http://www.rick-simpson.com Just another WordPress weblog Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:58:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 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 ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/03/11/blast-from-the-past/ 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 ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/03/03/sao-paulo-antwren/ 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, ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/03/03/spotty-spotted-sandpiper/ Looking through my apartment list the other day I realised that I had somehow forgotten to add Plain Parakeet! This cheerful, endemic, little parrot is a common bird here and I see or hear it almost every day, an incredible omission. So, having realised I didn't have it on the ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/02/20/apartment-list-oversight/ Anyone familiar with Brazilian birds will know that the Rufous Hornero is a common enough bird over much of its range in the southern half of Brazil. Not so in our part of the world. It seems that few have made it onto our stretch of coast. There are a ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/02/17/new-kid-on-the-block/ Finally a long overdue species hits the apartment list. Saffron Finch, a common enough bird around here and I have often seen it here in town very close to the apartment block, but never within the rules of the list. The other day as I was driving out of the ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/02/04/apartment-list-adds-one/ I received an e-mail a short time ago from my friend Dimitri who runs the Itamambuca Eco Resort. One of his guests, none other than the illustrious Fernando Pacheco, found a new bird for the Ubatuba list; Orange-winged Parrot. This was good news for Ubatuba as the list just keeps ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/01/26/new-bird-for-ubatuba-and-then/ January: Nacunda Nighthhawk, New year's day 00.15hrs. Ubatuba, São Paulo. Grey-bellied Goshawk, 16th at Horto Florestal Campos do Jordão, São Paulo. February: Brown-backed Parrotlet, 5th, found by Jeremy Minns at Praia Vermelha, Ubatuba, São Paulo. [caption id="attachment_1102" align="aligncenter" width="461" caption="Brown-backed Parrotlet - photo Rick and Elis Simpson."][/caption] April: Unicoloured Blackbird, 11th, found at the São Paulo ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/01/04/birding-highlights-2009/ The beginning of 2009 was really tough with the world financial crisis hitting hard on travellers confidence, I think this is why numbers were down in 2009, the first six months were really quiet, but as confidence grew again, especially in the US, the second half of the year was ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2010/01/03/2009-summary/ Recently an old mate, Barry from Hertfordshire in the UK, came to Ubatuba bringing a couple of his current birding pals, Phil and Jan. [caption id="attachment_1068" align="aligncenter" width="448" caption="Me, Phil, Jan and Barry in the field at Folha Seca."][/caption] They only stayed one afternoon, a full day and a morning before moving ... http://www.rick-simpson.com/2009/12/30/recent-visit/