We took the morning away from the local sites around Itatiba to head over to the neighbouring municipality of Bragança Paulista. An area of marsh to the north of the city had been producing some rarer species of Sporophila seedeaters, and we decided to make the short 1-hour journey to see if we could cash in on this opportunity.
The area
was little more than a marshy field with a few small ponds and patches of
tussock, but it right from the off it was clearly lively with Grassland Yellow
Finch flying all around us, Pampa Finch in the taller grasses and a very smart
pair of Streamer-tailed Tyrant showing exceptionally well on the wires next to
us.
We first
birded the grasses around the small pond to see if this was the area where the
seedeaters were frequenting. Our efforts found a small group of Double-collared
Seedeaters and a single male Yellow-bellied Seedeater, the latter being a Sao Paulo
tick for me. While nice, these were not the species we were hoping for, so
expanded our search to the areas of grass adjacent to the road. It was not long
before we found another larger group of Double-collared Seedeaters, and perched
up distantly with them was clearly another species. A quick check through the
bins, along with a photo confirmed that it was a superb male Tawny-bellied
Seedeater, one of the species we were hoping for. Looking at the photos, the
bird perched adjacent to this species was a male Black-bellied Seedeater, a
Brazilian endemic and the species we were really hoping for during the morning.
Unfortunately, they were very tricky and after they dropped from their perches,
we could only relocate the male Tawny-bellied Seedeater. We never refound the Black-bellied
Seedeater, which was unfortunate as Lia did not see it. Still, we have plans to
return in the not-too-distant future, so hopefully we will catch up with it
again before they head south to breed.
As we
birded along the road we bumped into another birder, something of a novelty here
in Brazil, even in areas popular with birders. With him, we added Pearly-bellied
Seedeater and Lined Seedeater to our day-list, and he showed us another area of
habitat; a shallow pond surrounded by riverside forest. It took just one look
here for me to comment to Lia that it looked perfect for the Clibanornis,
Henna-capped Foliage-Gleaner, a sneaky species that I heard two years ago in
Brasilia but never manage to see. We played a tape more in hope than
expectation, but after about five minutes we heard one responding from the
forest. After watching and waiting a little longer we managed to actually spot
the bird on the far side of the river perched in the open, and showing
exceptionally well for a member of this genus, rounding off a brilliant morning’s
birding.
Bragança Paulista--Brejão da ETE: Small-billed Tinamou, Muscovy Duck, Brazilian Teal, Picazuro Pigeon, Ruddy Ground Dove, White-tipped Dove, Eared Dove, Smooth-billed Ani, Striped Cuckoo, Glittering-bellied Emerald, Swallow-tailed Hummingbird, Blackish Rail, Southern Lapwing, Wattled Jacana, Anhinga, Neotropic Cormorant, Black Vulture, White-tailed Hawk, Burrowing Owl, White Woodpecker, Campo Flicker, Crested Caracara, Yellow-headed Caracara, Aplomado Falcon, Cobalt-rumped Parrotlet, White-eyed Parakeet, Band-tailed Hornero, Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper, Henna-capped Foliage-gleaner, Yellow-chinned Spinetail, Spix's Spinetail, Common Tody-Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Bran-colored Flycatcher, Masked Water Tyrant, Streamer-tailed Tyrant, Great Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Black-capped Donacobius, Blue-and-white Swallow, Southern Rough-winged Swallow, Grey-breasted Martin, House Wren, Chalk-browed Mockingbird, Pale-breasted Thrush, Purple-throated Euphonia, Grassland Sparrow, Chestnut-capped Blackbird, Yellow-rumped Marshbird, Southern Yellowthroat, Sayaca Tanager, Grassland Yellow Finch, Pampa Finch, Blue-black Grassquit, Lined Seedeater, Pearly-bellied Seedeater, Tawny-bellied Seedeater, Black-bellied Seedeater, Yellow-bellied Seedeater, Double-collared Seedeater,
No comments:
Post a Comment