Brazil - July 2024 - Day 3 - Chapada dos Guimaraes and transfer to the Pantanal

As we were packing the car at obscenely early hour a Common Potoo called in the garden of the Pousada, and we got nice views as it sat on top of a pole. The previous evening we had heard Common Pauraque calling so this was a decent double act of nocturnal birds. It was our final morning in this area before heading back south through Cuiaba and to the start of the Transpantaneira.

We started on the edge of the plateau, the view above, picking our way down to the forest edge from the road. Scaled Pigeon and Picazuro Pigeon flew over, and as we descended we could hear the barking call of a Barred Forest-Falcon. At times this seemed to be directly in front of us but try as we might we could not see it. Only when it moved did I catch a glimpse, but Richard and Bob would give me so much shit if I counted it that I have not. I may yet, it was a crap view but there was no doubt given the calls. We also had our one and only Planalto Hermit down here, as well as the briefest glimpes of a Glittering-bellied Emerald.

We birded for much longer at our next stop, Para o Peba, a long straight dusty track through prime Cerrado habitat. Here we added Spot-backed Puffbird, five White Woodpecker (as flyovers as we approached the turn-off), Rufous-winged Antshrike, Rusty-backed Antwren, Fulvous-crowned Scrub-Tyrant, Black-faced Tanager, Cinnamon Tanager, Burnished-buff Tanager, and Blue Dacnis. Somehow many of them posed for photographs as they tried to work out where our whistling Owl mimicry was coming from. This was our last visit to this habitat and we were still finding new species. Imagine if you spent a week here! In actual fact we were squeezing two trips into one, as most tours would spent much longer in the Pantanal as well as more days in the Cerrado, but this was a custom tour designed to see as much as possible in just a week. Brad knew both areas exceedingly well and was happy to accomodate. We didn't see everything of course, but we saw a good portion of our most wanted birds.

Red-crested Finch

Lesser Elaenia

Black-throated Saltator

Swallow-tailed Hummingbird

Blue Dacnis

Plain-crested Elaenia

 Burnished Buff Tanager

Glittering-throated Emerald

Blue-tufted Starthroat

Spot-backed Puffbird

Rufous-winged Antshrike

By 9.30am we were back in the shaded Vale da Bencao. We started at the opposite end to our first visit and started seeing good birds almost immediately. By far the best of these and almost a dream bird to see so well, was Pavonine Cuckoo, tracked down on call and then amazing found sitting tight on an obscured branch. It is described as "fiendishly hard to see" so I am not sure what we had done to so please the Birding Gods. We also found Swallow-winged Puffbird here as soon as we stopped the car, and in the forest itself a good selection of Woodpeckers included Little Woodpecker and White-wedged Piculet. Sibilant Siryestes - what a name! - was finally seen, a bird we had heard a few times but never set eyes on.

Pavonine Cuckoo

We had an early lunch at the usual spot before heading off on the journey south to the Pantanal. It had been a fantastic few two and a half days around Chapada dos Guimaraes, and well worth fitting it in even if it meant fewer days in the Pantanal itself. We had seen 163 species by this point, many of which were unique to this habitat and that we wouldn't see in the wetlands. To say we were delighted and also hugely enthused by what was to come would be a huge understatement.

Piuval entrance track

Once through Cuiaba we started seeing signs for the Transpantaneira, even though the road itself did not officially start until after Poconé, where there is entrance gate known as the Portal. Roughly speaking the Transpantaneira is a 140km long dead end road linking Poconé with Porto Jofre. It is all unpaved and almost entirely straight, drilled across the Panatanal via over 100 bridges in various states of repair. Some are fine, others are very rickety, some are being replaced with more durable structures, and some have been washed away in the wet season and you have to drive around them. This is perfectly possible in the dry season, but in the wet season the road is simply unpassable for regular vehicles and often has to be repaired on the fly. In birding terms the road is divided into three stretches; the northern part (0-60km), the central section (60-120km), and the final stretch (120-Porto Jofre). And at various points along it are wildlife lodges for people like us, a whole industry built on wildlife watching - the Jaguar density here is off the charts.

On the way to the Portal a flock of Blue-and- Yellow Macaw flew over the car, the only ones we would see as this 'classic' parrot has been decimated by the pet trade. Our first stop was at the Tanque dos Padres area. This was excellent and it was all Brad could do to drag us away. Hooded Tanager, Grey-headed Tanager, Blue-crowned Trogon, Smooth-billed Ani, birds everywhere we looked. But it was 2.30 in the afternoon and although we could not believe it there were better areas! Namely the Pousada Piuval, our base for the next two days. We had a brief stop at the Portal to take the same photos that all visiting birders take (though possibly not of small Panthers), and we soon at the entrance to Piuval. 

Wood Stork

Cocoi Heron

Jabiru

Rhea

Plumbeous Ibis

Southern Lapwing

We had all salivated over the Piuval eBird hotspot prior to travelling and the next four and a half hours completely justified our anticipation. We recorded 70 species, including five species of Nightjar after dark - it was an outstanding session with many new birds. The full list is too numerous to list out, but a few selected highlights included loads of Nacunda Nighthawk sitting out on open ground, Bare-faced Curassow, Chestnut-bellied Guan, White-throated Piping Guan, Scissor-tailed Nightjar, Sunbittern, Jabiru, Whistling Heron, Toco Toucan, Hyacinth Macaw, Chotoy Spinetail, Yellowish Pipit and Giant Cowbird. Oh, and not forgetting the Jaguar chilling out on one of the tracks and a Puma slinking off into the night....We went to bed absolutely buzzing. Exhausted but equally almost unable to sleep given the prospects for the following morning.

Common Pauraque

Nacunda Nighthawk