The Best of the Pantanal For many years we offered a tour to the Pantanal for only four nights, and always we were on a hurry to see the local specialties, not counting the mammals and other wildlife. The Pantanal is so spectacular that deserves a full program, a tour which will visit all major habitats and give participants the chance to witness this amazing environment. During the dry season (July-October) our tour to the pantanal will cover the area dramatically, the Transpantaneira is the only road to penetrate deep into the Pantanal, crossing a wide range of habitats: dry grasslands and open scrub in the north gradually give way to large semi-deciduous forests and extensive swamps. This habitat gradient means that each lodge along the road has its own distinctive wildlife offering, it thus makes sense to stay at three widely separated lodges: there is easily enough excitement for one to two weeks. This tour is a perfect combination of bird and mammal watching providing an exciting selection of birds plus the thrill of searching for the majestic Jaguar. One of these locations is based at the best habitat to see jaguars, indeed every single tour we took there in 2011 saw a jaguar or more, 100% success rate seeing jaguars. Hyacinth macaws, golden-collared macaw, Mato Grosso antbird, white-lored spinetail, fawn-breasted wren, jabiru, large-billed antwren, helmeted manakin, great rufous woodcreeper, plumbeous ibis, rufous casiornis, long-tailed ground-dove, pale-crested woodpecker are some birds we are going to see during our stay. No other tour operator offers a full week program just in the pantanal, this is not a low budget, low level tour - its simply The Best of the Pantanal!.

Cerrado Specialties South of the Amazon Basin lies a series of high plateaux where you can see for ever. The ground is carpeted in grasses and shrubs, and there are small, gnarled trees with fire-resistant thick, corky bark. This vast area of grassland and scrub is known as cerrado and it is far more endangered than the Amazon rainforest. Today, less than half of the original cerrado remains but only 2% of this is protected as either national park or a reserve. It is in these remnant areas that you can get a glimpse of what the cerrado was like decades ago, oases for wildlife and wildlife watchers alike. We always visited Cerrado habitat as a left over to the Pantanal, staying only two nights in Chapada dos Guimaraes NP or as an extension to Emas NP. Both great spots by themselves, but a unique experience when combined. This is what we are doing, a complete week exploring the endless grasslands of Emas NP and the cliffs of Chapada dos Guimaraes NP. The most threatened habitat in Brazil with spectacular birds such as cock-tailed tyrant, chapada flycatcher, red-legged seriema, collared crescentchest, white-banded tanager, yellow-faced parrot, curl-crested jay, rufous-winged antshrike, white-eared puffbird, and also some rare ones such as blue-winged macaw, rufous-sided pygmy-tyrant, white-winged nightjar and the near-mythical cone-billed tanager (redicovered during our tour). This tour can be taken as an extension to our pantanal tour, indeed is a good complement to it.

Hyacinth Macaws and Harpy Eagles at Pantanal World's largest wetland. During the rainy season (January to March), rivers overflow and – together with fish and other aquatic wildlife – disperse across the plain to inundate 25-75% of the Pantanal. The flooded area can be ten times larger than the world’s most famous wetland, Florida’s Everglades, and 15 times the size of the best-known wetland for watching wildlife, Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Water level rise by up to 5m, soil nutrient levels increase and aquatic vegetation blooms. Dry land is at a premium, and higher areas hold concentrations of terrestrial mammals. All specialties from the pantanal will be seen, Hyacinth macaws especially. But this “waterworld” must to be sense in a whole experience, not just from outside as an observer but from inside as a participant, and nothing is more insider than snorkeling in crystal clear streams fully packed with tropical fish and freshwater stingrays. Can you imagine this experience? Dozens of fish around while you gently float down the stream. It is not our imagination, just outside the pantanal in the Serra Azul, the small town of Bom Jardim is located in a limestone mountain hills, there are many caves, waterfalls and some incredibly clear rivers surrounded by lush forest, where it’s possible to see hundreds of fish eyeball to eyeball. This transitional zone between the cerrado and the Amazonian rainforest has a numbers of birds not found in the lowlands of the pantanal. But, to hook up birders, how about an active Harpy eagle nest with adults coming to feed the chick? Yes, in 2012 our Waterworld tour will have an special stop at the Harpy eagle nest, which is being active right now, with both adults repaing the nest.

Due to the open landscapes and rich environment in which these three tours are taking place, we are able to offer the unique pleasure of night game drives, they last approximately two hours and are your opportunity to see some nocturnal wildlife. The night game drives are a very enjoyable experience: you will travel in an open game drive vehicle with very knowledgeable guides. During the drives, our guide uses a powerful spotlight searching for the nocturnal animals. Expect to see a wide variety of animals not normally seen during the day and a number of nocturnal birds.

Use your mouse as a "spotlight"

News from the Field

OCTOBER 2011. Our last month of the dry season started in the pantanal, with a private tour doing the same itinerary of our The Best of the Pantanal tour. Unusual rains at this time of the year made our first day extremely hot, followed by a tropical rain, next days temperature was cool and birds were great. Mississipi kites seen our first day, Agami heron performed quiet well, and our first boat trip at Cuiaba river was crowned with a male jaguar.

We just finished our last The Best of the Pantanal tour of 2011 with 100% success rate of seeing jaguars! As a special bonus to be the last tour, we also saw Puma and Tayra.

Our Cerrado Specialties tour was incredible too, once again 100% success rate of seeing Cone-billed Tanager! We rediscovered the bird and we are fortunate of showing this rare bird to all our clients. Meanwhile, big tour operators not even mention this bird on their tours to Emas NP.

SEPTEMBER 2011. September started with a tour to Cristalino Reserve in northern Mato Grosso, fruits were over around the two towers but a remnant of water in a pond proved very productive with several forest birds. We manage to see Dark-winged Trumpeters (at least part of the group) but all had great views of Brazilian Tapirs, Razor-billed and Bare-faced curassows, hoatzin, perched King vulture and many other good birds. Better than read, watch what was caught on film.

In the sequence of our Cristalino Reserve tour, we had a Pantanal & Chapada tour, run under request during these month and normally run between November to June. We did not go to search jaguars, in compensation we had great views of unusual migrants such as several seedeaters (Marsh, Chestnut and Rufous-rumped) and Black-backed Grosbeak at Chapada. And in the pantanal, Undulated tinamous walking in front of us, ZigZag and Agami herons. Great tour.

Our The Best of the Pantanal tour started with a rainy day but nothing we cannot handle easily. ZigZag Heron and Agami Heron were seen again! And our boat trip at the central pantanal delighted us with great views of Giant otter and a male jaguar.

Then, we headed to Emas NP, in our way we had great views of Horned Screamers, Rufous-sided Crake and Ash-throated Crake as usual. Yes, our stakeout in the middle of nowhere proved very reliable to see these tiny crakes. Emas NP is always delightful, and we found ourselves quiet lucky in finding rare species, what about 03 crowned eagles in the same morning! or the first record of Pinnated Bittern for Emas NP! And yes, we saw White-winged Nightjar (close encounters again), Cone-billed Tanager and Great-billed Seed-Finch. We also were rewarded with 03 Giant anteaters and nothing less than 05 Brazilian tapirs.

To close the month, Cristalino Reserve again, this time was a quiet long bus ride to get there, but once we got there... first bird of the day: Short-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant (world's smallest passerine), second and third bird: Harpy Eagle!!! We scored very high at our beggining, and then needed to keep it that way. Agami Heron (first record of the year for Cristalino lodge), Amazonian Umbrellabird, Tooth-billed Wren, Great Jacamar, a potpurri of antbirds and all other specialties. One night surprised us with the shape of a big dark cat walking along the river: a melanistic Jaguar!!! That was our September in Central Brazil.

AUGUST 2011. Once again our pantanal experience was supreme. From bird feeders fullfilled with vulnerable and near threatened species, spectacular boat and jeep rides allowing us close encounters with almost all bird specialties and other wildlife, including Giant anteater in our last morning and a massive male jaguar in the river, giant otters fishing and basking in the sun and great sunsets. Better than reading this, watch some of the highlights caught on film during this tour.

And we though our July tours were spectacular! After an amazing week in the pantanal we headed to Emas NP. At our first stop, two species of crakes and even better views of Horned Screamer, but just cannot start a tour with crakes because everybody will think birding will be so easy. And yes, was easy and we were very lucky, extremely lucky I will say, especially with the mammals we saw because is hard to see three different maned wolves in the same day, or four Brazilian tapirs together? how about a yellow armadillo with a baby walking down our vehicle? a giant anteater walking in front of the car? or a group of pampas deer grazing with greater rheas? and yes white-winged nightjar male perched and cone-billed tanager male singing at the eleventh hour! And all of this was only at Emas NP, while going to Chapada dos Guimaraes NP our minds were busy thinking what else could be added to the experience. And yes, our grand finale was crowned with spectacular views of a pheasant cuckoo, a pot-purri of hummingbirds and macaws in great light. Enjoy the video below...

To close our amazing August month we had the Safari Brazil: Mammals of Central Brazil, ten days exploring the best area of Brazil for big fauna, but a cold front put down the temperatures to nearly 8 degrees Celsius in our first day, wind and rain were what we had, but even so we manage to find the elusive Brazilian Tapir and the gregarious Giant Otters. A long cold ride to the central pantanal did not diminish our expectations to find the mighty Jaguar, even knowing that our chances were very low due to the climate conditions. But when you have a positive thinking and a marvelous group, there is no cold front which is going to stop us, and there we were, as soon as we embark in our boat the sun clear the sky and we knew nature was playing in our side. No long more, two amazing jaguars shown in a beach playing around in front of us for more than 15 minutes without nobody else around. We had our "own" jaguars for 15 minutes just for us and then another three hours for the delightful of other boats too, but nothing as we experienced. The pantanal was done and then came Emas NP, with a female Maned wolf and two puppies hide in the grasslands, and yes more maned wolf next morning. Other wildlife was also seen, and our video must to be split into two, due to so many great scenes. It took a while to uploaded but finally here is it. Enjoy them.

JULY 2011. As we expected, our first tour The Best of the Pantanal was a success. Six nights in the pantanal visiting three different lodges is the right amount of time to visit the pantanal. Several boat trips provided chances to see Agami heron (twice!), daily encounters with Toco toucans, and yes we saw a gigantic female Jaguar, giant otters and all bird specialties. Here is a sample of most highlights...

Participants who continued in our Cerrado Specialties tour visiting Emas NP and Chapada dos Guimaraes NP were delighted with spectacular views of mostly all cerrado bird specialties, including a close encounter with the mythical White-winged Nightjar and the highly restricted Cone-billed Tanager, both species always missed by most visitors at Emas NP nowadays. Mammal watching was also superb (as always) with Giant anteater, White-lipped peccaries, Brazilian tapirs, Pampas deer, Brown-brocket deer, Pampas skunk, Yellow armadillos, Hoary fox, Crab-eating foxes and even a Grison. The cliffs and cerrado of Chapada dos Guimaraes NP provided great views of Yellow-billed Blue Finch, Horned Sungem, Chapada Flycatcher and Campos Suiriri in the same tree, Blue-winged macaws and Red-and-green macaws. A Tayra and Black-tailed marmosets were add to the mammal list.

When you think two weeks of excellent birding is good, you must to go for a third one. And this is what some participants from our previous two tours did it. Our destination could not be better, only the lush green Amazonian rainforest and its great biodiversity could equal our previous experience in the savannas of Central Brazil. As soon as we were on our way to the Cristalino Reserve at Alta Floresta, all of us knew this part of the trip will be something special, three species of macaw (Blue-and-yellow, Red-and-green and Scarlet) overflying the hotel while we were leaving and a cooperative pair of Point-tailed palmcreepers and a South American coati before we reached the river! Then was Cristalino Reserve with its two towers and extensive miles of trails in the forest, a pot-purri of cotingas, toucans, aracaris and tanagers blow our eyes with colors, despite the forest was quiet (most birds not responding to playback due to late nesting season) we manage to find Dark-winged trumpeters (nobody else did it during our stay there), a lot of "antsomething" including Manu antbird and Glossy antshrike, and at night we were delighted with the best views of a Long-tailed potoo on its perch hunting moths. Great birds for a grand finale to our set of fixed departure tours in July, we are ready for August now...

Did you like it? You can read and watch more videos from recent tours in our News from the Field .

Available at Amazon.com:

Our Video Collection at You Tube

Pictures are nice but videos are even better to give you an idea how we see our birds. We found You Tube a nice way to show you some of our wonders, take in consideration that all videos uploaded were taken during tours and nearly all were digi-scoped, so it was the way our clients saw the birds and other wildlife or landscape. Every tour we will include at least a new video, so this will tend to increase with time. You can enjoy Our Video Collection at You Tube Channel (click in the link above), these are a sample of over 1.000 (and counting) videos you can find there. Hope you enjoy it. If you signed up YouTube, be a subscriber in our channel.

© 1998-2011 birdclub@gmail.com