Três Picos State Park, Brazil: 6 November

Spent the day birding in higher altitude forest on the Theodoro Trail at the nearby Três Picos State Park that borders REGUA. On route to and from the trail we stopped at the fruit feeders set up by locals on the road up into the mountains. The feeders provide good photographic opportunities and attracted small numbers of Ruby-crowned, Brazilian, Green-headed (photo 1) and Red-necked Tanagers, a pair of Burnished-buff Tanagers (photo 2), 3 Green Honeycreepers (photo 3), Violaceous Euphonias (photo 4), at least 3 Chestnut-bellied Euphonias (photo 5) and a couple of Blue-naped Chlorophonias (photo 6), as well as a few other species. We only spent half an hour or so here, but with more time you could get some excellent images.

Green-headed Tanager

Male Burnished-buff Tanager

First summer male Green Honeycreeper

Male Violaceous Euphonia

Male Chestnut-bellied Euphonia

Female Blue-naped Chlorophonia

My second lifer of the trip, a Bertoni's Antbird, was seen soon after starting up the Theodoro Trail, and other decent birds seen here include 1 Plumbeous Pigeon, 1 White-throated Hummingbird, 1 Yellow-browed Woodpecker, 3 White-shouldered Fire-eye, 1 Slaty Bristlefront, 1 Rufous-capped Spinetail, 1 White-collared Foliage-gleaner, 1 Ochre-faced Tody-Flycatcher (photo 7), 1 Bare-throated Bellbird, 1 Sharpbill, 2 Brassy-breasted Tanager and 2 White-browed Warbler.

Ochre-faced Tody-Flycatcher

Back at REGUA in the late afternoon, a few Biscutate Swifts were picked out from a low flock of White-collareds feeding over the lodge, and the Rufous-thighed Kite and Greenish Elaenia were still around, as well as a showy 1st cycle male Chestnut-backed Antshrike. A night trip to the Onofre Cunha Trail wasn't very productive with just a Black-banded Owl and 1 Tropical Screech-Owl seen, and Tawny-browed Owl, Mottled Owl and Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl heard.

Chestnut-backed Antshrike. The black tips to the greater coverts and the chestnut
tips to the black crown show this is a 1st cycle male.

View of the reserve from the lodge garden

REGUA, Atlantic Forest, Brazil: 5 November

Only had time for a morning walk around the Wetland Trail and the Forest Trail today as we had a barbecue to go to this afternoon. Got a lifer in the form of a flushed Pinnated Bittern, and a Green-backed Becard collecting nest material is a very good record for the wetland area (photo below). 9 Masked Duck, 8 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (my highest site count so far), 1 White-necked Hawk, 1 Aplomado Falcon, 1 Limpkin, 1 Channel-billed Toucan, 1 White-flanked Antwren, 3 Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet, 2 Variegated Flycatcher, 1 White-winged Becard, 1 Crested Becard, 1 Lemon-chested Greenlet and 3 Black-capped Donacobius were about the best of other birds seen.

Green-backed Becard. Not a great photo, but a good record for the wetland area.

REGUA, Atlantic Forest, Brazil: 4 November

Spent the morning birding the Casa Anibal Trail, which leads through lowland humid forest up to 350 metres. Things are still very quiet but we managed to find some good birds, the highlight being a Yellow-billed Cuckoo that appeared briefly before moving off into the forest. This is only the second record for the reserve and a REGUA tick for me. Also seen were 1 Squirrel Cuckoo, 2 Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, 1 Surucua Trogon, 2 Crescent-chested Puffbird, 2 Channel-billed Toucan, a Spot-billed Toucanet, a pair each of Yellow-fronted Woodpecker and Sooretama Slaty Antshrike, 1 Spot-breasted Antvireo, 1 White-flanked Antwren, 4 Unicoloured Antwren, 2 Rufous-winged Antwren, 2 Scaled Antbird (photo 1), 1 White-eyed Foliage-gleaner, 1 Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, 2 Grey-hooded Flycatcher, 1 Eye-ringed Tody-Tyrant, 1 Euler's Flycatcher, 1 Fork-tailed Flycatcher, 1 Moustached Wren, a Uniform Finch and 2 Chestnut-bellied Euphonia.

Scaled Antbird is the only completely black and white Drymophila antbird. A
lowland species, found in good numbers in the lower parts of the reserve.

We also witnessed a spider wasp successfully capture, sting and paralyse a tarantula. Spider wasps lay an egg inside the spider, which on hatching, eats the spider while keeping it alive for as long as possible. I've seen spider wasps many times before but never seen one actually attacking a spider. The tarantula was overpowered surprisingly quickly.

Spider wasp fighting a taratula. The spider was easily overpowered.

Arriving back at the lodge we had brief views of a female Frilled Coquette in the garden (only the second record for the lodge garden), a Rufous-thighed Kite (photo 3), 1 Channel-billed Toucan and several Argentine black and white Tegu sunbathing around the pool (photo 4). An afternoon look at the wetland produced a few notables including a flyover Toco Toucan (a rare bird at REGUA), 2 Rufous-sided Crake, a Blackish Rail, 1 Blue-winged Parrotlet and several White-chinned Sapphire (photo 5).

This Rufous-thighed Kite is hunting insects each evening around the lodge.

Argentine black and white Tegu Tupinambis merianae

White-chinned Sapphire is a lowland species and is now regular at the
lodge feeders.

Night-birding this evening on agricultural land around the nearby village of Areal produced 3-4 Giant Snipe (photo 6) and 2 Barn Owl.

REGUA must be the best place to get up close and personal views of this difficult
nocturnal species. This bird showed down to 3 metres.

REGUA, Atlantic Forest, Brazil: 3 November

A much better day today with the morning spent birding the Waldenoor Trail. 2 Swallow-tailed kites were a REGUA tick for me but unfortunately remained very high. Also seen here were 1 Whistling Heron, 2 Mantled Hawk, 2 Blue-winged Parrotlet, Plain Parakeet, Grey-rumped Swift, Sick's Swift, a nice male Frilled Coquette, 1 Surucua Trogon, 2 Rufous-capped Motmot, 3 Rufous-tailed Jacamar, 1 White-eared Puffbird, 2 Crescent-chested Puffbird, 1 Yellow-eared Woodpecker, 1 Yellow-browed Woodpecker, 1 Spot-breasted Antvireo, 2 Planalto Tyrannulet building a nest, 1 Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet, 1+ Piratic Flycatcher, 2 Variegated Flycatcher, 1 Fork-tailed Flycatcher, 1 Dusky-capped Flycatcher, 1 Pin-tailed Manakin, 1+ Green-backed Becard, 3 Chestnut-crowned Becard, 2 White-winged Becard, 3 Crested Becard, 1 Olive-green Tanager, 2 White-bellied Tanager, 1 superb male Rufous-headed Tanager, 1 Tropical Parula and Orange-bellied Euphonia.

We are currently building a new canopy hide at REGUA and Nicholas and I climbed the scaffolding to check out the view (photo below). There are no canopy towers in this part of the Atlantic Forest and this will be awesome when it is finished. 2 early Swallow-Tanager and 13 Masked Duck were seen at the wetland, and 2 Rusty-margined Guan were back on the fruit feeders at the lodge this evening.

Photo by Helen Cavilla

REGUA, Atlantic Forest, Brazil: 2 November

The rain finally stopped overnight but heavy cloud and low temperature kept bird activity very low. Birding the Waterfall Trail and the Elfin Forest Trail today was slow going, and, frustratingly, photographic opportunities were non-existent. Highlights were 1 Shrike-like Cotinga, 1 Russet-winged Spadebill, Saw-billed Hermit, 1 Crescent-chested Puffbird, 1 Spot-billed Toucanet, a pair of Plain Antvireo, 1 White-throated Woodcreeper, 1 Black-capped Foliage-gleaner, 2 Buff-fronted Foliage-gleaner, 2 Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, 2 Eye-ringed Tody-Tyrant, 1 Whiskered Flycatcher, 1 White-rumped Monjita, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Greyish Mourner, 1 Pin-tailed Manakin, 1 White-thighed Swallow, 1 White-rumped Swallow, 1 Yellowish Pipit and 3 Red-legged Honeycreeper. A Rufous-thighed Kite hunting over the lodge late evening was a nice finish to the day.

REGUA, Atlantic Forest, Brazil: 1 November

Another very wet and cold day at REGUA with little bird activity. We decided against any of the forest trails and took another walk around the wetland. 4 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, 3 Muscovy Duck, several Masked Duck, Rufescent Tiger-Heron, 2 Tropical Screech-Owl, several White-collared Swift, White-chinned Sapphire, 1 Amazon Kingfisher (quite a scarce bird here), 2 Wing-banded Hornero, 1 Short-crested Flycatcher, Brown-chested Martin, 2 Grey-breasted Martin and several Chestnut-capped Blackbirds were about the best of the birds seen. Around the lodge, 1 Greenish Elaenia, the Green-winged Saltator, 1 Streaked Flycatcher, 2 Maroon-bellied Parakeet, 1 Long-billed Wren, a stonking male Red-legged Honeycreeper and 1 Yellow-backed Tanager were the highlights.

Greenish Elaenia. The first record for Rio de Janeiro state was found here in May
2008.

Bored with getting soaked we decided to go machete shopping, but I just couldn't decide which one to get! The rain is forecast to clear tonight so hopefully we'll be able to bird the forest tomorrow.

This amazing local shop near Matumbo sells just about everything and has a
whole range of machetes hanging up over your head as you walk in! Photo by
Helen Cavilla, aka 'Lodge Master'. I have to acknowledge her as photographer
otherwise she'll only get the arse!

Back to Brazil

Not had the best start to this trip! We finally arrived in Brazil yesterday afternoon rather than Saturday evening as planned, thanks to Iberia delaying our connecting flight in Madrid by 18 hours and shoving us in a crap hotel overnight, and today (31 October) saw very heavy rain for most of the day, restricting birding opportunities. A brief walk around the wetland this morning did, however, produce a REGUA tick in the form of two Grey-necked Wood-Rails. I've only heard them once at REGUA in the past, so this was a welcome addition to the patch list. Other 'highlights' on this rather highlight-less morning were 1-2 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, 14 Masked Duck, a nice adult Rufescent Tiger-Heron, 2 Capped Heron, 1 Ringed Kingfisher, a Greater Ani, 1 Black-capped Donacobius and a noisy colony of nesting Red-rumped Caciques. This afternoon the lodge garden was also very quiet apart from a fly-over Ringed Kingfisher and good numbers of hummingbirds enjoying the rain: 10+ Black Jacobin, 1 Reddish Hermit and several Rufous-breasted Hermit, Swallow-tailed Hummingbird, Violet-capped Woodnymph and Glittering-throated Emerald. In the evening 2 Rusty-margined Guan appeared on the fruit feeders.

Hummers do love the rain. Black Jacobin is a summer migrant to REGUA and
there's plenty around at the moment.