My first time in South America, I'm pretty excited. Landed a gig volunteering with a PhD student studying Helmeted Manakins in the Cerrado savannah just outside Brasilia. Having set off the previous evening from Manchester, with just a 12 hour wait in Lisbon (But did feature Spotless Starling!), followed by a nine hour flight to Brasilia, I finally arrived at my home for the next two months during the late afternoon.
Although I undertook no birding on my first day, driving around I picked up a few goodies, although likely that most of these will be common over the coming weeks. The standout from the first day was an awesome encounter with a Common Potoo which was hunting over the road not far from the accommodation. A pretty awesome chance encounter for the first day. During the evening we tried for some of the owls around our accommodation, and got very nice views of Tropical Screech Owl perched up in the trees around the field center.
Species List:
Brasilia: Southern Caracara, Southern Lapwing, Feral Pigeon, Tropical Screech Owl, Burrowing Owl, Common Potoo, Tropical Kingbird, House Sparrow,
Brazil Day 2 12.02.2019
My first full day in Brazil was as exciting as you would expect. We spent both the morning and the evening working in the field site, and in between I also had a wander around our accommodation. In the morning we worked through some thick gallery forest. We found a few Helmeted Manakins but no nests. There were plenty of nice birds to look through though; White-throated Spadebill, Rufous Gnateater and Crimson-crested Woodpecker were the standout birds.
-White-throated Spadebill
-Rufous Gnateater
-Crimson-crested Woodpecker
-Squirrel Cuckoo
In out break mid-day I had a wander around our accommodation and struck lucky with my most wanted bird for the trip; Aplomado Falcon. One came bombing over the fields hunting a flock of small parrots, giving them quite a fright, before flying over my head and off into the Cerrado. What an encounter!In the afternoon we headed out to a different location in the field site and began working a stream looking for Manakins. All else we saw was vastly eclipsed by two Capybara that were sat by the side of the road. I had no idea that these, the worlds largest rodents, were even in this area, I was buzzing after that encounter. The avian highlight was excellent views of Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper. On the way back the road was covered in nightjars but sadly our attempts to catch them fell short and I don't know which species they were.
-Capybara
Species List:
Brasilia: Brazilian Teal, Turkey Vulture, Plumbeous Kite, Roadside Hawk, Southern Caracara, Aplomado Falcon, Ruddy Ground-Dove, Picazuro Pigeon, Squirrel Cuckoo, Sick's Swift, Fork-tailed Palm-Swift, Ringed Kingfisher, Rufous-capped Motmot, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, White-wedged Piculet, Crimson-crested Woodpecker, Variable Antshrike, Rufous Gnateater, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Rufous Hornero, Ochre-cheeked Spinetail, Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper, Southern Antpipit, White-throated Spadebill, Piratic Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, White-throated Kingbird, Tropical Kingbird, Helmeted Manakin, Southern House-Wren, Bananaquit, Black-goggled Tanager, Gray-headed Tanager, Burnished-buff Tanager, Blue Dacnis, Guira Tanager, Saffron Finch, Blue-black Grassquit, Yellow-bellied Seedeater, White-bellied Warbler, House Sparrow,
Brazil Day 3 13.01.2019
Before breakfast I had a wander around our accommodation. There were a few nice new birds, but the obvious, beyond any doubt, highlight was of course Common Waxbill!
During the morning we spent some time working along a small stream. Although we failed to find any active Manakin nests we did find a few nice species of bird, including Black-goggled Tanager and my first Little Woodpecker.
The highlight of the day (really) came during our afternoon break. I was just moving some ringing poles to the car when I spotted a large mammal walking up the road. My immediate reaction was of some kind of weird dog, but this was almost immediately replaced by recognition that this was the Maned Wolf. Walking up the road. At three in the afternoon. Carrying a mango. To give an idea of how disgustingly jammy this was, the girl whose PhD I am helping with has been at the field centre for over a year and only seen the wolf twice (And one of those times was a three in the morning). I yelled over the other volunteers and we were all able to watch it saunter past us along the road. To say that this will take some beating for the trip highlight would be an understatement.
-Roadside Hawk
-Yellow-bellied Seedeater
-Maned Wolf
During the evening, everyone still buzzing from the wolf, we set up some mist-nets in the forest, before opening them just before dark. We caught a new green Helmeted Manakin, plus a White-wedged Piculette and a Gray-hooded Flycatcher. Between net rounds I wandered off and jammed into a Seven-banded Armadillo and we also had a Black-tufted Marmoset monkey visit us. Quite the day for mammals.
-Seven-banded Armadillo
On the drive back we once again saw many nightjars, and this time I got enough on them to confidently indetify them as Little Nightjar. What a day.Species List:
Brasilia: Turkey Vulture, Plumbeous Kite, Roadside Hawk, Southern Caracara, Ruddy Ground-Dove, Squirrel Cuckoo, Ringed Kingfisher, Rufous-capped Motmot, Blue-fronted Amazon Parrot, Little Woodpecker, White-wedged Piculet, Little Nightjar, Sooty-fronted Spinetail, Variable Antshrike, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Piratic Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Streaked Flycatcher, Gray-hooded Flycatcher. Helmeted Manakin, Bananaquit, Black-goggled Tanager, Blue Dacnis, Blue-black Grassquit, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Yellow-bellied Seedeater, House Sparrow, Common Waxbill, Maned Wolf, Black-tufted Marmoset, Seven-banded Armadillo,
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