Brazilian advent Day 24

And finally, an angel atop the Amazon! 
OK, so its only my shadow surrounded by the optical phenomenon known as a glory but it still provided a magical atmosphere for my first morning on one of the canopy towers.  Happy holidays!

Brazilian advent Day 23

Probably the most sought-after butterfly species at the lodge; Imperial Arcas!  And no, its not dead but has the strange habit of flattening its wings along the leaf surface to mask its silhouette from potential predators.

Brazilian advent Day22

A Sunbittern which allowed for an unusually close approach.  I even managed to get a short video of it giving its typical, melancholy song, which would often wake me up in the mornings.

Brazilian advent Day 21

Southern Tamandua, aka Lesser Anteater

Brazilian advent Day 20

Caria trochilus, aka Rainbow Metalmark

Brazilian advent Day 19

Black Witch moth.

Brazilian advent Day 18

White-tailed trogon, male.

Brazilian advent Day 17

Chalodeta chaonitis, aka Orange-stitched Metalmark.

Brazilian advent Day 16

Red-necked Aracari, which is endemic to southern Amazonia.

Brazilian advent Day 15

A Magnificent Skipper (Phareas coeleste) showing that the skippers can be just as bright and flashy as other butterflies.

Brazilian advent Day 14

The very shy and difficult-to-see Snethlage's Marmoset.

Brazilian advent Day 13

A freshly emerged cicada drying its wings.

Brazilian advent Day 12

Razor-billed Curassow

Brazilian advent Day 11

The basking Yellow-spotted River-Turtles would often have butterflies on their 'noses' which are feeding on the salt in their tears.

Brazilian advent Day 10

My first tent-making bat, thanks to Rich Hoyer.

Practice makes perfect

It was a ridiculously mild 11°C today yet around half of Genval Lake, just to the south of Brussels, was still frozen from the recent cold spell.  That didn't seem to worry this immature Black-throated Diver, though, as it was constantly snorkelling and diving at the edge of the ice.  It wasn't very succesful, however, as it only managed to catch one fish the whole time I was there.

Brazilian advent Day 9

Two of the ridiculously tame Dark-winged Trumpeters which walked towards me on my first walk in the forest and showed off and on throughout my stay.  A recording of the strange noises which give these birds their name can be found here.

Brazilian advent Day 8

I did a lot of butterfly photography this year; this clear-winged satyr (Haetera piera) always impresses guests but is really difficult to photograph as the camera usually focuses right through its translucent wings.

Brazilian advent Day 7

And so on to the Amazon, starting with sunrise from one of the towers.

Brazilian advent Day 6

Bat Falcon is one of just 53 species (out of a total of 548 I saw or heard this summer) I recorded in both the Atlantic rainforest and the Amazon.

Brazilian advent Day 5

Just as beautiful but doing an amazing job at blending in with the leaves is this Brassy-breasted Tanager

Brazilian advent Day 4

A beautiful male Brazilian Ruby

Brazilian advent Day 3

Brazil has four large toucans and this, the Red-breasted, was the only species I had not yet seen as it is restricted to the south-east.

Brazilian advent Day 2

Of course, this being my first time birding the Atlantic coast, most species were new for me, including this cute White-throated Hummingbird.

Brazilian advent Day 1

This year was the first time I managed to arrange a stopover on the Atlantic coast before heading to the Amazon so, together with a couple of birding friends, I headed up into the mountains for three wonderful days in Itatiaia, the first national park of Brazil.  We stayed in a nearby private reserve, where Diademed Tanagers greeted us and we had a wonderful view of the Atlantic rainforest which provided some spectacular sunsets.