Bulletin 438 - Brazil 2023 #19 - Ducks and others near water.

  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.

Brazilian Teal - male

The female has several white spots on her face.

Brazilian Teal - female

The 18" male Southern Pochard (Netta erythrophthalma) ia a very dark mahogany colored duck with  a red eye.

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.

Comb Duck - male

The female is similar but lacks the comb.

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.

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.

Southern Screamer

We saw a few chicks as well.

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.

Sungrebe

Another evening on a boat trip we saw one on a branch. Notice the black stripes on his legs and feet.

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.

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.

Amazon Kingfisher - male

I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 75 of the 168 species of ducks and geese

I have photos of 3 of the 3 species of screamers

I have photos of 2 of the 3 species of finfoots

I have photos of 2 of the 4 species of darters

I have photos of 18 of the 113 species of kingfishers

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2024 David McDonald

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Bulletin 351 - South Africa 2020 #5 - waterfowl, seal

I was enthralled with my first visit to Africa in November 2018 and so I scheduled another trip with the same guide Casper Badenhorst. As we had done the eastern part of the country from Durban to Kruger NP, we went to the Capetown area and the famous fynbos habitat.

There are a number of African endemic ducks and geese. I saw several on the first trip, and found a few more here.

Of course as we have seen, some of them will be named cape something. The 20" Cape Shoveler (Anas smithii) is a mottled gray brown duck with large blue wing patches and the typical large shoveler bill. The male here has a yellow eye. This was a lifer.

Cape Shoveler - male

The 18" Cape Teal (Anas capensis) is a gray mottled duck with a red bill.

Cape Teal

The next 3 species were all life birds for me. The 25" female South African Shelduck (Tadorna cana) is a brown duck with a gray neck and white face - an easy ID. I never saw a male. He would have a totally gray head and neck. The name shelduck is strange, so I investigated and these are a group of a half dozen large ducks that are intermediate between ducks and goose.

South African Shelduck - female

The 20" male Southern Pochard (Netta erythrophthalma) is a very dark duck with a blue bill.

Southern Pochard - male

Lastly is the 20" male Maccoa Duck (Oxyura maccoa). He is similar to the Ruddy Duck in America. The male has the stiff tail, ruddy body and blue bill, but has an all black head.

Maccoa Duck - male

The 2 geese we saw were not lifers. The 30" Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptica) can be found beside any puddle in Africa. What was uncommon about this bird was he was swimming in the ocean! Even the guide was surprised although the guide book says they may be found in 'sheltered bays'.

Egyptian Goose - in ocean

The 40" Spur-winged Goose (Plectropterus gambensis) is a huge black goose with a red bill and is an easy ID. These are my best photos of this species.

Spur-winged Goose

And standing on land one can see his red legs as well.

Spur-winged Goose

The Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) also gave me my best photos in that same wetland. Here is nice close up of face to show yellow eye and bicolored bill.

Greater Flamingo

There was also a large flock of African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopics). This is a white bodied ibis with a bare black neck, head and bill is an easy ID. This is also my best photo of the species.

African Sacred Ibis

The only marine mammal I saw on the trip was the Cape Fur Seal (Arctocephalus pusillus). It is a huge seal with males weighing up to 650 pounds. The adults are brown and, like the California Sea lions, they love to sleep on docks in the harbor, so one can walk right up to them.

Cape Fur Seal

The pups are black.

Cape Fur Seal - pup

I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 72 of the 165 species of  ducks and geese

I have photos of 3 of the 6 species of flamingos

I have photos of 11 of the 35 species of  ibis and spoonbills

I have photos of 3 of the 16 species of fur seals

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2020 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.