Amazonian birding part 4

Its funny how the cookie crumbles. My second group were desperate to see Giant Otters yet, despite doing lots of boat trips to try to find them, they just weren't around. My last group, however, were focussed on seeing as many birds as possible and we ran into groups of Giant Otters on three occasions. They also got to see over 130 different birds in their four days here, the best of which was an adult Ornate Hawk-Eagle we got to admire along the river. Having some keen birders also gave me a good excuse to do a long trip upriver for the Hoatzin which we can't do later in the season and, consequently, I've not done in several years.

Amazonian birding part 3

After two weeks at the lodge, I have now seen or heard 250 bird species.  The undoubted highlight of the past few days was a gorgeous, male Blue-backed Manakin, a bird I've only managed to see a few times, singing in full view along one of the trails. The local race is an anomaly as we are well within the range of the red-capped subspecies but the birds here have a yellow crown and may well be a separate species entirely.

Amazonian birding part 2

Having already given up two of their kind, the tinamous have returned to their normal, furtive selves and I've only had brief glimpses of what were probably two more species since my last post. The past four days, I was guiding eleven (!) Thai photographers. They were hard work but one of the nicest groups of people I've guided so I was sorry to see them go. They left very happy with their pictures of White-whiskered Spider-Monkey, Red-handed Howler-Monkey, both otters, Red-fan Parrot and an adult Agami Heron fishing, amongst others.  We even got to see a Greater Yellow-headed Vulture 'skiing' as it slid down the wooden handrail of some steps which lead to our beach, where it then devoured a dead fish. I have a little while before my next group and so am now teaching a newly arrived birding guide all the trails. This morning started off very well with my first lifer of the season; a Southern Nightingale-Wren singing right at the lodge!

Amazonian birding part 1

My first day and a half birding around Belém provided me with 14 lifers, including the ridiculously red Scarlet Ibis, one of the species I most wanted to see.  I'll have more time in Pará on the way back but I'm now at the lodge again.  I've spent the past two days walking the various trails and trying to investigate the myriad bird calls, many of which I've forgotten since I was last here.  Yesterday, I flushed a Variegated Tinamou which scuttled off the trail but then froze within view, allowing me to get a great look at its markings.  This morning, I was standing quietly in the Secret Garden when I heard some rustling leaves and turned around expecting to find a lizard, only to see a Tataupa Tinamou walk over the rocks and off into the forest.  That's only the second Tataupa I've seen in all the years I've been coming here and two tinamous in my first two days.  Only another nine tinamou species to go!

Amazon bound

Rufous-thighed Kite by David Lang

I'm on my way to the Amazon for my seventh season of guiding at Cristalino Jungle Lodge, where my local bird list stands at a whopping 534 species.  Of course, after a year and a half in total spent in exactly the same place, the law of diminishing returns means that I have very few potential lifers remaining but this Rufous-thighed Kite, a rare austral migrant, was one of 5 new species I managed to see or hear during my 7 weeks there last year.  A few new birds would be nice, therefore, but, this year, I've managed to arrange a stopover in Belém, to see another part of the Amazon and, hopefully, quite a few different birds.  I'll be updating my blog regularly over the summer about life in the rainforest but won't be able to post any pictures until I get back so I'll leave you with these two wonderful shots taken by one of my groups last year.

Zigzag Heron by David Lang