The forest here is remote and has never been clear felled with only selected hardwoods removed, making for some excellent birding. There are a few old trails through the forest here, but none have yet been developed for tourism so it's fairly hard going. However, this doesn't deter many guests at the lodge from coming here, where the forest clad Serra dos Órgãos mountains provide a dramatic backdrop.
The dirt road from the reserve entrance to the start of the Matumbo Corridor was quite productive. A Common Potoo nesting on a fence post just before the village of Matumbo was a good start, along with a Piratic Flycatcher (one of the earliest summer migrants in south-east Brazil), 3 White-eared Puffbird, 4 Blue-winged Parrotlet, a pair of nesting Crested Becard, and the usual common open country species including Smooth-billed Ani and Chalk-browed Mockingbird.
Parking the trusty blue Toyota pickup and walking up the track into the forest, we found a decent number of birds including 2 Saw-billed Hermit, 2 Surucua Trogon, 1 Streak-capped Antwren, several Blue Manakin (though only 1m was actually seen), 1 Chestnut-crowned Becard, 2 Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, 2 Yellow-olive Flycatcher, 2+ Planalto Tyrannulet, 1 Tropical Pewee, 1 Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Red-eyed Vireo, 1 Yellow-legged Thrush, 2 Pale-breasted Thrush (including 1 bird visiting a nest, built rather precarious position on a exposed muddy bank), 1 Buff-throated Saltator, 2 Yellow-green Grosbeak, 2 Golden-crowned Warbler and a pair of Chestnut-vented Conebill. Overhead, 2+ Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift, numerous White-collared Swifts and 5 Scaly-headed Parrot were seen.
At the start of the trail to Casa do Waldenoor itself, a pair of Rufous-tailed Jacamar showed down to just a metre or so and kept me busy with the DSLR for a while, although despite the close range I struggled to get sharp images in the very dull light. A pair of Chestnut-bellied Euphonia, 1 Scaled Woodcreeper, 2 Golden-chevroned Tanager and 3 more Yellow-green Grosbeak were also noted.
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| Male Rufous-tailed Jacamar |
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| Male Rufous-tailed Jacamar |
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| Female Rufous-tailed Jacamar |
The now derelict Casa do Waldenoor marks the top of the main trail, and here things were much quieter. A White-necked Hawk showed briefly overhead and a Plumbeous Pigeon remained out of sight called distantly. In the overgrown garden a Maroon-bellied Parakeet and 2 Plain Parakeets were logged and a Violet-capped Woodnymph, 1 distant Channel-billed Toucan, 1 Yellow-eared Woodpecker and a Cliff Flycatcher were the only other noteworthy species seen.
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| Pale-breasted Thrush nest containing 2 chicks |
With the weather closing in we were beginning to think that was it for the day's birding, when a Barred Forest-Falcon started calling from close by. Adilei played the call half-heartedly and a few minutes later a Barred Forest-Falcon suddenly shot out of the forest and sped low across the open garden passing within a few metres of us before diving into cover! A few minutes later the bird flew back low across the garden, again at close range, perching up in a tree briefly and flying off just as I was pressing the shutter! Another bird then started calling and flew out of the forest to the other side of the garden, also alighting briefly before flying into the forest. We couldn't believe it. We'd just had incredible, if brief, views of a very difficult species, which was a lifer for me as well! What brilliant birds! The field guides really do not do them justice.
Returning via an unmarked trail through the forest was very quiet, with 1 Blond-crested Woodpecker, 1-2 Star-throated Antwren, 1 Lesser Woodcreeper, a Black-goggled Tanager and Green-headed Tanager noted. A Brown Sipo Chironius fuscus was also seen.
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| Brown Sipo Chironius fuscus |
Last year's volunteer lodge co-ordinator, Helen Cavilla, carried out a small project to record the tracks and signs of mammals around the wetland area. In a few months Helen found a variety of prints including Crab-eating Fox Cerdocyon thous, Crab-eating Raccoon Procyon cancrivorus, Ocelot Leopardus pardalis, Oncilla Leopardus tigrinus and Puma Puma concolor. Rachel and I have bought some camera traps out to REGUA with us this year, and we decided to place one along the stream that crosses the Forest Trail near the lodge. Helen frequently found tracks in the sandy banks of the stream and we were keen to see if any animals were visiting the stream regularly, so this afternoon we walked to the stream to set up the trap, seeing a Crested Becard and 2 Long-billed Wren on route. Can't wait to see what we get on camera.
Back at the lodge we saw our third Rufous-tailed Jacamar of the day, and a stunned male White-bearded Manakin that flew into the insect screen on one of the lodge windows before flying off unharmed.
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