Brazil - July 2024 - Day 9 - Rio Claro and home

We started off at 6am by driving the track out of Rio Claro to an open area, and then returned to view the feeders before breakfast. The open area was decent, with tons of flyover Parrots and other birds on their morning commute. A distant flight of Nanday Parakeets was unsatifsying, especially for Richard who I think was distracted answering the call of nature, but as Brad had promised we got excellent views once back at the Pousada. There were many more Curassow and Guan around as well, and the morning light made for some decent photographic opportunities.

Chestnut-bellied Guan

Nanday Parakeet

After breakfast we boarded the boat, the SS Last Chance Saloon, for the final chance for these Agami Nature Tours participants to find their namesake bird. We followed largely the same route as the previous day, heading north until our progress was stopped by water hyacinth that was too deep for the boatman to get through. In short it was not to be, but the trip added Osprey and Aplomado Falcon. Agami is a tricky bird at the best of times, but the thought was we were perhaps too early for it as there had only been one sighting in the prior weeks.

Osprey

Aplomado Falcon

We set off from Rio Claro at around 10am headed for Ayamra Lodge, perhaps an hour away, where we had a spot of lunch, birded the entrance track and walked their grounds for a while. Hyacinth Macaw breeds close to the restaurant, and the usual array of Pantanal woodland birds were present and correct, with species like Common Tody-Flycatcher, Rusty-fronted Tody-Flycatcher, Pearly-vented Tody-Tyrant, Mato Grosso Antbird, Planalto Slaty-Antshrike, Silver-beaked Tanager, Sayaca Tanager and Red-crested Finch. A Blue-and-Yellow Macaw was clearly not altogether wild!

Blue-and-Yellow Macaw

Hyacinth Macaw

We had one final stop, just ten minutes, at Rio Bento Gomes, but were then forced to make tracks and get up to Cuiaba for our flight to Sao Paolo where we connected for London. It had been a sensational trip, with a total of 300 species seen (list to follow) as well as Jaguar, Puma, Ocelot, Giant Otter, Capybara and other mammals. We had probably squeezed two weeks of birding into under nine days, and despite this compressed schedule done rather well. I cannot recommend it highly enough, nor thank Brad enough for going above and beyond every single day. Writing this up has been wonderful, allowed me to relive it day-by-day, which is of course on the main reasons I sit here bashing it out for hours.