Paraguay Day 8; Enciso National Park & Cerro Leon

   Having seen all the birds that we wanted in Enciso National Park, we decided to leave a day earlier than anticipated and head north to the Defensores del Chaco National Park deep in rural Paraguay, where there are greater chances for mammals and a few more birds to target. The prospect of poor dirt roads combined with forecasted rain made us nervous about taking on this endevour, but we knew that we would be fools to miss out on this park.

  We spent the first hour of the day in the Enciso park, trying without success to see a heard only Giant Antshrike from the previous day. We got no response! And so, at 08:30 we headed off, beginning our trip north. First we stopped off at the town of La Patria to pick up fuel, as well as some additional canisters to reduce fuel pressure when we were remote. The journey was long on dirt roads of varying quality although in general not too bad. We saw a few Chaco Mara, a Grey Brocket, a Crane Hawk and a Brushland Tinamou on the way.

  When we finally arrived at Cerro Leon, and the small room we had reserved, we found that some of the diesel had spilled out over the back of the truck. After a short cleanup operation and a wash and rest, we headed out for the first time to explore the new location.

  The road was quite mixed quality heading towards the main Cerro Leon campsite, but once there we had an enjoyable 90 minutes of birding before dark. I managed to find my only lifer in the area; White-lored Spinetail, but it did not show well and did not respond to playback. What did show well was a pair of very attractive Black-bellied Antwren, which we got nice views of. Amazonian Motmot and Purplish Jay were other new birds that we recorded here first.

  We had snacks for dinner and then drove back to our lodging in the dark to search for mammals. It started well with dozens of Little Nightjars on the road, as well as a metre-long Banded Pampas Snake, but once we turned on to the main road the quantity of sightings dropped off. It started with a Crab-eating Fox, which did not show well, and the only other mammal we encountered was a Pampas Fox which equally did not show well. A Chaco Owl made an obligatory appearance as well. Once back at camp we did a little more exploring and in a much shorter time frame had almost exactly the same result, but these foxes showed much better, and we also had a couple of Tapeite. Not a bad night in the end but certainly not to the standard of recent nights. 

-Brushland Tinamou

-Black-bellied Antwren

-Hook-billed Kite

-Solitary Sandpiper

-Chacoan Mara

-Brown Brocket

-Pampas Fox

-Banded Pampas Snake

Paraguay Day 7; Enciso National Park

  For our first full day in Enciso National Park we set off back up the road to the Bolivian border, this time aiming to reach further than we had the previous afternoon and with no stops, with the park and only birding beyond the furthest border where the Chaco ended. It was a long drive on often sandy roads but we had an enjoyable time with all our targets seen.

  In the same area where we had found the Black-crested Finch the previous day we found several more individuals, sometimes showing better than they had yesterday. That said they were still elusive and did not perform incredibly well. Continuing along the road we picked up Yellow-browed Tyrant for the trip list and a Paraguaian rarity with a White-tipped Plantcutter, an unexpected bird for our trip. As we reached the community of Nuevo Asuncion, there was a very showy Roseate Spoonbill in a roadside puddle and we were able to get some nice pictures.

  Not far after the community we parked up and began to walk. In this area we wanted to find the Spot-winged Falconet but did not know exactly where to look. A few eBird pins were dotted along the road, with two about six kilometres ahead of us, so that is where we struck for. Sadly we only decided to make this move halfway through the walk, and by then the cool cloud had thinned out and it was getting warm, leaving us out in the sun completely unprepared.

  Once we reached the located we found a desolated farmhouse, but more importantly we immediately found a pair of the Spot-winged Falconets! They gave us an incredible show flying over our heads and singing from the treetops. Relieved our walk had been worthwhile, we marched back to the car to refresh ourselves and relax a bit.

  The drive back to the camp was significantly less eventful, although we had a nice showy Pampas Fox and added Pearl Kite to our trip list. We made a short stop at a location we thought might be good for Giant Antshrike, but sadly the bird responded deep in the Chaco and we did not see it. We arrived back mid afternoon elated but tired, and rested before our night drive.  

  Even the campground was lively, with a Black-legged Seriema hanging around throughout the afternoon and even a few mammal species, with Chaco Mara and a new species; Six-banded Armadillo both paid us a visit. The latter was very impressive being the largest Armadillo we had seen on the trip until this point.

  At night the drive was phenomenal. Although there were no new species, we had six Tapirs at various points! Two were drinking together in a roadside ditch, we saw one cross the road far away in the thermal, one ran away from the road on the edge of the National Park, one ran in front of the car in front of the campground and finally one was in the campground just after! And to top it all off, we had a lot of fun with the Plains Viscachas around the campground, including one that charged right at us when it was flushed by a dog whilst we were photographing it! Throw in a Potoo, a Little Nightjar and a Chaco Owl and it makes for quite the eventful evening!

-Black-crested Finch

-Spot-winged Falconet

-Black-legged Seriema

-Plain Inezia

-Chaco Earthcreeper

-White-tipped Plantcutter

-Six-banded Armadillo

-Pampas Fox

-Lowland Yellow-toothed Cavy

-Plains Viscacha

-South American Tapir

-Little Nightjar

Paraguay Day 6; Enciso National Park

   Having spent the night in Filadelfia, due to the weather, and with said weather having not improved but still being overcast and drizzly, we decided to skip birding early morning around the town and instead drive the three hours to our next destination; the Enisco National Park. This did mean skipping the traditionally best part of the day but with the weather, that did not really matter. And we found a pair of Black-legged Seriema on the road as we were driving, a species that had somehow eluded us until that point.

  We arrived at the park offices at 10:00, and after checking in and organizing ourselves we decided to set straight off out onto the road to find some birds. Our visit started well, with a Great Rufous Woodcreeper in the garden, my first new species for the day. The first sections of the road we stopped and had some success with good species like Rufous Casiornis and Plain Inezia.

  After a bit of research, we got the impression that our main target, the Black-crested Finch was further along the road, so we drove the 38-kilometer dirt road to the location where we hoped to find it. We had heard this road was sandy and difficult to drive, but we had no such problem, probably helped in large part by the weather and the drive was relatively straightforward, although we do have a big 4x4. The only bird of note we saw during this drive was a presumably stunned Chaco Owl sat by the side of the road, which we picked up and moved to a safe location.

  Once we arrived in the area, we could tell the birdlife was a little different when we immediately found Dull-coloured Grassquit, whilst listening to Small-billed Tinamou calling. It was enjoyable birding and it paid off after half an hour when we found a flock of around eight Black-crested Finch. Sadly they were not especially approachable, but since this was one of my main targets for the whole trip, I was glad to have connected.

  The drive back was also lively with birdlife. On the road we saw two different Crested Gallito, although always distant, and had a surprise bonus bird with a Chaco Earthcreeper. Not a species I had marked for this location. Other birds included an impressive number of Dark-billed Cuckoos in the roadside bushes, as well as commoner species. We arrived back at the campground at 17:00 and settled ourselves in before heading out again. 

  The first few hours of our night drive were uneventful, as we drove 20 kilometres to try find a Striped Owl, which never gave us a response. Still, we were able to find Common Potoo and Little Nightjar in the same area, so it was not a complete loss. However, the night escalated quickly right at the end. We wanted to check an area near the campsite for Plains Viscacha, but just before we arrived there we heard some rustling in the vegetation. The torch revealed a Tapir feeding in the roadside vegetation! It showed well, but moved off before any photos could be taken. The Viscacha were easy to find and showed well, although the nearby farms dog came to join us and understandably caused a few problems.

  Back at the camp, a Rufous Nightjar was calling so we tried to find it. We managed one view of the bird close overhead as it passed, but whilst doing this we had brief views of another Tapir and a Three-banded Armadillo! It was a phenomenal end to the night! 

-Chaco Owl

-Black-legged Seriema

-Plain Inezia

-Rufous Casiornis

-Black-capped Warbling Finch

-Brown Cacholote

-Turquoise-fronted Amazon

-Barn Owl

-Chaco Earthcreeper

-Ringed Warbling Finch

-Black-crested Finch

-Fulvous-crowned Scrub Tyrant

-Dull-coloured Grassquit

-American Golden Plover

-Common Potoo

-Plains Viscatcha