Brazil, July - August 2022: Pousada do Parque
We left Cristalino Lodge (never an easy thing to do) and made our way by boat, van, and airplane to the marvelous Pousada do Parque. It is an old but comfortable lodge inside the Chapada dos Guimaräes national park, about an hour's drive out of the city of Cuiabá.
It is surrounded by birdlife, in habitats including forest, pastures, ponds, and cerrado, a unique feature of Brazil consisting of scrub forest that once stretched for hundreds of miles. Pousada do Parque is another great place to spend several days, especially since the resident chef made amazing food. (And there is a great selection of beers from the Louvada microbrewery based in Cuiaba.)
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| Aplomado Falcon |
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A pair of Aplomado Falcons, seen
from the restaurant |
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Argentine Black-and-white Tegu
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| Argentine Black-and-white Tegu |
The forest just below the lodge was quite thick, although not as tall as the forest at Cristalino.
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| Forest trail at Pousada do Parque |
One of the highlights here came to us in the creekbed at the bottom of the forest trail. The light was dim, but the calling bird was confined to the space within a few inches of the water: a Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper. (Steve got a better photo.)
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| Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper |
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| Band-tailed Manakin. Stunning male. |
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| Barred Antshrike |
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| Black-fronted Nunbird |
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| Blue-crowned Trogon |
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Chalk-browed Mockingbird.
Common everywhere |
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| Dawn on the forest trail |
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A Ferruginous Pygmy-owl calling in late afternoon,
and attracting a colorful mob of passerines |
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| Gray-headed Tanager |
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Helmeted Manakin. Another
unforgettable sight of Brazil. |
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| Female Helmeted Manakin |
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| Ipe tree in bloom |
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Lettered Aracari.
Intricate patterning on the bill. |
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Red-shouldered Macaw.
One of the small macaws. |
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| Saffron Finch, female. |
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| Saffron Finch, male. |
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| Sooty-fronted Spinetail |
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| Southern Lapwing. Common everywhere. |
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| Spot-backed Puffbird |
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| Streaked Xenops. |
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| White-lined Tanager, female. |
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| White-lined Tanager, male. |
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| White-vented Violetear |
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| Eighty-eight butterfly |
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| Heliconia |
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Louvada IPA, made in Cuiabá.
A very good beer, and a great way
to end a day of Brazilian birding |
A really interesting day trip out of Pousada do Parque was a visit to Cerrado forest, a type of tropical scrub forest. Before so much of it was cut down for agriculture, it was rather open, about 8 feet high, stretching for miles. We did not get great looks at birds, but enjoyed Rufous-winged Antshrike, Burnished-buff Tanager, and White-banded Tanager. We got scope views of an awesome Scaled Pigeon.
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| Cerrado forest |
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| The road through the Cerrado |
The Cerrado was followed by a few hours in an adjacent forested area surrounding a creek, called Vale do Bençao. It was in Vale do Bençao that we got two of the prized finds of the trip: a Pheasant Cuckoo, which flew over several times to quickly for the camera, and a Pavonine Cuckoo, perched in thick branches just off the road, and sighted after considerable effort. We watched it sing for several minutes -- I obtained a reasonable quality video of that.
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| Pavonine Cuckoo, singing loudly |
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