Brazil Day 2 - Pousada Aguapé (10Aug2022) - Part 2

We arrived at the Pousada with the intent of getting settled and maybe taking a short siesta, but if you know me well enough, I don't rest during birding trips so off I went to explore the property.  First stop, the feeders.

Yellow-billed Cardinal - these amazing birds were everywhere and there were plenty of photo ops on nice snags of bougainvillea.  There are a handful of similar "cardinals" which really are in the tanager family but most of them are in other areas of Brazil.  Here is a few more pics out of the thousands I took just of this species.

Monk Parakeets were common alongside with the Nandays at the feeders.

A pair of Blue-and-yellow Macaws were nesting in a lopped off palm trunk.  They were reliably there pretty much our whole stay.

Plush-crested Jay - just wow!

Giant Cowbird - no joke, this is a giant cowbird.

Purplish Jay - I wanted to do this bird justice as the purple only showed well in certain light but I never quite nailed it.  These Jays are kind of like a version of our crows in terms of behavior, traveling in groups and mobbing raptors.

Chopi Blackbird - these were very plentiful and had a beautiful singing voice.  You can tell them from other blackbirds in the area by the longer blackbird bill and shaggy nape.

Screaming Cowbird - We had 1-2 Screaming Cowbirds which came to the feeders everyday and it was a bit of a challenge picking them out from the Shiny Cowbirds and Chopi Blackbirds.  They were less Shiny than the Shiny Cowbirds (duh!) but still had the conical cowbird bill which was distinguishable from the Chopi's long bill.

Not sure if this was the same one or a different one, the facial plumage looks different but maybe someone pooped on him.

Grayish Baywings were one of the most common feeder birds.

Red-crested Cardinal!  Absolutely stunning.

Hyacinth Macaws - the star of the show at Pousada Aguape.  These massive macaws eat palm nuts and the Pousada puts out troughs full of them.  They roost much of the day in the palm trees in the center of the property making loud squawks and periodically taking off en masse only to circle and land again.  Apparently the Toco Toucans are one of the birds that eat the Macaw eggs which is one reason why they have been threatened in the past.  However, the Pousada has put up nest boxes all over the property and they seems to be thriving.

Toco Toucan - speak of the devil!  How can such a friendly looking bird be so troublesome.

Chaco Chachalacha - these big boys were also very loud and roosted in the trees around the Pousada cabinas, making a huge racket first thing in the morning.

Rufous Cacholote - these were not very common but we did see them in several different locations including one that was reliably near our cabina. 

Pale-breasted Thrush - the more uncommon of the two regular thrush species on the property.

Rufous-bellied Thrush being the more common one and the national bird of Brazil.

Red-legged Seriema - this interesting bird occupies its own order with the Black-legged Seriema which is found west of Brazil.  It looks like a Secretarybird but is unrelated.  In fact it is more closely related to Parrots and Falcons if you can believe that.   Its hard to gauge from this picture but they are huge!

Gilded Hummingbird - although the Pousada had no hummingbird feeders, there were plenty of flowers. 

A family of Thrush-like Wrens lived in the shade trees on the Pousada grounds.

Narrow-billed Woodcreeper

Bare-faced Curassow - I think the female is actually more attractive than the male which is atypical of birds.

Greater Rhea - should be on everyone's bucket list.  Such a gentle looking and massive bird.  I bet they make great omelets too.

All those birds in the course of a couple hours just wandering the property during siesta.  Next installment will be the afternoon birding using the Beast which was the 4x4 vehicle perfectly designed for off-road movement around the Pousada's hundreds of acres.

Gretchen modeling in front of the Beast!