This note feels a bit superfluous as we’re no longer in Peru. I’ll do my best to keep it short.
We were due to leave Lima at 11:10pm last night with a 5-hour flight to São Paulo and then a 12-hour layover, which didn’t sound like much fun, especially since we were in a different country with a pile of different birds.
We had arranged a half day “tour” with Wild Brazil, which simply entailed being collected from the airport, driven two hours to a lodge, birding time, lunch, shower and then a two hour drive back to the airport.
To be honest I was sceptical whether it would be worth it. I was even more sceptical when our flight from Lima was delayed by 2 hours and only left at 1:10am. It was a fitting end to a rather long and difficult day of travel. I definitely had thoughts that we’d have to cancel our excursion to Espenheiro Negro in the Brazilian Atlantic forest but our guide, Samuel, was waiting for us just outside of customs and we figured any new birds would be better than 12 hours in an airport.
It was a wonderful decision. I felt strangely energized and didn’t ask for my midday nap. The weather was beautiful and sunny but so nice and cool and not humid at all. Thoughts that Espenheiro Negro would be like Amazonia Rustic Camp evaporated the minute we arrived. The hosts were gracious, there were piles of bananas on the feeders and there were birds simply everywhere. We took a short walk through the forest, which was very quiet at the time of day and year but it mattered very little as we just returned to the feeders and enjoyed the spectacle.
We recorded 43 species today, of which 21 were lifers for me. The tanagers were simply beautiful and I got a chance to take some pics.
Green-headed Tanager
Plain Parakeet
Scale-throated Hermit
Violet-capped Woodnymph
Scale-throated Hermit
Ruby-crowned Tanager
Red-necked Tanager
Blue Dacnis
Festive Coquette
Green-headed Tanager
White-rimmed Warbler
Crescent-chested Puffbird
Sibilant Syristes
Green Honeycreeper
Red-necked Tanager
Blue Dacnis
Blue Dacnis
Violaceous Euphonia
Olivaceous Woodcreeper
Green Honeycreeper
Olive-green Tanager
Green Honeycreeper
Chestnut-bellied Euphonia
Chestnut-bellied Euphonia
We’re now at São Paulo airport (it has a name that I can’t be bothered to spell) and we board our flight to Joburg in an hour. I feel like we’re a little more than half way done with the travel so I’m feeling good.
The only problem is that Garret jumped out of the car at the airport and ran away into the nearest patch of bamboo. I don’t think he’s coming home.
- Total day birds: 43
- Total trip birds: 670ish (Garret is in the bamboo so I can’t confirm the precision)
- Total trip endemics: 36
- Mike day lifers: 21
- Mike total lifers: 544
- Garret day lifers: 21
- Garret trip lifers: 423
- Bird of the day: Crescent-chested Puffbird
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