In Belo Horizonte (the 5th largest city in Brazil) for a meeting, our hosts kindly brought us to the INHOTIM Museum set in beautifully presented gardens with art installations dotted around. It was only 55km out of BH, but it takes about 90minutes to get there by car as roads are narrow and busy. By the time we arrived, it was past 10am and we set off through the beautiful gardens…
walking into the green and serene Inhotim, the flora is stunning and we saw many familiar plants that had originated from Brazil….
The first bird we saw before we even got tickets to get into the grounds was this splendid fellow…
A masked water tyrant hopped about And this Social Flycatcher also welcomed us inthe Monstera Deliciosa or swiss cheese plant, ubiquitous all over the world as a houseplant grows bigger and taller than any I’ve ever seenA shy Little Elaenia posedA black capped antwrenYellow Olive Flatbillthe flora and and landscaping entertained us between birdsan unidentified raptor…can anyone help to ID this?same unidentified raptorA swallow tailed hummingbird perched quietlycolours were stunning from another angleyet another hummingbird..Likely to be the Sombre Humming Bird
We decided to follow the path and head to Stuart Aitken sonic gallery right at the end of the gardens…along the way…
pale breasted thrushthen we saw a pair of black birds zipping in and out of the foliage on either side of the track…finally they settled down with camera range…..absolutely stunning Helmeted Manakins! Absolutely the star bird of the day….and just after shooting the manakins, this cute little white barred piculet settled down at eye levelHe was very busy pecking at small branches and twigs for his breakfast…the charming white barred piculet, a small woodpecker
We eventually arrived at the Doug Aitken Sonic Gallery where a microphone has been lowered 200m into the earth’s core to record the sounds…..hmmm
Doug Aitken Sonic PavilionA neotropic cormorant sunning himself by the lake to dry his wings always pretty..the saffron finchRufous collared sparrowFemale yellow bellied seed eaterone of the art installations was a Yayoi Kusama where silver balls floated in a pond…at first I thought this was a greater kiskadee, but it looks more like a boat billed flycatcherBoat billed flycatcherThe ubiquitous bananaquit was busy around the entrance as we prepared to leave mid afternoonAnd as we drove out of the park, this splendid juvenile crested caracara bid us farewell.
So a 4 hour visit yielded a decent number of attractive birds in a wonderfully landscaped garden..not natural but still pretty. Highly recommended if you are in Belo Horizonte.
2 thoughts on “Birding Inhotim, Minas Gerais, Brazil”
What an excellent haul of birds in just half a day. As for the raptor, if I had to give an answer for a Christmas quiz and not knowing any better I’d go for an osprey.
The Natural Traveller 
What an excellent haul of birds in just half a day. As for the raptor, if I had to give an answer for a Christmas quiz and not knowing any better I’d go for an osprey.
Thank you!