Brazil Day 5 - Farewell to Pousada Aguape (13Aug2022)

Our last day at Pousada Aguape was spent on an excursion on the river to try for some of the Manakins.  The say started out like all of them marveling at the amazing birds around the breakfast feeding area.

We said goodbye to the Screaming Cowbird.

The usually shy Picazuro Pigeon came in for a nice view.

Pale-bellied Thrush

Buff-necked Ibis

Toco Toucan with a beautiful bougainvillea backdrop.

Crane Hawk - I noticed this hawk dancing against this far away trunk while we were loading the Beast for the ride to the river and Alyson the guide let us go over and get a closer look.  Crane Hawks have really long legs that they have adapted over time to be able to reach down into tree holes to pull out their prey.

I never got a good look at what the hawk pulled out of the hole, but it must have been delicious because he  tolerated us getting pretty close for pictures.

White-lored Spinetail - At the boat landing the guide heard a wren we looked for but instead found this spinetail.

White-lored Spinetail

A Red-and-Green Macaw gave us a quick but good look as a fly-by.

Southern Rough-winged Swallows were common on the river.

These Proboscis or Long-nosed Proboscis Bats were picked up by our boat driver.  

Green-backed Becard - the guide was hearing a ton of activity at one bend in the river so we pulled up to the bank and tethered our boat so we could turn off the engine and sift through the moving flock.

Tropical Parula

Large Elaenia - Elaenias are notoriously difficult to separate based on very subtle differences in plumage.  However, this particular species is easy to ID when it has three well defined wing bars like this one has.  

White-crested Tyrannulet - initially we IDed this as a Plain Tyrannulet but after running the pics through Merlin and looking at a bunch of pics from eBird, I am capturing this as a White-crested.  The supercilia (eyebrows) were very well defined on this bird and they extend well past the eye.  All of the Plain Tyrannulet pics I can see online have a supercilia that ends at the eye.  

Gray-headed Tanager

Chaco Chachalacha

Black-backed Water-Tyrant

Green Kingfisher

Black-capped Donacobius - we got better looks at these in the north Pantanal.

Amazonian Motmot - the only Motmot species found in the Pantanal.

Fawn-breasted Wren - what a crooner!  South American wrens have amazingly rich and complicated songs.

We ended up dipping on good looks for the Manakins but we did find two species in which 1-2 of us either heard or saw them. 

The guide Alyson noticed a frog on the boat that caught a ride with us, I will have to identify it later.  Some quick searches did not get me anywhere.

Gretchen climbing back into the Beast after the boat ride.  Most folks opted to take a siesta before lunch but I decided to keep on birding around the property.

Hyacinth Macaw - you can't ignore them even if you tried.

Cattle Tyrant - I had many of these in Colombia so I didn't feel the need to photograph them until I had this extra time to play around.

Cattle Tyrant on a horse.

Rufous-bellied Thrush 

Chalk-browed Mocker

Rufous Hornero

Greater Rhea

Chopi Blackbird - I took some time to make some recordings of the beautiful song.

Gilded Hummingbird or Gilded Sapphire.

Green-barred Woodpecker - this was a new one for me, so it pays to wander during siesta.

Scaled Dove

That was it for Day 5.  The afternoon was spent relocating to Campo Grande so we could fly back to Sao Paolo for another flight back to the North Pantanal.  That is how big the Pantanal is, you can't drive from the south end to the north end. The easiest way to get there is to fly across it and unfortunately we didn't have a direct flight.

Goodbye Pousada Aguape!  You were exquisite!

Brazil Day 4 - Pousada Aguape (12Aug2022) - Part 2

This was one of the few days where I took a couple hours to go through photos and catch up on internet stuff at siesta.  However, it it wasn't long before we took off for another excursion, this time in a gallery forest just between the Pousada and the riverside stop earlier in the day.  This area had some large mature trees and more shade which was nice because it was hot! First a couple photos on the way..

Southern Lapwing

Roadside Hawk giving me a dinosaur glare.

South American Coati!

Collared Peccary

Blaze-winged Parakeet

Rufous Casiornis - this tree was fruiting and attracted quite a flock of birds.  All of the next set of photos were taken in short succession. 

Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet

Guira Tanager

Tropical Parula

Brown-crested Flycatcher

Hooded Tanager

Purple-throated Euphonia - unfortunately the only photo I got the whole trip.

Plain Tyrannulet - one of the most common tyrannulets and the expected one in the area.

Planalto Slaty-Antshrike - this was the female.

And the male...

Nacunda Nighthawk - As we drove the Beast back to the Pousada in the fading light, I shouted Nighthawk!!

Considering the lighting conditions I was really pleased to come away with these photos.

Next post is Day 5 and the last of the Pousada Aguape photos.