birding in the Pantanal and the Amazon

These hyacinth macaws were the birds I most wanted to see from all of those on the checklist for my holiday in Brazil.  I hadn't had time to do any research for this trip so was under the impression they would be difficult to find, but in fact they were quite common, and of course being big, colourful, noisy birds they were very easy to see.

I was also keen to see some of the manakins, which we also found although some species took quite a bit of searching.  Difficult to photograph with my little point-and-shoot camera as they were deep in the dark of the forest interior, but find a video on YouTube of band-tailed manakins lekking, also of red-headed manakins lekking, and you will understand why I so love these birds.  They are gorgeously-coloured little things, but what is really appealing is the way they display.  They shake their tails, they fluff up their feathers, they snap their wings open and closed, and they moonwalk along the branches.  Really amazing.

The Pantanal is a vast wetland area, and so is great for watching storks (including the jabiru) and herons; there were also sunbitterns all around the place, greater rheas, and red-legged seriemas.  Aside from the water birds, there were quite a few guans, curassows and chachalacas, surprisingly easy to see, and tinamous calling constantly (in the wooded areas) although rather more difficult to track down.  This bare-faced curassow was wandering around one of the lodges, having become habituated to people - I noticed one of its feet was damaged so maybe this was its best option.

During the two weeks we managed to see five species of owl, none of them new birds for me but I always love looking at owls.  I love the toucans and aracaris too, again no new species to add to my list but lots of pleasure from watching these beautiful birds.  In the Amazon I did add a new bird to my list that many birders never manage to see - a crested eagle.  We were at the top of the 50m high observation tower at Cristalino lodge, and the guide somehow managed to spot it perched on the top of a far away snag.  With his telescope it was very clear which bird it was, and I was thrilled to give it a tick, but if I'm honest I probably got more pleasure from watching the smaller, pretty birds such as this white-headed marsh-tyrant.