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 16" male Brazilian Teal (Amazonetta brasiliensis) is mostly brown with a red bill.
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| Brazilian Teal - male |
The female has several white spots on her face.
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| Brazilian Teal - female |
The 18" male Southern Pochard (Netta erythrophthalma) ia a very dark mahogany colored duck with a red eye.
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| Southern Pochard - males |
The 22" male Comb Duck (Sarkidornis melanotos) is a peculiar looking bird. The body in black, He has a very long neck for a duck and the male has a crest on his beak - the comb.
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| Comb Duck - male |
The female is similar but lacks the comb.
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| Comb Duck - female |
The huge 30" Muscovy Duck (Cairina noschata) is well known as very common in our parks - although the ones with the white on the body or head have bred with domestic ducks. The wild ones do not have white except the wing patches. The red knobly face is another field mark of this bird.
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| Muscovy Duck |
Screamers are a small family of 3 species related to ducks and geese. The 36" goose like Southern Screamer (Chauna torquata) is an easy ID with its red legs, facial skin, wispy crest and a black collar. The rest of the bird is gray.
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| Southern Screamer |
We saw a few chicks as well.
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| Southern Screamer - chick |
The 12" Sungrebe (Heliornis fulica) is one of 3 species in the finfoot family. It swims low in the water and tends to stay hidden behind overhanging branches. It is an easy ID with its striped head and neck.
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| Sungrebe |
Another evening on a boat trip we saw one on a branch. Notice the black stripes on his legs and feet.
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| Sungrebe |
The 35" Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) is a memeber of the darter family. It looks like a cormorant but the neck is much longer. This is a female with the beige neck. The male would be all black.
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| Anhinga - female |
We saw few kingfishers despite a several boat rides. The 11" Amazon Kingfisher (Chloroceryle amazona) is the largest green kingfisher in the Americas. This is a male with the brown breast.
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| Amazon Kingfisher - male |
I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing
David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com
photos copyright 2006 - 2024 David McDonald
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