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.
Parrots are one of a favorite of many people even who are not birders due to large size, colors and the pet trade. I had an impressive 13 species on this trip.
Parakeets are smaller parrots with long pointed tails.
The 11" Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) is a well known bird in the pet trade as the "Quaker Parrot". It is a common bird in the USA as many releases have established this bird in the country. But this is his natural range in southern Brazil and Argentina
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| Monk Parakeet |
The 12" Nanday Parakeet (Nandayus nenday) is another pet trade bird that can be seen in the USA as released birds. I first photographed this bird in Florida many years ago. So it was nice to see it in its natural range. It is a green parrot with a black face and black wings.
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| Nanday Parakeet |
The 10.5" Peach-fronted Parakeet (Aratinga aura) is a beautiful bird with many colors. It has a yellow eye ring and orange forehead.
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| Peach-fronted Parakeet |
The 10" Maroon-bellied Parakeet (Pyrrhura frontalis) is a beautiful bird that we had at arms length at a lodge. It is an easy ID.
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| Maroon-bellied Parakeet |
The 8" Plain Parakeet (Brotogeris tirica) is an all green parakeet that is an Atlantic forest endemic. It was at the same lodge as the previous bird.
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| Plain Parakeet |
We had the ability to hand feed them - up to a dozen at a time on our hands and forearms and even sitting on our heads. These are the moments I treasure.
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| Plain Parakeet |
Another all green bird is the 5" Cobalt-rumped Parrotlet (Forpus xanthopterygius). These sparrow sized parrotlets are so cute.
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| Cobalt-rumped Parrotlet |
Rodents bring to mind rats and mice and of course these are the most common, but we had 3 interesting rodents on the trip.
The cute Brazilian Squirrel (Scurius aestuans) was at the same lodge as the Plain Parakeets above and was able to be hand fed.
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| Brazilian Squirrel |
Larger is the 18" Azara's Agouti (Dasyprocta azarae). It is one of a dozen species of agouti in Latin America. Although they are supposedly shy, they were common around the lodge.
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| Azara's Agouti |
The huge Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) is the largest rodent with a weight recorded up to 200 pounds, but generally they are 75 - 150 pounds.
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| Capybara |
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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