There seems to have been a recent influx of immature Little Blue Herons, I have not seen many of this species in Ubatuba before, and those I have seen have all been adults. Just lately I have come across several young birds in suitable places around the town area, such as Perequê-Açu and the fishing port, where this morning I also saw a Grey-necked Wood-Rail, another bird that is not common here.
Immature Little Blue Heron © Elis Simpson.
Due to recent workload, what with clients and the whole Ubatuba Birdwatching Centre thing, I have had little time to adorn the site with goodies of a mouthwatering nature, so here is a gratuitous selection of Elis’ photos taken recently. Enjoy!
White-eyed Parakeet, Balbina, Amazonas.
Neotropical River Warbler, Folha Seca.
Scaled Antbird, Folha Seca.
Buff-necked Ibis, airport, Ubatuba.
Slaty Bristlefront, Perequê, RJ.
Southern Pochard, Salesópolis.
Rufous-capped Antshrike, Biritiba Mirim.
Osprey, Salesópolis.
Reddish Hermit enjoying the sun, Perequê, RJ.
Yellowish Pipit, airport, Ubatuba.
All photos © Rick and Elis Simpson.
Started the day, with Elis and Don Hill (who had been with us at the Noddy twitch) with a look at the beach, after the rain yesterday it was possible that something may have been blown in. Nothing much was about however, except this strange siting of a juvenile Wattled Jacana on the beach. This species is not seen often in Ubatuba since there are few marshy or boggy areas for it to thrive in. The nearest I have seen them is Cambucá a few Kms along the coast towards Rio. This is the first time I have seen one in the town area, and definitely the first time on the beach!
Juvenile Wattled Jacana on Itaguá beach © Rick and Elis Simpson.
We went to Perequê-Açu to see if any shorebirds were on the mud as it was low tide. The only birds we found were two Spotted Sandpipers, one in full spotty regalia the other in winter plumage with just the odd spot… strange.
Unspotty Spotted Sandpiper © Rick and Elis Simpson.
This afternoon I was with a couple from Scotland, Ron and Edith Forrester, he the brother of the late Bruce who did so much to advance birding in Brazil. It was their first day with me and we had what can only be described as a golden moment. At one point on our walk I stopped to check out a Ferruginous Antbird and some Spot-breasted Antvireos, when I heard a Fork-tailed Tody-Tyrant call, one quick blast on the iPod and the bird lept into view, a cracking bird in its new pristine plumage. As we enjoyed this spectacle a Yellow Tyrannulet called behind us, another quick playback and a pair popped into view, again, as we were feasting on this pair actively feeding, a Spotted Bamboowren sang briefly. I played the call and waited, but not for long, the bird appeared in the nearest bush almost immediately and showed really well for about five minutes even coming to the front of the bush a few times, quite possibly the best and most prolonged views I have ever had. During this time I heard a Squamate Antbird sing. It was all I could do to drag the Forresters away from the Bamboowren to look at the fine male bird that showed incredibly well. A real purple patch.
Fork-tailed Tody-Tyrant © Cláudia Komesu
Other birds of note were the Long-billed wrens that serenaded us along the track, a White-bellied Seedeater that had been elusive, finally showed well, and the icing on the cake, as we arrived back at the car, a Black-billed Cuckoo flew over and landed in a nearby tree, showing well for the next ten minutres being mobbed by varoius species the while.
Dark-billed Cuckoo © Rafael Fortes.
Jeremy Minns has never birded in The Distrito Federal and therefore up to now there have been no site notes for the state. Recently Marcelo Monteiro and Rodrigo D’Alessandro sent some notes that have now been added to the Jeremy Mins’ site notes page. If you are planning to visit the area take a look, they may be useful. http://www.rick-simpson.com/jeremy-minns-site-notes/distrito-federal/
Don’t forget that we are always happy to hear about updates or corrections to the site notes. Send your information to me rick@rick-simpson.com or Jeremy jeremyminns@uol.com.br for inclusion in the notes.
Yesterday I received a call from Lars Olausson who had spent a couple of days with me, saying that he had just seen and photographed a Brown Noddy on Praia do Cedro. This bird is, or was, not on the list for Ubatuba.
I am currently with another guest from New Zealand, one Don Hill, and we, together with Elis set forth to see the bird for ourselves. The result you can see below!
Brown Noddy resting on rocks...
...in flight...
...and loafing on the sea.
The Noddy flying past me and Don.
All photographs on this page © Rick and Elis Simpson.
This weekend I had the pleasure of the company of Paul Varney, a birder from the UK. Although we didn’t actually, consciously, meet at the time, our UK twitching days, and a number of our acquaintances coincided. Apart from the great birding we had, we spent many hours talking about the ‘good old days’ and about birds we saw and how we must have been at the same twitch on the same day many a time. It is highly likely that I served him beer in one or other of the pubs on Scilly, I worked in a few of them during my many stays there, and certainly in the Porthcressa bar, where the nightly log was held. Oh well, less of the nostalgia, and back to present day birding. Paul has been to Brazil a few times and has got a good percentage of the Atlantic Forest species, so he came to me with a ’shopping’ list.
Paul and me at Salesópolis, a far cry from windswept Norfolk after a Little Whimbrel!
Male Festive Coquette.
Our first day together was a bit of a wash out. I picked him up at the airport, and took him straight to Biritiba Mirim, where it started to rain. We managed to get good views of a Rufous-sided Crake, before the rain got so hard that we had to return to the car. It continued to rain very heavily, so we by-passed all the Salesópolis sites and the São Paulo Antwren site, it just wasn’t possible to get out of the car! We headed down the Serra to the coast. Here at least the rain was less heavy and we headed straight for Folha Seca, here we notched up a few birds for him, Festive Coquette, White-chinned Sapphire at the feeders and a very obliging (eventually) Spotted Bamboowren.
From there we moved on to the Ubatuba Birdwatching Centre, currently located at Rancho Pica Pau. We were after the purpletufts naturally, but they were being awkward, so we spent some time looking around. Doing so we uncovered some goodies such as the Fork-tailed Tody-Tyrant and good views of a Spot-backed Antshrike.
Buff-throated Purpletuft.
Walking back to the feeders, I happened to glance over my shoulder and caught sight of two Buff-throated Purpletufts landing in the top of a tree, we scoped them and got good views, the male singing a couple of times and showing off his purple tufts. At the observation area we were treated to a male Blond-crested Woodpecker and a Lemon-chested Greenlet. Leaving the site for town we stopped to admire a bedraggled Aplomado Falcon and on the sea a couple of Brown Boobies.
Male Squamate Antbird © Rafael Fortes.
Day two saw Paul and me arriving at Fazenda Angelim with his ’shopping’ list in my hand. The first to fall was the Chestnut-capped Antthrush, which sat up obligingly on a fallen branch in the forest. This was followed swiftly by a pair of Orange-eyed Thornbirds. Next came the White-bearded Manakins, fine males displaying at the usual lek site. Along the back trail we notched up Large-headed Flatbill, White-tailed Trogon, Reddish Hermit and, to Pauls great delight, great views of a pair of Squamate Antbirds. Some fly-over Red-rumped Caciques would have been a tick for Paul, but his strict rules didn’t allow him to count them, he didn’t see the red rump!
We went then back to the UBWC, stopping en route to tick off Long-billed Wren. We looked again for the purpletufts, but time was short and we didn’t catch up with them this time. We did however notch up Grey Elaenia for Paul. We returned to town to pick up Paul’s gear and Elis and ticked off Cliff Flycatcher on the wires outside our apartment building.
Firewood Gatherers at nest site.
So now we headed for Salesópolis again, this time in good sunshine. First stop, Firewood Gatherer, three together at the nest site. Next stop the lake, here Paul scored some more ticks; Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture; Chestnut-capped Spinetail; Brazilian Teal; Southern Pochard and Sooty Tyrannulet.
Although not a tick, we were treated to great views of an Osprey flying over the lake.
From here we moved on to Biritiba Mirim and the, for me, new São Paulo Antwren site. A pair performed well for us giving views down to about 6 feet! We then moved on to the old site and picked up Red-eyed Thornbird, Rufous-capped Antshrike and Bran-coloured Flycatcher. Our last stop was the marshy pools near Mogi das Cruzes to try to get another look at the crakes. This we did with the added bonus of another tick for Paul, Yellow-rumped Marshbird. As it was getting dark I said it was time to get him back to São Paulo and his hotel, as we were packing up, a last minute tick showed up in the form of 13 Nacunda Nighthawks that flew right over our heads. This last bird was particulaly pleasing to Paul, a bird that was top of his wish list, that I had given him little hope of seeing. Talk about going out on a high!
Osprey over Salesópolis lake..
Southern Pochard. A fine male at Salesópolis.
Singing Rufous-capped Antshrike at Biritiba Mirim.
All photographs, except where indicated otherwise, © Rick and Elis Simpson.
Had a run up to Biritiba Mirim today, recently the São Paulo Antwrens have been absent from my regular site, so I went to check it out. I found that the site has been even more degraded than before, there is work being carried out on the road, and a digger has made huge holes in the ground where I always used to enter the site. Although it wasn’t impossible to find another way in, I went instead to a site the other side of Biritiba Mirim where I have not visited before, having had no necessity to do so.
Female São Paulo Antwren.
Female São Paulo Antwren.
Female SãoPaulo Antwren.
We found two seperate female birds, they responded to playback, but did not call at all, instead they came in silently. No males were seen on this occasion.
Photographs on this page © Rick and Elis Simpson.
Our wintering Spotted Sandpipers are getting ready to head north. For most of the southern Summer they remain spotless, but for these last few weeks before they set forth they gain their dapper spotty uniform. We have a very small window of opportunity to see these birds in this plumage, but it is well worth the wait.
Photograph © Rick and Elis Simpson.
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