The second week, while it still had some long days in the field, was generally more relaxed. Once we had searched all the areas of the forest there was much less work to be done, since avoiding excess disturbance to these areas was the most important aspect of the work. We still made the long trip to the furthest reaches of the forest on one of our last day, but other than that there was more time to be spent relaxing.
In these free afternoons I continued going to the border
where I eventually managed to get photos of the swifts that had been bothering me.
The photos showed that they were clearly Band-rumped Swift, which Herminio
informed us was suspect to be in the area but had not been documented for
around 30 years. Other birds the border produced included Black Hawk Eagle,
Mantled Hawk and Plumbeous Kite, as well as an assortment of commoner species
that you can find in border habitats; Southern White-fringed Antwren,
Black-capped Antwren and White-lined Tanager.
In terms of rarer species there were a few notable sightings
this week, including a lifer for me in the unspectacular form of Forest Elaenia,
which was very vocal but only showed distantly at the bottom of one of the
river valleys. Big thanks to Lia who heard the bird calling, before we were able to use playback to bring the bird in closer. There were also appearances from Scaled Antbird and White-necked
Thrush, both of which are uncommon in the forest. The Lesser Swallow-tailed
Swifts also continued to put in an appearance most evenings, keeping things lively for the rarer species in the forest. We also visited the lek of Margaretta's Great-billed Hermit on the 24th, where there were still three males, as there had been back in February.
There were just three new nests for me this week; another
Black Jacobin, a Blue-backed Manakin that was already abandoned and then a
spectacular Ruddy Quail Dove. Previously I have only seen the dove on two
occasions, so to stumble across an adult sat on a nest with two chicks was incredible.
Sadly I didn’t have my camera so photos were only on my phone. The Dove nest had a camera installed on it, so hopefully we will get to see how the chicks progress and if they are successful.
And finally to wrap up, we continued to have no luck with
mammals, just a couple of bat species and a possum were all we could manage.
However, we continued our good streak with snakes, managing to see both Green
Jararaca and the endemic and very rare Murici Lancehead, the latter of which we
found two together sitting by the side of a river at night. The river in question
is the nicknamed river of endemics due to the presence of frog species, some of
which are found nowhere else. We made a visit on our last night and found most
of them, although all the ones we had seen before. The only new frogs for us on
this trip were the Mata Do Catolé Heart-tongued Frog and the Bananeiras Heart-tongued Frog both of which we found delightfully living in Bromeliads, which we
had failed to find last time.
And that wraps up our time here in Murici. The forest was good to us once again and we enjoyed working here. Fingers crossed we will have the chance to return again in the future.
ESEC Murici: Red-winged Tinamou, Scaled Pigeon, Ruddy Ground Dove, Ruddy Quail-Dove, White-tipped Dove, Grey-fronted Dove, Smooth-billed Ani, Squirrel Cuckoo, Short-tailed Nighthawk, Pauraque, Rufous Nightjar, Band-rumped Swift, Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift, Black Jacobin, Great-billed Hermit, Reddish Hermit, Planalto Hermit, Black-eared Fairy, Long-tailed Woodnymph, White-chinned Sapphire, Southern Lapwing, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Black Hawk-Eagle, Rufous-thighed Kite, Plumbeous Kite, Roadside Hawk, Mantled Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk, Zone-tailed Hawk, Black-throated Trogon, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Black-necked Aracari, Channel-billed Toucan, Golden-spangled Piculet, Red-stained Woodpecker, Yellow-throated Woodpecker, Collared Forest Falcon, Crested Caracara, Yellow-headed Caracara, Blue-headed Parrot, Red-shouldered Macaw, White-shouldered Antshrike, Plain Antvireo, Silvery-flanked Antwren, Black-capped Antwren, Rusty-winged Antwren, Southern White-fringed Antwren, Scaled Antbird, Orange-bellied Antwren, East Amazonian Fire-eye, Scalloped Antbird, Black-cheeked Gnateater, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Plain-winged Woodcreeper, Amazonian Barred Woodcreeper, Ceara Woodcreeper, Plain Xenops, Pernambuco Foliage-gleaner, Blue-backed Manakin, White-bearded Manakin, Red-headed Manakin, Screaming Piha, White-winged Cotinga, Brown-winged Schiffornis, Buff-throated Purpletuft, White-throated Spadebill, Sepia-capped Flycatcher, White-bellied Tody-Tyrant, Olivaceous Flatbill, Ochre-lored Flatbill, Forest Elaenia, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Euler's Flycatcher, Bright-rumped Attila, Greyish Mourner, Short-crested Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Chivi Vireo, Southern Rough-winged Swallow, Trilling Gnatwren, Tropical Gnatcatcher, Moustached Wren, Pale-breasted Thrush, White-necked Thrush, Yellowish Pipit, Violaceous Euphonia, Grassland Sparrow, Yellow-green Grosbeak, Flame-crested Tanager, Palm Tanager, Burnished-buff Tanager, Seven-colored Tanager, Red-necked Tanager, Blue Dacnis, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Green Honeycreeper, Yellow-backed Tanager, Saffron Finch, Wedge-tailed Grass Finch, Blue-black Grassquit, Bananaquit, Buff-throated Saltator,
