2017 review

2018 is almost upon us so it's time for my month-by-month review of my 2017 birding highlights (lifers in CAPS).

January - SIBERIAN ACCENTOR (Denmark); a leftover from 2016's amazing and unprecented influx, I made a special twitch for this very special vagrant.

February - Red-breasted Goose (Bulgaria); they kept us in suspense for three days but we finally got to see around 10% of the estimated world population!
March - Grey-headed Woodpecker (Brussels); a lone male singing in the Forêt de Soignes/Zoniënwoud and my first in Belgium.
April - Yellow-browed Warbler (Brussels); an intra-Brussels twitch to this lovely little bird with the long name was the best medicine to get over a cold.
May - Spotted Flycatcher (Kalmthout Heath and Brussels); there seemed to be above-average numbers of this rather cryptic species this spring and it was also a new addition to my patch list.
June - Black Stork (Ardennes); 3 flew overhead (only the second time I've seen this species in Belgium) whilst I was waiting in vain for my first ever Greenish Warbler to show.
July - Green Woodpecker (Switzerland, Brussels and Couvin); seen several times this month, one of my biggest surprises of the year was looking out of my window to discover a juvenile in the dead tree opposite.
August - Ornate Hawk-Eagle (Cristalino Jungle Lodge); more than just a surprise, I was lucky enough to witness something utterly unbelievable within ten days of arriving in the Amazon.
September - RUFOUS-TAILED ATTILA (Cristalino Jungle Lodge); Rich Hoyer seems to find one of these every year so it was extra special to discover my own one feeding in the open along the river.
October - LONG-TAILED SHRIKE (Zwin); a first-autumn bird which turned up while I was away in Germany thankfully stayed just one more day, thus allowing me to twitch it before it disappeared.
November - Desert Wheatear (Holland); a dapper first-winter male and my first in Europe at the end of a rather unsuccessful day's twitching. 
December - Hawfinch (Brussels); despite the huge influx of this species into north-western Europe, I never expected to be watching one from my living room, making it the 55th species on my balcony list.

Strangely, I saw or heard 167 species in Belgium year for the second year running.  Birding trips to Denmark, Bulgaria, The Netherlands, the Alps and the French Riviera took my European year list to 234, whilst I added another 378 in Brazil, making a total year list of 612 species.  Of these, just eight were lifers, namely Siberian Accentor, heard-only Greenish Warbler, Straight-billed Hermit, Rufous-thighed Kite, Rufous Attila, Rufous-tailed Xenops, Cinereous Tinamou and Long-tailed Shrike.
My bird of the year has got to be Siberian Accentor (above) way back at the end of January.  At the time, everyone was wondering whether 2017 would see any of these birds returning but there have been no reports since so this may well have been my one and only opportunity to connect with this species in Europe.  A few more of my pictures of this bird can be seen in the linked post so, instead, I will round off with the million-dollar shot taken by one of my guests at Cristalino this year.  Sunbittern is always a favourite amongst our visitors yet getting a shot of the distinctive sunburst pattern in the wings takes a lot of patience and luck.  The same lucky group who had the Ornate Hawk-Eagle encounter on their way out of the lodge had a very succesful three days with me, seeing both their most wanted species, namely Zigzag Heron and Harpy Eagle.  One morning, however, we were boating upriver when we encountered a Sunbittern on the rocks together with a pair of Muscovy Ducks.  We slowed down for the obligatory Sunbittern shots as, even with its wings closed, it is still a very attractive bird, when the unthinkable happened as one of the Muscovy Ducks took a step too close and the Sunbittern reacted by flaring out its wings.  My guests, of course, were ready and got this amazing shot to make any professional photographer green with envy.

Sunbittern by David Lang

Amazonian advent Day 24

2017 was the year of the Tapir. 
Come the end of the dry season, we usually expect to see one or two per boat ride but this year was ridiculous.  The prolonged heatwave, with daytime temperatures around 40°C, forced the tapirs, deer and even tinamous down to the river to cool off and escape the horseflies in numbers which I've never seen in all my six years of guiding at the lodge.  We were regularly counting double figures per boat trip and one lucky lady got to see 20 in one day!  

Pairs were a regular sighting, especially just upstream from the lodge, but the icing on the cake were a couple of very young babies accompanied by their mothers and which several groups got to see.  Despite looking for all the world like a brown watermelon on legs, isn't it just the cutest thing you've ever seen?

Photo by Fábio Paschoal (Muito obrigado!)

Merry Xmas to all my readers and may 2018 bring you plenty of birds, butterflies and, who knows, maybe even tapirs!

Amazonian advent Day 23

Despite the abundance of butterfly pictures in this year's advent calendar, I 'only' took around 120 photographs of them this year. 
This one, however, a female Trochilia Metalmark (Argyrogrammana trochilia), is my favourite as it was a new species for me and quite possibly the first documented record for the Cristalino region, if not the whole of southern Amazonian Brazil.

Amazonian advent Day 22

Agami Heron, or hummingbird heron as it is called in Portuguese due to its extremely long, dagger-like bill, is one of the most sought-after species along the river which even the least birdy ecotourists can appreciate! 

Amazonian advent Day 21

On what was possibly the hottest day of the year, this clever Lesser Anteater with a drippy nose decided it would sleep on our floating deck above the cool river, much to the delight of the groups which arrived that afternoon to an unusual and very unexpected welcome party!  The following day, it was gone.

Amazonian advent Day 20

The Euselasias, in the metalmark family, are difficult to observe as they always perch upside down on the underside of a leaf.  This is Euselasia eurypus.

Amazonian advent Day 19

This small Green Anaconda was the only one I saw this year and had obviously just eaten going by the bulge half way long its body.

Amazonian advent Day 18

There are 19 species of woodcreeper at Cristalino, all subtle variations on the theme of reddish-brown with varying amounts of streaking and slightly different bills.  They are, therefore, a nightmare to the uninitiated, especially as some of the local subspecies look very different to the nominate forms pictured in the field guides!  This is the Dusky-billed (eytoni) subspecies of Buff-throated Woodcreeper, the commonest woodcreeper on the reserve.

Amazonian advent Day 17

Another butterfly today, this is Lowland Owlet or Opsiphanes invirae.

Amazonian advent Day 16

It's taken me several years to get a decent shot of Giant Otters.  This year, they were pretty elusive but, when they did show up, they put on a great show.

Amazonian advent Day 15

This species of millipede was extremely common this year, especially once the rains had started.

Amazonian advent Day 14

The Syrmatia family of  swordtail butterflies are very rarely observed in the wild and so there is very little information on how to tell them apart.  This one, possibly Syrmatia nyx, was one of the many nighttime visitors to our mothsheet which provided countless goodies for the guests and guides to admire.  A butterfly biologist who spent a whole year at the lodge only ever saw one of these and that was dead!

Amazonian advent Day 13

Blue-and-yellow Macaws.

Amazonian advent Day 12

Another hairstreak today; this tiny thing is Tmolus echion.

Recharging the batteries

Brussels, and it seems most of northern Europe, has had heavy snowfall the past couple of days yet, this time last week, I was enjoying the sunshine and blue skies of the French Riviera.  Although more a short break from winter than a birding trip, I did get to do a couple of nice walks amongst the limestone garrigue, with skulky Sardinian Warblers calling all around.  I was surprised to find a flock of feeding Crag Martins as I didn't realise they overwinter there.  On my last day, I did the scenic walk around Cap Ferrat in the hope of maybe spotting an offshore shearwater but the sea was far too calm.  There were plenty of Goldcrests and Firecrests in the coastal pines and I finally got good looks at some Sardinian Warblers, but the best sighting by far was the view from the tip of the headland.

Amazonian advent Day 11

This year, the Red-handed Howler-Monkey's paid regular visits to the lodge, often waking everyone up around 4am.  The group seemed to consist of twelve individuals, including two very young babies, perhaps only a few weeks old.  Here are an adult (above) and a youngster (below).

Amazonian advent Day 10

The Euptychia group of woodland satyrs are a terribly complex and difficult family to identify about which very little is known.  Only recently, one species was discovered to actually be the female of another species!  Nevertheless, I believe this beauty may be Chloreuptychia marica.

Amazonian advent Day 9

I saw some great-looking Pleasing Fungus Beetles this year.  Above is Erotylus mirabilis whilst I could only identify the below as far as genus; Gibbifer sp. 

Amazonian advent Day 8

The wonderfully metallic metalmark Caria castalia.

Amazonian advent Day 7

Red-necked Woodpecker, a fairly regular visitor to the lodge clearing.

Amazonian advent Day 6

A nice portrait of the fairly common Forest Giant Owl, Caligo eurilochus

Amazonian advent Day 5

Yet more good camouflage today in the form of these Proboscis Bats.

Amazonian advent Day 4

I again did a lot of butterfly photography this year; this is Panthiades bitias aka Bitias Hairstreak.

Amazonian advent Day 3

This Common Potoo is another master of camouflage, sitting on its daytime roost (or possibly even nest) and looking for all the world like a broken branch.

Amazonian advent Day 2

This White Witch is a moth which has the biggest wingspan of any butterfly or moth, so big in fact that it almost always lands on a tree trunk facing sideways so that the wings do not stick out either side, which would compromise its camouflage.

Amazonian advent Day 1

As with every year I've been to the Amazon, it's time for my online advent calendar featuring some of my favourite pictures taken during my time at Cristalino Jungle Lodge.  Traditionally, I've always started with one of the lodge chickens, more commonly known as Bare-faced Curassows, so here is the female showing off her stripey plumage.  This year, though, I was there much later than usual, well into October, so I got to see the start of the rainy season, with a lot of misty vistas from atop the canopy towers as a result.