January.

RSBS tours 2, one locally in Ubatuba for three days and the other longer over twelve days that took me to Perequê, Itatiaia, Campos do Jordão and Intervales aswell. Apartment list 84 – Orange-winged Parrot, Saffron Finch; Ubatuba list 334 Orange-winged Parrot; Brazil list 745; World list 2046; year list 314.

February.

RSBS tours 1, two day tour in Ubatuba. The month was spent entirely witin Ubatuba; only five year birds were added, the best being Salvadori’s Antwren. Apartment list 86 – Rufous Hornero, Plain Parakeet; Ubatuba list 334; Brazil list 745; World list 2046; year list 319.

March.

RSBS tours 5, two of one days, one of two days, one of three and one of four days. Again mostly spent in Ubatuba, but with a day trip to Perequê and to the Guainumbi Reserve at the top of the Serra do Mar, also stopped off along the Biritiba Mirim/Salesópolis route; lots of new raptors for the year Osprey, Grey-headed Kite, White-necked Hawk, Collared Forest-Falcon, American Kestrel and Aplomado Falcon; other good birds were Dark-billed Cuckoo, Nacunda Nighthawk and Rough-legged Tyrannulet; without doubt the best bird was found by two visiting Swedish birders, this was Brown Noddy, which turned out to be a first for Ubatuba and the state of São Paulo. Apartment list 86; Ubatuba list 339 - American Kestrel, Brown Noddy, Sandwich Tern, Short-tailed Antthrush, Giant Antshrike; Brazil List 747 – Sandwich Tern, Brown Noddy; World list 2047; year list 353.

Brown Noddy, Praia do Cedro, Ubatuba. 13/3/2010. 1st record for São Paulo State.

April.

RSBS tours 3,  one of one day and two of two days. Another quiet month spent mostly in Ubatuba with a brief visit to Campos do Jordão and the Guainumbi Reserve; best bird added, another raptor, Crane Hawk. Apartment list 87 - Chestnut-belied Euphonia; Ubatuba list 339; Brazil List 747; World list 2047; year list 353.

May.

RSBS tours 0. May is Avistar month, and this year I had the pleasure of a tour immediately after it with Tim Appleton M.B.E. whom I had wangled an invite to the event for. We went to Intervales, Itatiaia and last to Ubatuba. Some good birds were added and raptors again featured strongly with Hook-billed Kite, Snail Kite, and Mantled Hawk; other good birds included Red and White Crake, Blue-winged and Red-shouldered Macaw, Long-trained Nightjar, Black-eared Fairy and my second lifer of the year Shrike-like Cotinga, also known as Elegant Mourner Apartment list 87; Ubatuba list 340 – Elegant Mourner; Brazil list 748 – Elegant Mourner; World list 2048 – Elegant Mourner;; year list 390.

Shrike-like Cotinga or Elegant Mourner. Fazenda Angelim, Ubatuba © Rafael Fortes.

June.

RSBS tours 1, first day of a three day tour going into July. This month I went to Serra da Cantareira and Rio Grande do Sul, and there got a hatful of ticks boosting the year list enormously. Too many good birds to choose a favourite, but the Many-coloured Rush-Tyrant stands out among them. Apartment list 87; Ubatuba list 340; Brazil list 783 – White-tufted Grebe, Great Grebe, Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross, White-chinned Petrel, Maguari Stork, Chilean Flamingo, Black-necked Swan, Coscoroba Swan, Speckled Teal, Yellow-billed Pintail, Silver Teal, Rosy-billed Pochard, Long-winged Harrier, Chimango Caracara, Plumbeous Rail, Spot-flanked Gallinule, White-winged coot, Red-gartered Coot, American Oystercatcher, Hudsonian Godwit, Grey Plover, Two-banded Plover, Rufous-chested Dotterel, Brown Skua, Brown-hooded Gull, Yellow-billed Tern, Snowy-crowned Tern, Common Miner, Curve-billed Reed-haunter, Wren-like Rushbird, Many-coloured Rush-Tyrant, Austral Negrito, Spectacled Tyrant, Correndera Pipit. World list 2080 – White-tufted Grebe, Great Grebe, Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross, White-chinned Petrel, Maguari Stork, Chilean Flamingo, Black-necked Swan, Coscoroba Swan, Speckled Teal, Yellow-billed Pintail, Silver Teal, Rosy-billed Pochard, Long-winged Harrier, Chimango Caracara, Plumbeous Rail, Spot-flanked gallinule, White-winged coot, Red-gartered Coot, Two-banded Plover, Rufous-chested Dotterel, Brown Skua, Brown-hooded Gull, Yellow-billed tern, Snowy-crowned tern, Common Miner, Curve-billed Reed-haunter, Wren-like Rushbird, Many-coloured Rush-Tyrant, Austral Negrito, Spectacled Tyrant, Correndera Pipit; year list 460.

Many-coloured Rush-Tyrant, Mostardas, Rio Grande do Sul, 16/6/2010.

Half year totals.

RSBS tours 12. Apartment ticks 5, Ubatuba ticks 7, Brazil ticks 38, World ticks 34; Year list 460.

Photos on this page © Elis Simpson unless otherwise stated.

Some winter visitors have been much in evidence recently. (Hardly surprising since it’s winter I suppose!) We usually get a smattering of Brassy breasted Tanagers and Blue-naped Chlorophonias that have come down from higher ground. They brighten up any birding trip, nine of the latter appeared together in a fruiting tree in Elsie’s magic garden, as has the rare (but regular in the magic garden it would seem) Black-backed Tanager that is a migrant from the south.

Brassy-breasted Tanager © Rafael Fortes.

Blue-naped Chlorophonia © Elsie Rotenberg.

Black-backed Tanager in "Elsie's magic garden" © Elsie Rotenberg.

Another altitudinal migrant is the Tropical Pewee. It nests on higher ground and is only seen here at sea level during the winter months. A rather more surprising visitor was a female Surucua Trogon. Here in Ubatuba they are very rare, being seen higher up the slopes. I have recently seen two orange-bellied females, or one twice, at Itamambuca and Fazenda Angelim which are quite close to each other.

Tropical Pewee, adult with young © Rafael Fortes.

Female Surucua Trogon © Rafael Fortes.

A rather more exciting find was on a day out with Dutch birder Teus Luijendijk where both White-collared Foliage-gleaner (which I have only ever seen down here once before) and Sharp-billed Treehunter (which I have never seen down here before) were seen.

Sharp-billed Treehunter © Tommy Pedersen.

Other interesting records were a Hook-billed Kite over the Rancho Pica Pau and my first record for Ubatuba of Ash-throated Crake which was heard at the end of the track at Folha Seca in the company of Elis and Björn Anderson from Sweden.

Hook-billed Kite © Rafael Fortes.

]]> http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/07/09/some-recent-birds-of-interest/feed/ 0 http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/07/02/another-apartment-tick-2/ http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/07/02/another-apartment-tick-2/#comments Fri, 02 Jul 2010 01:23:17 +0000 ricksimpson http://www.rick-simpson.com/?p=1477 The other day I left for work, another day at the office (this particular day I think it was Fazenda Angelim!). No sooner had I left than Elis was out on the balcony putting out the fruit for the tanagers and sugared water for the hummingbirds. To her amazement (and my chagrin) she looked down and saw this Buff-necked Ibis on the roof of the house below.

Recently I thought I had heard this bird call nearby as I worked on my computer but I couldn’t be sure, now we have the proof we needed, another apartment tick, number 88!

Buff-necked Ibis.

Photo © Rick and Elis Simpson.

Male São Paulo Antwren - Biritba Mirim.

Male Salvadori's Antwren - Folha Seca.

All photographs © Björn Anderson.

Just got back from a great week in Rio Grande do Sul. We went there principally to see the wintering migrants and some sea birds.

Lagoa dos Patos, RS.

After a good flight from São Paulo we stayed overnight in Porto Alegre and the next day headed straight for Tavares along the Mostardas peninsula and found the road to be variable, in some places full of pot-holes in others newly laid. The road now goes all the way down the peninsula to São José do Norte where the ferry goes across to Rio Grande.

Elis and I sorting out the pipits!

Anyway, the birding was great just along the highways, highlights being; Blue-and-Yellow Tanager; a very obliging Plumbeous Rail; Spotted Nothura; Red-crested Cardinal, common but lovely; many Limpkins, Bare-faced and White-faced Ibises; Chimango Caracara; Maguary Stork, a magnificent beast and happily relatively common in the area; many White Monjitas; Greater Rhea; Bay-winged Cowbird; Brown-hooded Gull; Long-winged Harrier, a fantastic bird seen at short range, probably the most attractive harrier in the world; Speckled Teal; Spot-flanked Gallinule and Brown-and-yellow Marshbird.

Plumbeous Rail.

Maguary Stork.

Greater Rhea.

Spot-flanked Gallinule.

We stayed at the Hotel Parque da Lagoa, www.hotelparquedalagoa.com.br which had been recommended to me by Edson Endrigo, it was very comfortable and the price just right. The added bonus being that the owner, Batista, also offers a service to visitors using his Landrover to reach places ordinary cars cannot go, he also has access to land where he knows the owner, that otherwise would be off limits to visiting birders. His service is not cheap, and for a couple it is a bit steep (low season R$400.00 a day) but for a group of up to 8 this would be very reasonable.

Me with Batista and his Landrover in front to the Hotel Parque da Lagoa.

This bunch of Guira Cuckoos was roosting close to the pousada.

So, the next day we went out with Batista along the track to the beach via the Lagoa do Peixe. Plenty of birds around like Correndera and Yellowish Pipits; a few Rufous-chested Dotterels; Southern Screamers; displaying South American Snipe; both White-faced and Bare-faced Ibises; Snail Kite and Savanna Hawk. I was surprised to see Greater Yellowlegs here at this time of year, but as I understand it some wader species stay on the wintering ground for their first year.

Correndera Pipit.

Chilean Flamingos.

South American Snipe.

Savanna Hawk.

At the lake itself we were treated to a flock of Chilean Flamingos; Yellow-billed Tern; groups of Coscoroba and Black necked Swans, two of my target species for sure as were the Red-gartered and White-winged Coots; Yellow-billed Pintail; Collared Plover and a pair of White-tufted Grebes.

More Chilean Flamingos.

Coscoroba Swans. The one second from the left looks for all the world like a pedalo in a town park!

Black-necked Swan.

A flock of Red-gartered Coots.

Collared Plover.

Passing the lake we entered the sand dunes, here we added Plumbeous Rail; Spectacled Tyrant, a superb bird and no mistake; Austral Negrito, sadly we only saw one and not a male, but still an interesting bird which led us to our first Common Miner!

Enjoying a Common Miner... if that is possible?

At the beach we found American Oystercatchers; Trudeau’s Terns in a small flock loafing on the sand; a couple of South American Terns; more Collared Plovers and some Brown-hooded Gulls.

American Oystercatcher.

Yellow-billed and Trudeau's Tern.

Loafing Trudeau's Terns with a pair of South American Terns.

Along the beach where the lake meets the sea via a small channel we came across some more interesting species which included a Grey Plover and a couple of Hudsonian Godwits. Here we also had our first Great Grebe, a bit distant, but very impressive nonetheless; Two-banded Plovers, a small group together. A Magellanic Penguin corpse on the beach on the return was a bit of a downer, still need that!

Two-banded Plovers.

We lunched with some of Batista’s friends, good home-cooked grub and very good value indeed, and afterwards headed for the Lagoa dos Patos through property belonging to another of  Batista’s friends. It was getting a bit late by now, so the only new species we added was Wren-like Rushbird which eventually showed really well.

Sunset over the Lagoa dos Patos, RS.

I have to say that all in all I was rather disappointed with the numbers of wildfowl around. I asked Batista about this and he said that in recent years the numbers have been down. He put the blame squarely on the burgeoning hunting tourism that is occurring down the coast in both Uruguay and Argentina.

Yet more Chilean Flamingos doing a flypast for a flock of pedalos... I mean Coscoroba Swans.

The next day we were on our own, it absolutely poured with rain, and, having been raining all night, we now appreciated the value of Batista’s Landrover, there were many places we simply couldn’t go with our hire car. We were unable to retrace our steps from yesterday, so instead tried a new location at the Lagoa Mostardas. The track was passable but the birding a little disappointing due to the rain, every time we stopped the rain seemed to get heavier, we did have a bit of a walk but added no new birds until we came across a dapper Rusty-collared Seedeater and then a small flock of Rosy-billed Pochards flew by.

The lighthouses are rather small around here!

We headed for Mostardas and took the track at the back of town towards the beach. The first part is straddled by Pine plantations and thus very boring but this gave way to more natural looking scrub that held Diademed Tanager; a female Ultramarine Grosbeak and Bran-coloured Flycatcher.

Marshland in the rain.

The scrub opens out into marshes with an extensive reed bed, here we had a close encounter with one of the most beautiful birds I have seen, the Many-coloured Rush-Tyrant. At this point the rain served us well, it was raining too hard to get out of the car, so I used playback through the open window, three birds came from some distance away and sat in the reeds just feet from us, I may be wrong but I felt that had we not been in the car they may not have come so close.

Wow! Many-coloured Rush-Tyrant.

This track too was rather treacherous, and when we got to the end of the mud and the beginning of the dunes I decided not to risk it, but when I saw a bus drive by and head into the dunes towards the beach I felt a bit of a wuss. So we followed. As it happens we saw very little new, just a Plumbeous Ibis and more views of the Spectacled Tyrant. The rain increased and when we got to the beach we found a cafeteria open so we had some lunch to wait for the rain to stop. Some hope! The bus left and it continued to rain. On the return journey, it had been raining so hard that we almost got lost in the dunes as the car and bus tracks had all but disappeared; however we finally made it back to the mud road and then heaving a sigh of relief, tarmac!

Elis braving the lashing rain and howling gale to check out the (empty!) beach.

The next day we headed south along the new road which was a pleasure to drive after the stress of the previous day’s off-road experience, the weather was better too but we didn’t add much to our list along the way, just Silver Teal and White-faced Whistling Duck. We did see a couple of passerines namely a White-crested Tyrannulet that I tried desperately to string into a White-bellied (the yellow, and not white, belly was a bit of a sticking point!), and Tropical Parula, both in a small copse by the side of the road.

Southern Screamer with two young.

At São José do Norte we had our first Grey-hooded Gulls around the harbour area on both sides of the crossing along with the now familiar Brown-hooded and our old friend the Kelp Gull.

Brown-hooded Gull.

Jeremy’s notes talk of a great wetland just outside Pelotas, we headed there but to our dismay the road along which Jeremy had passed all those years ago was now being turned into duel carriageway. There still seemed to be a lot of birds around like Southern Screamers, Ibises, Maguary Storks, Black-necked and Coscoroba Swans, but finding somewhere safe and convenient to stop to look at them was a problem. So we decided to head north towards Porto Alegre again and from there head to the coast for some sea-watching.

Still more Chilean Flamingos.

We passed the night at Tapes adding Black-crowned Night-Heron to the list and the next day headed for our destination passing along the way a medium sized lake with at least eight Great Grebes on it! At another point we stopped by a reed marsh and had some stunning views of Scarlet-headed Blackbirds.

Great Grebes.

Scarlet-headed Blackbird.

In the afternoon we arrived at Capão da Canoa, our destination, and headed to the sea. Immediately I saw albatrosses gliding over the waves and got unnecessarily excited, but they were too far out to identify with certainty so we headed for the pier.

The view from the pier looking back at Capão da Canoa, RS.

Once installed there the birds were closer and it was possible to confirm the identity of the albatrosses as Yellow-nosed Albatross. This is the first time I had ever seen an albatross in flight with my own eyes. My only other albatross tick was ‘Albert’ on the Shetlands, and he (or was it a she?) stayed resolutely put on the rock for the entire time I was there. A few Trudeau’s Terns flew by and a number of White-chinned Petrels, plus Brown Skuas. The wind was obliquely onshore and we had great fun for several hours watching these interesting birds, particularly the albatrosses of which there were many.

We passed the night in Capão da Canoa and the next morning headed for the sea again, but the wind had turned around and was offshore and there was not a seabird in sight!

View to sea from the pier, note lack of seabirds!

We drove back to Porto Alegre taking the ‘pretty’ route that turned out to be rather less than pretty with all the roadworks that were going on, but we did have a highlight when we stopped at a reedy area and pulled a Curve-billed Reedhaunter out of the bag.

Curve-billed Reedhaunter.

Then it was back to the airport, back to São Paulo and back to work!

Can’t wait for our next trip, possibly Chile in December, or the Amazon again before that, who knows…

All photographs on this page © Rick and Elis simpson.

Of course Elis and I lost no time in heading down there to check them out. On arrival we asked the taxi drivers (as directed by my friend) where the birds were, and we were shown. They turned out to be Lesser Nighthawks. Not rare by any means but it is always good to see them roosting and brush up on the ID criteria.

I got the scope out and showed the taxi drivers and any passer by silly enough to ask what we were doing and was able to explain to them why the ID they had been given was erroneous. They were able to see for themselves the comparative wing/tail length, and the white patches in both.

We stayed until dusk and watched them both fly off and also saw a third flying over shortly before they went.

Lesser Nighthawk.

Photo © Rick and Elis Simpson.

Well done Elsie, this is a cracking record for Ubatuba.

Female Black-legged Dacnis © Elsie Rotenberg.

Shrike-like Cotinga © Rafael Fortes.

As soon as we got back to Ubatuba, at the first opportunity Elis and I went to Fazenda Angelim, and BINGO! We saw it, it was still there. Let’s hope it winters! This was a lifer for me and one I never expected to see in Ubatuba. Having said that, last year Nick Athanas found one near Folha Seca, and only last month I said that we should start listening out for them as they tend to come to lower elevations in the winter.

I’m not confident that the bird will be around for long, especially as the next day we went there again and didn’t hear it, maybe it was just waiting for me to see it! Despite not hearing or seeing the Cotinga we were treated to a woodpecker bonanza with a pair Yellow-fronted being seen and then Lineated, Robust and Blond-crested all together!

Yellow-fronted Woodpecker.

Lineated Woodpecker © Rafael Fortes.

Robust Woodpecker © Elsie Rotenberg.

Blond-crested Woodpecker.

Photos on this page, except where indicated © Rick and Elis Simpson.

Tim Appleton with the UBWC/DACNIS team; Elsie (President), Peter (Vice President), Andréa (volunteer), yours truly (chief cook and bottlewasher) and Elis (Secretary). Only Odette is missing from this photo, she was off attending a lecture at the time.

There was a lot of interest and support for the project which was most encouraging.

Last year when I was in the UK attending the BBF I invited Tim Appleton the organiser to come to Brazil to attend the Brazilian version. He accepted the invite, and the Brazilian organiser Guto Carvalho was thrilled that he was willing to come. I was still rather surprised when it all eventually worked out!

Tim speaking on the opening day of Avistar.

After the fair, Tim joined me and Elis on a birding trip to Intervales and Itatiaia with a final day in Ubatuba. It was most successful; any of you who have not yet had the pleasure to know Tim personally let me tell you this is a most affable and humorous man with a huge heart, a gentleman among gentlemen. Needless to say we had a great time… oh yes! We saw a few birds too.

Spot-breasted Antvireo.

At Intervales it rained quite a lot, but it didn’t interfere too much with our birding. We were escorted by Faustino, who as usual was excellent, finding almost everything we were after. Some of the most memorable birds were; Red and White Crake; a pair of day-roosting Tropical Screech Owls; Black-throated Trogon; Ochre-collared Piculet; White-bearded Antshrike; Ochre-rumped Antbird; Serra do Mar Tapaculo; Sharpbill; Hooded Berryeater; Cinnamon-vented Piha; Wing-barred Piprites; Serra do Mar Tyrant-Manakin; Bay-ringed, São Paulo and Oustalet’s Tyrannulets; Drab-breasted Bamboo Tyrant; Three-striped Flycatcher; Sirystes; Brown Tanager and Buffy-fronted Seedeater.

Me, Faustino and Tim at Intervales.

We then moved to Itatiaia where the sun blessed us with its presence for the three days we were there. The first day we went up the Trés Picos trail which was very productive, some of the highlights being; Robust Woodpecker; White-bibbed Antbird; Such’s Antthrush; Bertoni’s Antbird; Black-billed Scythebill, Rufous-backed Antvireo; Black-capped Piprites; Scaled Woodcreeper and Magpie Manakin.

Such's Antthrush.

Bertoni's Antbird.

The second day saw us walking the track between the Itatiaia Park Hotel (which is now closed) and the road. (We wanted to walk the Jeep trail, but the park is not currently allowing official access.) One of the best half hour’s birding ever was provided when a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl broke from cover an sat in view whilst being mobbed by every bird in the area; the real star being a Black-eared Fairy. The track was awash with Fork-tailed Tody-Tyrants, they were  everywhere. Back at the feeders we were treated to close up views of Blue-naped Chlorophonia and Saffron Toucanet among many other jewels.

Blue-naped Chlorophonias.

Saffron Toucanet.

Last morning at Itatiaia and up to the Agulhas Negras road. The Black and Gold Cotingas didn’t show themselves, but were sure heard them, none however close to the road. Other highland species that we were treated to were Thick-billed Saltator; Serra do Mar Tyrannulet; Diademed Tanager; Bay-chested and Red-rumped Warbling-Finches; Plovercrest; Rufous-tailed Antbird and many Itatiaia Thistletails which were very common and showed well. Added to this list were good views of a perched White-rumped Hawk and a pair of Blue-winged Macaws that flew over calling vigorously. We then descended to Ubatuba.

Plovercrest.

Magpie Tanagers.

In the morning we stopped at the airport to see if the Buff-necked Ibis was there, it wasn’t, but we got stunning views of the Yellowish Pipit that haunts the grassy area, plus two Aplomado Falcons and some Burrowing Owls.

Yellowish Pipit.

Moving on we went to the Rancho Pica Pau where we quickly found a Buff-throated Purpletuft, even before we had parked the car. In all we saw at least four birds.

Buff-throated Purpletuft.

We then left there and went to Jonas’ house at Folha Seca taking with us the customary sugar and bananas. Before we got there we stopped at the spot for Spotted Bamboowren and eventually Elis managed to show Tim the bird.

Elis showing Tim the Spotted Bamboowren.

After this Tim filled his boots photographing the hummers before it was time for us to move on.

Tim photographing hummers at Jonas'.

We stopped at Salesópolis and Biritiba Mirim on the way back to the airport. Salesópolis lake was rather full so we didn’t see too much of interest there, but Biritiba Mirim produced the São Paulo Antwren at both sites (only heard at the second). A quick stop at the marshy pond near Mogi das Cruzes for the Rufous-sided Crake, picking up a superb Streamer-tailed Tyrant on the way and then it was time to return Tim to the airport for his flight home.

Streamer-tailed Tyrant.

All photographs on this page © Rick and Elis Simpson.

Sooty-capped Hermit.

Nice one Phil!

Photo © Phil Gunson.