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.

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.

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

Nous aussi.

 

Families: Giant river otters, capybaras…

Tags

anhinga, cacique, caiman, capybara, cocoi heron, curassow, giant river otter, jaguar, kiskadee, piping-guan, roseate spoonbill, sandpiper, skimmer, southern screamer, trogon

Boat excursions from the flotel were every day from 7.00 am until 11.00 am, and from 2.00 pm until 6.00 pm.  This is the view from my window at 6.15 am on Tuesday 22nd September.These Blue-throated piping-guans were there every morning under what we called the cormorant tree (explanation later), but not when we returned.To our utter delight, shortly after setting off today, we came across a family of giant river otters, to our right as we meandered along a wide river.  Ten or eleven individuals in all, including four cubs, which were often carried in the mouths of adults. After a while they decided to cross the river in front of us, in search of one of their holts.

We continued on our way, seeing birds (and other creatures) we recognised, some we hadn’t seen before, and some I’m not sure of.

Unicoloured blackbird, male (confirmed by BL)

Cocoi heron

Caiman

Not so sweet, this size

Collared plover (confirmed by BL)

Mr and Mrs Southern screamer

Semi-palmated sandpiper (ID thanks to BL)

Black skimmers in context

Anhinga

Mr and Mrs Bare-faced curassow

Lesser kiskadee

Blue-crowned trogon (female)

Yellow-rumped cacique (weaves its nest)

Roseate spoonbills

We were always pleased to see these, commonplace though they were.

Team capybara

Grampa?

And in due course we found ourselves, along with Peter and Bianca, in almost exactly the same spot we had all been the previous day.  This time we got much better views of the beautiful female, with her much finer features. How long could she stand that heat? I wondered, and in due course she did move back into the shade.  Peter thought this could be an invitation.

Bianca

Bianca

Hopeful Peter, Bianca turning back to him

As we could hear from her vocalisations, he was smartly rebuffed, and when we moved to go back to the flotel for lunch, they had resumed almost the same positions as before.

Jaguars: Peter, Bianca and Cage

Tags

anhinga, black skimmer, caiman, jaguar, large-billed tern, ox-bow, Pantanal, pied lapwing, ringed kingfisher

(OK, the first person to see a ‘new’ jaguar gets to name it for the researchers…  I can tell you now that although we had some great sightings, there is no jaguar in the Pantanal newly-named Venetia.)

Monday afternoon, 21st September. First boat trip out, along the winding river banks in this totally flat country, classic geography lesson stuff, with low ‘cliffs’ on the outer sides of bends, the beginning of ox-bow lakes, and sandy beaches on the inner.

Black vultures and Southern screamers. Previous identifications corrected thanks to BL.

Pied lapwing

Black skimmer

Large-billed tern

After an hour of gentle cruising and observation, we arrived where the grapevine had told us there was a jaguar to be seen. Unfortunately the grapevine tells others as well.But there are conventions, not least about keeping a distance from the big cats, and these were respected in the main during our stay. The boatmen have an interest in staying friendly with their colleagues. (Lucky things, these visitors have shade over them – it’s in the high 30s – but our opportunities for observation were better, and we were able to stand up when it was safe to do so.)First view of a jaguar.  Yes, it is a jaguar, not a python.

Hmmm. I was taken right back to December 2008, when I saw my first tiger, from an elephant’s back, in Bandhavgarh National Park, India.  That also was a large male, and he was fast asleep too, in a gully. Bit disappointing, really, I admit.

Oh well, there are other things to look at.

Caiman

Ringed kingfisher

At last ‘Peter’ stirred a little. Handsome beast.  Big pussycat. Third largest feline in the world.

And, ey-oop, what’s this?  There’s another jaguar, a female, Bianca we learned later, behind the right-hand tree.  And now she’s moving…

(just look at those markings) to settle where we can see … just half her head.  And Peter’s yawning.

Now, I could have lied and said that this was the beginning of the dramatic encounter we saw next.  But it wasn’t and all I can do is recount that.

Over from the left came – sadly I didn’t even catch a glimpse of him, and he didn’t come close – another large male.  Peter leapt into action, ran off right for a few metres, taking his lady with him, roaring and growling at the same time.  The intruder was easily seen off by this vocal display, and the two lovers settled down again very quickly, still well within our sight. They stayed there until it started getting dark, and we left the scene.

Bianca

Peter

Back at the flotel, we learned that the intruder was almost certainly Cage, Peter’s brother.  Usually they are the best of friends, and are seen nuzzling one another.  Not when it’s a question of la femme though.