Brazil; Camphinas & Cambo Frio: 17.02.2020 - 19.02.2020

Brazil Day 4 17.02.2020

After a long day traveling we spent the day resting up at Lia’s parents house before commencing our road trip through the Mata Atlantica. Although the day was mainly spent resting up, we did a short walk around the neighborhood looking for some birds, and this yielded a good number of species including some that I had not seen very often.

As soon as we stepped out of the door an Anhinga flew over high, which was a very long overdue life tick. Although the views were distant there can be no mistaking the species peculiar shape. On the walk itself I had two species of seedeater that I had only seen poorly before; Lined and Double-collared. In addition, there was a good selection of common species to make it an extremely enjoyable day. There was also a mammal bonus with a small group of Capybaras sheltering from the sun under the shrubbery next to the lake.

-Anhinga

-Lined Seedeater

-Double-collared Seedeater

In the evening we went out and tried to find a few Owls. Although it was a housing estate well lit up with only gardens for greenery, we managed to get fantastic views of a Tropical Screech Owl almost directly above our heads. Although a common species, these are some of the best views I have ever had of this species.

-Tropical Screech Owl

Species List:

Jardim Leonor: Brazilian Teal, Picazuro Pigeon, Ruddy Ground Dove, Eared Dove, Sick's Swift, Planalto Hermit, Swallow-tailed Hummingbird, Common Gallinule, Anhinga, Great Egret, Western Cattle Egret, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, White-tailed Hawk, Amazon Kingfisher, Green-barred Woodpecker, Yellow-chevroned Parakeet, Blue-winged Parrotlet, White-eyed Parakeet, Rufous Hornero, Common Tody-Flycatcher, Euler's Flycatcher, Masked Water Tyrant, Great Kiskadee, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Social Flycatcher, Streaked Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Blue-and-white Swallow, Brown-chested Martin, House Wren, Chalk-browed Mockingbird, Pale-breasted Thrush, Rufous-bellied Thrush, House Sparrow, Sayaca Tanager, Palm Tanager, Blue-black Grassquit, Lined Seedeater, Double-collared Seedeater, Capybara,

Brazil Day 5 18.02.2020

Unfortunately today was another day spent travelling, this time from Campinas to the small town of Cabo Frio on the far side of Rio de Janeiro. The journey was long, lasting more than eight hours but at least this time we had air conditioning in the car so that we did not roast. There were no birds of note on the trip until we reached Rio where we had impressive numbers of Magnificent Frigatebirds showing very low over the car. And later on towards Cabo Frio we had a smart group of Grey-headed Gulls on the beach, which are a lifer for me.

-Grey-headed Gull

Once we arrived at Cabo Frio it was evening, but we went for a walk on the beach and had more of the same species. There were some Brown Boobies fishing not far offshore and Kelp Gulls were lingering around the beach. Offshore there was a smart Green Sea Turtle, rounding off a pleasant evening.

-Green Sea Turtle

Species List:

Traveling: Magnificent Frigatebird, Brown Booby, Grey-headed Gull, Kelp Gull, Black Vulture,

Cabo Frio: Feral Pigeon, Picazuro Pigeon, Guira Cuckoo, Grey-headed Gull, Kelp Gull, Brown Booby, Neotropic Cormorant, Little Blue Heron, Black Vulture, Great Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird, Common Waxbill, House Sparrow, Saffron Finch, Green Sea Turtle,

Brazil Day 6 19.02.2020

We set off at first light to an area of restinga forest just north of Cabo Frio. Here we were optimistic we would be able to find the Restinga Antwren and it was not long before we managed to find a pair showing quite well next to the path. The female was difficult and elusive but the stunning male showed extremely well at times. We continued around the site and I mustered a number of other Brazil ticks, although not lifers; Lesser Yellowlegs, Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper and Roseate Spoonbill, among a host of other good birds.

-Little Blue Heron

-Greater Yellowlegs

-Spotted Sandpiper

-Restinga Antwren

-Masked Water Tyrant

-Sooretama Slaty Antshrike

We then headed back for breakfast, our number one target for the area nicely wrapped up before 08.30. We drove slowly back only the coast, calling off at a few sites where we could look for waders. The cast was largely the same, but I added Turnstone and White-rumped Sandpiper to my ever growing Brazil list.

-Sanderling

In the afternoon we made a visit to the Christ the redeemer. It was a fantastic monument, well worth the visit, seriously impressive. I enjoyed the whole experience a lot, with fantastic views all over Rio, including seeing the Maracana football stadium. Obviously there was not much doing bird wise, but on the drive back down the mountain in the evening our driver spotted a Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth hanging from a tree adjacent to the road, which was a fantastic end to the day.

-Christ the Redeemer

Species List:

Cabo Frio: White-cheeked Pintail, Feral Pigeon, Picazuro Pigeon, Plain-breasted Ground Dove, Ruddy Ground Dove, Smooth-billed Ani, Versicolored Emerald, American Oystercatcher, Southern Lapwing, White-backed Stilt, Semipalmated Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Sanderling, Ruddy Turnstone, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Grey-headed Gull, Kelp Gull, Royal Tern, Cabot's Tern, Magnificent Frigatebird, Brown Booby, Neotropic Cormorant, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Striated Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, Black Vulture, Ringed Kingfisher, White-barred Piculet, Southern Crested Caracara, Sooretama Slaty Antshrike, Restinga Antwren, Rufous Hornero, Hangnest Tody-Tyrant, Masked Water Tyrant, Great Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird, Blue-and-white Swallow, Purple Martin, Grey-breasted Martin, House Wren, Chalk-browed Mockingbird, Common Waxbill, House Sparrow, Sayaca Tanager, Palm Tanager, Bicolored Conebill, Saffron Finch,

Christ the Redeemer: Black Vulture, Sick’s Swift, Green-headed Tanager, Brown-throated Tree-toed Sloth,

Brazil; Brasilia 14.02.2020 - 16.02.2020

Brazil Day 1 14.02.2020

Today represented my first full day in Brazil where I was not hindered by jetlag. Lia had offered that we spend the morning looking for Greater Thornbird, a bird I had seen on my prior visit but only in sillouhet and not tickable views. We headed to a small wetland site first where we had some amazing species. Although not a bird, Neotropical Otter is already a highlight of this latest Brazilian adventure, with two individuals showing incredibly well. And then at the same site we managed to get my first new bird of the trip; Rufous-sided Crake. Remarkably this is only my second species of Crake in South America but it performed nicely giving excellent views.

-Neotropical River Otter

-Rufous-sided Crake

After an hour at this site we moved on to the main site for the Thornbird. The visit was brief and littered with incident, like getting the car stuck in mud and losing my speaker, but in the end it was well worth it with excellent, no effort views of the Greater Thornbird. We also had nice views of Horned Screamer and a flyover Yellowish Pipit.

-Greater Thornbird

-Horned Screamer

In the afternoon we headed to Altiplano Leste to yeartick Ocellated Crake at the stakeout there. This time there were two individuals, and although we did not see it, a baby as well. Both bird performed incredibly, being much more bold than when I had seen the single bird a year previous. A superb backup cast included a flyby Horned Sungem and nice views of Crested Black Tyrant.

-Ocellated Crake

-Crested Black Tyrant

Species List:

Rodovia DF 230: Brazilian Teal, Scaled Dove, Smooth-billed Ani, Common Gallinule, Purple Gallinule, Rufous-sided Crake, Wattled Jacana, Striated Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Black Vulture, Pearl Kite, Yellow-chevroned Parakeet, Rufous Hornero, Yellow-chinned Spinetail, Common Tody-Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Masked Water Tyrant, White-headed Marsh Tyrant, Variegated Flycatcher, Pale-breasted Thrush, Rufous-bellied Thrush, Chestnut-capped Blackbird, Grey-headed Tanager, Neotropical Otter,

Rodovia DF 100: Horned Screamer, Ruddy Ground Dove, Scaled Dove, Black Vulture, Blue-winged Parrotlet, Rufous Hornero, Greater Thornbird, Brown-chested Martin, Yellowish Pipit, Chestnut-capped Blackbird, Blue-black Grassquit,

Altiplano Leste: Picazuro Pigeon, Eared Dove, Horned Sungem, Swallow-tailed Hummingbird, Ocellated Crake, White-tailed Kite, Yellow-chevroned Parakeet, Peach-fronted Parakeet, Rufous Hornero, Crested Black Tyrant, Chalk-browed Mockingbird, Black-faced Tanager, Saffron Finch, Wedge-tailed Grass Finch, Blue-black Grassquit, Yellow-bellied Seedeater,

Brasil Day 2 15.02.2020

After a night of beverages, we somehow managed to head out early to the farm where we had first worked a year ago, Fazenda Agua Limpa. Our main goal was to show a visiting birder the farms Brasilia tapaculo, but unfortunately both locations where we have seen the bird before we failed. There was a nice selection of Cerrado birds however, including Grey-headed Kite and Rufous Casiornis, but the undoubted highlight was an Undulated Tinamou crossing the road distantly ahead of us. This was another lifer for me, and finally ending the demons after hearing this species constantly during my two months stay. After a pleasant morning, we spent the afternoon chilling and seeing friends, so not much scope for birding.

-Undulated Tinamou

-Rufous Casiornis

Species List:

Fazenda Agua Limpa: Undulated Tinamou, Picazuro Pigeon, Ruddy Ground Dove, Scaled Dove, Smooth-billed Ani, Squirrel Cuckoo, Sick's Swift, Neotropical Palm Swift, Southern Lapwing, Great Egret, Capped Heron, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Grey-headed Kite, Ringed Kingfisher, Toco Toucan, Red-legged Seriema, Turquoise-fronted Amazon, Peach-fronted Parakeet, White-eyed Parakeet, Rufous Hornero, Plain-crested Elaenia, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Lesser Elaenia, Long-tailed Tyrant, Rufous Casiornis, Great Kiskadee, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Curl-crested Jay, Blue-and-white Swallow, Chalk-browed Mockingbird, Pale-breasted Thrush, Saffron-billed Sparrow, Tropical Parula, Burnished-buff Tanager, Guira Tanager, Saffron Finch, Blue-black Grassquit, Yellow-bellied Seedeater,

Brazil Day 3 16.02.2020

Today was something of a none event, being spent travelling the 10 hour distance from Brasilia to Campinhas, just north of Sao Paulo. Obviously on such a drive there were a few birds along the way, but not so many due to large stretches of intensive agriculture. The standout birds were my first Brazilian Barn Swallows and a few Yellow-rumped Marshbirds by the side of the road. We arrived in Campinhas just before dark, ready for a well earned rest.

Species List:

Travelling: Barn Swallow, White-rumped Monjita, Yellow-rumped Marshbird,

Redcar Tarn twitching Iceland Gull

Having first heard about the it not long after my arrival to Germany, the Iceland Gull less than half an hours drive from my house was a frustrating bird to say the least. Every day I checked to see if it was still being seen, and when it still present after storm Ciara I made it my priority as soon as I got back earlier today.

I turned up at the site mid afternoon after enduring a morning of train carnage, to the find the Iceland Gull immediately flying over the Tarn. A little bread persuasion and the bird came extremely close, showing incredibly well and finally allowing me to appreciate this species after only one previous sighting for me, in near darkness through a scope on the far side of a lake. This was an altogether different experience. 

The Caspian Gull that had been frequenting the site also made an appearance, although it was not as persuaded by the bread. It remained distant for much for the time I was there but once the hail set in it did come closer. At one point point both birds were sat on the water together.

-Iceland Gull

-Caspian Gull

Species List:

Redcar Tarn: Canada Goose, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Goosander, Common Woodpigeon, Coot, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, European Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Caspian Gull, Iceland Gull, Western Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Common Starling, 

Germany; Dagebull twitching Glaucous Gull

I took a couple of hours away from the office to twitch a Glaucous Gull that was chilling on the dyke fourty minutes up the road. It was an extremely easy twitch, with the bird sat as soon as we arrived and not moving too much until a dog flushed it and the bird moved onto a nearby lake. I had been waiting a long time to see a white-winger this well, so it would have been rude not to visit. There were not too many other birds there, but some nice Barnacle Geese made up an excellent supporting cast.

-Glaucous Gull

-Barnacle Goose

Species List:
Dagebull: Greylag Goose, Barnacle Goose, Mute Swan, Common Shelduck, Eurasian Wigeon, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Eurasian Pintail, Tufted Duck, Common Goldeneye, Eurasian Curlew, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, European Herring Gull, Glaucous Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Great Cormorant, Grey Heron, Great Egret, Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel, Eurasian Skylark, Roe Deer,