Birding in Xingu Indigenous Park, Brazil
When: June 2018 Weather: Warm, 25C
Nikon P900, Leica Q
Apart from visiting the villages where the Xingu Indian tribes lived, one of the attractions for this expedition to Amazonia was the chance to see some totally different birds from the usual ones I see in Asia. The fact that the birds had wonderfully exotic names like tanagers, quits, puffbirds, araras also invoked a sense of magic. This post centres on the birds I saw in Pavuru, Moygu and Kamayura….
After we settled into our hut in Pavuru, I woke at daybreak and wondered down to the bank of the Xingu river nearby….
the riverbank at which I saw many bird species and where I spent as much time as I could…
this magnificent raptor greeted me….a chimango caracara
And then this flew onto the same tree….a Ringed Kingfisher
Female Ringed KF
and off he went over the calm waters of the Xingu River
Silver beaked tanager
From an impossible distance, a pair of large billed terns
Cocoi Heron
Striated Heron
another KF then flew in….an Amazonian KF
Amazonian Kingfisher
Amazonian KF
as the sun came out a pair of Scaled Doves played
the river side splendid in its isolation
A yellow rumped Cacique called
Yellow rumped Cacique in flight
By the boats, thousands of colourful butterflies gathered
Flycatchers and other small birds started appearing later in the morning
Male Swallow tanager on left…and a blue necked tanager on the right
beautifully green female swallow tanager
blue necked tanager
swallow-winged puff bird
not sure what this is.. in early morning glow
orange headed tanager?
not sure what this is….
Palm Tanager
I also spooked a black headed vulture in the afternoon
and in the fading evening light, this hard to shoot black and red hummingbird teased the camera…uncertain ID
sunset over the xingu river
This lovely hummingbird was seen the next morning..looks a bit like a swallow tailed hummingbird except that the STHB has a blue head and green body! Maybe a violet capped wood nymph or blue throated HB
another view ? violet capped wood nymph or blue throated HB
In the village of Moygu, these southern lapwings posed
orange winged amazon
And so on to our second location in the Mato Grosso, another 1.5 hr flight brought us to one of the most beautiful locations here…Kamayura where another tribe stayed….on the lakeside.
A Kamayuran welcome!
First bird of the afternoon by the shore of the lake…at first I thought it was a common ringed plover but on closer look, it was actually a Pied Lapwing….another lifer
Pied lapwing
Pied lapwing with butterflies
Large billed tern in flight
Large billed tern
Lake Kamayura, unspoilt, tranquil
A yellow headed carara watched over us as the sun set
possibly a pale vented pigeon?
a beautifully coloured Whistling Heron
whistling heron
female white lined tanager in evening glow
and swimming in a secluded lake at sunset without a soul in sight is one of those all too infrequent moments in our lives….totally magical and memorable
the Indian kids had a great time with us too!
Sunrise over lake Kamayura
doesn’t get much prettier than this…
more large billed terns..
And finally I got to see a pair of Araras in flight
So these few days in the Mato Grosso region of central Brazil yielded a number of lifers….wonderfully diverse birds to put the icing on a fabulous cataract eye expedition trip to the region. Highly recommended!
The Natural Traveller 