Pantanal, Mato Grosso: May 25-28, 2013

Our previous trip to the Pantanal, at the dusty end of the dry season last year, was an epic visual feast of birds and mammals, including three Jaguar sightings in one day.  But lost among the dense concentrations of wildlife at the few remaining pools and streams was a handful of relatively easy ticks, including regional bird specialties such as the Cinereous Spinetail, Fawn-Breasted Wren, and Blue-Crowned Parakeet.  And as spectacular and productive as our first trip was, we still dipped on the secretive Agami Heron, a bird that’s alone worth many long hours of searching.  Making a near repeat journey down the Transpantaneira Highway in the Northern Pantanal, we set off near the beginning of the dry season this time when the many marshes and cow pastures are still brimming with water. 

A few months’ difference proved significant in a number of ways.  While the road had already been regraded and was in good condition, the region was still devoid of ecotourists and we saw nary another foreign tourist while we were there.  Interestingly enough, they are replaced by local fisherman when the rivers are running high.  So, instead of birders, there were local boys with bamboo rods fishing from the bridges, and instead of running jaguar excursions from Porto Jofre at the end of the Transpantaneira Highway, they were shuttling wealthy sport fisherman from Cuiabá, the capital of Mato Grosso, up and down the river.  The amount of insects was another significant difference.  As every tropical nature enthusiast understands, with the wet season comes the mosquitoes, and we were immediately bombarded anytime we opened our car windows along the road, clouds of mosquitos swarming our ankles and or condensing on the interior roof of the car.

Our friend Jen was in town with high hopes of seeing some of the same wildlife from our previous trip, including Jaguar, Brazilian Tapir, and Giant River Otter, so we took a week off from work and scheduled a stay at Southwild Pantanal, booking a full day jaguar excursion from Porto Jofre for her.  Aimee couldn’t resist another outing either, so I ended up spending the better part of a day searching the roadside scrub and forest for the few bird species I had missed on the previous trip.  I also wanted to visit another lodge, stopping at Pouso Alegre on our first night, having heard of a pair of resident Great Rufous Woodcreepers in the trees around the pousada.  Flying in from Brasilia on a Saturday morning, we rented a compact car in Cuiabá and a few hours later were enjoying a magnificent pair of Scarlet-Headed Blackbirds along the roadside while the mosquitoes were enjoying us.  Sure, you can do the Pantanal with a tour group or a guide, but it’s a remarkably accessible and easy site to explore on your own.

I stumbled out of our room at Pouso Alegre the next morning right onto a pair of Great Rufous Woodcreepers, one of which was on the ground probing around in a huge pile of dung with its long and heavy bill.  Dozens of Hyacinth Macaws were screeching from several treetops and swooping around low to the ground with their tail feathers fanned for stability.  A pair of Chestnut-Bellied Guans, now the most threatened bird found in the Pantanal, were also poking around in the grass near other domesticated animals.  Pouso Alegre definitely feels like more of an active cattle ranch than Southwild Pantanal, and there is no forest or river that is immediately accessible; however, there are still plenty of birds around, and another hour of searching yielded White Woodpecker, Chestnut-Eared Aracari, and Blue-Crowned Parakeet, among others.

We had planned a boat excursion on the Rio Claro that morning and headed off to the pousada of the same name shortly after breakfast.  The entrance road to Pouso Alegre is a great spot for wildlife, passing through 7km of forest, marsh, and pasture.  Large numbers of caiman and Capybara littered the road, and several times we nearly had to nudge them with the car in order to pass.  Huge groups of wading birds, including Roseate Spoonbill, massed together in flooded fields by the hundreds, while a constant stream of parrots flew noisily overhead.  We had taken a spotlight with us along this road the night before, missing Brazilian Tapir but finding Crab-Eating Fox and Raccoon and White-Lipped Peccary.  I’ve found that the best kind of spotlight to use in the Pantanal is the type that connects directly to the car battery, which you can use to scan the adjacent fields as you drive slowly down a road.  Luiz, the owner of Pouso Alegre, had generously loaned us his for the night after my rechargeable spotlight gave up the ghost.

The access road to Pousada Rio Claro also looked great for birding, passing through several sections of deciduous forest, where we encountered Rusty-Backed Antwren, Red Pileated Finch, and Black-Fronted Nunbird without getting out of the car.  The pousada was a bit buggy as it’s so close to the river, but we were soon in the boat and out on the open water.  We were hoping to find some Giant River Otters, but had to satisfy ourselves with lots of birds, the most interesting of which were some Wattled Jacana chicks that were striding awkwardly about the hyacinth.  After our boatman misidentified a juvenile Rufescent Tiger Heron as a Pinnated Bittern, I took over guiding duties, pointing out Yellow-Chinned Spinetail, Great Antshrike, Pale-Legged Hornero, and four of five kingfisher species (strangely, I didn’t see a Green-and-Rufous Kingfisher on the entire trip).  Eventually, we got out of the boat and ascended a giant canopy tower, which afforded commanding views of the area but nothing new in terms of wildlife.  We finished off the excursion by walking back to the pousada.

After lunch at Pouso Alegre, we moved along down the Transpataneira Highway towards Southwild Pantanal, or Fazenda Santa Tereza (most pousadas are converted cattle ranches and are recognized locally by several different names).  Just a hundred meters from the pousada, we were confronted with an impassible stretch of mud.  Instead of parking here and wading across, the manager sent us back to the highway, and we left our car at a roadside hotel, arriving at the pousada by boat instead.  As it was getting late in the afternoon, we kept exploring the Pixiam River, which was nearly overflowing.  Since there was no exposed river bank or beach, the chances of spotting jaguar or tapir here were slim, and my spirits dropped a bit when I realized that I probably wouldn’t be seeing an Agami Heron either.  Still, being on the river was delightful, and I perked up considerably towards sunset when a pair of Golden-Collared Macaws swooped into some trees right along the river, a lifer and likely the bird of the day for me.

That night we finally had the chance to meet Charles Munn, ornithologist, conservationist, and owner of Southwild Pantanal.  I sat back in wonder while he regaled us with stories from the Peruvian Amazon, where he did his field research on mixed flocks in the 1970s rubbing elbows with the legendary Ted Parker among others. By far the most complex and elaborate example of interspecies cooperation in the animal kingdom, mixed species flocks are almost impossibly complex, sometimes involving several hundred individuals and over sixty species.  Among other things, Charles investigated the roles and relationships of different birds within these flocks, determining that certain species function as sentinels, warning the rest of the flock of predators while the others forage.  To simulate an attack of a forest falcon, he would launch Frisbees and other objects through the flock and gauge the reaction, determining that certain species of shrike-tanagers and antshrikes would sound the alarm.  He also noted that the same species would occasionally give false alarms when chasing prey that another bird had flushed out.

Hearing this, I started to get a bit nostalgic thinking about birding in Amazonia, especially considering what a breeze it is to bird the Pantanal. Despite living in Brazil, it’s been over a year since I last visited the Amazon, having focused my efforts on the Cerrado of Central Brazil and the Atlantic Forest. I’ve done a fair amount of birding in the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon already and did spend several weeks in the northern Amazon outside of Manaus before starting work.  I made the pilgrimage to Cristalino Lodge in the Southern Amazon and even executed a random trip to Western Amazonia, visiting several little visited sites in the states of Rondonia and Acre. As always, birding is a question of access: where a trip to the Amazon can be costly and complicated wherever you’re based, a trip to the Pantanal is as easy as a short weekend getaway, especially living in Brasilia.

On the following day, I was able to do some birding on my own, leaving Aimee and Jen at Porto Jofre, while they spent the day trolling the riverbanks in search of Jaguars.  My plans was to focus first on the open marshes and fields of Campo Jofre, where I hoped to find a few new seedeater species, including Dark-Throated Seedeater, and then to bird an adjacent patch of forest to look for Pale-Crested Woodpecker and Fawn-Breasted Wren, among others.  It was blazing hot by 9am when I arrived, but the roadside scrub was still full of birds, including Rusty-Fronted and Pearly-Vented Tody-Tyrants, as well as White-Bellied, Plumbeous, Double-Collared, and Rusty-Collared Seedeaters.  Scarlet-Headed Blackbird responded nicely to playback, although it took ten minutes for a male to traverse several kilometers of marsh in fits and starts (according to the field guide they maintain large territories).  I also picked up Cinereous, White-Lored, and Chotoy Spinetails, as well as Greater Thornbird and Gray-Crested Cacholote.  My most interesting find here, however, was a Subtropical Doradito (only the Crested Doradito is in the regional field guide, but I’m nearly certain of the identification).

Towards midday I drove further back along the road to find some shade. Without a specific destination in mind, I felt a bit aimless, looking for an appropriate side road to explore on foot. Up ahead I saw a small mammal staggering around in the heat, slipping into a bush as I passed by in the car. I parked in the shade and stood on the roof, hoping to catch a glimpse of it as it continued into the forest.  Instead, it reentered the road and headed in the opposite direction, its spotted hide looking very much like a Jaguar’s. Strangely, it was less than half the size, meaning I was observing either a lost baby Jaguar or an Ocelot, the latter being more likely. It crossed the road a few times, looking as if it were stalking prey, and I was able to photograph it from a distance before it stole off into the forest for good. Pleased by this unexpected success, I hoped Aimee and Jen had already experienced a few of their own. Eventually, I did find an appropriate place to bird some humid forest, and within minutes had called a pair of Fawn-Breasted Wrens from out of the gloom.

Heading back towards Porto Jofre, I stopped again to search for waders in the marsh, hoping for White-Faced Ibis.  In the road I encountered a pair of Pied Plovers and stopped on several bridges to watch the many kingfishers eye the water below. While crossing one bridge in particular, I noticed out of the corner of my eye what I assumed to be a caiman that was swimming away.  A quick glance in my binoculars revealed a Jaguar doing a dignified dog paddle with its head just above the water.  I dropped the binoculars and picked up the camera to record the moment, which would have been hard for even me to believe later without photographic evidence. Waiting around for them at the river bank for a few hours, I first birded the riverine forest, picking up more Fawn-Breasted Wrens and an obliging Great Antshrike, and then had a few beers while watching the Band-Tailed Nighthawks over the river at dusk.  As it turns out, Aimee and Jen saw very little their trip, not even a Pied Plover, much less a Jaguar, no doubt because the river was still so high.

The following morning I did some relaxed birding around the pousada at Southwild Pantanal.  They maintain a few bird feeders that are popular with Saffron Finch, Baywing, Yellow-Billed Cardinal, Purplish Jay, and various pigeons.  There’s a famous Jabiru Stork nest nearby, complete with its own canopy tower from which you can peer down into the nest.  While the forest nearby was still inaccessible due to flooding, the surrounding fields were populated with some charismatic birds, including Black-Capped Donacobius, Plumbeous Ibis, and Jabiru. In addition, I found what I’m pretty confident was a Tawny-Billed Seedeater, my first and only new seedeater lifer on the trip.  Just before lunch, as I was approaching the pousada I found an unusual looking bird perched momentarily on the back fence that I immediately recognized as a female Spectacled Tyrant.  Like White-Banded Mockingbird and Vermillion Tyrant, this species is another austral migrant, although it’s recorded only rarely in the region (my photograph on Wiki Aves is the first record for Mato Grosso).

After lunch we began the journey back to Cuiabá. Since we weren’t leaving for Campo Grande until the following day, we could afford to take our time, stopping to bird several times and even stopping for beers at a roadside bar along the Transpantaneira Highway. One flooded field in particular was simply full of birds: Black-Bellied Whistling and White-Faced Duck, White-Backed Stilt, and Pied Plover.  When a truck drove down the road towards the adjacent farmhouse, nearly a hundred Nacunda Nighthawks flushed into the air from the few patches of dry ground where we had overlooked them. With their spectacularly long wings, the nighthawks whirled around the field nervously, taking nearly five minutes to settle down again. We made a few more stops along the way without seeing anything nearly as impressive: a large group of Greater Rhea, a few Roseate Spoonbills, and a lone Little Blue Herons. Happily, we were on our way to another destination, this time to Bonito near the Southern Pantanal.

Notable birds seen: Greater Rhea, Chaco Chachalaca, Chestnut-Bellied Guan, Common Piping Guan, Bare-Faced Curassow, Southern Screamer, White-Faced Duck, Black-Bellied Whistling Duck, Brazilian Teal, Black-Crowned Night Heron, Rufescent Tiger Heron, Little Blue Heron, Capped Heron, Cocoi Heron, Buff-Necked Ibis, Plumbeous Ibis, Green Ibis, Bare-Faced Ibis, Limpkin, Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork, Maguari Stork, Jabiru, Snail Kite, Savanna Hawk, Black-Collared Hawk, Great Black Hawk, Laughing Falcon, Gray-Necked Wood Rail, Purple Gallinule, Sungrebe, Wattled Jacana, Pied Plover, White-Backed Stilt, Large-Billed Tern, Hyacinth Macaw, Blue-and-Yellow Macaw, Golden-Collared Macaw, Blue-Crowned Parakeet, Peach-Fronted Parakeet, Monk Parakeet, Turquoise-Fronted Amazon, Little Cuckoo, Striped Cuckoo, Band-Tailed Nighthawk, Nacunda Nighthawk, Pauraque, Buff-Bellied Hermit, Gilded Sapphire, White-Tailed Goldenthroat, Ringed Kingfisher, Amazon Kingfisher, Green Kingfisher, American Pygmy Kingfisher, Black-Fronted Nunbird, Chestnut-Eared Aracari, Toco Toucan, Little Woodpecker, White Woodpecker, Great Rufous Woodcreeper, Pale-Legged Hornero, Gray-Crested Cacholote, Cinereous Spinetail, Chotoy Spinetail, White-Lored Spinetail, Rusty-Backed Spinetail, Yellow-Chinned Spinetail, Greater Thornbird, Great Antshrike, Barred Antshrike, Rusty-Backed Antwren, White-Crested Tyrannulet, Subtropical Doradito, Pearly-Vented Tody-Tyrant, Common Tody Flycatcher, Rusty-Fronted Tody-Tyrant, Vermillion Flycatcher, White-Rumped Monjita, Gray Monjita, Spectacled Tyrant, Black-Backed Water-Tyrant, White-Headed Marsh-Tyrant, Rusty-Margined Flycatcher, Purplish Jay, White-Winged Swallow, White-Banded Mockingbird, Black-Capped Donacobius, Buff-Breasted Wren, Fawn-Breasted Wren, Moustached Wren, Thrush-Like Wren, Southern Yellowthroat, Flavescent Warbler, Yellow-Billed Cardinal, Red-Crested Cardinal, Grayish Saltator, Rusty-Collared Seedeater, Double-Collared Seedeater, White-Bellied Seedeater, Tawny-Bellied Seedeater, Red-Pileated Finch, Baywing, Giant Cowbird, Unicolored Blackbird, Scarlet-Headed Blackbird, Orange-Backed Troupial, Epaulet Oriole, Solitary Cacique, Yellow-Rumped Cacique, Crested Oropendola.

Giant Anteater Gallery

One of the strangest mammals in the world, the Giant Anteater, or Myrmecophaga tridactyla, is a gangly mess of furry appendages. Stalking the windy savannas of South America, it tears into towering termite mounds with its powerful claws, using its elongated nose and long, sticky tongue to extract termites and ants, up to tens of thousands per day. Notice how the anteater pup is camouflaged when riding on its mother's back, the black and white lateral stripe of both appearing to blend together. We finally encountered this terrific creature in a cow pasture outside of Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul, after Aimee swore she wouldn't leave Brazil until she saw one.

Chapada dos Veadeiros, Goiás: May 19, 2013

I’ve made a point to bird a new site each time I visit Chapada dos Veadeiros, an expansive region of rocky hills, grassy plains, and deciduous and riverine forest located just a few hours’ drive from Brasilia. Access to the national park of the same name is through the town of Sao Jorge but is limited to narrow hours and requires the company of a guide; however, good Cerrado habitat can still be found along most roadsides, and there is also a number of private reserves offering less restricted access for birders who want to take advantage of the early morning hours. The region is known for being one of the last strongholds of the critically endangered Brazilian Merganser, and on Sunday I planned to visit a complex of waterfalls, as Cataratas do Rio dos Couros, an where it is occasionally seen.

Shortly after dawn I broke up the drive with a few hours of birding at one of my favorite private reserves in the area, Pousada dos Anoes. Much like being on safari in East Africa, here you can drive a narrow dirt track through a variety of habitats, passing several small reservoirs and ultimately reaching a lookout with beautiful 360-degree views. Upon entering, I headed straight for the campo limpo section, where I quickly found a trio of Cerrado specialties: Shrike-Like Tanager, Black-Masked Finch, and Sharp-Tailed Grass-Tyrant. The deciduous forest nearby was unusually quiet, so I moved on to a more humid patch of forest, where I noted Saffron-Billed Sparrow, Hooded Tanager, and Black-Capped Antwren. With the morning bird activity tapering off around 10am, I decided to move on.

The dirt road to Rio dos Couros branches off from the GO-118 highway connecting Brasilia with Alto Paraiso just a few kilometers past Pousada dos Anoes. I’ve actually tried to reach the waterfall site once before, but a critical bridge was in disrepair, and the detour involved a complicated series of unsigned turns. Currently, it’s a straight 30km shot that crosses several bridges and passes through areas of undisturbed habitat, finally reaching a signed turnoff to the right. From here the road steepens and worsens in quality, necessitating a car with good clearance, if not a 4x4. It also forks several times, but you should arrive at the parking area if you always stay to the left. I ended up wandering for quite a while but picked up some excellent birds, including the endemic Chapada Suiriri, or Chapada Flycatcher, distinguishable from the more common Campo Suiriri mostly by its call and display.

Arriving at the parking area at midday, I was relieved to see only a few other cars present. Considering its beauty and natural attractions, Chapada dos Veadeiros can get crowded on weekends and holidays, especially at waterfalls that offer opportunities for swimming and diving. I spent an hour hiking up and down the bank of the crystalline Rio dos Couros, which flows down a series of small natural terraces, forming a long and dense network of pools and rocky islands, perfect habitat for the Brazilian Merganser. While I struck out on the target bird, I enjoyed stretching my legs and taking in the surrounding landscape that seemed to resonate under the endless blue sky. Indeed, for mystics and hippies, Chapada dos Veadeiros is considered to be a natural vortex of cosmic energy, owing to its ancient crystal rock formations.

Heading back in the early afternoon, I stopped along the road, where on my right was an area that was burned a few months ago, and on my left an area of campo sujo, or mixture of grassy fields and bushes and trees. Here, three Horned Sungems were battling it out over a territory of yellow and red flowers, and I was able to approach one within a few meters, as it kept returning to the same perch after each confrontation. One of the flagship birds of the Cerrado, this hummingbird is somewhat erratic and can be quite difficult to find and even then is typically only seen in flight. Seen at just the right angle, which is not quite captured in this photograph, the male is spectacular in appearance with its two rainbow-colored crests looking like horns when raised in moments of aggression.

Returning to the car, I flushed a flock of small birds up from the ground in the regenerating area, and a quick glance through my binoculars revealed the dandy Coal-Crested Finch. Another erratic Cerrado specialty, this finch has adapted to the cycle of natural and anthropogenic fires that sweep through Central Brazil, and it is frequently seen in recently burned areas feeding on seeds that have opened in the searing heat. There were nearly fifteen birds in this flock, and I tracked them for nearly an hour in search of the perfect photograph, which never quite materialized. I’ve definitely gotten better at stalking birds, but my telephoto lens is on its last legs, and I’ve been seriously considering making the jump to a prime lens. Driving slowly, I picked up a few more birds on my way back to the highway, reflecting on the way home how it had taken me just one day to see a half dozen Cerrado specialties that took me over six months to find after arriving in Brazil.

Notable birds seen: Red-Legged Seriema, Greater Rhea, Spotted Nothura, Pied-Billed Grebe, Buff-Necked Ibis, Blue-and-Yellow Macaw, Peach-Fronted Parakeet, Yellow-Faced Parrot, Turquoise-Fronted Amazon, Barn Owl, Burrowing Owl, Swallow-Tailed Hummingbird, White-Vented Violetear, Horned Sungem, Fork-Tailed Woodnymph, Amethyst Woodstar, Toco Toucan, Campo Flicker, Pale-Breasted Spinetail, Rufous-Fronted Thornbird, Buff-Fronted Foliage-Gleaner, Black-Capped Antshrike, Chapada Suiriri, Highland Elaenia, Sepia Capped Flycatcher, Sharp-Tailed Grass-Tyrant, White-Rumped Monjita, Gray Monjita, Long-Tailed Tyrant, Pale-Bellied Tyrant-Manakin, Helmeted Manakin, Curl-Crested Jay, Buff-Breasted Wren, Rufous-Browed Peppershrike, Flavescent Warbler, Burnished-Buff Tanager, Hooded Tanager, Shrike-Like Tanager, White-Rumped Tanager, Green-Winged Tanager, Black-Throated Saltator, Plumbeous Seedeater, Black-Masked Finch, Coal-Crested Finch, Grassland Sparrow, Wedge-Tailed Grassfinch, Saffron-Billed Sparrow.

Coal-Crested Finch Gallery

The Coal-Crested Finch, or Charitospiza eucosma, is one of the flagship birds of the Cerrado of Central Brazil, but it can be troublesome to track down. This diminutive but distinctive finch only sings during breeding season and feeds mostly on the ground, making it for most birders out of sight or sound, out of mind. As it shows a predilection for recently burned areas, populations are also somewhat nomadic and erratically distributed. By chance, I've encountered several small groups of Coal-Crested Finch, generally in the company of noisy Shrike-Like Tanagers, but last weekend in the Chapada dos Veadeiros, I lingered long over a large flock of nearly fifteen individuals, feeding in an area of campo limpo that was burned about six months ago. Note the male's highly expressive crest blowing jauntily in the wind.

Emas National Park, Goiás: April 27-May1, 2013

Taking a road trip to Emas National Park was always a sure thing for us, ever since I learned we would be moving to Brasília and subsequently purchased the Birds of Central Brazil field guide by Ridgely and Tudor. As it’s the largest protected grasslands in the country, a visit to other famed Cerrado reserves, such as Chapada dos Veadeiros, Serra da Canastra, and Chapada da Diamantina, would only serve as a prelude, I imagined. At well over 1000 square kilometers of rolling grassy fields and patches of swamp forest, the park is home to a variety of large mammals, including Jaguar, Maned Wolf, Brazilian Tapir, and Giant Anteater, and it also shelters a number of threatened bird species, including the recently rediscovered Cone-Billed Tanager. But while the promise of Emas is indeed great, we found the bounty of the site highly dependent on season and luck, and access tightly controlled by the inclinations of our guide.

The dry season in Central Brazil stretches from May through October when humidity levels can plunge to single digits. The luxuriant grassy fields are baked to a crisp, and sweeping fires are ignited by occasional lightening or for agriculture and cattle ranching purposes. In fact, almost the entire park was wiped out by fire in 2010, decimating the once thriving Giant Anteater population. These burned areas are excellent places to find terrestrial birds that normally secret themselves away deep in the tall grass, including Ocellated Crake and Lesser Nothura, but they have also become stages for adaptation, as Coal-Crested Finch, Campo Miner, and White-Winged Nightjar have all evolved to utilize recently burned areas for different biological purposes. Towards the end of the dry season, diverse flocks of migratory seedeaters in breeding plumage surge through the park, including rarities such as Rufous-Rumped, Chestnut, Dark-Throated, and Black-Bellied Seedeaters. 

While September might be the ideal time to visit with respect to birding, at the start of the rains in November and December, the ubiquitous termite mounds exhibit an eerie luminescence at night as beetle larvae feed on termites attracted by the softly glowing light. During the rainy season itself, some of the park’s roads become impassible or restricted to 4x4 vehicles, but a visit during this time of the year, from December to April, is still feasible, and there are plenty of resident bird species to admire. Our guide also suggested that there are times of year in which the chances are greater to encounter the park’s principle animal attraction, the Maned Wolf, indicating that the beginning of the dry season was one of those times, coinciding with the end of its mating season. Considering we spent three full days driving through park and encountered only one Maned Wolf by chance, I would recommend a visit to Santuario do Caraça in Minas Gerais instead if you simply had to see one.

Aimee and I arrived in Brazil in November 2011, and during the following year we took a wildly successful trip to the Pantanal. Now with our departure date looming in just a few months, we decided to make the best of it and visit the park out of prime birding season, even if the chances were slim for the major avian targets: Cone-Billed Tanager, White-Winged Nightjar, and the above mentioned migratory seedeaters. We took a few days off from work, bridging a weekend together with a midweek Brazilian holiday to create a five-day window.  Without a doubt the park is only infrequently visited because of its considerable distance from any major city with an airport; arriving from either Cuiabá or Brasília necessitates over 8 hours of driving. At least the roads were in good shape, with the only incident of note being an encounter with a dead Giant Anteater, a heaping mess of long appendages and fur on the side of the road.

Before arriving at the park we stopped in the city of Mineiros to pick up André Luis de Oliveira, who would be our guide (if it wasn’t already apparent, significant excursions into the park are only permitted in the company of a local guide). Fabiano Oliveira, an accomplished bird guide from Mato Grosso, had originally put me in touch with both André and the owner of the pousada where we stayed, the simple but peaceful Pousada Recanto das Emas. This pousada was a particularly excellent tip, as it’s both economical and located relatively close to the southern park entrance, saving us the extra hour of driving every day necessitated by staying at a hotel in the town of Chapadão do Céu. Although I didn’t understand it when I was planning the trip, the earnest André would actually accompany us the entire time, staying at the pousada and taking all of our meals with us, a dynamic that began to wear on our nerves a bit, if only because Aimee and I can barely tolerate each other after an entire day of driving together around in the car parsing drab tyrant flycatchers.

In the late afternoon, we entered the northern entrance of the park, which is flanked by oversize sculptures of the park’s wildlife attractions, including two shiny metallic Greater Rheas as well as a lifelike Maned Wolf, Giant Anteater, and Pampas Deer.  The plan was to slowly wind our way to the southern entrance of the park, spotlighting for nocturnal mammals and birds along the way. From the start we encountered some good birds, hearing Rufous-Sided Pygmy-Tyrant and Black-Masked Finch and seeing Yellow-Faced Parrot and White-Tailed Goldenthroat.  As dusk fell, we registered three different Short-Eared Owls perched on the top of distant trees, all taking off in looping flight as we approached by car.  We then stopped several times in the dark to inspect roadside termite mounds for luminescence, which has been recorded at other times of year besides the beginning of the rainy season, but didn’t witness the phenomenon for ourselves.  Scattering dozens of Burrowing Owls on the road, we only managed to record several Crab-Eating Foxes during the rest of the drive.

Before entering the park the following morning, we stopped at dawn near a swampy forested area near the pousada. It’s worth imagining for a minute how the original landscape has been dramatically altered outside the park: the endless grasslands have been burnt and plowed into equally expansive fields of cotton, corn, and soy, while many of the swamp forests have been chopped down and planted with sugar cane.  A few of these, as well as narrow corridors of gallery forest, remain and appear as exotic islands in a sea of monoculture. Blue-and-Yellow Macaws boomed from the nearby forest, as we searched the marsh for signs of the rare Pinnated Bittern, picking up Lesser Grassfinch, Rufescent Tiger Heron, and the first of many, many Plumbeous Seedeaters for our troubles. Continuing towards the park entrance, we stopped to gawk at a recently planted field littered with Greater Rhea, Red-Legged Seriema, and Pampas Deer as if it were a petting zoo.

There is a wide variety of Cerrado habitat to be found within the park, each harboring specialized bird species: grassy fields nearly without bushes or trees are referred to as campo limpo; areas with bushes and trees but no grass are known simply as cerrado; and a mixture of grass and bushes and trees is called campo sujo.  When cerrado goes undamaged by fire, it can grow tall depending on soil quality and form a continuous canopy, creating dry forest known as cerradão. Mata ciliar or mata de galeria is verdant humid forest that flanks waterways or clusters in poorly drained areas; these areas can also produce dense stands of buriti palms, where the highly adapted Point-Tailed Palmcreeper dwells. There are a few pools located along the different rivers originating in the park, but we didn’t visit any large lagoons, if there even are any within the park (park maps don’t reveal any). Any decent local guide should help you access all of the different Cerrado habitats found within the park.

After enjoying a few common species at the park entrance, including Toco Toucan, Red-Shouldered Macaw, and White Woodpecker, we stopped several times along the road to the park headquarters, scoring Coal-Crested Finch, Collared Crescentchest, White-Eared Puffbird, and Shrike-Like Tanager in the campo sujo.  We parked briefly to explore the forest near the headquarters, where we found a family group of Bare-Faced Curassows, as well as huge flocks of Chopi Blackbirds and Curl-Crested Jays mobbing a birdfeed table. Striking out on Planalto and Henna-Hooded Foliage-Gleaner, birds I’ve seen quite a few times in protected areas around Brasília, we headed out to a campo limpo area in search of some of my targets: Lesser Nothura, Ocellated Crake, Bearded Tachuri, and Long-Winged Harrier. The wide open area was stacked high with termite mounds, some twice as tall as Aimee, and subtle wildflowers brought some visual relief to the overwhelming green grass, red earth, and blue sky.

We had a few responses to playback of Ocellated Crake, but there’s a good reason why this bird is known in Portuguese as o Fantasma do Cerrado, or the Ghost of the Cerrado. Most records take place in recently burned areas or in instances where the bird is lured into a vegetation gap or perhaps across a road with playback. André didn’t really have a plan for getting us onto the bird (I’ve seen guides clear grass and stash the iPod and speaker across a gap), but he was certainly familiar with the species and persistent with playback, much to Aimee’s chagrin. Meanwhile, we scanned the hillsides fruitlessly for signs of Giant Anteater or Long-Winged Harrier.  Moving on, we found a sizable flock of small passerines, including Cock-Tailed Tyrant, Wedge-Tailed Grassfinch, and Plumbeous Seedeater. A Black-Masked Finch popped up from the grass attracted by the commotion, as well as several Grass Wrens.  Eventually, we heard a family group of Sharp-Tailed Grass-Tyrants nearby, with which a solitary Bearded Tachuri is sometimes loosely associated, André explained.

We returned to the pousada for a big lunch, heading back out after a short rest around 2pm. The plan was to visit a distant patch of mata ciliar, one of three sites where André has seen the Cone-Billed Tanager; however, we were quickly sidetracked as he spotted a dark figure on the road ahead, a Maned Wolf. We stopped the car and let it approach warily on impossibly long and wobbly looking legs. Of course, the wolf isn’t actually awkward, but rather perfectly adapted to stalk prey in the tall grasslands of the region, and I’ve seen amazing videos of one bounding through grass in pursuit of a tinamou. We were able to track the wolf a bit after getting out of the car, eventually loosing sight of it as it moved off the road and deep into the campo sujo. Moments like these are pretty rare on safari, and Aimee and I have learned to accept them with a zen-like attitude, remaining focused but avoiding emotional highs. André was all high fives though, and he definitely had a better sense of just how unlikely an encounter this was.

It was a long drive to the Cone-Billed Tanager site, although we saw a few Red-Legged Seriemas along the road, stunned by their stupidity as they preferred to sprint in front of the car for many kilometers instead of fleeing to the side for safety.  Give the time of day, the forest patch was unsurprisingly dead quite and no Cone-Billed Tanagers were seen despite the best efforts of our guide’s iPod. André pointed out that this not the right time of year for males to be singing in demarcation of their territory, but that he has seen pairs come in silently to investigate playback throughout the year. Heading back towards the southern entrance gate, we stopped briefly at a viewpoint to tick Chapada Suiriri, and then at dusk we encountered a Brazilian Tapir on the road. This massive and docile creature creates a sizable roadblock, and we stopped for a few minutes in silence to marvel before it stalked off into the grass. There is an old airstrip near the park headquarters where we had looked for White-Winged Nightjar the night before, driving at a snail’s pace and spotlighting the ground and bushes to the side. Finally, we saw a male in flight, clearly very light in color, but not what I would call very satisfying views.

We started off our second full day at another marsh outside of the park, this one located off the road towards Chapadão do Céu. André explained this was a good spot for Giant Anteater as well as migratory seedeaters, and we did find a good size flock of them, containing Plumbeous, Capped, and Double-Collared Seedeaters.  Other noteworthy observations here included Streamer-Tailed Tyrant, Yellow-Rumped Marhsbird, and Green Ibis. On the return drive, we were impressed by the quantity of parrots and macaws feeding along the roadside in fruiting trees that were planted by farmers to distract the hoards of White-Lipped Peccaries from decimating their crops. Blue-and-Yellow and Red-Shouldered Macaws, Yellow-Faced and Turquoise-Fronted Parrots, and Peach-Fronted and White-Eyed Parakeets were all feasting on berries and seeds, their naturally occurring populations no doubt inflated by this abundant food source.  Throughout our trip we couldn’t help but notice that the most abundant wildlife was definitely found along the park boundaries.

Back inside the park, we visited another Cone-Billed Tanager site, Lagoa da Capivara, a short drive from the park entrance. Along the road, we dug up Rusty-Backed Antwren, White-Rumped Tanager, and Pale-Breasted Spinetail. Considering it was relatively early in the day, I felt this was our best chance so far to bag Cone-Billed Tanager, but down near the river we again provoked no discernable response by using playback. A pair of White-Striped Warblers, a more widespread inhabitant of swamp forest, came down to the water’s edge, and we also spied several female Helmeted Manakins, but saw little else of note. In addition to housing a mating pair of Cone-Billed Tanager, this site has several records of Crowned Eagle as well as Great-Billed Seedfinch, although both are still encountered only very rarely. Before heading back for lunch, we visited some nearby campo limpo in search of Ocellated Crake, Lesser Nothura, and Beareded Tachuri, but again lots of playback resulted in little. Worried that Aimee was getting bored, I opted for a 3pm start later that afternoon.

Returning to the same campo limpo area late in the afternoon, we stopped the car short of a giant rattlesnake that was as thick as my thigh in the middle.  After it slithered into the grass, we were enjoying a Grass Wren while André was playing tape for Bearded Tachuri as there was a group of Sharp-Tailed Tyrants vocalizing nearby. Finally, the tachuri darted in, a tiny, delicate flycatcher distinctive for the male’s dark-spotted facial mask. This particular tachuri had more of a five o’clock shadow than a full beard, but we considered the find a big success nevertheless. I nearly walked away from the encounter with some outstanding photographs but could never manage a viewing window completely clear of the tall grass swaying in the wind, which was an obstacle that plagued my photography throughout the trip but definitely added to the romantic ambiance of the park. After dark, we had another quick glimpse of a White-Winged Nightjar in flight, this time a female, as well as a pair of the endemic Hoary Fox on the road. While leaving the entrance gate, we then stumbled into a pack of thirty to forty White-Lipped Peccaries, an unsettling sight.

On our final day, we started off at the third and final Cone-Billed Tanager territory, this one situated in the forest near the bridge across the scenic Rio Formosa. There’s a decrepit boardwalk trail that passes into the forest and then around towards the back, along which we stopped many times to play tape. Noteworthy observations here included a pair of Bat Falcons, a Crane Hawk, and a lovely Gilded Sapphire, a distinctive hummingbird with a copper colored tail. André pointed out that the bamboo in the understory of the forest patch had died recently and explained that the Cone-Billed Tanager has shown a marked preference for such habitat.  Perhaps that’s why we hadn’t found the tanager yet, or perhaps we were simply searching for it in the wrong season when it’s quiet and unresponsive. Still, it was another beautiful cloudless day in Emas National Park, and there were plenty of other birds to seek out in its windy and wild grassy expanses.

There’s another pousada in construction near the southern entrance of the park that will soon have private access, albeit informally. Far back in a corn field someone had cut through the barbed wire fence that borders the park, and we slipped in here whenever the entrance gate was locked and the park guards were away. This southwestern section of the park was good for humid campo limpo and we found a large seedeater flock, including many Cock-Tailed Tyrants but no Marsh Seedeaters. Standing sentinel on a fence post in the distance was a magnificent Long-Winged Harrier, which allowed us close approach in the car. This trip did not yield many lifers for me, but the harrier was definitely one of them, as I’ve yet to seriously bird the pampas region of southern South America. We also heard several Ocellated Crakes vocalizing in the luxuriant grass, but were hopeless in the attempt to actually see one.  Final highlights that evening included an ethereal pair of Barn Owl seen well along the roadside in the moonlight.

Our trip to Emas National Park certainly didn’t disappoint, but it was a bit anticlimactic for me having lived in Central Brazil for almost two years and spent a great deal of time birding in the region already. Both Aimee and I would have much preferred exploring the park on our own; with a map, our 4x4, and my knowledge of habitat and calls, we would have easily found the same number of species, perhaps even more considering how much less time we would have spent driving around between territories and resorting fruitlessly to playback. Still, those our the rules of the park, and André was simply being attentive to the list of target species that I had sent him in advance. With six new birds to add to my country list, as well a magnificent encounter with the Maned Wolf, I can’t help but feel the trip was worthwhile, even if my trip to Serra da Canastra, for example, was more inspiring. With trips to the Pantanal and Araguaia Regions coming up, I’ll soon be rounding up my time birding Central Brazil.

Notable birds seen: Red-Legged Seriema, Greater Rhea, Red-Winged Tinamou, Bare-Faced Curassow, Muscovy Duck, Rufescent Tiger Heron, Whistling Heron, Buff-Necked Ibis, Green Ibis, White-Tailed Kite, Snail Kite, Roadside Hawk, Short-Tailed Hawk, Long-Winged Harrier, Crane Hawk, White-Tailed Hawk, Savanna Hawk, Laughing Falcon, Bat Falcon, Aplomado Falcon, Red-Bellied Macaw, Blue-and-Yellow Macaw, Red-Shouldered Macaw, Peach-Fronted Parakeet, Yellow-Faced Parrot, Turquoise-Fronted Amazon, Squirrel Cuckoo, Short-Eared Owl, Barn Owl, Burrowing Owl, Common Potoo, Paraque, White-Winged Nightjar, Swallow-Tailed Hummingbird, White-Vented Violetear, Gilded Sapphire, White-Tailed Goldenthroat, Fork-Tailed Woodnymph, White-Eared Puffbird, Toco Toucan, White Woodpecker, Campo Flicker, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Pale-Breasted Spinetail, Yellow-Chinned Spinetail, Rusty-Backed Antwren, Collared Crescentchest, Chapada Suiriri, Plain-Crested Elaenia, Sooty Tyrannulet, Sharp-Tailed Grass Tyrant, Bearded Tachuri, Vermillion Flycatcher, White-Rumped Monjita, Gray Monjita, Streamer-Tailed Tyrant, Cock-Tailed Tyrant, Helmeted Manakin, Curl-Crested Jay, Tawny-Headed Swallow, Grass Wren, Masked Gnatcatcher, White-Striped Warbler, Flavescent Warbler, Burnished-Buff Tanager, White-Rumped Tanager, Shrike-Like Tanager, White-Rumped Tanager, Black-Throated Saltator, Plumbeous Seedeater, Double-Collared Seedeater, Capped Seedeater, Black-Masked Finch, Coal-Crested Finch, Grassland Sparrow, Wedge-Tailed Grassfinch, Lesser Grassfinch, Yellow-Rumped Marshbird, White-Browed Blackbird.