Birdfair 2010

For the forth year running, Rachel and I represented REGUA on the World Land Trust stand at the UK Birdfair. Once again we received a lot of interest and it was great to catch up with so many people that we had previously met out at REGUA and at past Birdfairs. Nick Baker visited the stand and Bill Oddie stopped by to the chat about his visit to REGUA earlier this year.

It was encouraging to see evidence that environmental considerations are, at last, beginning to become more prominant in the birding tourism industry. One or two tour companies are now stating that they prefer to use lodges that undertake habitat conservation, and at least two companies are now offsetting their CO2 emissions by planting trees at REGUA. Regardless of the merits of carbon offsetting, I find it surprising that birding companies have been so slow to adopt such schemes, especially considering that companies in the wider commercial world have been doing this for over half a decade now!

Once again I owe a huge thank you to the World Land Trust for allowing us to commandeer part of their stand and for making us feel part of the team.

Yellow-legged Stilt-Plover

Try as I might, I really can't seem to get excited about twitching these days, but as a much needed break from seemingly endless DIY and sitting in front of a computer, I persuaded myself to make the trip to Dungeness for the White-tailed Lapwing. With so many photos of the bird plastered all over the net, there were absolutely no surprises when I clapped eyes on it running around on the mud - it looked, well, just like all the photos! Perhaps this is why I find twitching so dull nowadays. This fantastic bird showed well, feeding and flying around, but remained distant and unfortunately well out of DSLR range. However, my partner in crime, Pete Alfrey, did manage some digiscoped shots - here. 1 Garganey, 1 Green Sandpiper and a Marsh Harrier were also logged.

The Atlantic Forest comes to the Chelsea Flower Show

Spent the day helping out the World Land Trust on their Saving the Atlantic Rainforest exhibit at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Launched by Bill Oddie on Tuesday, the aim of the exhibit is to celebrate the biodiversity of the Atlantic Forest as part of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity, and raise awareness of the importance of its conservation. The exhibit has received a gold medal as well as the Best in Section award, no mean feat! It was certainly very popular today, receiving lots of interest and many enquiries about the Atlantic Forest, the World Land Trust and REGUA.

The stand featured a webcam streaming live action from the feeders at REGUA, that proved to be a huge hit. I logged 15 species throughout the day, including 3 Rusty-margined Guans, Ruby-crowned, Green-headed, Red-necked and Brazilian Tanagers, Red-rumped Cacique, and a surprise first for the Lodge garden - a male Yellow-legged Thrush! This species is unusual at feeders and is yet another indication of the success of the reforestation at REGUA. Many thanks to the World Land Trust for a great day!

My, what long legs you've got!

Just got back from Brazil. Rachel and I spent the last week with our friends Andy and Cristina Foster (of Serra dos Tucanos) and took a six day trip north into the county of Minas Gerais, where we spent three nights at the Santuário do Caraça monastery (photo above), about 10 hours drive north of REGUA. Our main aim was to see the Maned Wolves Chrysocyon brachyurus that visit most nights to feed on kitchen scraps.

Maned Wolf is the largest canid in South America and is a strange looking animal to say the least, rather like a huge Red Fox on stilts! They are mainly nocturnal and solitary animals, found in open and semi-open habitats such as Cerrado where they feed mainly on mice and fruit. Since 1982 the monks at the monastery have been putting out kitchen scraps for them, and on two nights one or two animals came in to feast on meat scraps in front of a circle of onlookers - a rather bizzare scene, but blimey what great views (first and second photos and video)! How much of a negative effect this nightly ritual has on the wolves is open to debate, but from what we could see the animals appeared to spend most of the night away hunting natural food. On our first night a Striped Hog-nosed Skunk also made an appearance.

The video above was taken with a Canon 7D and Sigma 17-50mm f2.8-4.5 DC lens. For some excellent BBC footage of Maned Wolf in a more natural setting click here.

The monastery is located at the boundary of the Atlantic Forest and the Cerrado (third photo) - a savanna biome with patches of woodland and scrub, covering a large area of the Brazilian plateau (about 21% of the country), which lies between the Atlantic Forest and the Amazon. We saw few birds not found in the REGUA area and only a few lifers, but had great looks at Dusky-legged Guan (forth photo), King Vulture, Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle, Red-legged Seriema, Planalto Hermit, Scale-throated Hermit, White-throated Hummingbird, Sapphire-spangled Emerald, Amethyst Woodstar, Toco Toucan, Green-barred Woodpecker, Large-tailed Antshrike, Variable Antshrike, Dusky-tailed Antbird, Rufous Gnateater, Crested Black-Tyrant, Velvety Black-Tyrant (fifth photo), Long-tailed Tyrant (sixth photo), Rusty-margined Flycatcher, Sirystes, Grey-eyed Greenlet, Magpie Tanager, Gilt-edged Tanager and White-browed Warbler.

Once again a very successful trip to Brazil. REGUA is developing fast and I feel priviledged to be a part of this pioneering and important project. Althought some birds are much harder to see in the austral winter compared to the spring, the winter mixed species flocks make birding at this time of year very exciting.

Ringing at REGUA

Spent the day on the Waterfall Trail at REGUA assisting a group from Rio University mist netting for hummingbirds. The aim of the study is to determine hummingbird diversity at different altitudes in the Atlantic Forest and this was the first day of ringing. Saw-billed Hermits and Violet-capped Woodnymphs were the most common species caught, a Scale-throated Hermit was processed before I arrived (a very low altitude record for this species), but best of all was a Dusky-throated Hermit (first photo). This tiny hummer can be very tricky to catch up with and was a new bird for me. Other birds ending up in the nets included Plain-winged Woodcreeper (second photo), Grey-hooded Flycatcher, Blue Manakin and several Black-goggled Tanagers. We even had a recovery - a pair of Star-throated Antwren (third photo). It will be very interesting to see what else turns up in the nets during the course of this study.

Other birds seen on the Waterfall Trail today included Brown Tinamou, Scaled Antbird, Black-cheeked Gnateater, Eye-ringed Tody-Tyrant, White-thighed Swallow and Red-crowned Ant-Tanager.

Restinga specialities and shorebirds

Spent the day at the coast birding the restinga and coastal lagoons around the small town of Cabo Frio, about 2 hours east of REGUA. The main aim of the trip was to iron out a route and itinerary for the excursion here offered at REGUA's lodge, but I was also keen to finally see Restinga Antwren - split in 1990 from the very similar Serra Antwren. Restinga is comprised of low woodland, scrub and cacti on sandy soil and is found in a narrow strip along the Brazilian coastline. Urban development is the main threat to the restinga, and with so much of it now destroyed the Restinga Antwren, which is only found in this habitat, is classified as Critically Endangered. They are still easy to see at Cabo Frio and we had 2 males show well. Other highlights at the restinga today include 1 Hook-billed Kite, 3 Sooretama Slaty Antshrike, Hangnest Tody-Tyrant, 1 Plain-breasted Ground-Dove (not common at REGUA) and a Tropical Parula.

Male Restinga Antwren

Tropical Parula

Restinga

Also nearby are several lagoons that held 8 Roseate Spoonbills, Little Blue Heron, Royal, Yellow-billed and Cayenne Terns, Grey-hooded Gull, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Collared and Semi-palmated Plovers, Black-necked Stilt, a distant probable Western Sandpiper, lots of White-cheeked Pintails and a very obliging Clapper Rail.

Clapper Rail

Clapper Rail

Clapper Rail

Little Blue Heron

Garden birding

More rain today and so I decided on a quiet day birding around the lodge garden. Highlights included a Rufous-browed Peppershrike (another forest species and another sign that the reforested areas are maturing), Hooded Tanager, 2 Planalto Tyrannulets, Purple-throated Euphonia and the male Brazilian Ruby still defending its feeders. A late afternoon walk around the wetland added Limpkin and Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift to the trip list.