After 3 trips to Colombia with diminishing returns, it was time to go further afield. Pablo Flores the guide in Colombia is now leading trips to Brazil as well. So my birding buddy Martin Jackson and my daughter Chantel and I decided to go there. We visited the Pantanal, the Atlantic forest in the Sao Paulo area and had 1 day in the Chapada. The Pantanal is the largest wetland in the world, so it is teeming with wildlife. The Atlantic Forest is a unique ecosystem from sea level to about 1 mile elevation. It contains 800 species of birds (225 endemic) and 26 species of primates. Unfortunately it also contains 2 mega cities - Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and the resulting sprawl and clearing for agriculture since the Portuguese arrived 500 years ago, has wiped out 90%+ of the original forest. About 250 species of amphibians, birds and mammals have gone extinct in the past 400 years. The good news is that many preserves and parks have been set aside to try and preserve the remaining biodiversity.
The 57 species of cracids are turkey like game birds. We saw 6 on the trip which was a record for me on a single trip.
The 23" Chaco Chachalaca (Ortalis canicollis) is plain brown with red facial skin and a red throat.
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| Chaco Chachalaca |
The 27" White-throated Piping Guan (Pipile grayi) was split from the Blue-throated Piping Guan in January 2023. It is an easy ID with the white face and throat.
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| White-throated Piping Guan |
The 27" Red-throated Piping Guan (Pipile cujubi) is similar except the throat dewlap is red.
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| Red-throated Piping Guan |
The 28" Dusky-legged Guan (Penelope obscura) is a brown bird with white streaking on breast and belly. He has a red dewlap. This one is in the Atlantic Forest.
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| Dusky-legged Guan |
The 30" Chestnut-bellied Guan (Penelope ochrogaster) has a beautiful orange-brown belly and thighs. This one is in the Pantanal.
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| Chestnut-bellied Guan |
Lastly is the regal 37" Bare-faced Curassow (Crax fasciolata). The male is all black with a 2 tone bill. He has bare black skin on the face and a curly feathered crest. In the Pantanal at the lodges where protected, they are very tame and come to feeders for corn.
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| Bare-faced Curassow - male |
The female is spectacular with brown underparts and the crest is black and white.
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| Bare-faced Curassow - female |
I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing
David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com
photos copyright 2006 - 2023 David McDonald
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