First photo of a maned Wolf !!!

We have now the first documented record of a maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus, Lobo-guará)! The picture was taken by a trail camera also known as camera trap at this position.

The maned wolf is a member of the canidae family, thus related to dogs, wolves and foxes. They are about 100 cm tall at their shoulders and weight something around 25 kg.

They are very rare, to compare: we have had about 61 jaguar sightings in the last 6 years and about 2 maned-wolf sightings, which can't be proven ...

This picture is horrible but it leaves no doubt about the fact. If you'd like to see a good picture, follow this link and here is a part of a BBC documentary we worked on 10 years ago.

Coscoroba Swan

The Coscoroba (Coscoroba coscoroba) is not considered a true swan, it's philogenetic position is not fully defined. It has characteristics of geese and swans.

Nevertheless, it's a very attractive bird that uses our salinas (brakish ponds) as wading grounds. The name derives from their typical call (listen here).

Coscorobas breed from Tierra del Fuego to central Argentina and migrate north up to the Southern Pantanal, where they are rarely seen like this group (11/11/2009) ...

Marsh deer in natural habitat

The marsh-deer (Blastocerus dichotomus, cervo-do-pantanal) is the largest of our deers. They prefer marshy ground with standing water and dense vegetation, for this, they have large feet with an elastic membrane between the hooves.

They are solitary and their natural enemies are jaguars and pumas.

In this photo you see a typical male in his natural habitat.

For weeks we have been hearing this wonderful and exotic call at night. With some patience we managed to get this shot of the bird calling and identified it as a little nightjar (Caprimulgus parvulus, bacurauzinho).

Click on the video below to listen to this wonderful call !

And more Caimans !

Although we see literally thousands of caimans (Caiman croocodilus yacare, jacaré-do-pantanal), we don't get bored by them. They have a scary look but their temperament is rather docile.

Nursing caracara

These days we watched a capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), that had apparently suffered an attack by a puma (Puma concolor), being "nursed" by a yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima).

In Portuguese we call this bird the carrapateiro, thus the one that eats ticks. They are well known for their symbiosis with herbivores like capybaras, cattle etc.

In this case it was picking maggots out of the capibaras wound.

Phantastic !

Breeding

This time of the year is when most animals are breeding. They might become shier but if you see mothers with their offspring, it's a double reward !

Tapirs (Tapirus terrestris, Anta) in a lake with several other birds ...

A mother caiman (Caiman crocodilus, Jacaré-do-Pantanal) guarding her offspring on a river bank ...

And the unique giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla, Tamanduá-bandeira)

carrying it's baby comfortably on the back !

From Burbank, CA to SSOQ

A few days ago our friends Vladimir and Amy Lange landed safely on Fazenda Barranco Alto's airstrip SSOQ. They arrived from Los Angeles, California, in their own Bonanza F35 a wonderful v-tail airplane...

Two years ago, Vladimir (Homo sapiens) was the first one to photograph a male jaguar that we later called Vladimir (Panthera onca), see the post of October 3rd, 2007). Vladimir-the-cat happens to be Barbie's favourite partner !

Unfortunately their stay was too short and they had to leave again yesterday. We wish them all the best on their way back home.

The route posted on one of the windows.

Vladimir Lange stepping down of his Bonanza.

Another first sighting for the Pantanal ! 403.

And we keep sighting new birds for the Pantanal. This time it has been the Lake Duck (Oxyura vittata, Marreca-pé-na-bunda).

This stiff-tailed duck is a typical representant of this family as it has an erected tail feather when the bird is at rest. It comes from Argentina and was first sighted here on Fazenda Barranco Alto, July 2009.

Slow warm-up

These shaggy-looking birds are Guira Cuckoos (Guira guira, anu-branco). It's a widespread non-parasitic cuckoo that lives in a gregarious manner withing bigger flocks.

In the winter, they all gather together on exposed branches, turning their backs to the rising sun.

The 400th bird re-edited

To those that were still skeptical of my sighting of the rufous-sided crake (Laterallus melanophaius, see post down the list), here goes a slightly better picture:

401 !!!

And short after bird species number 400 we have a new record: 401 species so far ! This time I had a excellent sighting of 4 red shovelers (Anas platalea, marreco-colhereiro). This species of dabbling duck breeds in southern Chile and Argentina and has never been recorded in the Pantanal before.
It has a unique bill, very large, black and of spoon shape, similar to the roseate spoonbills (Platalea ajaja, colhereiro).
What a sighting ! and the pictures are OK (compared to the last one):

and more about Jaguars ...

I was really hesitating to post more about our cats and thus creating more expectations. Anyway, I just repeat: seeing any cat is a big bonus !

Today we watched Barbie's cub "F" (Panthera onca, onça-pintada) demonstrating obviously his carnivorous habits. Barbie killed a boar (Sus scrofa, porco monteiro) and F was trying to open it, which wasn't so easy ... Do you see Barbie in these two pictures ? Where F is I don't have to tell you !

About statistics

Although we know that they are around, the probability of seing a puma is very low. Over the last years we have spotted an average of about 10 pumas (Puma concolor, onça-parda, suçuarana) per year (March-November).

Over the last week, for some yet unknown reason, we were lucky enough to spot 3 pumas in 3 consecutive days. All sightings were at diff

erent places and most probably of 3 different cats, as the events occured independently. Our guests from England and France had 1 sighting per afternoon...

This was really amazing and because the pictures I managed to take are quite good, I thought of publishing it.

But be aware: seing any cat in the Pantanal (besides our house-cat) is a rare moment. And often if you are lucky enough, you'll see just a glimpse of it !

Photo of a female in the reeds ...

Photo of a big male.

400th bird species recorded !!!

We recently spotted the 400th bird-species on Fazenda Barranco Alto. It was a rufous-sided crake (Laterallus melanophaius, sanã-parda). Our guest Granger Ward from California had an iPod with a call of another crake (Laterallus sp.) which he has seen in the Atlantic rainforest close to Rio de Janeiro (Regua Bird Lodge). After many minutes of calling and a pair of crakes answering I could identify clearly with my binoculars two rufous-sided crakes. The picture I managed to shoot is horrible but still worth for the occasion: 

To see a good picture of this bird, follow this link to James Lowen's site: (James Lowen @PBase)

These birds have a very borad range and are very common in some areas, but still, we are very proud of this sighting and it's number and are still convinced that there're more first-bird sightings to come !

Capybaras

Cabyparas (Hydrochoerus Hydrochaeris, capivara) are one of the most abundant bigger native wildlife species here in the Pantanal. They are rodents and live in close proximity to the water; on the back of one of them you see a cattle tyrant (Machetornis rixosus, suiriri-cavaleiro). The plants are water hyacinths (Eichhornia crassipes, aguapé).

A golden necklace

This wonderful bird is the golden-collared macaw (Primolius auricollis), one of our smallest macaws. They live in smaller flocks and are very gregarious, eating seeds and fruits of different trees, prefering the bush savannas over dense forest.

Jaguar female with cub in high resolution

This footage was shot by Felix Richter from Mundoimagem. It was about 6 PM, so light conditions were not best and again very high ISO settings had to be used, but there she was, majestic with her not so little anymore cub F:

Vultures on Broadway !

Following the last post:

Barbie (Panthera onca) was hidden in the forest where she was guarding a huge wild bore (Sus scrofa) she'd killed the day before; outside about 50 black-vultures (Coragyps atratus) were waiting their turn to feed on the carcass.

But then the rain came and all vultures got their wings wet, but being so close to a big cat isn't very safe for a bird if they can't fly off instantly, so as soon as some sun-rays broke through the clouds they all turned their back into the warm sun and dried their vital flying organs. It looked like a coreographed show !

Barbie with her cub !

Today we got to see Barbie and her cub, called F, in full size. The little one is about the size of an ocelot (Leopardus pardalis, jaguatirica) but stockier and obviously heavier. He's about 80 days old, just the age when they start to feed on meat ...

We have been watching both for 25 minutes, during which F wouldn't stop. Many vultures were around and F would try to catch some unsuccessfully. Barbie looks gorgeous and about 80 Kg heavy, very well. They came out of the forest at about 18:00 hours, that's why the pictures are sop horrible, because I had to use a very high ISO setting on the camera.

Image show of the southern Pantanal

This is a slide show with music by Almir Sater we produced with some pictures from this last year. For viewing it in full resolution, follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WBr2Z1Ci_Q#

The drought and more birds

We had a very good and on-time rainy season start in October, but then towards mid-November the rains ceased and at the moment we are facing a relatively severe drought. Some lakes that we have never seen dry this year lost all their water.But in general the Pantanal's nature is adapted to these weather conditions. As a matter of fact, some parts of it even flourish, like these concentrations of black-bellied and white-faced whistling ducks (Dendrocygna autumnalis and Dendrocygna viduata).

This week we captured this fabulous female jaguar (Panthera onca, onça-pintada). 

The procedure was made together with the Jaguar Conservation Fund. It took us 3 days, 6 dogs and 12 people to track her down. The team consisted of vets, biologists, trackers and field guides.

Finally we found her on November 18th, at only 1 km away from the farm houses. She fell asleep with an anesthetic for a few hours and thus enabled us to take blood samples for DNA and disease analysis, collect ticks and other parasites and measure all biometric data. At the end we "equipped" her with a light-weight radio collar that will now transmit us her position non-stop over the next 3 years.

Some of you might ask why we are doing this to such an amazing animal. Here is a quick and partial answer: 

Jaguars are the most elusive of the big cats, very difficult to watch in free range and thus most of their behaviour, ecological role and necessities are poorly understood. 

They are "umbrella species" and require large areas to maintain viable populations. The protection of their habitat will protect the habitat and populations of "passenger species" therein contained, from simple bacterias to highly evolved marsh dears for example. Therefore, caring for the conservation of the jaguar is equivalent to a broad environmental conservation.

It is only possible to preserve such an animals  existence if you know and understand as much as possible about it. With radio telemetry we will be able to learn about a jaguars territory size, how much gallery forest (along the river), other forests and open grasslands it requires to survive. Where is its core area ? When does it move more ? Where are its preferred hunting grounds ? Where does it move to during the rainy season, when the river floods its banks and plains ? How does it live with human presence ? How does it interact with livestock ? 

Why did we choose this particular female ?

Because she is an animal that has shown us that she can perfectly well live close and together with human presence. For the last 4 years we have very often seen her tracks in our "backyard". Only 2 weeks ago she walked through a herd of 350 young cows where hunted down a wild boar. She could easily have killed a cow but her instinct is strong enough to go after her "natural prey". Being a female jaguar, we will also learn a lot about her off-spring. In addition, females are more resident and less prone to territorial fights.

And last but not least poachers tend to avoid collared jaguars. 

These are some of the questions and answers we have for the moment. If you want to know more please feel free to ask us directly: barrancoalto@gmail.com

The King of the Uglies

The King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa, Urubu-rei) is one of the largest, colored and rarest members of the Cathartidae (vultures) family, it's about twice as big as common vultures. It's closest living relative is the Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus).

These birds are called kings because they very often displace other vultures when they find a carcass and these will wait for the king to finish feeding. Often they will make the initial cut of big carcasses.

They are fabulous gliders, often soaring for hours without beating their wings.

This one was found feeding on a cow's carcass (Bos indicus).

New bird family sighted !!!

Today we have spotted yet another novelty for our birdlist, the Sunbittern (Eurypyga helias, Pavãozinho-do-Pará). It's a very unique bird, belonging to a monotypic family and occurs normally in the Amazon rain forest down to the Mato Grosso state.

Once it opens its wings it's an easy identification, because this is probably the bird with the most amazing wing patterns ! Enjoy these pictures we have shot, they're not good, but give you a glimpse. For better pictures follow this link to our friend's website: Jan Dungel : Painting the Jungle

The sunbittern along the shores of the Rio Negro, MS

The sunbittern showing its wing patterns

XL mating season

Last week, together with Olivier Gruenewald and Miguel Rico, I spotted this magnificent jaguar (Panthera onca, onça pintada). As we came out of the forest she had spotted us already but decided to sit down, lick her back and watch us for around 4 minutes before she gently walked away ...Since then we have seen her tracks almost daily, found two  half-eaten preys and heard her roaring close to the lodge about 2 days ago. By the way this is Barbie, a jaguar female we have seen several times (see previous post further down the list).Today we went a step further exploring the grounds across the river on Santa Tomazia. There some extensive lakes and vazantes are just drying out so that you can walk without drowning between caymans !  There we found jaguar tracks right away, fresh after the last rain. As we were hiking we heard southern screamers (Chauna torquata) and chachalacas (Ortalis canicollis, arancuã-do-Pantanal) screaming, capybaras (Hydrochoerus Hydrochaeris) calling alarm. Then suddenly I noticed a sound similar to a "motorbike" accelerating several times. And finally there she was again ! In the diffuse light of a late afternoon and a wonderful full moon coming out magically we spotted her… together with her lover ! Two jaguars mating, 100 meters from us ! We were as excited as they probably were ! In the moonlight we could see her white belly as she rolled over the ground. We watched them for some minutes and as he disappeared we saw her walking at the border of the lake towards our truck.Quietly we went to the car and sat there in absolute silence as we heard the couple bellowing in the thick bush. I started to call them with loud and characteristic vocalizations made solely with my voice. After 5 minutes she came out of the bush 25 meters from us and I lit up the search light on her. There she was again for 10 seconds in full splendour ... What a brilliant sighting !!!

How do you do Tuiuiu ?!

As the lakes dry up, big numbers of storks arrive and fish the fishes that got trapped in the last remaining waters ...

These are Jabiru storks, in Portuguese: Tuiuiu !

Giant Otters

Giant otters (Ariranha, Pteronura brasiliensis) were once almost extinct from most rivers in Brazil. In the last 15 years the Negro river has seen a fantastical come-back of these wonderful animals. They live in families and are highly social, using up to 40 different vocalizations to communicate between themselves and their environment. Their behaviour is very complex, amphibious and diurnal.

Perfect for watching for hours !

Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est : And thus knowledge itself is power (Sir Francis Bacon).

Since July 2008 we have been receiving several researcher groups. We built them a nice house and charge what they can afford.
Since both of us have natural science degrees but today don't have the time anymore we wanted to attract and support researchers in the most diverse fields. With them we can discuss different ideas and follow their work without having to spend hours collecting data ...

These following 3 pictures show a group of 3 professors, 3 students and 2 technicians of the Geoscience Institute of the University of São Paulo. They spent 10 days working around Fazenda Barranco Alto.
They are trying to figure out why and how salt lakes occur. What is common to them ? What is different to the fresh water lakes ? Are there any distribution patterns ? What is the origin of all these sediments ? Is there a way to predict salinity and pH from satellite images ? etc.

All very interesting questions. And now just imagine having these people around for some days, being able to discuss with them about salt and sugar!

It's great !

A line of 3D-conductivity measurements.

Pulling an Italian made ground-radar.

Precise altitude determination of salt lake Mara Maravilha with state-of-the-art GPS from Trimble.

Blue peccaries !!!

This is not the best picture in technical terms, but it gives you a nice impression of what the Pantanal at Fazenda Barranco Alto is about. Beautiful harmony of endangered hyacinth macaws and white-lipped peccaries a few meters from the lodge, literally in the garden !

And after the pink trumpet-tree, it's time for the blossom of the yellow ipe (Tabebuia aurea). Few words and enjoy the scenery ! For those who know it: this is Salina dos Mineiros.

June

How wonderful June is ! The temperatures are milder, thus animals come out of the shade and to top that the pink trumpet-tree (piúva, Tabebuia heptaphylla) blooms in all it's splendor.
And if you're lucky, you have it all together, like this giant anteater (Tamanduá-bandeira, Myrmecophaga tridactyla) strolling along the shores of a salt lake (Salina Lindoya) on a late afternoon ...

More Tapirs ...

Tapir (Tapirus terrestris, Anta) mother with young

and an adult male tapir entering one of the salt lakes (salina) which are unique to this region of the Pantanal along the Rio Negro. Salt lakes offer an unbeatable opportunity to view the Pantanal's fauna at it's best. Uncountable bird species use them to feed and rest, tapirs use them to heal their wounds and many other animals just like their salty taste ...

The nibbling (trogon in greek) bird

The trogons (family Trogonidae) have soft and colorful feathers with distinctive male and female plumage. Trogons are cavity nesters, duging their nests into rotting wood or old termite nests.

They are represented here in the Pantanal by one species, the blue-crowned Trogon (Trogon curucui, Surucuá), in the pictures below a male:

Atumn

Autumn has definitely arrived when caimans (Caiman croocodilus yacare, Jacaré) show up in huge numbers.
A few weeks ago you would hardly see caimans along the river bank. Late April the waters of the river reced and the sand banks apear; the flooded forest dries out and thousands of caimans come back to the river. No better time to watch them than late afternoon like on this picture below:
And no better image to simbolize the essence of the Pantanal: prey and predator together, still in balance, around the water... And again prey and predator is relative: when young, caimans are killed by jabiru storks, when adults, caimans hunt jabiru storks. So simple.

Another autumn impression

Sunset and carandá palms (Copernicia alba, wax palm).

More autumn impressions ...

White-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari, Queixadas) and greater rheas (Rhea americana, Emas) roaming together undisturbed a few meters from the lodge.

A magnificent bird !

Jabiru stork (Jabiru mycteria, Tuiuiu) en passant ...

Showtime !

A couple of hyacinth macaws (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) hanging on a carandá palm nut stem (Copernicia alba) at their early morning exercise... And a couple of blue-and-yellow macaws (Ara ararauna) also known as blue-and-gold macaws, looking very golden in the light of a late afternoon sun on a bocaiúva palm stump (Acrocomia aculeata) !

Panoramio and pictures on Google Earth

We have several pitures of Fazenda Barranco Alto on this map. They are always shown from where they were taken. You can zoom in and out and click on the photos to see more details ...

Have fun !

Water Meeting // Encontro das Águas

In the slow-moving waters of the Rio Negro of the southern Pantanal, acids (mostly tannic acids (compounded glucose esters of gallic acid)) are leeched from decaying organic matter in flooded forests creating transparent, tea-colored water. These waters have an extremely low water hardness and an acidic pH of 5-6. The substrate of this black water habitat is typically leaf litter over a base of sand.
The muddy brown waters of the Aquidauana river carry a heavy sediment load originating in clay rich soils.

On fazenda Barranco Alto you can see the meeting of these two waters a few days after heavy rains in the headwaters of the Aquidauana river. Then some of it comes through a side-arm into the Rio Negro and presents us with this unique nature spectacle. Both waters flow side-by-side for a distance before they mix into a cafe-au-lait colored river ...

On the photo you see left the black water, right the muddy water and in between some reflexions of the forest.

And least but not last, this is not the Rio Negro in the Amazon but it's homonym in the Pantanal ! Two very different rivers and in their own way very unique ...

No fence for wildlife

The tapir (Tapirus terrestris, anta) is our biggest native mammal. It's related to the horses, both being odd-toed animals (Ungulates). They are browsers and freely roam around big distances ...

Fazenda Barranco Alto is a cattle station and therefore has fences throuout the country-side. Sometimes people ask us if these fences wouldn't disturb natural distribution patterns of wild animals and here is an answer in photographs:

No, our fences just keep back horses and cows. And that's only because they are selected for respecting fences. Because if they wanted, our Indian cows (Bos indicus, Nelore) could easily jump over ...
So if a tapir just walks through the fence, imagine anteaters, peccaries, deers, pumas and all the rest !

Passion flower

This is the very decorative flower of the passion fruit (Passiflora incarnata, maracujá). It grows wild (native) here in the Pantanal and right now is the fruiting season.

"Passion" does not refer to love, but to the Passion of Christ on the cross. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish Christian missionaries discovered this flower and adopted its unique physical structures as symbols of Crucifixion.

Flowers and fruits are used to effectively treat insomnia because it contains specific alkaloids.

High flood this year.

This lovely picture from our dear neighbour Paul Grol (Fazenda São João & Embiara, http://www.panoramio.com/photo/6675151) shows how much the water of the rio Negro has risen in the last few weeks. We expect that there is still more water to come. The flood is very important because it revigorates the soils by depositing organic matter which comes in suspension.
For our guests the high waters open a whole new world as for example canoeing in between the trees ...

Summer clouds

Twin-engine taking off from our runway SSOQ.

Well, you all know we're right in the middle of the rainy season. Therefor most sunsets are dramatic and the sky is mostly scattered with cumulus clouds; usually these have a puffy appearance, with noticeable vertical development and clearly defined edges. They are mostly precursors of the cumulonimbus clouds (lower picture) that often end in rain and thunderstorms making every late afternoon a dramatic spectacle.

Cumulonimbus clouds over the Rio Negro (Fazenda Barranco Alto).

Prey and predator and vice-versa

If people ask what's a caiman's (Caiman crocodilus yacare, jacaré-do-pantanal) predator we would say: "well, maybe, sometimes, ahh, uuhh, a jaguar (Panthera onca) or an anaconda (Eunectes notaeus, sucuri-amarela) and nut much more ...", but in fact, we forget that they hatch as little vulnerable creatures and are heavily predated at this stage of life. Even rufescent tiger-herons (Tigrisoma lineatum , socó-boi) feed on young caimans.
And then they grow and grow and soon they will be hunting fish and birds like tiger-herons !

Going home ...

Twice a year we round-up all heads of cattle for vaccination and counting. This has just happened and after a long day we ride home again ...

A new sighting for the southern Pantanal !

Today we had a very exciting new sighting of a duck never seen before in the Pantanal: the white-cheeked Pintail (Anas bahamensis, marreco-toicinho). Here's the picture with it, second from the right, between black-bellied Tree ducks and Brazilian Teals.

More spring impressions ...

The Pantanal is all green and wet again. The spring has come and the rains with it. This first half of November 2007 we had already 95 mm of rain pouring down on Fazenda Barranco Alto. It´s not much compared to other tropical environments, but very good for the local statistics. Let´s calculate: 1 mm of rain is equal to 1 liter per square meter. If the ranch has 110´000´000 m2, then it rained in these 15 days aproximately 10´450´000´000 liters onto Fazenda Barranco Alto ! And because these lands are not well drained, the Pantanal floods ...


Anyways, giant otters (Pteronura brasiliensis, Ariranha) enjoy the growing river !


Golden-collared macaws (Ara auricollis, ararinha-de-coleira) find seeds in the fresh grass,

Water-hyacinths (Eichhornia crassipes, aguapé) bloom in majesty,

Great potoos (Nyctibius grandis, urutau-gigante) raise their chicks (note the baby potoo between it´s legs, like a penguin!),

and the green-and-rufous kingfisher (Chloroceryle inda, martim-pescador-da-mata) ambushes a fish !

Agami heron

Today we had a very interesting first sighting of a Agami heron (Agamia agami, Soco' beija-flor), a very elusive, shy, solitary heron that never shows itself in the open. I was not known in these parts of the Pantanal ... further observations will tell if it is migratory or resident. We found it hidden close to still water and it immediately hid further into the undergrowth. With this species, our bird list has grown to a proud 395 species !

An "average" morning on Fazenda Barranco Alto

Enjoy these 5 pictures that were all shot in one morning trip (02.10.2007) down the river, not farther than 3 km and within 3 hours ...

Giant otter (ariranha, Pteronura brasiliensis)

Jabiru storks (Tuiuiu, Jabiru mycteria)

Jaguar (onça pintada, Panthera onca palustris)

Marsh deer (cervo-do-pantanal, Blastocerus dichotomus )

Roseate spoon-bills (colhereiro, Platalea ajaja)

What an Appetite!

What a delicious fish this must be ! The neotropical river otter (Lontra longicaudis, lontra) is one of the two otter species we have. They mostly live solitary and are often seen in the dark waters of the Rio Negro. If we approach them silently with electric engines we can get very close and watch them for minutes, hunting, feeding and grooming ...

The Rhea's life

The rhea (Rhea americana, ema, nhandu) is the Pantanal's biggest bird and so is it's nest. A male has a harem of several females that will lay their eggs into a communal nest and the male will incubate it.


This is the male rhea guarding the nest,


with 36 eggs !

Photo by Virginio Sanches @ Fazenda Barranco Alto.

and the proud father with his 35 chicks ...

Unfortunately, day after day, we count one chick less. Survival rate is as low as 5%. But that's why they lay so many eggs !

Cheers.

First sighting of capuchin monkeys!

Today we had the first sightings of 3 capuchin monkeys (Cebus libidinosus, macaco-prego) here on Fazenda Barranco Alto. We saw them feeding on ripe acuri palm-nuts (Attalea phalerata) in dense riverine forest. Capuchins are considered the most inteligent new-world monkeys and one of the few examples of primates other than apes, using tools.

All birds are nesting ...

Now, end of winter, is the time that most animals courtship, display, mate, breed and nest ... including the magnificent red-and-green macaw (arara-vermelha, Ara chloroptera), a bird we see daily but can't get enough !!! Mostly they nest like hyacinth macaws (arara-azul, Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) in mandovi (Sterculia apetala) trees.

Another species caught in action is the crimson-crested woodpecker (Pica-pau-de-garganta-preta, Campephilus melanoleucos) a big and uncommon woodpecker that is of fundamental importance to other birds, like macaws and parrots, because they use abandoned woodpecker nests.

Jabiru stork, the Pantanal's symbol...

A magnificent jabiru stork (Jabiru mycteria) in a low flight across our backyard !

Cowboys at work ...

Anatálio, one of our senior cowboys at work ...

This time of the year, the river gets shallow enough for a save crossing with cattle and horses. Piranhas are no problem, the "boi-de-piranha" is a myth ...

about papayas and toucans

Toco toucans (Ramphastos toco in latin, tucano or tucanaçu in portuguese) are flying wonders of nature, in fact every creature is, but toucans just pop-out even in a far distance. Their bill has an amazing palette of red/orange/black tones. But the reason toucan have this enormous bill is less popular: they are one of the most effective nest predators in the tropics. With their long and hard bill they can reach far down into other bird's nests and get eggs and chicks ! But that is only one little segment of the spectacle of live...

Other than that, toucans love to eat fruits and at this time of the year we see them daily around the houses feeding on our papaya-trees (Carica papaya) like the one here. Therefor we have to produce much more fruits than we actualy eat, because toucans, oropendolas, jays and much more eat about 90% of the fruits before we can even get close to them ...

Fantastic !

The World Flying Adventure of Bob Gannon

Last friday afternoon we were honoured with a surprise visit of Bob Gannon (http://www.worldflyingadventure.com/). He's flying around the world in a 1968 Cessna Skylane and has had many adventures (18 hours flight non-stop from San Francisco to Hawaii, crashing his plane in Kenia etc.), which he tells you in a very entertaining way ...

Take care Bob !

Pink trumpet tree

Today we would like to show you one of the many Pantanal spectacles: the pink trumpet trees also known as ironwood (Tabebuia heptaphylla and Tabebuia impetiginosa, portuguese Piúva or Ipê Roxo) bearing flowers !
It's at this time of the year, after the first cold-air waves from southern South America have come-in, that they start to bloom in all majesty.





And this is another view: Leticia and Ana Emilia

Close Encounter of the 3rd Kind with a Jaguar

Today we saw this female Jaguar (Panthera onca palustris, onça-pintada) right after she had killed a big feral pig (Sus scrofa, porco monteiro). When she saw us at a distance of about 150 m, she slowly moved into the forest ... My plan was to walk around the forest and see if she had left towards the other side. As there were no tracks anywhere my conclusion was that she had stayed at the first place. Sneaking quietly to the kill she had made I heard a little noise in the forest. We immediately layed down hiding in the tall grass. And there she was, we could see her head, beautiful and huge (indians also call the Jaguar Acanguçu = big head). She had forgotten us and came out of the forest, going slowly back to her kill. The distance between us was of only 15 meters and that made me feel a bit uncomfortable, since we were almost lying on the ground and now she had direct eye contact with us. Our cameras were just clicking all that they could ! Although she noticed that we were not a big threat to her, she still moved back into the forest.
We always considered Jaguars to live close to the river, but this one was about 5 Km away from it, which is great news !
Looking carefuly at some of the pictures I can clearly see her bigger nipples, probably full of milk. She must have an offspring, which would be even better news.

A new Kite

Today we have seen a new kite for our list, the gray-headed kite (Leptodon cayanensis). It's a widespread but rare kite, living in pristine forests close to water.

With it, our raptors list (without vultures) has grown to 31 species, as follows:

1. Osprey
2. Hook-billed Kite
3. Swallow-tailed Kite
4. Grey-headed Kite
5. Rufous-thighed Kite
6. Pearl Kite
7. White-tailed Kite
8. Snail Kite
9. Plumbeous Kite
10. Mississippi Kite
11. Crane Hawk
12. Great Black Hawk
13. Savannah Hawk
14. Black-collared Hawk
15. Grey-bellied Hawk
16. Bicoloured Hawk
17. Roadside Hawk
18. Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle
19. White-tailed Hawk
20. Short-tailed Hawk
21. Bay-winged Hawk
22. Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle
23. Crested Caracara
24. Lesser yellow-headed Caracara
25. Laughing Falcon
26. Barred Forest-falcon
27. Collared Forest-falcon
28. American Kestrel
29. Aplomado Falcon
30. Bat Falcon
31. Orange-breasted Falcon

Riding through the wetlands ...

This is for Laetitia Berger de Paris ...

This is the puffbird (Nystalus maculatus) , a little creature that perches still and silently.

The cold has come !

The cold has come ! Our temperatures have dropped several degrees to something around 20 degrees Celcius during the day. This "cold" weather makes the caimans (Caiman crocodilus yacare) come out the water to sunbath and warm themselves up. A necessary behaviour, since they're cold-blooded reptiles.

Tiger Heron

This is "bezerro" a young rufescent tiger-heron (Tigrisoma lineatum , socó-boi in portuguese). He was born in 2006 and has joined our girls Leticia and Ana Emilia at the beach right after he could fly. He never would get to close, watching them play with sand and fishes from a save distance. Now and then, we still see him and we can approach him up to 10 meters. After 2 years of age, he will change his feathers to the adult colors.

Savannah Hawk

A couple of savannah hawks (Buteogallus meridionalis), in portuguese called gavião-caboclo. As the name suggests, they live in open country where they hunt small mammals, lizzards, crabs and much more.

Caiman Lizzard

This is the caiman lizzard (Dracaena paraguayensis), a semi-aquatic and large (1.2m) reptile that has a caiman-like tail and back, a snake-like toungue but is a lizzard ... In portuguese we erroneously call it a "víbora (viper)".
It is a harmless reptile, despite it's false reputation to be venomous.

Crab-eating fox eating a turtle

This was a very interesting sighting we had on Fazenda Barranco Alto. A crab-eating fox (Cerdocyon thous), had just killed a Pantanal swamp turtle (Acanthochelys macrocephala). These turtles live mostly in and around the water and are more commonly seen close to salinas (salty water lakes).

Fox hunting a Tapir in the Pantanal

There is a crab-eating fox (Cerdocyon thous) chasing a tapir (Tapirus terrestris) and together they are stalking two cows (Bos indicus) ... No, it's just a wonderful example of how humans and their livestock can live together in harmony with their natural environment.

By the way: the tapir is a browser, the crab-eating fox doesn't go for tapirs and the cows are grazers. We, just watch them.

Water up to the lodge !

This photo shows you how far up the water is this year. Just a few meters from the lodge, very inviting to swim ...

We're back !

After two months closed for the summer break, we are back ! This year the river flooded extensive areas of our ranch. On this photo, in the very center of it, you see the lodge and how close the water came to it...

For nature it's a blessing !

To the friends of the Pantanal Lodge - Fazenda Barranco Alto

Dear Friends,

Another year is over and looking back to our encounters with nature and men we can think of many great experiences, some big, some small. In March, a rather different type of bird - „earthrounders“ Angela and Flemming Pedersen – visited Barranco Alto coming all the way from Switzerland in a Mooney airplane, called Honeymooney. On their last day a very curious anaconda decided to have a better look at the airplane’s engine...
Anaconda on mooney, Angela Flemming, 3/06

It was a very good year for viewing our smaller cats such as pumas, ocelots, margays and jaguarundis. Jaguars did not want to give us the pleasure of being seen very often, but there were daily signs of them being around us. At one point a big male decided to wake us all up with his strong roar, walking only a few meters past us as we were sleeping at the cottage by the river.
A young puma by Morton Nagel, 5/06Jaguar male tracks by Lucas Leuzinger, 12/06

Adult puma male by Felix Richter, 10/06With canoe descents taking place twice a week, we have finally figured out the distribution of giant otters on our 18 km strip of river. Our five-member „rancho“ family had 2 babies in April, forcing them to enlarge their territory. After 2 weeks of stressful fights, “curses”, running back and forth just in front of the lodge, the “discreet“ couple who had lived here for a few years had to give away some 2 km of river downstream. Month after month we were able to observe the babies coming out of their nest, growing bigger, learning to fish becoming more independent. As we were watching them, they also became used to our presence. We gave each animal a name: “Logradouro”, “Gordo” (the fattest and biggest giant otter male we have ever seen, with a very nice character), “Pinta”, etc. Giant otters are very social and do everything in family. Watching them over long periods tends to make us humanise them, giving each animal its character. Hopefully we shall have many more chances to follow up on this family’s life story.

Giant otters with young by L. Leuzinger, 9/06Our friendly hyacinth macaw couple, which lives on the big Tarumã tree by the river, has not given up the idea of having a chick. Over the last 3 years the couple had endured the most dramatic and tragic situations, such as toucan attacks (toucans are their worst nest predators), wind and storms, which killed either their eggs or newly born chicks. This year they mated for many months without any sign of egg laying. Then, at some point in August/September, they disappeared into their hole in the tree and were barely ever seen. They lost a lot of weight and were quite stressed even with the presence of known people like us. Finally, just recently they have managed to have this year’s baby chick which is now flying over our heads !!!

Hyacinth macaw couple by L. Leuzinger, 8/06Hyacinth macaws mating by L. Leuzinger, 9/06Hyacinth macaw chick by Lucas Leuzinger, 11/06Last, but not least, we made a big step forward from the farming and conservation point of view: we have bought 1500 hectares of “Pantanal de Aquidauana”. Fazenda Barranco Alto (until now only right side of the Negro river, “Pantanal da Nhecolândia”) has widdened its wings over the other side of the river, which has always been a big dream of the Schweizer-Leuzinger family.
Some of our guests were present and enthusiastically supported us during the dramatic moments of negotiation and final sale. After that, the MacMillans were the first ones to explore and even sleep over one rainy night at the new area, naming one of the lakes the “Don Gregorio lake”.
Walking, riding and canoeing through a completely different type of vegetation – Lucas has already found 2 palm tree species that do not exist on the right side of the river – shall offer our newcomers, but also our “second and third” time visitors, some adventurous hours exploring this new land.

Satellite image, Landsat 7, 2003We thank you all for the many good hours that we were able to spend with you. In 2007 we hope to realize new dreams which are born through the interesting conversations, suggestions and good ideas of our guests.

View from the airplane by L. Leuzinger 11/06


We wish you a Happy New Year!


Marina, Lucas, Leticia and Ana Emília Leuzinger

Two girls in the Pantanal

Leticia and Ana Emilia Leuzinger, our two girls growing up on Fazenda Barranco Alto in the Pantanal...

Catasetum fimbriatum orchid

Catasetum fimbriatum, in portuguese called sambaré, is a gorgeous orchid that flowers at the beginning of the rainy season, right now ...

The juice of it's bulbs can be used as a strong glue and the leafs are forraged by herbivores, if they can reach it.

They grow almost exclusively on palm trees like acuri, bocaiuva and caranda.

What a beauty !

Aerial view of Fazenda Barranco Alto & Pantanal Lodge

For those who don't know the place, here is a short description:Barranco Alto ranch lies north of the rio Negro, flowing from top right to bottom right. Center left of it you see the airstrip, from 7 o'clock to 1 o'clock, and the main buildings with the guest house at the banks of the river.Bottom third is the RPPN (private reserve, 6km along the river).Right of the river is the newly acquired Fazenda Sta. Tomazia.Top third to the left, you see a white line, being it the power lines from town, that bring us electrical energy ...The rest, are the countless lakes and salinas (salty lakes).For those, who don't know it, this is a stimulation to come and visit Fazenda Barranco Alto !

Woodstork

This magnificent woodstork (Mycteria americana) was landing to join his relatives in a fishing party ... it was late afternoon, and the light couldn't be better !

First sighting of a common snipe

This week we had a first sighting of a common snipe (Gallinago gallinago paraguaie). It looks like an immature bird, hiding between the grass and has an enormous bill.
We sighted it on the edges of the salty lake "Lindoya". 

The world's most beautiful chick !

Could be that I'm exaggerating just a little bit. This is a ferruginous pigmy-owl (Glaucidium brasilianum). It's about 3 weeks old.
It's parents are very agressive little predators that hunt birds bigger than themselves.

Fazenda Barranco Alto - Pantanal Lodge - Bird site and list

We have just created a new webpage called "Pantanal Birds", it contains a copy of our updated birdlist and some photos taken here on the ranch.

Fazenda Barranco Alto - Pantanal Lodge

White Capybaras found !

Did you know, that here on Fazenda Barranco Alto, we do have a new species of Capybara, known as Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris barranquensis ?!
Just joking !
But the truth is that our "normal" capybaras Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris have their fur bleached by the alkaline waters of our unique salt lakes called "salinas". Since capybaras are very teritorial, they keep around the same lakes. On this picture, you see baby animals that still have their natural color: dark brown. Once in a while you also see adult animals close to salt lakes with natural coloration, mostly young males looking for new partners ...
Come and see this unique happening with your own eyes !

New bird on the list

Yeasterday we had a new and very exciting sight of a masked duck (Nomonyx dominicus), bico-roxo in portuguese. It's a small duck and was alone within a group of least grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus ).

With it, our birdlist grew a little bit again ... Check it out here: Pantanal Birdlist - Fazenda Barranco Alto

The jabiru's next generation is here !

The chicks are almost ready to fly ... 2 chicks per nest is average. 

Osprey

This is the Osprey, one of our largest birds of prey, it feeds almost exclusively fish. It is also one of the most widespread birds in the world, found on all continents except Antarctica.
It's population has been dramaticaly reduced by the use of DDT, but recovery after DDT-ban has been very strong.

This one hovers quite often close to the lodge, looking of course for fish.

Size is around 56cm, 2 Kg and with a wingspan up to 180cm !

Anaconda tries to fly

This is from March 2006:
Angela and Flemming Pedersen visited us with their own airplane, a Mooney flying all the way down to Southamerica from Geneva, Switzerland. They had amazing adventures and their site is really worth a visit:http://www.honeymooney.com
OK, so we were having a good time together, touring around and listening to nice stories, while a anaconda called Flemming's airplane her lover, it was a long courtship but there was no response fromthe ironman ... 

A caiman sunbathing on a log in the river ... 

Today a dozen of Nacunda nighthawks (Podager nacunda) were resting in our garden they are night-active birds and roost during the day in the open grass... 

Unlike every other day

Winter here has not yet started and it is almost august... Or is it just supposed to be a mild winter? It is dry, as it should be, but days are very hot and the nights start to get fresh only by 4:30 AM Fauna and flora, together with us, are a bit confused with what to do and when and how. For instance, our beautiful rosy ipê trees (tabebuia) have weakly flowered in Junee (a month to early) and have not yet started flowering again this July. As it is very windy, hot and dry, we are happy that until now we have not had any uncontrolled fires in our region, so no smoke in the air - not yet.

Amidst this weather crazinesss, spotting wildlife has become a greater challenge. Anyhow, for the afternoon drive, Fernando and I had fixed a specific destination: the big salt lake at Tapera, a place at the far end of the farm. All guests, a 3 headed Swiss family and our French friend Sebastien, had been with us for quite a while and we wanted to take them to a still unknown place. We left the guest house early, but got on pretty fast because there was little to see. All animals were hiding from the hot sun, relaxing somewhere in the shadow of the forest. First stop: an armadillo tried to run away but his pace was very slow and Fernando caught him straight away. It was a very old animal and it was breathing strongly after only a few faster steps it had done. We wondered if it was near to death, wondered about its old and thick skin, which was full of lifemarks. As Fernando was wandering with his hand over the armadillo´s body, showing its gland at the back, its eyes, nose and... wupt, just like a hoover the animal had suddenly swallowed his finger and wouldn´t let it go. Repeating Fernando´s words: "how can it be that, after so many years of guiding and showing others an armadillo from nearby, I have to find out that it also has teeth !!!" His finger came out bleeding after he strongly pressed the animal´s throat.

A lot of peccaries later we arrived at the salt lake and from far away I could see that it was like a birdwatcher's dream: a group of around 40 coscorobas swans were bathing, eating and being attentive to every movement around them (they are known to be very shy). There where also stilts, lapwings, spoonbills, ibises, sandpipers, tree ducks, muscovy ducks, whistling ducks and many others. As no one of us is a birdwatcher we observed the rare coscorobas for a while and soon went into the bush nearby to check out if there were any prints of a rather big animal that had jumped into the woods as we arrived. We didn´t find anything since the sand is so deep and soft that it becomes harecognizeognise any sign but round wholes.

During a nice long walk through the landscape we spotted a lonely coati eating worms or water plants at a muddy lake and as it got dark we discussed about the different types of fireflietheir theyr light signs. Arriving by the car again it was already absolutely dark and we decided to refresh ourselves with waters and drinks. Fernando got the strong spotlight and looked around (the castoppedstoped at a vast open place). There was a big group of cows and calfs resting all together, standing very near to each other. We noticed that they were all looking into the same direction and as we got on with the light towards that spot we noticed again the yellow animal that had went into the bush a few hours earlier as we had arrived. I looked through the binoculars and told Fernando that I thought it was a calf, Fernando: a yellow calf? and then I saw, further on a bit, a bigger yellow , and I realised that it were 2 pumas, a bigger and a smaller one. We followed the big one with the light which disturbed it at the hunt of a calf that it was just going to undertake. The smaller cat hid in the forest near to the cattle and the big one went all the way through the open field, crossing over to the other side's forest.

Happy with this amazing experience we took off for dinner at home. But nature had left a few more surprises for us: a lonely fat tapir had just come out of the forest to eat some grass in the evening freshness. Only two fresh water lakes further on a couple of tapirs had also come out to eat water plants. We stopped to watch the biggest animal of South America and minutes later we crossed with our smallest mammal, the tapiti, a rabbit which looks more like a soft toy (or as our Scottish friends would say: a cuddle beast). Last but not least, another tapir crossed our way a few minutes before arriving at the guest house !

This was really not just like every other day.




Fazenda Barranco Alto - Pantanal Lodge

About 3 weeks ago, beginning of July 2006, we counted the first Coscoroba swans at the Tapera salina, more than 40 animals ...

Fazenda Barranco Alto - Pantanal Lodge

Just got this next to the lodge: a few red-shouldered macaws (Diopsittaca nobilis) were feeding on the paratudo flowers. 

Today our yellow anaconda "fedidinha" crossed the runway, just in front of the lodge ... we had to remove her, because the airplane couldn't land. 

A blog ? I thought that I would never ever in my life spend my time writing things into the internet... especially since there are already sooooo many different information sources such as websites splish splash spams blogs blurps, etc. But on the other hand, why should I keep a weekly report in something that we call "the black book", far from everyone elses eyes? That is what I do and who knows if it will ever be read by anyone ?!
So let´s get over all kinds of prejudices and start this Pantanal blog !