Tropical Birding tour report - Brazil June 2006
Our
Varig flight to BH was over an hour late, but fortunately there wasn't any
birding planned for the afternoon anyway. We drove an hour and a half to our
hotel near the Serra de Cip?? mountain range and enjoyed a quiet night. Next
morning we drove to the mountain pass and started walking up. The grassy slopes
were interspersed with patches of dense scrub and rocky outcrops, a totally
different landscape to what we had before. The birds were totally different too,
and there were a lot fewer of them around. One of the first that we saw was a
beautiful endemic hummer called the Hyacinth Visorbearer. They turned out to be
pretty common, and later in the day we even found a female sitting on a nest.
Soon after we saw the first of several Gray-backed Tachuris, small endemic
flycatchers. A
male Rufous-winged Antshrike was also a nice find. Higher up we paused to look
at some Gray Monjitas and Yellow-rumped Marshbirds before searching in earnest
for our main quarry, the rare, endemic Cip?? Canastero. The wind had picked up
making it difficult, and we heard and glimpsed several before finally finding a
sheltered valley where we all enjoyed good views of this shy bird. After
lunch we birded some scrubby habitat lower down, where the highlight was a pair
of Cinereous Warbling-Finches, and the following morning, battling drizzle and
wind, we finally saw our last main target, a Pale-throated Serra-Finch, before
heading of to Cara??a.
Cara??a
is a private reserve surrounding an old monastery that has now been converted to
a lodge. The habitat is an odd mix of cerrado and montane Atlantic rainforest -
we concentrated mainly on the forested parts as we had seen most of the cerrado
birds in Cip??. The first afternoon was surprisingly active with lots of flocks,
but it was the Large-tailed Antshrike that came in almost close enough to touch
that really made the afternoon.
For
years the monks have put out chicken for the wild Maned Wolves that roam the
reserve, and even before we went for dinner we saw one lurking near the stairs
of the church. Apparently the wolves' dinner took precedence, as we had hardly
begun before a staff member announced that they were about to put the chicken
out. We raced down to grab cameras then sat an watched the beautiful beast come
in and timidly crunch up the pieces of chicken, bones and all.
Next
morning was absolutely fantastic - the birds seemed to be enjoying the warm,
sunny day and everywhere we looked there was something to see. A roadside flock
with confiding Serra and Black-capped Antwrens, Gray-eyed Greenlets, and others
kept us busy for a while, but they kept coming fast once we got inside the
forest with two more Large-tailed Antshrikes, a pair of Ochre-rumped Antbird,
and a White-breasted Tapaculo that tried unsuccessfully to hide from us in a
crack in a tree. Undoubtedly the highlight of the morning was the flock of at
least 14 Swallow-tailed Cotingas (photo right) that we found in a fruiting tree
right by the trail. The afternoon was slower, but we did manage to see a
Serra Tyrant-Manakin that caused some confusion, since the yellow in its crown
was totally hidden. |
