Amazonian birding part 10

White-crested Guan

I'm finally back in Brussels again after an exhausting 26-hour journey from Parauapebas, Pará.  It involved travelling by car, a 1.5 hour ferry ride along the Acará and Guamá rivers, two flights, train and bus!  During my four days in and around the Serra dos Carajás, I managed to see another 22 new species for my list, one of which is a new species entirely, as it is still undescribed and currently known as Amazonian Spinetail.  There were also five subspecies which are likely to be split in the near future, including Santarém Parakeet, which was noticeably different from the Madeira Parakeets at Cristalino.  We had the most amazing guide, Filho Manfredini, who got us on a singing Snethlage's Antpitta on our first afternoon, although my first lifer of the trip were three ridiculously heavy-looking Horned Screamers along the road.  Lots of goodies followed and, on our one day without Filho, I even managed to find Sharpbill, Snethlage's Gnateater and Ruddy Spinetail by myself, but by far the highlight for me was seeing and especially hearing White Bellbirds singing.  This meant a horrible drive up through a working mine into the upper parts of the Carajás National Forest but, as the car ground to a halt, the driver and our guide having heard something I'd missed in the back seat, and we all  got out, I couldn't believe my ears.  There was the loudest and weirdest birdsong I've ever heard coming from atop a dead tree right alongside the road.  I even managed to get a short clip of it singing.  A Yellow-browed Sparrow giving its dry, buzzy song as we waited for the ferry back to Belém was my 36th lifer from my seventh summer in the Amazon and my 2350th bird in the world!

Amazonian birding part 9

It's now my last couple of days at the lodge and Stephen's law has already kicked in. The Serra trail yielded a second poison frog, this time ameerega picta, I recorded a new species of metalmark for the reserve, and I was surprised to hear a singing Thrush-like Wren, a common species in the open country around Alta Floresta but one I'd not yet encountered here, from Tower 1. A singing Blue-cheeked Jacamar was my 400th species of the season but the biggest surprise of the past few days came as I was sitting in the bar area cooling off after the morning's walk. A small, cinnamon-coloured bird zipped through the bar and landed in the nearest tree leaving me perplexed as to what it could be. Grabbing my binoculars, I was soon looking at a male Fiery-capped Manakin, perhaps one of the most difficult birds to see here, showing off its fiery crown-stripe, cinnamon back and streaked underparts. What a beauty!

Amazonian birding part 8

It only took for me to write that the birdlife was changing for the first austral migrants to start appearing on their way back south. First up was a Dark-billed Cuckoo, another species I've only encountered once before, followed by several White-throated Kingbirds. Most unseasonal was a Cristalino Poison Dart Frog sitting in the middle of the Sera trail for my group of 8 people, the first one I've seen prior to the first rains in all the years I've been coming here. We had a big rainstorm last night, however, so maybe it sensed the increase in humidity and came out in anticipation. In any case, it looks as if the rainy season is starting three to four weeks early!