Tropical Birding - Trip Report BRAZIL: The Pantanal and Amazon, Aug-Sept 2017 A Tropical Birding SET DEPARTURE tour BRAZIL: THE PANTANAL & AMAZON 26 August-9 September 2017 TOUR LEADER: ANDRES VASQUEZ, Report and photos by Andres Vasquez www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] p.1 Tropical Birding - Trip Report BRAZIL: The Pantanal and Amazon, Aug-Sept 2017 On the previous page: Jaguar on top, Hyacinth Macaw center left, Band-tailed Manakin center, female Bare-faced Curassow center right, and Brazilian Tapir on bottom. This tour is just impossible to match when it comes to tropical South America, since it has absolutely everything people imagine when they think of the Neotropical lowland jungles. Once again multiple sightings of the mighty Jaguar adorned an impressive list of mammals and birds that included Fiery-tailed Awlbill, Agami Heron in gorgeous light, Zigzag Heron posing for photos, White-browed Hawk, Ornate Hawk-Eagle, about five Amazonian Umbrellabirds, Red-fan Parrot, Hyacinth Macaw, Red-legged Seriema, Black-girdled Barbet, the best views of Coal-crested Finch I have ever had, Tapajos Hermit, Greater Rhea, Southern Screamers, multiple Jabiru storks on nests, five New World kingfishers in one afternoon, tons of antbirds (among the favorites were Bare-eyed and Rufous-faced plus Black-spotted Bare-eye), Rose- breasted Chat, “Tapajos” Scythebill, Amazonian Pygmy-Owl at eye-level, Crested Owl, and Yellow-shouldered Grosbeak, lots of woodpeckers, jacamars, puffbirds, manakins, and toucans. When it comes to mammals, apart from the “big cat” (we saw four different jaguars), we scored 22 species, out of which the undisputed favorite were the Brazilian Tapirs; yes, plural, in fact we had 10 different sightings of at least 7 different individuals, twice a day in the Cristalino Reserve including an ultra-cute baby that walked behind its mom in front of a blind we were sitting at. Multiple sightings of Giant Otters, a horde of over 70 White-lipped Peccaries (photo above) that almost surrounded us, and a peaceful Southern Tamandua will also remain in our minds for a long while. www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] p.2 Tropical Birding - Trip Report BRAZIL: The Pantanal and Amazon, Aug-Sept 2017 Despite our great overall luck, fate played a bad prank on us since we could not see the Harpy Eagle that was sighted by another group from tower 1 in Cristalino while we were on tower 2, and we did not see it again the next day from tower 1 while it was being seen from tower 2 by the same other group of Brazilian photographers! It was all part of an unforgettable tour that took us through the dry and scrubby cerrado, the exuberant and lush Amazon rainforest and the vast and open Pantanal in almost 15 days of pleasant boat rides, enjoyable hikes, and a couple dust baths along the unique Transpantaneira Highway during roadside birding, occasionally walking over the famous wooden bridges that sometimes look like they are about to crumble under the car while crossing (photo below). AUGUST 27 AND 28: THE CERRADO HABITAT AROUND CHAPADA DOS GUIMARAES: After our arrival day (the 26th), the tour started with a pre-dawn departure from our hotel with packed breakfasts; this is required to get to the birding site right at dawn since the lack of shade on the scrubby cerrado means that the birds are most acrtive just after sunrise. This habitat holds lots of birds that we cannot find elsewhere in this tour and therefore it was key to take advantage of the two mornings that we had. Specialties found here included the loud White-rumped Tanagers and the more discrete Black-faced and White-banded Tanagers. Talking about key birds, we found one of the main targets of the area that comes in an unassuming form, the humble Chapada Flycatcher, a quite recently described species (2001). www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] p.3 Tropical Birding - Trip Report BRAZIL: The Pantanal and Amazon, Aug-Sept 2017 Other species recorded in the Cerrado include the sometimes difficult Red-shouldered Macaw perched and eating some fruit out of a tree, the always pleasant to see White-cheeked Puffbird, flight views of Red-and-green Macaw, Rufous- winged Antshrike, Rusty-backed Antwren, the striking male Red-crested Finch, the drab Plumbeous Seedeater, a couple Black-throated Saltators, Tawny-crowned Pygmy-Tyrant, and Pale-breasted Spinetail. The absolute favorite for the morning was the scarce and possibly nomadic Coal-crested Finch (photo above) which can be absent from the area for days and then fairly common other times. The first morning was superb for them, with various males that posed for pictures as you can see above. www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] p.4 Tropical Birding - Trip Report BRAZIL: The Pantanal and Amazon, Aug-Sept 2017 When the sun began to make the temperature rise in this open area, the birding turned really quiet; it was time to move on to a different ecosystem, gallery forest in a lush valley. The taller trees provide comforting shade, which keeps the birds be active until later. Birding along forested roads that cut through these woodlands, we found a whole new set of birds that are more typical of Amazonian secondary forests than the nearby cerrado. Visiting two different locations we managed to find very showy birds like Band-tailed Manakins, Amazonian Motmot, Blue-crowned Trogon, Rufous-tailed and Brown Jacamars, White-wedged Piculets, Yellow-tufted Woodpecker, Swallow Tanagers, Flavescent and Golden- crowned Warblers, Lettered Aracari, and the list goes on and on. Worth mentioning was the skittish Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper that required various visits to a stream plus a very responsive Helmeted Manakin (photo below) that allowed us approaching for pictures. We also visited a beautiful view point called Mirante Geodesico where we saw one of the favorite birds for a couple of the participants, the angry-looking Gray Monjita, plus the only Cliff Flycatcher, Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch, and Crested Black-Tyrants of the trip. We only have a little time to bird on the second morning in the cerrado before we departed towards the Cuiabá airport to take a flight towards the Amazon. It was well worth it for better views of some of the birds mentioned above. After lunch in the airport, we flew to Alta Floresta where we were received by the Cristalino Jungle Lodge staff, to take us to the wonderful lodge and start the Amazon portion of the trip. www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] p.5 Tropical Birding - Trip Report BRAZIL: The Pantanal and Amazon, Aug-Sept 2017 AUGUST 28 TO SEPTEMBER 2: THE AMAZON RAINFOREST AT CRISTALINO JUNGLE LODGE: after landing at Alta Floresta, we were transferred by van towards the edge of the Teles Pires River to catch the boats that take us to Cristalino. On that van ride we stopped a couple times for a targets like Point-tailed Palmcreeper, Sulphury Flycatcher, and Red-breasted Meadowlark, but in passing we also got Blue-and-yellow Macaws, Greater Yellow-headed Vulture, Turquoise Tanager, and a flock of migrating Fork-tailed Flycatchers. Once we got into the boat, we started seeing some of the typical river-side birds like Green Ibis, White-winged and White-banded Swallows, Ringed, Amazon and Green Kingfishers, a Capped Heron in gorgeous light (photo on next page) and, this is ridiculous to say but, the first of many Brazilian Tapirs (photo below). We actually saw two individuals that day and that was already incredible but we did not have any idea that every single day that we stayed in Cristalino we were going to see two individuals a day, and in locations quite apart from each other. We must have seen seven or eight different individuals including one baby tapir that was for sure one of the very best things I have ever seen in my life. It was impossible to photograph this cutie though as the mom and its baby were inside the very dark forest walking around us at first and then away from us; what an experience that was! Upon arrival at the lodge we were greeted by our local boat man, Sebastian, who was going to be with us during our stay. Together with him we did the planning for the next few days while the rest of the group enjoyed the last hour of daylight on their own just around the cabins. The following days we visited both canopy towers on two different mornings, the Serra trail that took us to a weird ecosystem that is an island of deciduous stunted forest in the middle of www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] p.6 Tropical Birding - Trip Report BRAZIL: The Pantanal and Amazon, Aug-Sept 2017 the Amazon, found only on top of hills, and the river islands on the Teles Pires River, plus we did various boat rides along the Cristalino River, and hiked a couple forest trails that hold, for instance, some bamboo specialties. Two afternoons we visited blinds inside forests where fresh water ponds attract various passerines out of which manakins and antbirds are the main prizes. I will describe in the next pages the birding done on each of these main sites but not in chronological order. The Canopy Towers: having the chance to see the canopy of the Amazon rainforest from the tall towers of Cristalino is not only a pleasure but also a privilege. Much of the wildlife interactions in the Amazon occur in the canopy, given the food availability and light; this makes it imperative to bird from a tower.