Since we never stop, once we had wrapped up our time in the south we decided to travel to Rio to visit Lias sister, her husband and her cousin who was over from Germany. We arrived a few days earlier than her cousins however, and this afforded us a little time to go explore, specifically to try and find a species iconic in Brazil and globally; the Golden Lion Tamarin.
This beautiful small monkey is only found in a few forest
fragments around Rio, but we never tried to see it the last time we visited the
state and deeply regretted it. Since we had the opportunity now, we decided to give
it a go in a reserve just north of the town of Cabo Frio, in a small town
called Unamar. This fragment is very small, but has a decent population of these
monkeys, and seemed to be reliable.
We headed there for early morning, but failed to find any monkeys
whilst driving through the forest. We continued until we arrived at the park
headquarters, where there were a few guards and management people, who explained
there were insufficient staff to take us on the trails, and that now was
fruiting season and the Tamarins were largely dispersed throughout the forest.
Still we spent and hour or so wandering around the headquarters, where the
ongoing work was explained, as was the places where the Tamarins occasionally
visited. They had begun to set up a feeding platform for the monkeys, to try
and identify individuals to better gauge the population, but this was in its
early stages and there was no activity there at the moment.
It was beginning to look like it would be a frustrating
morning. But we persisted and decided again to try the road outside the
compound. No sooner had we left the compound, but we found three individuals feeding
in a tree right next to the road. These included a juvenile, presumably an
adult male and another adult, presumably a female. We were able to spend a good
hour with these individuals as they foraged in the trees above us. At one point
the two adults got into a scrap, but the branch they were on snapped and they
both fell a storey in the canopy. Incredible scenes.
In the end they slowly moved off into the forest. They delighted us immensely, and we had brilliant views or this very rare primate!
Parque Natural Municipal mico-leão-dourado: Rusty-margined Guan, Picazuro Pigeon, Ruddy Ground Dove, White-tipped Dove, Greater Ani, Sick's Swift, Minute Hermit, Magnificent Frigatebird, Black Vulture, Roadside Hawk, White-barred Piculet, Blond-crested Woodpecker, Yellow-headed Caracara, Sooretama Slaty Antshrike, Rufous-margined Antwren, Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, Great Kiskadee, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Piratic Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Chivi Vireo, House Wren, Purple-throated Euphonia, Red-rumped Cacique, Tropical Parula, Hooded Tanager, Palm Tanager, Bananaquit,
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