With most of the forest off limites due to the guerilla presence, our capacity for exploration at Mbaracayu was seriously limited to the extent that we decided to cut short our stay by a day and instead to another, hopefully more productive, Atlantic Forest location. This meant that we had this final morning to try track down our outstanding species, a list which was not offensively long but that did contain the most important target; the Helmeted Woodpecker.
We started our morning by walking the
entrance road, which was quite productive and we managed to avenge yesterdays
Saffron Toucanet shenangians with a nice pair of two birds perched openly in
the canopy, giving excellent views. Once again we heard the Spot-winged Wood
Quail in the same location, but they refused to move in order to be seen.
Next we moved back to the trail and spent the
remainder of our time exploring there for a final time. O nce again we were able to add a few
new birds, with a smart Green-and-rufous Kingfisher on the river, a smart
encounter with a Scale-throated Hermit and a heard only encounter once again
with Tufted Antshrike, as the bird adamantly refused to come out of the bamboo
thicket it was calling from.
At 09:00 we departed, with a long drive ahead
of us to the San Rafael National Park, with a couple of hours detour to try and
twitch an Azure Gallinule that had been reported in the week earlier. The drive
took another turn when the heavens opened not long after, and they continued to
hammer it down for a few hours. Even in the afternoon the rain persisted,
although not with the same force.
The site for the Azure Gallinule was a little
to the east of the main highway, but a bird like that we decided to make the
trip over to try and see it. We arrived and only had an hour in order to try
and locate the bird before we needed to leave. A juvenile bird that flushed
looked promising, but we were not sure how to separate it from the similar
Purple Gallinule of which there were several. Fortunately, we soon flushed an
adult, and then another adult in the same area as the juvenile! Three Azure
Gallinules!
In the same area, despite only being a short
visit, we had several other good birds, including my first Dark-throated
Seedeater, with a very nice male. We had a few Pearly-breasted Seedeaters as
well, which were a nice trip tick.
But at 16:00 we had to move in order to
complete the drive to the PROCOSARA centre in San Rafael. The drive was long
and the last 10 kilometres were all on dirt road, which had turned into a
slippery mess thanks to the rain. It was a challenge but we made it at 21:00,
ready for a nights rest before continuing with the Atlantic Forest birding
No comments:
Post a Comment