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.
We had over 30 tanagers for the trip. Most of them were new to me. The 7.5" male Brazilian Tanager (Ramphocelus bresilius) is similar to our Scarlet Tanager except for the white lower mandible. It is an Atlantic forest endemic.
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| Brazilian Tanager - male |
His cousin is the 7" Silver-beaked Tanager (Ramphocelus carbo). He is mostly black with dark red on the face and breast.
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| Silver-beaked Tanager |
A totally new type of tanager for me were the warbling finches. The 6" Grey-throated Warbling Finch (Microspingus cabanisi). It is a cute sparrow sized bird with a gray striped face, gray throat and a rufous belly.
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| Grey-throated Warbling Finch |
His cousin is the 6" Buff-throated Warbling Finch (Microspingus lateralis) is similar buth the throat is light brown. He also has only 1 white stripe on the face. This is another Brazil endemic bird.
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| Buff-throated Warbling Finch |
The 7" Black-faced Tanager (Schistochlamys melanopis) is a gray bird with a black face and light bill tipped with black. However, the immatures are olive and have a yellow eye ring. This immature is starting to develop his black face.
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| Black-faced Tanager - juvenile |
His cousin, the 7" Cinnamon Tanager (Schistochlamys ruficapillus) has a gray back and tail with an orange head, breast and under tail. He has the same black face and bill.
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| Cinnamon Tanager |
The 6" Long-tailed Reed Finch (Donacospiza albifrons) is listed as uncommon and inconspicuous. But the guidebook says occasionally it perches up on the reeds, as did this one.
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| Long-tailed Reed Finch |
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| Green-winged Saltator |
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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