Buoyed with new-found confidence that the weather will
remain fine we decided that another offsite trip is due so the National Park
near Teresopolis is today’s venue.
Leaving at 6.30 am we have time to stop at a local service
area where there are great views across the valleys towards Rio and the Finger
of God rock can also be seen well. I
also needed to hunt for some hawkmoths, attracted to the lights which are left
on at night here, and acquire some wine for our farewell dinner in a couple of
days. Leonardo, today’s guide also met
us here.
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| Handsome Blue Manakin |
We arrived at the National Park around 8.20 am, and were
parked up and ready to go at the official opening time of 8.30. The main walk is along a wooden raised
boardwalk, which gives great views of the canopy at eye level on one side but still with the under-storey on the other. Today was relatively quiet for the year, but
we still managed to see some excellent species, including: White-throated Spadebill, Black-goggled Tanager,
Mottle-cheeked Tyrannulet, Ruby-crowned Tanager, Buff-browed Foliage-gleaner,
lekking Blue Manakin, Golden-chevroned Tanager, Scaled Antshrike, Rough-legged
Tyrannulet, Brazilian Ruby, Pin-tailed Manakin, Yellow-legged Thrush,
White-shouldered Fire-eye, Violet-capped Woodnymph, Blue Dacnis, Versicoloured
Emerald, Large-headed Flatbill, Blue-billed Black-tyrant, Squirrel Cuckoo,
Black-throated Trogon. The bird of the
day was Sharpbill, we had excellent views of the bird just ahead of us over the
trail, and the more proficient of us got great photographs – I got one rather
dodgy effort.
We took our picnic lunch in the car park area where there
are restrooms and seats, then walked down the driveway with the minibus
following at regular intervals.
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| Sharpbill |
Here it was quieter, perhaps the heat of the day having its
usual effect, but we did see: Grey-capped Tyrannulet, Crested Oropendola, Black-throated
Trogon, Chestnut-crowned Becard, Scale-throated Hermit, Yellow-Olive
Flycatcher, Yellow-eared Woodpecker, Spot-breasted Antvireo, Streaked Antwren,
Planalto Woodcreeper, Golden-crowned Warbler, and Rufous-capped Greenlet. Vying with the Sharpbill was a rather speedy
view of Red-capped or Pileated Parrots –only those next to Leonardo stood any
chance of seeing them as they darted overhead.
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| Teresopolis and Tres Picos NP |
As the area seemed quiet, Leonardo decided to take us to
another area near Teresopolis, which had previously been his local patch. Here in more open country overlooking a beautiful valley we
added some excellent birds. A
White-tailed Hawk circled overhead giving us some brilliant views, several
hundred photographs were taken and we were quite pleased with our efforts until
Leonardo showed us some he had taken the previous day – they were superb – the
delete button was used on more than one camera – thank goodness for digital!
Cliff Flycatchers perched high on bare branches flying out
to catch insects, White Woodpecker called and then flew in to the tape. Blue-and-White Swallow hunted over the . . . . . . .
[Sorry, as I write this a Rufous-breasted Hermit just flew
into the sitting room, took a long hard look at me and the laptop then shot out
again!]
. . . . . . valley
Variable Antshrike was next, Cinnamon Tanager, Ruddy Ground
Dove and Chalk-browed Mockingbird completed our day’s sightings. Hooded Siskin called nearby, responded to
tape but decided to stay where they were – out of sight.
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| Chalk-browed Mockingbird |
An excellent day, just what Brazilian birding is all about.
