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.
I had 3 new warblers for the trip. The 5.3" Riverbank Warbler (Basileuterus rivularis) is olive above with a gray cap and buffy flanks. The buffy flanks separate it from 2 very similar warblers.
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| Riverbank Warbler |
Next is the 5.8" Flavescent Warbler (Myiothlypis flaveolus). Ir is an easy ID as the only all yellow warbler in the area.
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| Flavescent Warbler |
The 5.5" male Southern Yellowthroat (Geothylpis velata) has a gray crown, olive back and bright yellow breast. The male here has, the black mask typical for yellowthroats.
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| Southern Yellowthroat - male |
There were 3 members of the vireo family, 2 of which were new. The 6" Rufous-browed Peppershrike (Cyclaris gujanensis) is a very common bird in the Neotropics. It has the thick vireo bill and the orange eye stripes.
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| Rufous-browed Peppershrike |
The 4.8" Ashy-headed Greenlet (Hylophilus pectoralis) is olive above, yellow below and has a gray head.
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| Ashy-headed Greenlet |
The 5" Rufous-crowned Greenlet (Hylophilus poicilotis) is similar to the previous bird but he has a reddish cap.
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| Rufous-crowned Greenlet |
The euphonias are members of the finch family. I had 3 new ones for the trip. The 4.5" male Violaceous Euphonia (Euphonia violacea) has a purplish head, blue back and wings and the underside is bright yellow.
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| Violaceous Euphonia - male |
The 4" male Purple-throated Euphonia (Euphonia chlorotica) is similar to the one above but he has a purple throat. He also has a yellow forehead, but he was so high up in the tree that it does not show up in the photo.
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| Purple-throated Euphonia - male |
Lastly is the most beautiful bird for this bulletin. The 4.5" male Chestnut-bellied Euphonia (Euphonia pectoralis) is an easy ID. He is all blue except for the brown belly and a yellow shoulder patch.
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| Chestnut-bellied Euphonia - male |
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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