Brazil Day 11 (19Aug2022) - The Road to Porto Jofre and Embarkation

In the afternoon we headed down the Transpantaneira to its terminus at Porto Jofre, but there were plenty of reasons to stop and to be honest I think more of the tour should have been focused on this stretch of road which was chock full of good birds.

Scarlet-headed Blackbird was a bit shocking even though I had known it existed.

Southern Screamers were everywhere.

Boat-billed Heron - is it me or do these look somewhat alien?

Snail Kites were ubiquitous.

Maguari Stork! 

Marsh Deer are the largest deer species in South America.

Black-necked Stilt - this is the "white-backed" sub-species.  Not sure how something so different looking from our Black-necked Stilt can look so different.  For reference, here is one pic from home in NC:

When we got to the boat landing where we would embark on the trip into the National Park, we had some time to explore so I ventured out.

Chestnut-bellied Guan

Picui Ground Dove

We were able to push offshore as the sun was setting.

Long-winged Harrier - most people were having drinks or getting acclimated to the ship while I stayed vigilant looking for birds and got on this Long-winged Harrier commuting back after a day of hunting in the Pantanal wetlands.  It was super high up and I was happy to get this shot after some heavy cropping.

As the sun was setting the Band-tailed Nighthawks came out in full force with literally hundreds feeding above the river.

Here is a short video.

Great times!