Laguna Blanca - Mystery over!

13^th

The majority of the storm seemed to bypass Laguna Blanca in the night. I was relieved to awake to no rain and partially cloudy skies. The nets were opened before dawn but the morning started slowly with no early activity around or in them.

The first two birds were worth waiting for. The first because this was the bird I had named Voice4 during survey days and just to confirm itself it called in the hand but I don’t think it was so glad to see me as I was to see the bird. What a relief that the mystery call had finally been solved!

The second bird a Ruby-crowned Tanager seemed to be a bit of a trick artist. As I approached the net I saw the bird bounce of the net back into the scrub. I took a few steps backwards and watched the bird repeat the action landing in the same area of scrub. Not to appear defeated the bird climbed higher in the scrub and made a third attempt to clear the net which it failed to do finally getting caught. The bird was quickly rescued from the net and taken back to be processed. The white under arm patches and the ruby crown were evident in the hand. This was a new bird for my Laguna Blanca list.

A Pearly-vented Tody-Tyrant was next in net one and was a different bird from the previous day.

The last two birds came at the end of the morning session at 1030hrs after this time it is usually too hot to continue mist netting. The micro haul consisted of a bird in each net!

Net1 featured another Flycatcher (id to be confirmed) which I found very useful to examine in the hand and good to compare with pictures of the earlier Fuscous Flycatcher.

The reserve list up until end March 2016 can be found on the Para La Tierra website having recently been published in a scientific journal entitled:-

Rev. Biodivers. Neotrop. ISSN 2027-8918 e-ISSN 2256-5426

Enero-Julio 2016; 6 (1): 55-67

DOI: 10.18636/bioneotropical.v6i1.173

Birds of Reserva Natural Laguna Blanca, departamento San Pedro, Paraguay and the imminent threats to their conservation

Las aves de la Reserva Natural Laguna Blanca, departamento San Pedro, Paraguay y las amenazas inminentes para su conservación

Paul Smith1,2, Hugo del Castillo1,3, Kevin Guest2

http://www.paralatierra.org/papers.html

Net2 completed the mini flycatcher haul with a Brown crested Flycatcher which landed just as I was about to close this net. This net has caught 2 birds 6 behind net 1 and I was beginning to wonder if the recent fire in the adjoining Cerrado was the cause of the lack of productivity.

Thanks go to Paul Smith (Fauna Paraguay) for his assistance with the flycatcher sp.