Wednesday, 13 July 2016

Brazilian summer part 5

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.