Brazil - July 2024 - Day 8 - Back up the Transpantaneira

It was time to turn around, we had reached the furthest point on our journey and were now headed back up the Transpantaneira to Cuiba. We had one final stop at Rio Claro where we had one final boat trip scheduled, but the bulk of the trip was now behind us. It had been fabulous.

We went for a short walk before breakfast around the Hotel Pantanal Norte, including a boardwalk on the rear of the grounds. This was completely dry, there had not been much rain this season, and if you pay attention to this type of thing you will also perhaps have heard that this has been the case for a number of years and as a result what should be a much wetter landscape is being scarred by fires. 

After a quick breakfast we were on the road but stopped fairly quickly to check out a scubby forest area just off the main road. We had OIivaceous Woodcreeper here, as well as a smart male Helmeted Manakin and a Chestnut-vented Conebill. Our real destination was Campos Jofre - we had passed by this area on the way south and it had easily been the most birdy spot on the entire Transpantaneira, but with dusk (and dinner!) on the near horizon we had not lingered. This time we did it properly, staying for an hour and a half and recording 65 species from the road. Of note were spectacular numbers of Limpkin (these are Rails rather than Egrets), gazillions of Cattle Egret, Great White Egret, Cocoi Heron, a single Maguari Stork, and various Ibis. We counted 50 Snail Kites and 75 Crested Caracara, 200+ Unicoloured Blackbird, Orange-headed Tanager, White-bellied and Rusty-collared Seedeaters, a pair of White-headed Marsh Tyrant, and several Black-backed Water Tyrant. It is no exaggeration to say that there were birds as far as the eye could see, just brilliant. The full list is here.

Maguari Stork

Snail Kite

Peach-fronted Parakeet

We stopped for refreshments at the Hotel Mato Grosso where we had stayed on the way down, and a short period at their feeders added all three Cowbirds, Purplish Jay, Greyish Baywing, and lots of Saffron Finch. A few Scaled Dove and White-tipped Dove pecked around underneath and I was entertained by a friendly Ringed Kingfisher and Great Kiskadee by the boat jetty.

Blue-crowned Parakeet

Purplish Jay

Ringed Kingfisher

Scaled Dove

Great Kiskadee

Giant Cowbird

Greyish Baywing

Saffron Finch

Saffron Finch

At 1.30pm we rolled into the Pousada Rio Claro, our stop for the night. This is at about the 45km mark, so we had made very good progress back up the Transpantaneira. After some food we birded around the grounds for a while whilst we waited our boat trip to start. The one remaining big target was Agami Heron but with the low water levels it wasn't looking especially positive. Rio Claro is a good spot for Chestnut-bellied Guan and Bare-faced Curassow, with lots of birds hanging around the feeders and animal pens. We also hoped to see genuine Nanday Parakeets at the feeders here, but they were more likely in the morning per Brad.

Chestnut-bellied Guan

Coatimundi

Crested Caracara

At about 3pm we goto on the boat and headed out. This craft was smaller and narrower than at Porto Jofre, matching the river, and once again expertly piloted. We found another Boat-billed Heron, and we were delighted with the close views of Green-and-Rufous Kingfisher - a bird which completed the 'set' so to speak. We had several in-flight views but it's modus operandi is to sit hidden under overhanging branches and it proved quite challenging to get a view as it frequently moved before we could find it. Eventually we nailed it, and I got a pretty pleasing photograph all things considered. Even though this was a boat trip we saw a couple of Woodpeckers, Crimson-crested and Cream-coloured, as well as Crested Oropendola and Solitary Black Cacique. Try as we might though we could not find Agami Heron. One last chance remained tomorrow!

Black-collared Hawk

Green-and-Rufous Kingfisher

The Rio Claro at sunset