Birding in Mato Grosso and Brazil

The Pousada Rio Azul allows the birder access to a number of important Amazonian habitats via good trails, old logging roads, farm roads, and along the Rio Azul itself. The diversity of accessible habitats is the key to high species diversity for birdwatchers, along with an abundance of natural and anthropogenic clearings providing good sightlines for viewing many normally difficult-to-observe species.

I have broken down the birding at the Pousada Rio Azul by habitat, listing key species which have been found or should be expected in any given area.

Arriving to the lodge – the birds:
The trip by road from Alta Floresta travels through mostly degraded habitat which has been logged and cleared for cattle ranching. An interesting stop can be made at a Mauritia palm swamp some 15-20 km from town, where Red-bellied Macaw, Fork-tailed Palm-Swift, Point-tailed Palmcreeper and Sulphury Flycatcher are all resident. After one crosses the Rio Teles Pires by ferry barge, the road passes through several forested areas where we found interesting mixed flocks during the heat of the day. There are also a few ponds which yield commoner water birds. Any of these ponds should be checked for Ash-throated, Rufous-sided and Gray-breasted Crake in their grassy edges. Parrots, Pearl Kite, and other raptors should be looked for along the road.

 The Hyacinth Macaw has become the face of eco-tourism in the Pantanal, but it has strongholds in Amazonia as well. One of these areas is the Serra do Cachimbo, the range of hills from where the Rio Azul rises. Hyacinth Macaws occur on two nearby cattle ranches, where they use the matrix of open savanna-like habitat interspersed with groves of palm trees along small watercourses. These birds can be seen at times flying across the ranch roads, including the access road to the lodge, and seeing this magnificent and threatened macaw will be a priority for any visit.

The road from the ‘Fazenda Rio Azul’ gate to the lodge clearing can be a productive area. The pasture land around the gates holds many common open country species such as Striped Cuckoo, Pale-breasted Spinetail, Grassland Sparrow, Lined Seedeater, Red-breasted Blackbird, a recent colonist species in the north of Mato Grosso and southern Pará.

Campinas and campinaranas
Upon arrival at the "Fazenda Rio Azul", the birder encounters the first habitat of real interest: a small campina or caatinga-type scrub forest, stunted vegetation on white sand soil of canopy height to 4-8 m with many terrestrial bromeliads and other creeping groundcover. This micro-habitat is located on the entrance track no more than a kilometre from the lodge. The avifauna hosts a number of species typical of Amazonian caatingas including Natterer’s Slaty-Antshrike, White-fringed Antwren, Lesser Elaenia, Pale-bellied Mourner, Black Manakin, White-naped Xenopsaris, Black-billed Thrush, Black-faced Tanager and Plush-crested Jay. This habitat, locally called cerrado, undergoes incredible changes between the dry and wet seasons. Hummingbirds easily seen at the numerous flowers here in the wet season include Green-tailed Goldenthroat, Black-throated Mango, and Amethyst Woodstar.

 The low stature of the vegetation in the campina along the entrance track makes for a terrific area to view parrots in the morning as they commute from roosting sites to feeding areas. Bald Parrots are often seen in pairs or small groups in the mornings, but they are one of just a dozen or more species that are typically recorded. Scarlet and Blue-and-yellow Macaws are usually numerous, as are White-eyed Parakeets, Blue-headed Parrots and Orange-winged Amazons. Other species easily seen in small numbers include Chestnut-fronted and Red-bellied Macaw, Golden-winged Parakeet, Yellow-crowned and Kawall’s Amazon.

 Transitional forest:
The medium-to-tall campinarana and transitional forest between the low white sand campina and the taller terra firme forest is excellent for manakins: Dwarf Tyrant-Manakin, Pale-bellied Tyrant-Manakin, Red-headed, Fiery-capped, White-crowned and Flame-crested Manakin are all here, in addition to the manakin-like Cinnamon Neopipo. Bronzy Jacamar and Brown-banded Puffbird can be seen here along the entrance road, and the habitat appears excellent for Rusty-breasted Nunlet. In the dry season the thick leaf litter in this transitional forest makes finding difficult terrestrial species such at tinamous, wood-quail, and cracids easier to detect foraging or walking on the forest floor.

A good trail through tall transitional forest loops from the lodge clearing to the riverbank and returns to the lodge. This is good for woodcreepers including Spix’s, Red-billed and Black-banded, many manakins, and several species of Myrmotherula antwrens. Pavonine Quetzal, Yellow-browed Antbird and Musician Wren are amongst the interesting species easily found near the lodge. Blackish Nightjar is common in the clearing itself, and a possible new species of Phaethornis hermit, White-necked Jacobin, Black-bellied Thorntail, Fork-tailed Woodnymph, Green-tailed Goldenthroat, Black-eared Fairy and Amethyst Woodstar have all been seen at flowers near the cabins and restaurant.

An old track once used to take boats upstream around a set of rapids is now closed off thanks to treefalls, but makes for an excellent birding trail. Transitional and igapó forest along this track is good for Brown-banded and Rufous-necked Puffbird, Snow-capped and Flame-crested Manakins, Fulvous-crested Tanager, and Amazonian Royal Flycatcher. Tooth-billed Wren, Guianan Gnatcatcher, and Short-billed Honeycreepers feature highly in canopy flocks. Chestnut-belted (Snethlage’s) Gnateater is abundant in lower growth. Army ant swarms attract a number of obligate ant-followers including White-chinned Woodcreeper, Scale-backed Antbird, White-backed Fire-eye, Black-spotted Bare-eye and Bare-eyed Antbird. Our local guides have even seen a Neomorphus ground-cuckoo once in this area following White-lipped Peccaries.

The river:
The Rio Azul itself also provides good birding. The Bald Parrot, Gypopsitta aurantiocephala, was formally described based on fieldwork in this region of southern Pará, and birders must pay attention for the sharp cry of this coveted and enigmatic species. The parrots are fairly common at the Pousada Rio Azul, and can often be seen or heard from the river as they scuttle just above the treetops in pairs or small groups. The birds tend not to be too wary when perched, and with persistence can be tracked down as they feed quietly in the canopy of flowering or fruiting trees. The Rio Azul is currently the most accessible reliable site in the world for this coveted and bizarre endemic.

The river is also the best place to see another of our stars, the fiery Crimson Topaz. Our birding and local guides have staked out the best sections of the river to see this species at one of its few known localities south of the Amazon river. The first organized birding tour to visit the lodge found as many as 5 individuals along the river in a single day!

Downstream from the lodge the Rio Azul winds through a number of habitats: low "cerrado" forest on poor sandy soils, taller igapó, tiny oxbows, mixed Mauritia palm groves, and back to taller forest. Riverine species found at the edges include Hoatzin, Speckled Chachalaca, Painted (Madeira) Parakeet, Cream-colored Woodpecker, Plain-crowned Spinetail, Silvered Antbird, Amazonian Antwren, Sulphury Flycatcher, Spotted Tody-Flycatcher and Swallow Tanager. Good sightlines allow birders to pick up canopy species such as Red-throated Piping-Guan, Brown-banded Puffbird and Spangled Cotinga, or to see soaring raptors such as an Ornate or Black Hawk-Eagle.  The tiny oxbows, including one reached on foot in just a couple of minutes from the lodge, hold specialties such as Glossy Antshrike, Striped Woodcreeper, Varzea Mourner and Cinnamon Attila.

Bamboo and tall forest:
The presence of large intact stands of Guadua bamboo along the Rio Azul is a major attraction. The owners have made access arrangements with a neighbouring fazenda to allow us to take birders along old logging roads passing through both pure tracts of bamboo and patches of bamboo mixed with logged forest. A couple of short trails have been cut into some of the larger areas for birders to see bamboo specialists such as Chestnut-throated Spinetail, Chestnut-crowned and Dusky-cheeked Foliage-gleaners, Striated Antbird (the local race may potentially be split and named Xingu Antbird) and Manu Antbird, Dot-winged ("Emilia´s") Antwren, and Large-headed and Dusky-tailed Flatbill. I see no reason why scarcer species such as the undescribed Cabanis’-type Synallaxis spinetail, Peruvian Recurvebill, and Black-and-white Tody-Flycatcher could not also occur.

 The selectively-logged terra firme forest which forms a mosaic with the bamboo stands is perhaps the most productive area thus far discovered on the Rio Azul. Many good birds can be had from the trails and narrow abandoned logging roads, including: White-throated Tinamou, Bald Parrot, Pavonine Quetzal (several territories here), Great and Paradise Jacamar, Black-girdled Barbet, Tawny-throated Leaftosser, Black-faced Antthrush, Chestnut-belted (Snethlage’s) Gnateater, White-browed Purpletuft, Purple-throated Cotinga and Tooth-billed Wren to name but a few possibilities. Finding a flowering tree could put a birder on to a Black-bellied Thorntail, White-chinned Sapphire, Versicolored Emerald, Black-eared Fairy or even something rarer such as a Festive Coquette or Fiery-tailed Awlbill. Mixed flocks in the tall forest around small clearings come fast and furious, offering a worthy challenge to any birder. The rewards within include Plain, Rufous-tailed and Slender-billed Xenops, Rufous-tailed and Chestnut-winged Foliage-gleaner, Long-tailed and Lafresnaye’s Woodcreeper, Pygmy, Sclater’s, Long-winged, Gray and Rufous-winged Antwrens, Yellow-margined and Gray-crowned Flycatchers, Rufous-tailed Flatbill, Black-capped and Pink-throated Becard, Rose-breasted Chat, White-winged Shrike-Tanager, Paradise and Green-and-gold Tanagers, Slate-colored Seedeater and more.

While the habitat itself is not as pretty as other Amazonian lodges deep within pristine forest, the network of old narrow tracks provides excellent birding opportunities. Further disturbance in this area is unlikely due to the creation of a state sport-fishing reserve mandating protection of the river’s margins. The Pousada Rio Azul is discussing incentives with the neighbouring cattle ranches to preserve these good birding areas by preventing unauthorized access, and to encourage a limited amount of maintenance to keep a few of the tracks from overgrowing completely.

The unknown
A lot of ground has been covered in the first birding visits to the Pousada Rio Azul. A number of poorly-known species occur in the area, and some including the Bald Parrot are quite common. Ornithologists have already registered range extensions for several species, and these observations will be published in peer-reviewed journals in the future. One species of unknown identity, a pair of Odontophorus wood-quails most resembling Starred Wood-Quail was filmed on the entrance road to the lodge and remains a mystery to be solved. Our local guides have seen a hummingbird in the area that could be possibly a new species – and it is not the ‘Tapajos Hermit’, which is a new species and can be found at the edges of the lodge clearing!

In the future we hope to explore other areas of the Rio Azul both up and downstream, including an area with rocky granite domes and deciduous forest which should host yet another different set of birds. The owners are also discussing with the Brazilian Air Force the intriguing possibility of opening trails in their forest reserve (a preserved wilderness area of more than 2 million hectares) in the future.

This 130 000 hectare national park has long been recognized as one of the best cerrado reserves in the country, as well as for being a premier location for mammal watching. There has been renewed interest in Emas amongst birders since the rediscovery of the Cone-billed Tanager Conothraupis mesoleuca by Braulio Carlos and Dante Buzzetti. Aside from the tanager, Emas is the best location in Brazil for White-winged Nightjar; all of the cerrado specialties occur.

Access to the park is either from Mineiros or Chapadão do Céu. The hotels in Mineiros are better than in Chapadão, but staying in the latter town is recommended. Birders and tour groups used to stay at the Hotel Fazenda Santa Amelia, but that property no longer operates publicly. There are a couple of inexpensive hotels in Chapadão, the best of which is probably the Vitor. In March 2008 I stayed at the cheap Pousada das Emas (R$25 per night) and ate at the adjoining restaurant. To visit the park you must hire a guide; the hotels can help out with this. I hired Marcílio (marcilioturismo@hotmail.com) who has worked with birders before and knows some of the stakeouts, including where to look for Cone-billed Tanager. In Mineiros I have stayed at the Pilões Palace Hotel, which is modern and comfortable but more expensive.

Park hours are from 08:00 to 17:00, and you should ask your guide to arrange in advance to arrive earlier or stay later if necessary. The entrance fee is R$3 per person.

The south entrance is 27 km west of Chapadão do Céu on the GO-206. Leaving town pre-dawn is advised; I saw Maned Wolf on two mornings on this road. Before reaching the park, there is a turnoff 24.5 km west of town to the Fazenda Santo Antonio do Portal. The legal reserve of this ranch looked promising, and though my time was compromised by rain I saw a few birds including Greater Rhea and plenty of Capped Seedeaters.

Just inside the park entrance, along a disused landing strip, is the place to look for White-winged Nightjar. The campo sujo (grasslands with scattered bushes) along the main road from the landing strip to the park headquarters is excellent for Cock-tailed Tyrant and Collared Crescentchest. A side road to the right leads to the Lagoa das Capivaras; look for Chapada Flycatcher along this road, and Great-billed Seed-Finch at the gallery forest around the lagoa. The park headquarters itself had Undulated Tinamou on the lawns just after dawn. The gallery forests along the river behind the headquarters are the haunt of the Cone-billed Tanager. The Brigadista Trail starts near the bridge over the river and ends near the observation tower. Part of this trail parallels the rio Formoso, and one should invest plenty of time here if the Cone-billed Tanager is the priority of your visit. Also here are Russet-mantled Foliage-gleaner, White-striped Warbler, Helmeted Manakin and Great-billed Seed-Finch (try the platform at river's edge before the trail enters humid cerrado) amongst a host of other more common species. Look for Sharp-tailed Tyrant in the campo sujo between the headquarters and the observation tower.

Ask your guide or inquire at the park entrance about whether there has been any recent burning within the park; Campo Miner and Coal-crested Finch tend to prefer these areas. 

Ocellated Crake occurs in the campo úmido (damp cerrado grassland) to the left of the Mirante do Avoador. However, it tends to stay hidden as it moves about in natural tunnels between the grasses and can be very difficult to see.