Last boat outing – and an extra-ordinary finale!

Tags

anhinga, black vulture, boat-billed heron, Brazil, capybara, caracara, donacobius, great egret, Jabiru, jaguar, kiskadee, Naturetrek, Pantanal, ringed kingfisher, rufescent tiger heron, sunbittern

The word ‘amazing’ is vastly overused, but the end of our trip truly was.

Sunday afternoon, 27th September. With no inkling of what was to came at the end of the day we set off again in our two boats for a final gentle glide.  This time, there was no question of wanting to see things being fed or performing, indeed we went in the other direction.

Anhingas hanging themselves out to dry

Rufescent tiger heron

Caracara

There’s a snake in there…

I couldn’t help but admire the boatmen’s determination

though sometimes there were open stretches

People in the know got very excited about this: Sunbittern

Great egret

The whole trip I kept hearing this word ‘Donacobius’, on the lips of people who knew about birds. It had been ticked on the list every night in our review. On the last day, I not only saw one, but was able to take a photo of it. Black-capped of that ilk.

One of my favourites – not least because I could recognise it – the rufescent tiger heron, juvenile

The Ringed kingfisher is another that I learned to recognise

The heron reveals its eponymous boat-bill…

… but not its tail (not that it’s got much of one)

Massed water hyacinths

Another donacobius!

Very, very occasionally we saw something familiar

Kiskadee

Great egret

Juvenile Great Black-hawk

Black vulture

Jabiru stork – one from the nest at the lodge

Every day, late afternoon, hot, sticky, beginning to tire, we were treated to chilled drinks which had emerged from a cooler at the back of the boats.  I had discovered a local carbonated one I rather liked, guarana, so that was my choice every day.  (I’ve just looked it up.  No wonder I liked it:  it’s high in caffeine!)  Dave Allen video’d our ‘sundowner’ about half way through the trip. (In case you’re interested , I’m in a green and white check shirt, towards the left.)

Well after dark, we assembled for our final meal together – some of us were leaving at 5.00 am the following day.  Suddenly, one of the boatmen came rushing in. “Onça!” he cried, “Jaguar!”  We rushed out.  Staff soon had their incredibly strong lamps on the spot on the other side of the river, but it was still very difficult to see anything.

“It’s in the hyacinths”.

“Naturetrekkers*, go and get your binoculars”, advised our leader.  We did, and I was just back in time to see the large feline clamber out of the water and up the bank, and then head off into the undergrowth.  With something in its mouth. A capybara.

But George hadn’t fetched his binoculars: he had fetched his camera.  And this is what he managed to take, very low resolution image here, but unmistakeable. An amazing finale to a wonderful trip.

* I was travelling with the excellent wildlife tour company, Naturetrek.

Many thanks to Dave Allen and my French birder and computer friend (and friend friend) Bernard Liégeois with great help in removing question marks from bird pictures throughout this series, and again to Dave for permission to use his wonderful video clips.

Last morning walk

Tags

Brazil, brown-chested martin, caiman lizard, capuchin monkey, fork-tailed flycatcher, hornero, marsh deer, Pantanal, plumbeous ibis, saffron finch, woodpecker

As ever, I did not do the before breakfast walk, but I did join the party for a morning stroll in two kinds of forest, and then, via the lodge, into the open grassland.  I joined the party, yes, but most of the party fell away, leaving just Dave, Pete myself and the two naturalists to continue.  Why this mass desertion?  It had rained again overnight, and the forests were thick with mozzies and other bitey things. Really unpleasant for some.  I had Deeted, covered myself thoroughly, and had a cloth to used as a horse uses its tail. But I really enjoyed myself.

Join me, just looking around, usually not knowing what I was seeing, and clicking away at anything pretty.  You are spared the insects.

Capuchin monkey

Rufous hornero nest and ?owner

Mrs Dave joined us for the last part of our walk, in the grassland.

Hornero

Saffron finches

Fork-tailed flycatcher

Brown-chested martin

Silver-beaked tanager

Greyish saltator

Marsh deer

?Hornero

Ibis, probably Green

Yes, I really enjoyed those strolls.  The mozzies were only really bad for the first half-hour or so.

Here’s Dave Allen’s video of that Caiman lizard we saw the first day, eating a large snail (the lizard that is, not Dave).

Four Saturday afternoon sketches and a video treat

Tags

black-collared hawk, capped heron, cocoi heron, Pantanal, wetlands, Whistling duck

Sketch number one: A great black-hawk retrieving a fish Sketch number two: White-faced whistling ducks.  Yes, I know they don’t seem to have white faces.  Must be the light, or the season, or something.Sketch number three: A Cocoi heron retrieving a fish The hawk used its talons, the heron its beak.

Sketch number four:  the line on the trees shows how high the waters rise in the wet season, perhaps 8 feet or so.

Yes, the fish were thrown by the boatmen.  But this video, again by Dave Allen, has no artifice.  It is of that gorgeous male Capped heron we saw courting the other day.

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Rain!

Tags

Amazon kingfisher, anhinga, boat-billed heron, coati, great horned owl, Jabiru, jacana, monk parakeet, orange-backed troupial, potoo, ringed kingfisher, rufescent tiger heron, southedrn rough-winged swallow, sunbittern, toco toucan, woodcreeper

I didn’t always join the group for every little excursion on foot, especially when it meant getting up even earlier than usual.  Here’s what I missed on one occasion, video again courtesy of Dave Allen. Charming coatis.

Overnight it had rained, and the atmosphere was very damp indeed on Saturday, 26th, though a little, a little, cooler.  This is what the rain had done to the tree outside my room.After breakfast, I did go for a little wander in the grounds on my own, and climbed the observation tower, to see a Jabiru stork nest from another angle. I actually switched my camera to video, and took this experimentally myself, and was intrigued to see a teenager learning how to arrange the nest.

The cawing you can just hear in the background is Chaco chachalacas. I was pleased to see (and recognise!) a monk parakeet up there as well.

We set off on another boat ride, in the other direction.  The river soon narrowed down, from this,

to this

There was frequent reversing and roaring of motor to free the propeller from greenery

There were just so many birds, over our heads, beside us, around us.

Anhinga

Boat-billed heron, unfortunately hiding most of its boat-bill

Two toco toucans and anhinga

Sunbittern

Amazon kingfisher

Southern Rough-winged Swallow

Ringed kingfisher

Rufescent tiger-heron

The other boat forges the way for ours among the water hyacinth

The flower is very pretty

We disembarked to go for a short walk in the woods, to see this, a Great potoo. It didn’t move a muscle all the time we were there, hoping (thinking?) that we couldn’t see it.

Great potoo

Narrow-billed woodcreeper

It was only around 9.00 when we got back, and it was damp, starting to rain again.

We agreed to reconvene at 10.30 to see whether it was still raining and to decide whether to go for another stroll in the grounds, with a particular bird in mind.

It wasn’t, so we did.

Wattled jacana (it wasn’t this we had in mind)

Before we got to our goal, it started raining again, but we decided to press on.  And got soaked.  Still we saw the

Great horned owl

just about. We sheltered under its huge tree, which made a little difference to our degree of wetness, and made our way back to the lodge when the rain slightly eased.  Still, I got another, more subdued, sighting of the lovely orange-backed troupial, in the tree by my room.

Brown-chested martins

Well we didn’t expect that!

Tags

black-collared hawk, caiman, capybara, cocoi heron, giant river otter, iguana, Jabiru, jaguar, Pantanal, ringed kingfisher, Transpantaneira, water hyacinth

An even earlier start this morning, Friday 25th September, as we were due to move about halfway back up the Transpantaneira to our third and final accommodation, for three nights.  So we had a final boat trip out to say goodbye to (representatives) of our river friends of the last few days.

Ringed kingfisher

Cocoi heron

Iguana

Good to see that the teenage Jabiru storks have two parents in fact

This caiman skeleton was about 4 ft long

Byebye capybaras

No jaguars this morning, so here’s Dave Allen’s reminder of our first encounter with Peter and Bianca on our first day in this area, as we gently moved off.

 

We didn’t stop much on the road, as we were rather short of time,

but absolutely had to take photos of the weeniest capybara ever, just six inches long. In due course we arrived at our last lodge, run by the same company that ran the flotel.The iced drink awaiting us on the veranda was so welcome, and we were soon whisked in for lunch.

After a siesta we went out for another … boat ride, in two smaller boats this time.  I for one hadn’t even realised that we were to be based on rivers for this last part of our trip.  There were many fewer other tourist boats. This one contains half of our party, plus naturalist and boatman.

These rivers were sometimes clogged with wild hyacinth, but at least it’s native here.

Black-collared hawk

We were not expecting to see jaguars during these last few days either.  We believed we were heading out to see a family of giant river otters.  And so we were.  But we were delayed – by two jaguars!  As we arrived, there they were, in Fiorella’s word, ‘copulating’! I just saw the end, as they rolled apart.  We stayed there for quite a while,

Tereza and unknown male

Tereza. Doesn’t it just do something to you when they look straight at you?

so were quite late for otter bedtime.  This little one definitely did not want to go to bed,and needed much persuasion from adults to do so.

So that was that.  Bedtime for all, we thought.  Then this happened:An adult came swimming directly to us, such that I found  myself, when it was about 5 feet away from me, adopting my standard very singsong ‘talk to the pets’ voice, saying ‘Hello …’  Then we realised what was going on, as another otter joined in.  These were habituated to humans, and took fish thrown into the water by the boatmen.

I wish I’d know this was going to happen, I would have been better prepared to take pictures. It was fun to see, but nevertheless some of us were left a little with the feeling that this was feeding time at the zoo, not natural, not what we’d travelled thousands of miles to see.  The otters weren’t complaining though.

Orange

Tags

caiman, cocoi heron, curassow, iguana, jaguar, kiskadee, orange-backed troupial, Pantanal

We saw many, many colourful birds in the Pantanal.  This, I think, was my very favourite.

Orange-backed troupial

I had a curious respect and admiration for this creature.

The Yacaré caiman is endemic to central South America

Somehow, the more colourful version is more appealing than the black, though I’m not sure that’s the right word.  Jaguars and anacondas like them whatever the colour – they eat them.

Truly attractive was the demonstration of synchronised drinking by Mr and Mrs Bare-faced curassow:

My bird book says ‘Song: low, hoarse, “e-ur” notes of pair, like grunting of domestic pigs.’

Iguana. They come in all shades of green, and sometimes lavender, black or even pink.

Cocoi heron

The walkie-talkies crackled, and we were off on one of our white-knuckle rides (I exaggerate a little, but the speedy rides were great fun!) to see an unknown jaguar found by one of the boatmen.

More screeching brakes, and our boat turned round!  Manuel’s eagle eyes had spotted a jaguar on the bank – and there were no other boats there.  Very satisfying, especially for the guides, that we were able to observe on our own for a while, before others – honour obliged Manuel – joined us.

It was Maxime again, we were told.  Just check those forehead markings!  Frustratingly, we had no idea where we were in respect to where we had seen him previously, a minor failing of the organisers to my mind. No matter, there we were, observing this beautiful creature once more.

Kiskadee. Some say it calls its name.

In due course, we went on to join others observing the original ‘unknown’ jaguar we had set off to see.  He (presumably it was a he) remained unknown, for this is all we saw for the 30-40 minutes we stayed there.  Definitely the least exciting of all our sightings!

But here is Dave Allen’s expert video of Maxime’s failed attempt to catch the capybara the other day.  You can hear the barking capybara at the end.

Thursday’s sunset.

A birdy morning

Tags

anhinga, cacique, capped heron, capybara, caracara, cocoi heron, giant anteater, giant river otter, green ibis, hyacinth macaw, Jabiru, piping-guan, purplish jay, rufous hornero, smooth-billed ani

Fearing we might be a little bored with jaguars (?!?!?!?!), the leaders decided – after consultation – that this morning we would not go in search of felines, but visit instead a very bird-friendly fazenda (farm). So, even earlier than usual, we set off with the faithful Manuel, this time turning right from the flotel. (Up-river I think, but the waters flow so slowly in that so-flat land that it was difficult to tell).

But before going any further, do you remember the giant anteater we saw a few days back?  Dave Allen was a fellow wildlife enthusiast on this trip.  A great birder, he personally saw 199 different species during our time in the Pantanal.  He was wielding a video camera for much of the time, and he has authorised me to share with you this excellent clip of our anteater encounter. Can you believe that such an animal exists?

We had hoped yesterday’s rain might mean it was a little cooler today, Thursday 24th September. In vain.

It was not long before we came across a small group of Giant river otters.  Those with fish were making it very clear they were not going to share.

Anhinga and Giant river otters

Shortly afterwards, the boat screeched – metaphorically – to a halt.  We had come to a phenomenon that neither of our naturalists had ever seen before: Capped herons courting.  What beautiful birds!

I wonder if she’ll like this twig

In case not, I’ll fluff myself up

and I’ll throw my head back and show her what my throat can do

Perhaps this pretty leaf will please her

Think I’m in with a chance here

I’ll go on ahead

but mustn’t forget that leaf…

We moved on.

Green ibis

Reflecting

Capybara and Smooth-billed ani

Cocoi heron and fish. We stayed to watch for a while, but he just didn’t seem to know what to do with such a great big catch.

Yellow-rumped cacique

When we arrived at the fazenda, we were stepping on to land for the first time for three days, though it seemed, in the nicest way, to have been much longer.  What a collection of avian masterpieces we saw there, including those noisy, noisy Hyacinth macaws once more.

Jabiru stork practising its arabesque

Rufous hornero

Who’s a cheeky boy then?

A reminder of the wonderful silhouette of a hyacinth macaw as it comes in to land

Caracara portrait

Chestnut-bellied guans, with caracara

White-tipped dove

Giant cowbird (BL)

Saffron finch

Blue-throated piping-guan

Caracara care

Greyish baywing

And there was a little extra treat in store at the river bank as we went back to the boat for our return to the flotel and lunch.

Mainly Maxime

Tags

capuchin monkey, capybara, jacamar, jaguar, limpkin, Pantanal

Thanks to our wonderful boatman, Manuel, and his mates, we spent an hour with Maxime this afternoon, Wednesday 23rd September.  If you’d asked me, I’d have said 20-30 minutes, but my camera clock tells me otherwise.

We felt the odd spot of rain and heard the odd distant rumble of thunder.  When it came the rain was brief, but very hard.  It passed as quickly as it had arrived, and we wandered around a little longer in the boat, thankful for a somewhat cooler temperature.

Yes, I’d have said ‘Kingfisher’ too…

… but it’s a jacamar, a rufous-tailed jacamar

Capuchin monkey

Black-capped capuchin monkey, to be precise

This afternoon’s Capybara

Limpkin

 

It’s very, very hot today

Tags

caiman, caracara, giant river otter, great black-hawk, green kingfisher, Howler monkey, iguana, Jabiru, jaguar, Pantanal, smooth-billed ani, striated heron, tree frog, wood rail

6.45 am, Wednesday 23rd September, and we’re longing to get going in the boat for its refreshing breeze.  As we wait…

This was the ugliest, biggest, scariest caiman we saw the whole time – and it was right beside the flotel, bankside, every morning

This Striated heron close by was not the least bit concerned

We moved off, but soon stopped for a while.

Impossible not to stop and watch yesterday’s family of giant river otters at their morning ablutions

The cream markings on throat and chest are individual to each otter

‘Giant’ means about 6 foot in length, full-grown

After jaguars, these otters were what I most wanted to see, and I wasn’t alone.

We have an appointment with Bianca.

Jabiru

So have others.

Rent-a-crowd

We didn’t stay very long after Bianca disappeared into the undergrowth, having other delights in store.

Grey-necked wood rail (confirmed by BL)

A little too close for these binoculars’ focus

George sporting the natty butterfly

Howler monkey

Black-collared hawk

? Smooth-billed ani (probably, says BL)

Jabiru and older chicks

This green iguana crawled out of the lower part of the nest

This one was near but well away from it

Caracara

Green kingfisher, female

? Juvenile Great black-hawk preparing for…

… take-off

Pete modelling a very chic tree frog, which had fallen on to our eagle-eyed boatman, Manuel

Close-up of tree frog

Caracara, high up in tree, with snake

Despite the heat, the morning’s outing was over quickly, though as ever we were pleased to get back to the air-conditioned flotel, a delicious lunch, and a short siesta.

A very lucky capybara…

Tags

black vulture, capybara, cocoi heron, Howler monkey, iguana, Jabiru, jaguar, Pantanal, water buffalo

Off again for the afternoon boat ride.

Iguana (about 2 ft long) with replacement, boneless, tail

Howler monkey, male

Howler monkey, female

Look, no hands!

Cocoi heron

Cocoi heron

Black vultures. ‘They’ said that this bird defaecates on its legs to cool itself. As my bird book says this bird has yellow legs, I have to accept that ‘they’ were not kidding.

And then, thanks to boatmen’s walkie-talkies, we came upon Maxime,slowly making his way  along the small beach.

And then he froze.  For a long time.  Clearly he had seen something.

He waited.

We waited. He waited.

And then in a mad rush there was nothing.

We heard loud barking, just like a dog, the characteristic sound of a capybara who is very unhappy indeed. But he should have been happy:  he had escaped.

One very lucky cabybara

And Maxine went to climb out of the river,

before changing his mind, and continuing along the riverside.

We followed. So did lots of others.

… and so did lots of others

The jaguars are really not bothered by human attention, as long as a respectful distance is kept.

In due course Maxime decided to go ‘inland’, showing himself from time to time.  Jaguars love the river banks as places to cool off.

We continued on our way, vaguely making for home.

Impossible, almost, not to photograph this endearing animal, the capybara

It is entirely vegetarian

Two young water buffalo, playing. Wild animals, but introduced, not native.

How sweet is that, the youngsters trying to follow their parents up the bank?

Cattle tyrant on Capybara

 

Juvenile Rufescent tiger heron

Jabiru stork and small chicks

Juvenile Great black-hawk

The sun started to set,

and in due course we rounded the corner, past the ‘cormorant tree’,

Home to roost for the night

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