Today the plan was to bird around Guarau and Peruibe until lunch, and then depart for Sao Paulo. We had originally been scheduled to fly today at 3.30pm, which would have meant leaving the Peruibe area at around 9am on Thursday, i.e. with only a short time available for birding, but a month or so before we travelled I had extended the trip by a day in order to give us more time on the coast, but also to visit a family member in Sao Paulo. Those of you who have been reading these pages for a while may recollect the American connection. This is one of those, from New York via Ohio to Brazil. Having come so far it would have been odd not to, so the plan was to bird the entire morning, and for Bruno to then drop us not at Guarulhos but instead more or less in the middle of the city. We could then meet up with John and his family that evening, get some birding in in Sao Paulo the following morning, and then fly on Friday afternoon. I had a Saturday evening engagement in Hampshire, but with the benefit of the flat bed on the plane reckoned that I would be just fine provided the plane left on time.
We started the day back at the beach, at the Parque Municipal da Restinga do Guarau. Mainly this was so that Bruno could have another go at the Mockingbird, but equally it is the main hotspot in the area and Fabio had loads of species earmarked at specific points very nearby. It was a fabulous morning, and being on that beach at sunrise was perhaps one of the highlights of the trip.
To cut to the chase, we could not find the Mocker. But here was plenty of interest despite the star being missing. Highlights were a Bat Falcon traversing the beach shortly after dawn, and Fabio refinding a roosting Scissor-tailed Nightjar in the magroves. We also saw a White-crested Elaenia, and another new Tanager - Black-headed Tanager, several Bicoloured Conebills, Swallow-tailed Hummingbird, Glittering-throated Emerald, Amazon Kingfisher and Hangnest Tody-Tyrant. Fabio had also staked out both Mangrove Rail and Grey-cowled Wood-Rail.
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| Scissor-tailed Nightjar |
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| Mangrove Rail |
Further back from the beach we wandered around some of the lanes of Guarau and found Buff-bellied Puffbird, Robust Woodpecker, Blond-crested Woodpecker, Squirrel Cuckoo and Flame-crested Tanager amongst other species.
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| Flame-crested Tanager |
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| Buff-bellied Puffbird |
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| Squirrel Cuckoo |
We spent our final hour before lunch back at Fabio's feeders in the hope that some of the rarer Hummingbirds might visit. We ran out of time before they did, and whilst there were tons of birds the photography set up was not what Mick and I were after - too messy, too many perches. We should be consultants, get paid to advise on the best set-ups. It was nice to be able to sit in the shade and drink coffee and eat cake whilst birding though.
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| Bananaquit |
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| Blue Dacnis and Bananaquit |
We had one last go at the Magroves back at Peruibe, failing once again to connect with any Scarlet Ibis, but finding Green Kingfisher and a Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet which were both new for the trip. After that it was a quick lunch in town and then a two hour drive up a spectacular road to Sao Paulo. This goes through the middle of the Serro do Mar Park, strange in a way, but there is literally no other development other than this one crazy road of viaducts and tunnels. Quite a sight. Traffic in Sao Paulo was much reduced due to a public holiday so there were no holdups at all, and we bade farewell to Bruno and hello to John at a hotel in the Jardim Europa district. Bruno had been great company and a very competent guide, I would not hestitate to travel with him again. Highly recommended.
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| We confidently identified Plain Parakeet and Sayaca Tanager from our hotel room window |
After agreeing a plan for later that evening with John, Mick and I went birding at the Parque do Povo, surprising ourselves by finding 20 species in only a small area, including Shiny Cowbird and Red-crested Cardinal which were both new for the list, as well as Swallow-tailed Hummingbird, Smooth-billed Ani and Guira Cuckoo - these in a city of 20 million inhabitants. That evening we enjoyed the company of John, Cely, Charles and Cristiane. Lovely to finally make the connection after all these years - I had known his father when I was a kid and there was lots to catch up on, stories about my parents and so on, John had known when they were a lot younger. It is great having family everywhere.
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| Parque do Povo |
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