Rio Grande do Sul
There is a dam on the road from São Joaquim, soon after the state boundary, with Speckled Teal Anas flavirostris, Yellow-billed Pintail Anas georgica, Brazilian Duck Amazonetta brasiliensis and Sooty Swift Cypseloides fumigatus. In the marshy area around the dam there was Plumbeous Rail Rallus sanguinolentus, Straight-billed Reedhaunter Limnornis rectirostris, Firewood-gatherer Anumbius annumbi, Lesser Grass-finch Emberizoides ypiranganus and Saffron-cowled Blackbird Xanthopsar flavus. We heard Freckle-breasted Thornbird Phacellodomus striaticollis soon after, and began to see Black-and-white Monjita Heteroxolmis dominicana and Azure Jay Cyanocorax caeruleus regularly. From this point in the trip almost every pond or marsh had something of interest.
In the town of Vacaria we were fortunate to see a flock of 200+ Red-spectacled Parrots Amazona pretrei, a species that was once common in Rio Grande do Sul but is now quite difficult to find.
I myself have not been into the park which closes for two days a week and on the other days opens only at 8:00 am. The view of the canyon is said to be spectacular. Red-spectacled Parrot Amazona pretrei, Long-tufted Screech-owl Otus sanctaecatarinae, Mottled Piculet Picumnus nebulosus , Wetland Tapaculo Scytalopus iraiensis (a recently discovered new site for this species), Long-tailed Cinclodes Cinclodes pabsti, Araucaria Tit-Spinetail Leptasthenura setaria, Straight-billed Reedhaunter Limnornis rectirostris, Black-and-white Monjita Heteroxolmis dominicana, Long-tailed Reed-Finch Donacospiza albifrons, Black-and-rufous Warbling-Finch Poospiza nigrorufa, Lesser Grass-Finch Emberizoides ypiranganus, Black-bellied Seedeater Sporophila melanogaster, Glaucous-blue Grosbeak Passerina glaucocaerulea, Saffron-cowled Blackbird Xanthopsar flavus, Brown-and-yellow Marshbird Pseudoleistes virescens are all found in the park. Many of these species can be seen in the areas around it.
Mentioned in Forrester under Aparados da Serra National Park, which I have not visited. The Hotel Veraneio Hampel is not expensive and has its own private forest. There is good birding here and along the track down the hill from the hotel which bends round to the left and eventually joins the main road. Interesting birds here were Long-tufted Screech-owl Otus sanctaecatarinae, Mottled Piculet Picumnus nebulosus , Greenish Tyrannulet Phyllomyias virescens, Brown-breasted Bamboo-tyrant Hemitriccus obsoletus, Green-chinned Euphonia Euphonia chalybea and Chestnut-headed Tanager Pyrrhocoma ruficeps.
A few kilometres along the road towards Aparados da Serra is the FLONA (Floresta Nacional) de São Francisco de Paula. We called here especially to see Araucaria Tit-Spinetail Leptasthenura setaria which we had failed to find at the Veraneio Hampel. At the office we got permission to bird in the reserve and found the tit-spinetail without difficulty on the edge of the arauacarias.
Capão da Canoa
As mentioned in Forrester’s book, this is a prime sea-watching location. Drive down through the town to the beach road and turn right, keep going until you reach the pier. Entrance to the pier is R$2,50 (June 2010). If there is an onshore wind the birding can be very good with birds coming quite close. In June 2010 Rick Simpson reported that on his first day there the wind was obliquely onshore and there were many Yellow-nosed Albatrosses Thalassarche chlororhynchos , some White-chinned Petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis and a few Brown Skuas Stercorarius antarcticus around. However the next day the wind was offshore and there was nothing much to see.
Mostardas
The road from Capivari is now paved all the way to São José do Norte at the end of the peninsula where the ferry leaves for Rio Grande. The main entrance to the Lagoa do Peixe is 18km south of Mostardas, signposted to Praia Farol. The road passes through grassland and dunes before reaching the beach, along which you can drive till you reach the channel where the lagoon meets the sea. Excellent for seabirds and waders. If it is wet this track can be very tricky in an ordinary car.
In December 2002 a gale was blowing off the sea and we were able to see a number of normally offshore sea birds from the beach, including Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris, White-chinned Petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis, Sooty Shearwater Puffinus griseus and Parasitic and Pomarine Jaeger Stercorarius parasiticus and S. pomarinus.
There is a second access to the Lagoa do Peixe further south, the one mentioned by Forrester. Turn left 1.2km south of the centre of Tavares (where the southern access road to Tavares joins the main road); turn right at a pine plantation and then left before a long house; carry straight on to the lagoon. There is no access from here to the ocean beach.
In Mostardas itself if you pass through the town along the main dual carriageway and keep going, the road turns to a dirt track, and gets very slippery when wet, however with care it is possible to reach the beach along this track. At first it passes through uninteresting pine plantations, but becomes more natural woodland then emerges into a marsh area with some extensive reed beds on the left. Here Many-coloured Rush-Tyrants Tachuris rubrigastra can be found along with other reed dwelling birds. Long-winged Harriers quarter the marshes.
You can also get to Mostardas from the south, taking the ferry from Rio Grande to São José do Norte which is 150 km south of Tavares. There is a good ocean beach at São José but you won’t see anything there which you can’t see at Lagoa do Peixe. The habitat is uninteresting and I do not recommend this route.
About 13.5 km going north from Tavares at the division between the municipal areas of Tavares and Mostardas, there is a turn to the left signposted to Rincão Farol. Again it is a dirt road and difficult when wet. This road passes through farmland and marshy areas until it reaches Lagoa Mostardas on the left which is well worth a look.
As an alternative to staying in Mostardas there is accommodation in Tavares. In June 2010 Rick Simpson stayed at the Hotel Parque da Lagoa R$70-90.00 per night for a couple; www.hotelparquedalagoa.com.br run by Batista who also has a Landrover. He does trips out to some of the places inaccessible by ordinary car, and also knows all the local land owners and has access to places that would be off limits otherwise, however he is not a bird guide. At the time of Rick’s stay he was charging R$400 a day for up to 5 people. If you are alone or a couple this can be quite expensive, but for a group it is well worth the price and you will see more birds without the worry of getting bogged down or stuck in the sand.
Pelotas
As the road to Rio Grande leaves Pelotas it passes through extensive wetlands which are full of birds. Most of the species listed by Forrester for Taim can be found here. In June 2010 Rick Simpson reported that the road is being developed to become dual carriageway, however, despite the heavy roadworks there continues to be many birds in the surrounding marshes, the problem is finding somewhere convenient and safe to stop.
At Quinta there is a large, built up roundabout, the first road to the right leading to Taim and the next to Rio Grande. Shortly after the roundabout, on the road to Rio Grande, you come to a prison (”penitenciária”). The dirt road to the right, 400 metres before the prison, runs for miles through good wetlands and eventually emerges onto the road to Taim.
The marshes around the town are well worth exploring. A good entry point is along the railway line crossed by the road to Cassino. Bay-capped Wren-Spinetail Spartonoica maluroides is found here and recently Dot-winged Crake Porzana spiloptera was sighted, a bird rarely seen in Brazil.
Jürgen Lehnert JWELehnert@aol.com reports that in September 2003 he chartered a 13 metre fishing boat in Rio Grande for a pelagic trip. The boat took him 30 miles off the coast and he saw many sea birds: Magellanic Penguin Spheniscus magellanicus, Black-browed and Yellow-nosed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris and T. chlororhynchos, Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus, White-chinned and Spectacled Petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis and P. conspicillata, Cape Petrel Daption capense, Great and Manx Shearwater Puffinus gravis and P. puffinus, Wilson’s Storm-Petrel Oceanites oceanicus, Subantarctic and Chilean Skua Catharacta antarctica and C. chilensis, Parasitic Jaeger Stercorarius parasiticus, Brown-hooded Gull Larus maculipennis, Royal Tern Sterna maxima and South American Tern Sterna hirundinacea. Most of the birds were at least 12 miles from the coast. The owner of the boat is Dino Maiato (tel. 9971-1531) and Jürgen paid R$500 (c. US$170) for the trip, including a lot of fresh fish for chumming. The boat left from Seção da Barra, 2 km from Rio Grande towards the southern jetty, and the trip took 10 hours, starting at 3:00 am. Dino suggested that the best time to go out would be January to March, when the sea is calmer and birds are still plentiful.
The Hotel Atlântico in this pleasant beach resort is a good base for Taim and Rio Grande. The ocean beach is busy with motor traffic (a short cut to Rio Grande) but is worth a visit for its gulls and terns.
The 82km drive from Cassino takes about an hour.
The bird life here is abundant. The drawback is that much of the birding is along a causeway carrying the busy main road south. You can get away from the main road by taking a dirt road to the left, near the IBAMA headquarters (”Ecological Station” on Forrester’s map), which passes through good wetlands.
The Lagoa Mangueira, south of Taim, is worth a visit. Turn left after the petrol station at Curral Alto (131km from Casino).
The bridge over the Rio Camaquã, a few kilometres south of Santana da Boa Vista on the road from Pelotas to Caçapava do Sul, is a stake-out for Red-spectacled Parrot Amazona pretrei. There is a pousada near the bridge and I recommend spending the night at the pousada and birding from the bridge which gives a good view over gallery woodland with plenty of birds.
Between São Borja and Uruguaiana the BR 472 runs through extensive wetlands (unfortunately now in the process of being drained) with large numbers of waterfowl, waders, ibis, raptors etc.
Most of the espinilho parkland, described by Forrester, is now preserved in a new state park. Though this is good news for conservation it is bad for birders as access to the reserve is obtainable only through the state environment secretariat in Porto Alegre. However, all the specialities can be found in an area reached through the Fazenda Santo Ângelo. Look for a group of grain silos on the left (travelling south), 11km before the town of Barra do Quaraí. The manager of the fazenda gave us permission to visit the espinilho but we later found he was not in fact the owner, whose foreman found us there but graciously invited us to stay as long as we wanted.
