We had hoped to put yesterdays unfortunate bad luck behind us, but alas, it wasn’t done with us yet. We had hired a guide for the day to help us find one of the most important targets of our entire time in Brazil; the Bahia Tapaculo. We discovered that our guide actually feeds two different individuals with mealworms, and that we knew of others. Therefore it seemed a sure thing that we would see the bird at some point. Alas, we tried to find three different individuals and drew a blank at each point. We couldn’t believe our luck! In the end though we decided to shell out for another day with the guide, so that we had access to his feeders and hopefully see this bird.
We also
dipped another bird he had coming to feeders, the Grey-breasted Crake. This was
the first bird we tried during the day, and when that failed to show we should
have seen the tapaculo dip incoming. That is not to say that we did not have a
good days birding. Probably the highlight of the day was an unbelievable
encounter with a low-flying Black Hawk-Eagle that soared right over us. I have
only seen this outrageous bird once before and never like this. There were also
two new birds for me with White-capped Manakin and Thrush-like Wren, both
showing very nicely.
And then,
our final stop was a feeding station for Russet-crowned Crake. It took some
time and there was a point where we thought the bird wasn’t going to show at
all, but in the end the bird did arrive and put on a performance. We got
excellent views as it fed on mealworms before scurrying back into the
undergrowth. A fine way to end what had been a rather unfortunate day.
Hopefully we can set the record straight tomorrow.
Species List:
Itacare: Pale-vented Pigeon, Ruddy Ground Dove, Scaled Dove, Striped Cuckoo, Squirrel Cuckoo, Grey-rumped Swift, Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift, Rufous-breasted Hermit, Swallow-tailed Hummingbird, Russet-crowned Crake, Southern Lapwing, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Black Hawk-Eagle, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Yellow-fronted Woodpecker, Red-stained Woodpecker, Crested Caracara, Laughing Falcon, Cobalt-rumped Parrotlet, Sooretama Slaty Antshrike, Silvery-flanked Antwren, Rufous-margined Antwren, Scaled Antbird, Plain-winged Woodcreeper, White-eyed Foliage-gleaner, Striated Softtail, Spix's Spinetail, Sooty-fronted Spinetail, Blue-backed Manakin, Kinglet Manakin, White-crowned Manakin, Red-headed Manakin, Screaming Piha, Bare-throated Bellbird, Brown-winged Schiffornis, Eared Pygmy Tyrant, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Masked Water Tyrant, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Social Flycatcher, Piratic Flycatcher, Variegated Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Black-capped Donacobius, Southern Rough-winged Swallow, Trilling Gnatwren, Thrush-like Wren, Moustached Wren, House Sparrow, Purple-throated Euphonia, Violaceous Euphonia, Campo Troupial, Yellow-green Grosbeak, Brazilian Tanager, Palm Tanager, Burnished-buff Tanager, Opal-rumped Tanager, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Saffron Finch, Yellow-bellied Seedeater, White-throated Seedeater, Buff-throated Saltator,
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