After a flight to Sao Paolo and then on to Cuiaba, we loaded up our van for the next week and headed up into the beautiful Chapada dos Guimarães. Chapada is a Brazilian word that means a region of steep cliffs, usually at the edge of a plateau. Some more into from Wiki: "Chapada dos Guimarães is a municipality located in central Brazil, 62 km from the city of Cuiabá, the capital of Mato Grosso State. It is home to the Chapada dos Guimarães National Park. Outside this town is the geographic center of South America."
As usual, I was horrible about taking pictures of the scenery and to be honest we didn't stop on the road up the plateau which is unfortunate because it was a landscape that looked totally new to me. Here is a photo from a website called Brazil Nature Tours I randomly found online.
We made it to our next Pousada which was really someone's home in the town of Chapada dos Guimarães. I must have been in a bad mood for some reason because I was immediately annoyed by the place which seemingly had no wildlife habitat nearby and barking dogs in every direction. I was thinking to myself, why did we pick this place in suburbia when there was a gorgeous national park just down the road. Surely there was a hotel or Pousada nearby that could accommodate us? I have to try and battle this mindset I routinely get while traveling on an organized tour and just learn to go with the flow, but it is hard for someone with a type A personality. My personality is much more suited to traveling with my family or a couple friends where I have more leeway for making decisions on where we go and what we do. I decided to sign up for this tour because of the access to the boat tour at the end of the trip and because some of my friends were going, but I did come to realize that Brazil is a country that easily could be navigated solo and there are no shortage of in country operators that will take you on boat trips in the Pantanal. I have no regrets though, it was a blast. I will love to go back with my family some day and Chapada would be a great place to explore further.
It turned out I was wrong about the Pousada. First impressions are not always spot on. The owners of the house were super nice and the tiny strip of gallery forest behind their house actually was surprisingly active with birds. The barking dogs settled down after about 30 minutes. It actually ended up being a great place for getting some photos of birds that I had previously only gotten bad photos of.
But I digress! After a siesta in the Pousada and after everyone settled in, we loaded up the van and headed out for some afternoon birding in a gallery forest nearby. When we first got out of the van, it seemed totally dead. However, soon moving flocks surrounded us and we got on some good birds, albeit very high in the canopy which made photography difficult.
Yellow-rumped Cacique way up at the top of a huge tree.
Boat-billed Kiskadee
Planalto Tyrannulet - the only one we saw so I had to deal with this horrible record shot.
Short-crested Flycatcher - these Myiarchus flycatchers are really tricky especially in a situation where you are trying to get on every bird called out quickly and don't have time to really study them. That is where photography can help relive moments that went by in a blur. This species has a dark bill and the overall coloring is colder especially the tail which lacks the more rufous shades of the other Myiarchus in this area. Also the guide must have heard the "police whistle" call which is diagnostic.
Swallow Tanager way up at the top of a humongoid tree. I did end up getting closer pics later.
Plain-crested Elaenia - the face of this species looks pretty nondescript compared to some of the other Elaenia and the crest is erect and full. Other Elaenias in the area can put up a crest but they look more wispy and some have white feathers in the base of the crest.
Large-billed Antwren
The looks of this species were far off and always in the middle of a tangle but I came away with two passible shots.
Sibilant Sirystes - this shot is not even really diagnostic on its own so you will have to just trust me on it. Apparently this was the "leader" of the bird flock which is common for this species. They basically dictate where the multi species roving flock goes and all the other birds follow. They are similar looking to a Becard.
Lettered Aracari - the only decent look we had all trip. All these photos are heavily cropped. I can't wait to get my new camera which will allow cropping without losing much resolution.
Rufous-tailed Jacamar - I have seen these in other countries but it was good to get better looks. This is a crowd pleaser for sure.
Fork-tailed Woodnymph - the lack of hummingbird feeders in Brazil means you have to find them in the wild.
Western Fire-eye female.
Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper - worst picture ever but the only one I got. This species creeps along streams much like a Northern Waterthrush but it looks more like a wren. By the time we saw him/her it was getting dark. We tried again the next day but it never showed again.
My photos got better the next day with more favorable light conditions, so don't tune out yet.
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