiman
Yacare Caiman
One of several Black-collared Hawks
Black-collared Hawk
Bare-faced Curassow on the riverbank
Lunch and down time allowed better
views of the Great Horned Owl which had moved into a better position and Toco Toucans were
watched at eye level as they ate some Papaya. Clouds of Sulphur butterflies were coming down to the waters edge along with the most glammed up Skipper I have ever clapped eyes on.
Great Horned Owl
Toco Toucans
Mysoria barastus
Mysoria barastus - outrageous
Jabirus and Wood Storks walked amongst us and a White Woodpeckers were still around the palm trees while Grey Crested Cachalotes bathed by the quay for the boats!Wherever you looked there were birds…
Vermillion Flycatcher
Vermillion Flycatcher
Vermillion Flycatcher
Huge Bee nest
And above it the most extensive spider web I have ever seen...
Grey Crested Cachalotes
Wood Storks
Wood Storks
Snowy Egret
Great White Egret
Cocoi Heron
Our second evening boat trip turned out to be all the more
special and with no news we headed off further down river and we got incredibly
lucky with a female Jaguar swimming all the way across in front of our drifting
boat before casually hauling herself out of the water and disappearing into the
herbage.The sight of her getting bigger
in the viewfinder as we got closer was a little unnerving but having her all to
ourselves was a very special experience.
Jaguar
With our luck holding we opted to try another major
tributary and as we came around a corner a sandbar appeared and with it a cloud
of Black Skimmers and we spent some time in the golden hour with over 100 of
these fascinating birds squabbling and hunting around our boat with both Tern
species for company.
Black Skimmers with Large Billed Terns
Skimmers were very high on my most wanted list since I have been interested in birds and I can remember marvelling at them on the television in natural history programmes and even on Miami Vice with Laughing Gulls along the silver beaches!They were everything I could have hoped for and were, for me, one of the undoubted highlights of the whole adventure.
Large Billed Tern
Yellow Billed Terns - like chunky Little Terns
At this point a Giant River Otter crossed in front and we
followed it around the bend to discover a family party of seven of these
sinuous mega Otters hunting and playing in the lee of the bank, flashing those
sharp teeth and mottled underparts and chirrping all the time before a signal
sent the whole troop up under the bank into their den.
Giant River Otters
Jabirus
Surely it could not get any better?We headed back with the sunset illuminating the sky and with it came hunting Bat Falcons,Lesser Bulldog Bats, Band-tailed and Nacunda Nighthawks, raucous synchronised Hyacinth Macaws and a sky quite literally full of many thousands of Snail Kites pouring in from all directions.
Bat Falcon
Snail Kites
Essence of Hyacinth Macaws - it was very dark!
That night there was an immense emergence of Crickets across
the grounds and it was a struggle to keep them out of the rooms but I was
sensible early on and stuck a spare towel and a duvet across the bottom to
minimise orthopteran intrusions!The
noise was astonishing and little sleep was had but the Caracaras chose not to
go to sleep and opted for an all-night buffet.
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