Today we visited the Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses, a protected area of extensive dunes and saltmarshes with numerous small lagoons and pools. It draws thousands of tourists each year, and although we were not visiting in the best time of year, it was still pretty spectacular to observe the wonderful network and dunes, and then bathe in the freshwater pools that are dotted around the site. Because of its extensive nature, we hired a driver to take us into the dunes, so we got to see quite a lot of the park, or so we thought until we saw our GPS tracks and realised we had barely explored any of it!
While it was not a birding day as such, it would be impossible
to ignore the birds that were using the pools here. The highlight without doubt
were a pair of Black Skimmers that flew incredibly close over us before
roosting on the shoreline of one of the pools. There were also excellent views
of Yellow-billed Tern and Large-billed Tern using the pools. There were not
masses of waders but a nice variety including a smart Least Sandpiper, a few Collared
Plover and Greater Yellowlegs. We also heard, but never saw, a few Yellowish
Pipits, which make a fantastic sound always good to listen to.
Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses: Brazilian Teal, Pied-billed Grebe, Feral Pigeon, Scaled Dove, Southern Lapwing, Collared Plover, Least Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Grey-headed Gull, Yellow-billed Tern, Large-billed Tern, Black Skimmer, Neotropic Cormorant, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Western Cattle Egret, Black Vulture, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Savanna Hawk, Crested Caracara, Yellow-headed Caracara, Jandaya Parakeet, Great Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird, White-winged Swallow, House Sparrow, Yellowish Pipit, Palm Tanager,
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