Drive to Canudos, Brasil - 20 Oct 2023
Day 2: We’ll need to drive all day with few stops to reach the Indigo Macaw reserve. As we travel, the agricultural fields, grassland, and patches of forest found near Salvador will slowly be replaced by drier and drier habitat. Ultimately, we’ll reach the little village of Canudos, where prime caatinga habitat, and the Indigo Macaws, can be found. This distinctive xeric habitat holds not only exciting birds but also fascinating cacti, euphorbias, and trees. Night in Canudos. - WINGS Birding Tours
An almost 8-hour drive from Salvador to Canudos de Bahia, BR. Upon arrival we will visit the Canudos Biological Station and home to the last surviving population of Indigo Macaw (formerly Lear's Macaw).
We will spend the evening at the Hotel Brasil. Scratch that! A last-minute change in plans will have us staying at the Biological Station itself. Apparently, a bar opened next to the Hotel Brasil and is very loud. The Hotel is trying to get the bar closed down, but in the meantime arrangements were made to have us stay at the Reserve.
We checked out of the Intercity Hotel Salvador at 5 am and met in the lobby. Paulo, our driver, was waiting to pack us up for the drive to Canudos in a Mercedes 14-seat van. I sat in the back.
The drive was long and bumpy w/ lots of traffic. After about an hour we stopped for breakfast at a roadside truck stop; fried eggs and cheese bread were a nice combination, along w/ orange juice and a large bottle of water.
Before leaving we took a moment to enjoy a half-dozen Southern Lapwings making a racket in the median of the road, photograph a Neotropical Lava Lizard (Tropidurus hispidus) and a couple of Ruddy Ground Doves.
Being in the back of the van was nice as I had 3 seats to myself. Sadly, I was sitting high in the chairs and that meant not seeing out the windows as well as I'd like. Rich would point out birds along the way, and I'd miss them since I couldn't see high enough out the windows. "Misses" included: White-tailed Hawk, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Grey-breasted Martins, Guira Cuckoo, and Harris' Hawks.
But, we did see some birds. A small pond held a Striated Heron (not even on our list), Wattled Jacanas, Common Gallinules and Black-necked Stilts. A large pond a few minutes later held dozens of Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, and a White Monjita that I could see but not photograph through well through the van windows, traffic and heat shimmer.
Another large pond held Cattle Egrets by the dozen, Neotropic Cormorants, and the first of many Crested Caracaras.
Lagoas ao norte de Santa Bárbara, Bahia, BR
Oct 20, 2023 8:20 AM - 8:27 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.65 kilometer(s)
10 species
Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata) 26
Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) 15
Southern Lapwing (Vanellus chilensis) 2
Wattled Jacana (Jacana jacana) 6
Great Egret (Ardea alba) 15
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) 25
Striated Heron (Butorides striata) 1
Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture (Cathartes burrovianus) 1
White Monjita (Xolmis irupero) 1
Masked Water-Tyrant (Fluvicola nengeta) 1
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S1
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)
At 9 am we stopped at a rest stop. Instead of using the bathrooms we headed to the edge of a field where Rich pointed out an Aplomado Falcon, several Blue-black Grassquits, and we even heard a Spotted Nothura. I photographed a White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae) butterfly.
Saco de Correio, Bahia, BR
Oct 20, 2023 8:50 AM - 9:04 AM
Protocol: Stationary
6 species (+1 other taxa)
Spotted Nothura (Nothura maculosa) 2 Heard
hummingbird sp. (Trochilidae sp.) 1
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) 1
Aplomado Falcon (Falco femoralis) 1
Fulvous-crowned Scrub-Tyrant (Euscarthmus meloryphus) 1 Heard
Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) 1
Blue-black Grassquit (Volatinia jacarina) 4
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S1
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)
A short while later we passed a dump where dozens (up to 40) Crested Caracaras were perched on cactuses in a large contingent.
I did manage to see a Spot-backed Puffbird that Rich pointed out on my side of the van. It was on a power line and I was able to shoot through a gap in the sliding window.
We finally arrived in Canudos and had lunch at the Brasao.
We then headed to the Biological Station arriving at 2:30 pm. It was hot and dry, but the landscape was beautiful with a mix of canyon and caatinga (cactus).
We were greeted by a Black-throated Saltator perched on a scrub bush several meters from our lodge.
At 3:30 pm we met for an afternoon walk. Just prior we saw several large flocks of Blue-crowned Parakeets flying past the lodge. I was able to get some nice fly-by pics.
We headed down the Sandy Wash trail into the caatinga brush and listened for birds.
Rich heard and was able to call in a Bahia Wagtail-Tyrant (similar to Greater Wagtail-Tyrant in song but less contrasty and paler yellow wash). It was difficult to see (and photograph) but it finally jumped onto the trail behind us and I was able to get a pic or two.
It was soon followed by the first of several Tropical Gnatcatchers.
Up ahead we found a Cliff Flycatcher, followed quickly by a Chalk-browed Mockingbird that had a bumpy growth on the base of the bill.
To everyone's surprise a tinamou sp. flushed in front of us and flew over the brush to the scrub on our right. It was thought by Rich to be a Spotted Nothura or Little Tinamou.
We'd find a distant Guira Cuckoo and three more far out in the scrub (too far to photograph) but would see a Roadside Hawk fly overhead for some nice pics.
Light shining on the canyon walls was spectacular, but I didn't have time to pull the phone out to take pics. We were quickly onto a Campo Troupial, which looks like a Baltimore Oriole on steroids. Pretty bird.
Butterflies continued to appear, including this tiny Ceraunus Blue.
We'd find a Narrow-billed Woodcreeper that gave nice looks,
as well as our first hummingbird of the trip; a Swallowtail Hummingbird with its dark blue head and chest, and green body.
A pair of Red-cowled Cardinals appeared in the golden light. The Red-cowled is different from the Red-crested or Brazilian Cardinals seen in Hawaii, so I was happy to add a new species.
Another Cliff Flycatcher appeared, this time closer and in better light.
Blue-crowned Parakeets continued to fly by in small flocks.
We were also treated to our first Cactus Parakeets with their orange-yellow bellies. Unfortunately, they were backlit most of the time, so we had to settle for less-than-stellar images and looks.
Another bird not on our list appeared in the form of 6 Turquois-fronted Parakeets.
A Brown-crested Flycatcher appeared nearby and gave perhaps the best looks we had at a bird all evening.
With the Sun setting we headed back to the lodge for pizza and to go over the day's results. We'd end the day w/ 50 spp., which was good for a driving day. Tomorrow we get up early (4 am) and drive to the Indigo Macaw Reserve!
Estação Biológica de Canudos (Lear's Macaw reserve), Bahia, BR
Oct 20, 2023 2:23 PM - 6:04 PM
Protocol: Traveling
0.805 kilometer(s)
23 species (+1 other taxa)
tinamou sp. (Tinamidae sp.) 2 Flushed
Picui Ground Dove (Columbina picui) 3
Eared Dove (Zenaida auriculata) 2
Guira Cuckoo (Guira guira) 3
Swallow-tailed Hummingbird (Eupetomena macroura) 1
Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus) 2
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) 6
Roadside Hawk (Rupornis magnirostris) 1
Turquoise-fronted Parrot (Amazona aestiva) 6
Cactus Parakeet (Eupsittula cactorum) 10
Blue-crowned Parakeet (Thectocercus acuticaudatus) 105 Flying over all afternoon and counted by groups
Black-bellied Antwren (Formicivora melanogaster) 1
Narrow-billed Woodcreeper (Lepidocolaptes angustirostris) 1
Red-shouldered Spinetail (Synallaxis hellmayri) 3
Cliff Flycatcher (Hirundinea ferruginea) 2
Bahia Wagtail-Tyrant (Stigmatura bahiae) 3
Southern Scrub-Flycatcher (Sublegatus modestus) 2
Brown-crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus tyrannulus) 1
Tropical Gnatcatcher (Polioptila plumbea) 3
Chalk-browed Mockingbird (Mimus saturninus) 3
Campo Troupial (Icterus jamacaii) 1
Red-cowled Cardinal (Paroaria dominicana) 2
Sayaca Tanager (Thraupis sayaca) 1
Black-throated Saltator (Saltatricula atricollis) 1
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S1
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)
