Brazil; Reserva Natural da Vale do Rio Doce - Day 1

We had made the short addition of Espírito Santo to our itinerary to visit one very well-known reserve with a number of target species; VALE! And today was the day that we made the visit. Although in an ideal world we would have enjoyed a few days here, the cost of the necessary guide and the fact that the reserve lodging itself was shut, meant that it did not make sense economically to spent more than a single day here. The guide we hired was a young lad called Gabriel, and he was truly excellent. Thanks to a successful visit to Veracel in the days previous, there were only a few species for us to target, and he managed to show us almost all of them.

The key species for the reserve is the Red-billed Currasow. A large turkey-sized bird that is only found in two reserves, of which only here is accessible. Although Gabriel warned us ahead of time that they can be tricky at this time of year, we found two males walking around the entrance gate within a few minutes of arriving. We later found three more males in the forest, which make these the first Currasows I have seen that seemed to actually behave like wild birds. They were brilliant.

The entrance to the reserve is also where we found the reserves rare parrot species. Although we had seen all of them before, we wanted to see them again to get better views. And we managed to do that with Red-browed and Mealy Amazon Parrot showing very nicely, as well as a sizeable flock of Ochre-marked Parakeets. But perhaps the standout was a medium-sized flock of White-cheeked Parakeets, which came extremely close and showed unbelievably well.

In the forest we spent the day hunting down various targets. First Gabriel found us ‘Atlantic Black-bellied’ Ringed Woodpecker, a subspecies endemic to the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, and an absolute stunner to boot. We then travelled deep into the forest, along the way encountering my first wild Peccaries, as well as some South American Coatis. Deep in the forest, we found all the remaining birds; Collared Trogon, Cocoa Thrush and Cinereous Mourner, the latter being my 800^th species in Brazil. On the way back we found a stunning Tortoise drinking from a roadside pool but failed to find the roosting Great Potoo that Gabriel told us was sometimes around. Other nice birds we saw during the day included a typically elusive Ruddy Quail-Dove, Minute Hermit, Greyish Elaenia and Buff-throated Woodcreeper.

And then, to wrap things up, we found a feeding group of the very rare Crested Capuchin monkeys. Bringing to close a truly excellent days birding. Even despite the costs, I would be tempted to return during the breeding season to get a full flavour of this excellent reserve.

-Red-billed Curassow

-Red-browed Amazon

-White-eared Parakeet

-Ringed Woodpecker

-Cinereous Mourner

-Cocoa Thrush

-Collared Trogon

-White-lipped Peccary

-Brazilian Giant Tortoise

Species List:

Reserva Natural da Vale do Rio Doce: Red-billed Curassow, Picazuro Pigeon, Ruddy Ground Dove, Scaled Dove, Ruddy Quail-Dove, Greater Ani, Squirrel Cuckoo, Sick's Swift, Grey-rumped Swift, Minute Hermit, King Vulture, Black Vulture, Grey-headed Kite, Roadside Hawk, East Brazilian Pygmy Owl, Green-backed Trogon, Collared Trogon, Swallow-winged Puffbird, Channel-billed Toucan, White-barred Piculet, Red-stained Woodpecker, Robust Woodpecker, Ringed Woodpecker, Blond-crested Woodpecker, Yellow-throated Woodpecker, Collared Forest Falcon, Crested Caracara, Plain Parakeet, Red-browed Amazon, Southern Mealy Amazon, Orange-winged Amazon, Ochre-marked Parakeet, White-eared Parakeet, Sooretama Slaty Antshrike, Silvery-flanked Antwren, Rufous-margined Antwren, Black-cheeked Gnateater, Rufous-capped Antthrush, Plain-winged Woodcreeper, Lesser Woodcreeper, Buff-throated Woodcreeper, Plain Xenops, Streaked Xenops, Red-headed Manakin, Black-headed Berryeater, Screaming Piha, Brown-winged Schiffornis, Cinereous Mourner, Black-capped Becard, Crested Becard, Sepia-capped Flycatcher, Eared Pygmy Tyrant, Yellow-olive Flatbill, Grey-crowned Flatbill, Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, Grey Elaenia, Masked Water Tyrant, Bright-rumped Attila, Sibilant Sirystes, Greyish Mourner, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Social Flycatcher, Piratic Flycatcher, Variegated Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Chivi Vireo, Southern Rough-winged Swallow, House Wren, Thrush-like Wren, Cocoa Thrush, Purple-throated Euphonia, Violaceous Euphonia, Red-rumped Cacique, Tropical Parula, Red-crowned Ant Tanager, Yellow-green Grosbeak, Flame-crested Tanager, Turquoise Tanager, Swallow Tanager, Blue Dacnis, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Yellow-backed Tanager, Chestnut-vented Conebill, Saffron Finch, Blue-black Grassquit, Double-collared Seedeater, Bananaquit,