Brazil; Rio Grande do Sul & Santa Catarina - Day 12

 After last nights incident, we ended up starting a little later than we had expected while the vice-mayor collected his tractor to help us go collect the car. So we set off around 08:30, on the tractor, my first time, and about an hour and a half later the car was finally free of the mud. It took another couple of goes to get it back to dry land thanks to overnight rain, but our ordeal was finally finished.

Since we were already on the edge of the lagoon, we spent the rest of the morning birding there and had a very enjoyable time filtering through the numerous wading birds. There was a new species for me in Double-banded Plover, and views of other goodies such as more Wilsons Phalarope. In the adjacent bushes we found more Bay-capped Wren-Spinetail, but they did not show well for photos.

After lunch and moving our lodging to a new pousada out of town on the fringes of the National Park, we decided to first drive along the beach looking for waders and seabirds, before then birding around the Lagoa itself once the heat haze had died off a little.

The beach was very lively, with brilliant numbers of waders, especially Sanderling and White-rumped Sandpiper. But among them we found nice small groups of Turnstone, American Golden Plover and Grey Plover. The shore also had groups of Snowy-crowned Tern and Yellow-billed Tern, and scanning out to see found us seven White-chinned Petrels flying north at speed.

We returned to the lagoon at around 18:30 just in time for all the birds to be dappled in the afternoon light. We finally found the large group of Hudsonian Godwit I had been desperate to find, with at least 28 individuals around, but certainly more. They flew for us occasionally, displaying their beautiful black axillaries. Also on the wader front were my first Knot in Brazil, with a group of six feeding feverishly on the edge of the lagoon. And it was not just the lagoon, as the margins had very confiding Correndera Pipits, allowing us to get some cracking photos.

And even then the birding was not done, as on our drive into Mostardas we had a few Nacunda Nighthawks fly over us. And on the way back, we flush three Sisscor-tailed Nightjar from the road to the Pousada. 

Species List:
Lagoa do Peixe National Park: Southern Screamer, Coscoroba Swan, Eared Dove, White-backed Stilt, American Oystercatcher, Grey Plover, American Golden Plover, Southern Lapwing, Collared Plover, Two-banded Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Hudsonian Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot, Sanderling, White-rumped Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Wilson's Phalarope, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Brown-hooded Gull, Grey-headed Gull, Kelp Gull, Yellow-billed Tern, Large-billed Tern, Common Tern, Snowy-crowned Tern, Royal Tern, Cabot's Tern, Black Skimmer, White-chinned Petrel, Maguari Stork, Wood Stork, Neotropic Cormorant, Cocoi Heron, Great Egret, White-faced Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Long-winged Harrier, Crested Caracara, Chimango Caracara, Rufous Hornero, Firewood-gatherer, Bay-capped Wren-Spinetail, Spectacled Tyrant, White Monjita, Cattle Tyrant, Great Kiskadee, Brown-chested Martin, Barn Swallow, Chalk-browed Mockingbird, Correndera Pipit, White-browed Blackbird, Yellow-winged Blackbird, Grassland Yellow Finch, Pampa Finch,