Brazil; Rio Grande do Sul & Santa Catarina - Day 8

 Pelotas is the main city in the south of Rio Grande do Sul state. The city is surrounded by reedbeds and marshes, and this draws many birdwatchers from all over Brazil but rarely from outside the country. We were excited to visit, to see the large flocks of ducks and waterbirds that the area promised.

Sadly it was not to be, as the continued dry weather had turned all the fields into dust-bowls, and the wildfowl totals were well down on what we had hoped, with absolutely no swans at all. We started by visiting the Banhado da Marambia, which is one of the most productive and accessible wetland areas in the region, but sadly there was almost no water at all. We found a few Southern Screamers but aside from those, we were largely relegated to looking for birds in the bushes, which we were a little more successful with. There was a lifer for me in Gilded Sapphire, a simple but pretty hummingbird, and a few other nice species such as Dark-billed Cuckoo and heard only Stripe-crowned Spinetail.

In the afternoon we headed further south more towards the coast, and while things here were still extremely dry, the birding did improve a lot with some wetland areas still managing to retain water. We still failed to find any of our key targets but had a lot of fun watching the Southern Screamers in the area, as well as the herons, storks and Roseate Spoonbills that were still lingering in the area. The passerines were also good fun, with Chotoy Spinetail being a new species for me, as well as nice views of Firewood Gatherer, Yellow-winged Blackbird and other commoner species.

We still have two full days around Pelotas, so hopefully we will find areas with more waterbirds that we can enjoy, but it is certainly more difficult that I had hoped. 

Species List:
Pelotas: Spotted Nothura, Southern Screamer, White-faced Whistling Duck, Brazilian Teal, Picazuro Pigeon, Ruddy Ground Dove, Picui Ground Dove, Eared Dove, Guira Cuckoo, Dark-billed Cuckoo, Glittering-bellied Emerald, Gilded Sapphire, Plumbeous Rail, Giant Wood Rail, Rufous-sided Crake, Limpkin, Southern Lapwing, Wattled Jacana, Maguari Stork, Wood Stork, Cocoi Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Western Cattle Egret, Striated Heron, Whistling Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, White-faced Ibis, Plumbeous Ibis, Buff-necked Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Snail Kite, Long-winged Harrier, Savanna Hawk, Burrowing Owl, Ringed Kingfisher, Campo Flicker, Crested Caracara, Chimango Caracara, American Kestrel, Monk Parakeet, Rufous-capped Antshrike, Rufous Hornero, Wren-like Rushbird, Orange-breasted Thornbird, Firewood-gatherer, Stripe-crowned Spinetail, Yellow-chinned Spinetail, Chotoy Spinetail, Spix's Spinetail, Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, Sooty Tyrannulet, Scarlet Flycatcher, Spectacled Tyrant, Yellow-browed Tyrant, White Monjita, Black-and-white Monjita, Cattle Tyrant, Great Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Blue-and-white Swallow, Southern Rough-winged Swallow, Brown-chested Martin, White-rumped Swallow, Barn Swallow, Masked Gnatcatcher, House Wren, Chalk-browed Mockingbird, Rufous-bellied Thrush, House Sparrow, Yellowish Pipit, Hooded Siskin, Rufous-collared Sparrow, White-browed Blackbird, Variable Oriole, Shiny Cowbird, Yellow-winged Blackbird, Brown-and-yellow Marshbird, Southern Yellowthroat, Red-crested Cardinal, Sayaca Tanager, Black-and-rufous Warbling Finch, Grassland Yellow Finch, Pampa Finch, Rusty-collared Seedeater,