Climbing to the forest lookout
Guianan Gnatcatcher heads the cast of new birds! First thing this morning saw us heading up river where we kicked off our birding with great views of an Agami Heron on the bankside. Once ashore, we headed up the Serra Trail which had us climbing and scrambling up over rocks until we reached an open viewpoint out over the forest. We could see trees for miles in all directions, though sadly we could spot a distant area of cleared forest: the threat to this forest habitat is never far away. On this open rocky ridge dotted with a few small trees, we added the difficult-to-see Guianan Gnatcatcher to our list along with Golden-crowned Warbler, Sepia Capped Flycatcher and Pale-rumped Swift overhead, all new for the year. By late morning, the incredible heat in this exposed area was too hot to bear so we descended back down into the woods, where we saw Natterer’s Scaly Antshrike, White-fringed Antwren, Long-winged Antwren and Fasciated Antshrike, and enjoyed close views of the diminutive Short-tailed Pygmy Tyrant we had craned our necks to see earlier in the week. After lunch we headed out to a stake-out for the Tapajos Hermit, a bird so recently discovered its scientific description is still in progress! What a great addition this would be to The Biggest Twitch list, but sadly, despite our best efforts and patience we were unlucky this time. Still, we have more time here, and will give it another go.
Bird species list: 2574
Posted 27th June, Cristalino Jungle Lodge, Alta Floresta, Brazil