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 14" Picazuro Pigeon (Patagioenias picazuro) has a light purplish head and body with a scaled neck. Also the red eye is a good field mark,
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| Picazuro Pigeon |
The 8" Scaled Dove (Scardafella squammata) is an overall beige dove with scaling on all its feathers.
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| Scaled Dove |
The 7" Picui Ground Dove (Columbina picui) is a light beige dove with a black shoulder stripe and aw white wing bar.
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| Picui Ground Dove |
The 7" Long-tailed Ground Dove (Uropelia campestris) is another beige dove with 2 black wing bars and 3 black wing spots.
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| Long-tailed Ground Dove |
We had 2 owls for the trip. The 6.5" Ferruginous Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium brasilianum) is seen everywhere from south Texas to South America. Pygmy owls are diurnal so they are easy to find.
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| Ferruginous Pygmy Owl |
The 14" Rusty-barred Owl (Ciccaba hylophila) was a lifer. it is found in the mountains of southeastern Brazil.
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| Rusty-barred Owl |
The 20" Great Potoo (Nyctibius grandis) is a white potoo. I had seen and photgraphed it previously, but this one was on a snag right beside the road in the Pantanal, so prolonged close up views were possible. The first shows the typical pose as they sleep during the day. They hide in plain sight if you look for them.
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| Great Potoo |
And here was a close-up.
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| Great Potoo |
The only nightjar for the trip was the spectacular 12" male Long-trained Nightjar (Macropsalis forcipata). The long outer tail feathers add another 16" to his length.
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| Long-trained Nightjar |
And another photo.
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| Long-trained Nightjar |
I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing
David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com
photos copyright 2006 - 2025 David McDonald
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