It's funny how the cookie crumbles. My last group got to see four tapirs in two days, including a mother and her stripey calf, whereas my previous group didn't see any at all. The crake story took an unexpected twist when a guide looking for the grey-breasted discovered a paint-billed crake instead, in exactly the same place! This bird is much rarer with just two previous records in the region and thus became my 7th lifer of the season so far. The Gould's Jewelfront nest now contains two little beaks and I just discovered a Yellow-browed Tody-Flycatcher building a nest right outside my room. I've only six more days left in the Amazon, then its back to Brussels, for now at least.
I've been guiding a three-time Olympic medalist and his family the past few days and they got to see some great stuff, including Lesser Anteater, Collared Peccary, a sloth, plus four species of monkey. The undoubted bird highlight of the past week or so was a Grey-breasted Crake running around in the open near the floating deck. I'd only ever heard this bird here as it is normally extremely elusive and always hiding in long grass. A male Purple-throated Cotinga was also nice and a chick successfully hatched in the Gould's Jewelfront nest. It has gotten extremely hot and sticky in anticipation of the first rain, which must surely come any day now.
Nossa! No sooner I had written that there was very little bird news to tell than another guide went and found an occupied nest of the ultra-rare Gould's Jewelfront hummingbird right in the staff clearing! I've seen both Great and Grey Tinamou the past week, and I finally got to visit the magic pond, which long-standing readers of my blog should well remember from my first year here. Around 25 bird species came in to drink or bathe, with the Long-Tailed Potoo making its expected appearance as darkness fell. The mammals still got the upper hand, however, as, while we were waiting for the potoo, none other than my first Giant Anteater came in and took a bath!
The inevitable day without a single new species since I've been here has finally happened (after five and a half weeks!) and, bird-wise, things have quietened down a little. Mammals, on the other hand, have been showing well, especially the monkeys, which had proven very difficult to find the past couple of weeks. An early start up the tower to watch a very disappointing meteor shower did produce a kinkajou, however, and, yesterday, I went into town for some r&r on my day off, seeing five giant otters on the way out. Coming back today, though, I got an ever so fleeting glimpse of a black jaguar, as it slipped into the river, before bounding up the riverbank and disappearing into the forest!
Well, I was wondering what I could possibly write about after last week's ground-cuckoo sighting but its been a crazy, crazy week at Cristalino. Visiting tour leader Rich Hoyer first found a Black Manakin, a new species for the Alta Floresta region, then spotted my first Striped Cuckoo right outside our dorm. Not to be outdone, however, I also added a new species to the Cristalino list, as two Green Oropendola's flew past the tower, my guests managing to get some photo's as proof. That same morning, we also had an immature Harpy Eagle sitting atop a tree for 1.5 hours, followed by a Crested Owl which flew in and landed right above us as we walked one of the trails. Despite already being here for five weeks, I'm still seeing at least one new species every day; this morning's addition being Reddish Hermit, but who knows what this afternoon will bring!
This part of the Amazon has a very pronounced dry season as it does not normally rain here between early June and mid-August. The forest dries out very quickly, therefore, so the lodge have installed a couple of artificial pools in the forest where you can sit and wait for birds to come and drink or bathe. I finally got to visit one of them this week and a group of 5 trumpeters came in and drank, as did a Ringed Antpipit, plus 13 other species.
Spurred on by this, plus my first-ever sighting of Collared Puffbird yesterday morning, we went to another such location yesterday afternoon with a very special target. I really didn't think it would happen but, after an hour of waiting, the holy grail of Amazonian, if not South American, birding, the Scaled Ground-Cuckoo, made its majestic appearance! This bird is so rare, shy, and poorly known that less than 20 people (the four of us included!) have seen it here, and perhaps even fewer elsewhere in its very limited,presumed range.
I've guided three groups so far, all of which got to see Giant Otters, with the last two also seeing tapir. After a lot of searching, I finally got a brief look at the Spectacled Owl which is still calling every night but, so far, nobody has managed to locate its daytime roost. The howler monkeys only allowed me four hours of sleep last night yet myself and another guide did a trail we'd not yet been to this morning and had a great time. We found a couple of mixed flocks, an antswarm with a Black-spotted Bare-Eye in attendance, and, best of all, excellent views of a superb male Chestnut-belted Gnateater, which I've only seen once before.
There has been quite a bit of excitement at the lodge this past week, not least when a pit-viper was found right outside our dormitory! My first guest, a keen birder, got to see five of our seven monkey species and had a wonderful leaving present in the form of an adult Ornate Hawk-Eagle on his way out. A calling Spectacled Owl kept me awake for most of last night, and this morning's boat ride produced two tapirs, four Giant Otters, plus an adult Agami Heron. After two weeks here, I've now seen almost 250 species and am still adding new ones each day, although I'm now guiding mainly ecotourists so am unlikely to find any more lifers until I get some days off.
I've now been at the lodge for a full week although my first couple of days here were spent mostly in bed since my body didn't like the 30-degree temperature difference between here and the mountains. When I finally felt fit enough to try a short trail, I immediately came across an antswarm with both Dark-winged Trumpeters and Snethlage's Marmoset, both of which are usually difficult to see, in attendance. A fig tree right next to our dormitory was in fruit, attracting no less than ten species of tanager plus six different euphonias within a couple of hours. Having seen or heard well over 500 of the 600 or so species recorded in the region of Alta Floresta, the remaining ones are either extremely rare or difficult to find. I was not expecting to get any lifers, therefore, but have seen two in the past two days! First, I found a Dark-billed Cuckoo amongst vegetation along the Cristalino river, then another guide told me he had located a Rufous Nightjar, which we went to see the following morning. Not bad for my first week here!
I'm back in the Amazon for my fifth summer season of guiding at Cristalino Jungle Lodge. This time, though, I was able to arrange a stopover in Rio to finally get to see some of the Atlantic rainforest and some of its many endemic birds. Together with a Brazilian friend and a local guide, I stayed in a small, private reserve next to Itatiaia National Park at an altitude of 1400m. We ventured right up to 2100m, where there was frost on the ground and we saw Itatiaia Spinetail, which has an extremely small range. Other favourites of the many new species I saw include the stunning Black-and-gold Cotinga, Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper, Black-capped Piprites, and the beautiful Diademed Tanager. Best of all, though, was a patch of flowering bamboo inside the park which had attracted a feeding frenzy of at least 32 different species and kept us busy, as well as somewhat overwhelmed, for over an hour!
