http://www.rick-simpson.com Just another WordPress weblog Sat, 24 Jul 2010 20:42:09 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Staistics for the start of the year; Apartment list 82; Ubatuba list 333; Brazil list 745; World list 2046. 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 ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/07/24/half-year-round-up/ 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 ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/07/09/some-recent-birds-of-interest/ 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 ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/07/02/another-apartment-tick-2/ I just spent an enjoyable weekend in the company of Björn Anderson from Sweden. He came with a shopping list of birds and we managed to find most of them between us plus one or two that weren't on his list. Here are two photographs taken by him of birds ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/06/28/some-recent-photos/ 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. [caption id="attachment_1426" align="aligncenter" width="448" caption="Lagoa dos Patos, RS."][/caption] After a good flight from São Paulo we stayed overnight in Porto Alegre and the next day headed straight ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/06/23/a-week-in-rio-grande-do-sul/ During a telephone conversation I discovered that two Short-tailed Nighthawks had been seen roosting in the town square last weekend. 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 ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/06/09/lsser-nighhawks-in-the-town-square/ What with our new NGO being called Dacnis and all, it is rather fitting that our president, one Elsie Rotenberg, had the pleasure of photographing a rare example of the genus right here in Ubatuba, in her garden! This female Black-legged Dacnis Dacnis nigripes didn't hang around very long, so ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/06/05/black-legged-dacnis-in-ubatuba/ A week or so ago, when I was heading for São Paulo to show off our bright shiny new NGO for the first time in public, another bird guide from Taubaté, called Rafael Fortes, was here in Ubatuba. He is an excellent guide, birder and photographer. On this occasion he ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/05/28/a-tick/ I recently attended the Brazilian equivalent of the British Birdwatching Fair, not as RSBS but as a representative of the Ubatuba Birdwatching Centre which has now gained official NGO status and is now known as UBWC/DACNIS. [caption id="attachment_1371" align="aligncenter" width="345" caption="Tim Appleton with the UBWC/DACNIS team; Elsie (President), Peter (Vice President), ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/05/25/avistar-and-birding-with-tim/ I have just received an e-mail from Venezuela telling me that Phil has finally got himself another garden tick, bringing his list to a good round 80. The species? A really pretty hermit called Sooty-capped Hermit. Here is a picture from Phil's archives of the species. [caption id="attachment_1364" align="aligncenter" width="391" caption="Sooty-capped ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/05/11/phils-garden-list-venezuela/