Friday 15 March 2013

A day with my feathered friends!


MARCH 14th
Today I had the day to myself. It was very overcast with low cloud and the air was fresh! Birds will be active today so off I went to do some birding. I started at the Lagoon and then made my way through the Atlantic forest. I found a mixed flock just off the track which had a Masked Gnatcatcher amongst the group.
As I was stood in this spot a caught the back of a Surucua Trogan sitting a few meters in from where I was standing.
(Surucua Trogan)
I walked back through Urukurea trail to the Lagoon where a Fork-tailed Flycatcher was making heavy work of flying over the reeds.

I returned to base with the intention of walking the Arroyito trail (which means small river in Guarani) and found a mixture of flycatchers and finches in the dried river basin. Rufous Casiornis and Crowned Slaty Flycatcher were added to my site total.
(Rufous Casiornis)
The afternoon was spent on a stake out alternating watch with Joe then Becca and Vicky on the Tataupu Tinamou nest. The incubating bird was found on the nest earlier in the day. I took a quick picture to confirm the nests owner and a hasty retreat was made. The bird was back on the nest today (15th).
(Tataupu Tinamou)
Joe had been approached by Martin (from Denmark) who had enquired about seeing the White-winged Nightjar so it was off to Nightjar land for the evening. Not one but two Toco Toucan were seen flying over the area. This species had become a bit of a bug bird for me having heard them several times but not seen them. The birds bill makes it appear top heavy in flight and the head drops when the bird stops flapping its wings. It looks very odd! Added to this was the fact they had flown into the rain storm and had a change of mind putting the brakes on and returned from whence they came. A White-winged Nightjar was found early on in the rain and Potoo was added to Martins life list soon after.

The list of species and numbers is on the Daily Sightings page.

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