We had our first day out properly birding since we arrived in Maceio. We headed out with Herminio, his girlfriend and another of his friends who works as a bird guide. Our destination was a large coastal water body surrounded by mangroves to the south of the city. Our guide had arranged with local fishermen to be taken round the mangroves in their small boats, which provided us with our best opportunity to find our main target, the Rufous Crab-Hawk.
No sooner had we travelled through the mangroves and into the main body of water did we find an adult Crab-Hawk perched up against the sky. For the first time since we arrived in the city it had rained overnight, which meant dull light and overcast skies, not ideal for photos. Still, the bird was stunning to look at from our boat. We also found a juvenile as we carried on round the water, which was a bit closer and showed quite nicely, often vocalizing as well.
There were other good birds in the mangroves. Another new species for me was Yellow-crowned Night Heron which we flushed from its roost on the edge of the mangroves. We also had an Osprey, a small number of Orange-winged Parrots and a few Bicoloured Conebill, the latter being another mangrove specialist. After a few hours out on the boat we took some time to explore the woodlands adjacent to the mangroves, and here we also enjoyed some excellent birding. There was another new species for me with Blue-chinned Sapphire, with two individuals kissing flowers next to the path. We also managed to find Pectoral Sparrow and Southern White-fringed Antwren to our day-lists. As we were leaving there was another patch of more mature woodland and here we found our first Amazonian Motmot of our time in the northeast. This is an endemic subspecies that certainly has credentials for being a species in its own right at some point in the future.
It was now nearly midday so we made our way back to Maceio, but very slowly calling off at a number of mangrove sites along the way. Our first stop was just a small pool adjacent to our lunchtime restaurant, where there was nothing of note, but our second stop was a nice mangrove river. Although it was busy with recreational disturbance there were still a few birds, including a nice Little Blue Heron and a Limpkin feeding in the mud. We also stopped off at a beach, but it was too busy for birds, although we could see a Green Sea Turtle out beyond the breakers, occasionally surfacing.
Once we returned to Maceio we did a little birding on the beach and in the adjacent fishing marina. The beach was quite productive as we were able to find two Grey-headed Gulls, which were a lifer for our guide, and only the third record for the state of Alagoas. The fishing marina was also nice, with a small group of Semipalmated Plover. There were also hundreds of terns flying around, but frustratingly all directly into the light and it was impossible to identify the species, leaving us to just enjoy the spectacle.
Barra de São Miguel: Ruddy Ground Dove, Scaled Dove, White-tipped Dove, Smooth-billed Ani, Squirrel Cuckoo, Blue-chinned Sapphire, Reddish Hermit, Amazonian Motmot, Grey-cowled Wood Rail, Southern Lapwing, Spotted Sandpiper, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Western Cattle Egret, Striated Heron, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Western Osprey, Rufous Crab Hawk, Roadside Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk, Ringed Kingfisher, Amazon Kingfisher, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Golden-spangled Piculet, White Woodpecker, Little Woodpecker, Crested Caracara, Orange-winged Amazon, Red-shouldered Macaw, Southern White-fringed Antwren, Straight-billed Woodcreeper, White-winged Becard, Sepia-capped Flycatcher, Common Tody-Flycatcher, Ochre-lored Flatbill, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Short-crested Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Social Flycatcher, Streaked Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Chivi Vireo, Southern Rough-winged Swallow, Grey-breasted Martin, White-winged Swallow, House Wren, Moustached Wren, Pale-breasted Thrush, Purple-throated Euphonia, Pectoral Sparrow, Palm Tanager, Burnished-buff Tanager, Bicolored Conebill, Blue-black Grassquit,
Maceio: Feral Pigeon, Neotropical Palm Swift, Southern Lapwing, Semipalmated Plover, Grey-headed Gull, Great Egret, Western Cattle Egret, Crested Caracara, Masked Water Tyrant, Great Kiskadee, Social Flycatcher, Red-cowled Cardinal, Sayaca Tanager, Palm Tanager,
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