Thursday, August 30, 2018

Brazil Day 2 - Bacury

We were up at 5:45AM for breakfast after a decent night's sleep.   Breakfasts were pretty typical Brazilian style with ham and cheese, breads, yogurt, and of course cake.  Cake for breakfast is a wonderful Brazilian tradition and who was I to pass it up on a daily basis.

Once the sun came up, the grounds came alive with bird life.

Narrow-billed Woodcreeper:
Narrow-billed Woodcreeper

White-wedged Piculet:
White-wedged Piculet

Little Woodpecker:
Little Woodpecker

Rufous-headed Tanager:
Rufous-headed Tanager

We also encountered a frisky dog that continually jumped up on Karen and she complained about getting kissed by it.  "As if Alan wasn't bad enough" was Bill's tongue in cheek reply...

At about 8:30AM we headed back to the forest where we spent a few hours driving and walking around.  We saw no mammals but lots of birds including this wonderful endemic Crescent-chested Puffbird who had just caught a bee:

Cresent-chested Puffbird with Bee

We hung out at the Fazenda mid-day and walked the grounds a bit.  I was lucky enough to spot this Rufous-capped Motmot, which is a rare sighting on the ground apparently:
Rufous-capped Motmot

The Swallow-tailed Hummingbird was not a rare sighting since it spent all day guarding the feeder:
Swallowtail Hummingbird

At around 2:30, Carlos Henrique took us to a marshy area near the Piracicaba River which is more of a lake since it had been dammed. We saw lots of cool birds but nothing else.  These Streamer-tailed Tyrants were my favorite birds of the day:

Streamer-tailed Tyrant

Unfortunately, other flying creatures (mosquitoes) were out in huge numbers and forced us back to the car.  So, we ended the day going back to the forest where we got a better look at the cool Crescent-chested Puffbird:

Cresent-chested Puffbird

Today, we waited in the forest until after dark to try to see some of the nocturnal creatures.  We did have good luck when Carlos heard and then called in this Tawny-browed Owl:
Tawny-browed Owl

Back at the Fazenda, we went searching for nocturnal creatures again and found another owl.  This is a Tropical Screech Owl:
Tropical Screech Owl

We also had some nesting Barn Owls and a Common Paraque on the grounds but no mammals.

Dinner included a chicken dish, rice and beans, and a vegetable dish that I can't remember.  You will have to excuse my memory because towards the end of dinner I couldn't help but fixate on the dessert button.  Carlos saw me looking at it and when the time came, he slid it over to me and gave me the honors. "Ding Dong"....The kitchen doors opened and out came dessert.  I will never get tired of that.

Dessert was a fantastic peach pie and chocolate ice cream which I devoured wholeheartedly.  I certainly wouldn't be losing ANY weight on this trip.

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