Winning the armadillo lottery !

In 24 hours we've seen the biggest and smallest armadillo. Here´s a wonderful sighting of a giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus, tatu-canastra) of probably around 30-40 Kg and from tail to nose over a meter long !!! They walk on their massive claws and are very rare to see.

And here´s a new sighting for our mammal list: the southern naked-tailed armadillo (Cabassous unicinctus, tatu-de-rabo-mole), another very rare sighting !

Picture by Aude Schneeberger

Iguanas

The green-iguana (Iguana iguana, Iguana) is a big, diurnal and arboreal lizard. Well adapted to the Pantanal they can swim submerged using powerful strokes of their long tail. They are primarily herbivorous and have excellent eye-sight.

These animals are a rare but rewarding sighting in the southern Pantanal.

Hyacinth macaws

These wonderful, amazingly colored birds are the hyacinth macaws (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus, arara-azul), an endangered parrot species commonly found around this part of the Pantanal. Their distribution is strongly correlated with two palm trees on which they feed: the acuri-nut palm tree (Scheelea Phalerata) and the bocaiuva-nut palm tree (Acrocomia aculeata). And not less important for their survival is the manduvi tree (Sterculia apetala), a big soft-wooded tree in which they mostly build their nests.

Watching hyacinth macaws feeding on the ground at late afternoon always evokes a general: Wow ! Awesome ! Amazing ! Phenomenal ! Fantastic ! Terrific ! In short: simply unforgettable !

feeding on acuri nuts

And sometimes there are snakes

During the wet and hot months of October through April, snakes are more commonly seen. One of the most fear causing animals is the tropical rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus terrificus, Cascavel). This pit viper advertises itself by a loud shaking of it´s rattle at the end of the tail (see and listen to a red rattlesnake here!).

Their diet consists of small rodents and birds. Although encounters like these are rare, one should be cautious when walking around in the wild. However, rattlesnakes rarely bite unless provoked or threatened; and if treated promptly, the bites are rarely fatal.

Drumming on trees

This is one of the most amazing bird families in the Pantanal: the woodpeckers. The lineated woodpeckers (Dryocopus lineatus, Pica-pau-de-banda-branca) have strong bills for drilling and drumming on trees and long sticky tongues with bristles for extracting insects deep out of the wood. Listen to the drumming: MP3 by J.Minns

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male

female

The last Sunset

This was the last sunset of 2012. We wish all our friends, health, peace and success. Happy new year.

Salinas and green

After many month of drought the rains are finally back to the Pantanal, the trees are fully covered in dark green leaves and the grass grows in lush colors ...

In this aerial photo you see 4 brackish water lakes, so-called salinas. They are a unique feature of this region of the Pantanal and contribute to the incredible bio-diversity of Fazenda Barranco Alto. Here we find extensive and representative patches of pristine gallery forest, savannas, grasslands, thick forests, a river, salinas, fresh-water lakes, marshes and reeds.

This leaves the Rio Negro Pantanal unrivaled among all other Pantanal sub-regions. This is one of the few regions in the Pantanal where you can see all of the mammals that occur in these wetlands. Following theses two links find our mammal list and bird list.

Pheasant cuckoo

This is a picture taken by our guest Mike Bailey of a pheasant cuckoo (Dromococcyx phasianellus, peixe-frito-verdadeiro, song). This is one of the most elusive birds around here. They are daily heard but never seen, a good view like this is something very rare.

Pheasant cuckoos are brood parasites, that means the parental care of eggs and young is provided by the host species like flycatchers and antshrikes.

Pampas deer

The Pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus, veado-campeiro) is our easiest to see deer, because they inhabit the open grasslands. Although gray brocket deers are in greater numbers, they inhabit the bushes where they're harder to spot.

Now is the time when we see most of the young ones. The fawns loose their white spots two months after birth.

Pampas deer with fawn.

Father of the fawn.

Hudsonian Godwit

Today we had another first sighting: a Hudsonian Godwit (Limosa haemastica, maçarico-de-bico-virado). The bird was seen in the Salina Mara (location) amongst thousands of stilts and sandpipers. Their breeding habitat is the far north near the tree line in northwestern Canada and Alaska, also on the shores of Hudson Bay, hence the name. Both parents look after the young birds, who find their own food and are able to fly down to Brazil (more than 9'000 Km) within a month of hatching.
These birds forage by probing in shallow water like the many salinas on Fazenda Barranco Alto. They mainly eat insects and crustaceans.

Text adapted from Wikipedia.

Mixed flock, photo by Paulo.

Hudsonian Godwit and lesser-yellowlegs, photo by Paulo.

Entranced by jaguar tails

Let yourself get delighted by these swinging tails ...

Two Jaguars

All together we've seen many dozens of these magnificent cats that reign the South-American jungles, but every time it's like the first time. Today it was two young jaguars (Panthera onca, onça-pintada). Totally relaxed they posed for 40 minutes on the banks of the Rio Negro, the Brazilian Pantanal's most pristine river, a river where you don't meet other boats and where speed is limited by the endless details of nature's beauty.

About a tapir's toilet ...

Take a look at this video we shot with camera traps. It's about tapirs ...

the right glimpse ...

The roadside hawk (Buteo magnirostris, gavião-carijó) is the second most common raptor in this region after the crested-caracara. This is a shot in the exact split-second before it lands ...

Sentinels of the Pantanal

The southern screamers (Chauna torquata, tachã) are heavy (up to 5 Kg) birds that inhabit the ponds and marshes of the Pantanal. When they sense any danger they start a loud call that can be heard several kilometers away alarming every other animal of the present danger ... Click here to listen to their call.

A penguin?

This is a juvenile Spectacled Owl (Pulsatrix perspicillata, murucututu), one of our biggest night-active raptors. Note the size of it´s talons and listen to it´s mysterious call here on Xeno-Canto.

Pantanal swamp turtle

The big-headed pantanal swamp turtle (Acanthochelys macrocephala, cágado) was scientifically described as recent as 1984 (Rhodin et al., 1984); On these pictures is a young hatchling with an exposed head. When they grow older the shell overlaps the neck giving the turtle's head more protection. Note the big left-folded neck, hence part of the name.

They live in swamps and saline lakes and feed mostly on insect larvae. One of their main predators are crab-eating foxes (Cerdocyon thous, lobinho), like shown in this post: link

Photo by Adrian Testa

Courageous little butterfly !

The Julia butterfly (Dryas iulia, Júlia) has a very uncommon feeding strategy: 

by irritating a caiman's eye, the caiman's lacrimal glands produce a saline watery fluid to lubricate the eye surface. This fluid is rich in nutrients for the butterfly, which licks it up. This can be seen on many beaches along the rio Negro.

Ichthyophagous ich·thy·oph·a·gous/ˌikTHēˈäfəgəs/

Living in the shade of the astonishing giant otters, the neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis, lontra) is a solitary carnivore that feeds primarily on fish, but they will eat many other living creatures. Over the years we've seen them eating even caimans and proboscis bats.

They are considered rare and shy animals but the ones that live around here are just the other way round: curious and audacious!

Brazilian spines

Today a neighbor came by and incidentally mentioned that he had just seen a Brazilian porcupine (Coendou prehensilis, ouriço-caixeiro) on the way over. After years living in the Pantanal, seeing several dozens of jaguars, pumas and other rare animals we still haven't seen any porcupines. The closest we got was finding their spines in the dense forest. Of course we rushed out to see the rarity and there it was, peacefully sleeping on fence wires.

Porcupines are arboreal and nocturnal rodents. They're covered with short, thick spines which are whitish or yellowish in color, mixed with the darker hair and protect them very effectively from predators such as ocelots.

Note the prehensile tale, it's reflective feet and the long clawed toes.

Double-Rainbow

This is a beautiful picture taken around here by our resident anteater researcher Lydia Möcklinghoff . It was one of these days right after a good rain shower ... Click on it and view it in full size !

Jaguar's camouflage

This picture is to celebrate a week with wonderful cat sightings. It was an exceptional week, during a season where any sightings are scarce: 2 jaguars (called Sally and Wally) and 2 pumas, not just glimpses, but hour-long watching with behavior, hunting, fighting and more ...

This picture is of an untamed, non baited jaguar, totally wild. Seen on the banks of the Rio Negro, Pantanal. See location here: http://g.co/maps/34w25 

Disclaimer: any cat sighting is rare and should not be expected.

The uncommon crane hawk (Geranospiza caerulescens, gavião-pernilongo) is a fascinating raptor, grey in color with very long orange legs, used to reach into crevices and cavities of trees to obtain snakes, lizzards, nestling birds, bats, and other food items.

The mini-macaw

The Red-shouldered Macaw (Diopsittaca nobilis, maracanã-nobre) is the smallest of our macaws, it measures only up to 35 cm in length. They are best visible in the summer months ...

Message from the sky

This is a glimpse of one of those magical moments that are almost daily witnessed in the Pantanal. It makes you realize how much more we should care about our environment.

Predators can be prey themselves ...

When caimans are still small lizards they are prey for bigger raptors like the black-collared hawk (Busarellus nigricollis, gavião-belo).

This region of the Pantanal (Rio Negro) is one of the richest in parrot abundance. Flocks of these birds are everywhere and the gregarious macaws catch everyone´s attention. In this picture we see a mixed flock of red-and-green and hyacinth macaws that are together feeding on the dry acuri nuts (Attalea phalerata) found in ungulate´s droppings. Altogether there were 24 birds...

Toucans in their nests agree

After you´ve read the last post about Haley´s adventures in the Pantanal you might wonder how a toco toucan looks in reality... well, it´s even more colorful than any comic can be !

In this photo the toucan is not predating on another bird´s nest, but guarding its own nest. 

In the 1940´s an advertisement from irish Guiness beer ran with the following jingle: "Toucans in their nests agree/Guinness is good for you/Try some today and see/What one or toucan do." See a more recent Guiness toucan TV ad here: http://youtu.be/QXzIMP_wxQ0?hd=1

Haley´s Adventures

http://www.craigmorecreations.com

Take a look at this very interesting and beautiful comic from Craigmore Creations. It´s about Haley Zoic´s travels, a natural history corespondent, as she explores the lives and struggles of endangered species. In this episode, she visited Fazenda Barranco Alto and learned a lot about the hyacinth macaws, the trees they nest in and the toco toucan. Click on the image to read the comic it´s really worth !

This is a very interesting time of the year, when the water level of the Negro river is at its lowest. Recently we watched a school of tetra fish (Astyanax sp., lambari) trapped by a big group of caimans at the confluence of a bay with the river. Caimans were all around the shallowest bits of water and the fish would perform aerobatic jumps to escape the predators ... 

Black is beautiful !

This short video shows a skimmer parent incubating its eggs on a sandbank surrounded by the Rio Negro waters ...

Sunbirds !

We´d like to share with you two very shy birds we sighted these days on the Rio Negro: the sunbittern (Eurypyga helias, pavãozinho-do-pará) and the sungrebe (Heliornis fulica, picaparra). Despite their names, both are not closer related but they share the same colors and a remarkable and exquisite beauty...

Sunbittern displaying its amazing wing-pattern.

A female sungrebe hiding under branches.

Nosey bat

The proboscis bat (Rhynchonycteris naso) has this name from the elongated nose, which somehow looks in shape like a tapir´s nose... They are nocturnal insect feeders and are always associated with water. Therefor they are more commonly found along the river, where you can see them under tree trunks. We have observed river otters predating on them.

Note the long and pointy nose!

The Swamp Hen

The american purple gallinule (Porphyrio martinica, frango-d'água-azul) is a common bird of the rail family in our marshes. It´s rather skittish, thus not very easy to approach close enough for a good picture.

They are omnivorous and walk over floating vegetation as if they were on firm ground. No surprise if you look at their huge yellow feet !

Note all the purple-blue tonalities of their plumage...

Pecking Order

The ringed kingfishers  (Megaceryle torquata, martim-pescador-grande) are outstanding in their ability to fish. From a suitable perch they wait patiently until prey swims by. This female was lucky enough to hunt a knifefish (Gymnotus sp., tuvira) probably about half her body weight !

But a few seconds later an attentive roadside hawk (Buteo magnirostris, gavião-carijó), that was watching everything with even more patience, hit the kingfisher in flight and caught the prey from the fisher: pecking order ...

King of the Bush

As always we would like to remember that seeing a cat is a rare moment and should not be expected ... 

This young male and an associated female were seen literally just around the corner in Fazenda Barranco Alto´s "RPPN das Onças" (a private reserve). It´s a young male in stunning shape. The mysteriously dark background is typical of the Rio Negro, one of the Pantanal´s most pristine rivers.

Young male jaguar.

Caiman vs. Capybara

Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, capivara) are heavily predated by jaguars, pumas, ocelots, foxes, anacondas and caimans. Therefore they reproduce in a rodent-like manner. Here you see a 2 meter caiman (Caiman yacare, jacaré) after it killed a year-old capybara ... It's nature's circle of life.

Another praise to the Giant Otters

This is one of our favorite posts of the recent past and since these creatures irresistibly draw our attention and interest every single day, we'd simply like to repeat the post of last year:


The giant otters (Pteronura brasiliensis, Ariranha) are amongst the most fascinating animals of the Pantanal. They form family groups of up to 12 individuals with a dominant male and female which stay together lifelong. They show a wide variety of behavior patterns according to their very cooperative and social existence. Research being conducted here in the Rio Negro by Leuchtenberger et al. suggests that giant otters use up to a dozen different vocalizations!

Over the last two months on Fazenda Barranco Alto we have been able to observe the family of "Perereca" doing their best to raise 3 babies. Spending many hours daily watching them we have been lucky to see the most beautiful scenes such as teaching the newborn to swim and fish, grooming and resting together.

Mother giant otter bringing one baby at a time down to the water.

All giant otters come to groom the little one ...

After parental caring comes feeding!

Ending up with a well-deserved siesta !

Howling family

The black howler monkeys are the only resident monkeys in this area of the Pantanal. O occasionally Capuchin monkeys may roam this far (see the 2007 post).

These large monkeys are seen mostly either resting or eating leaves in the high canopy. Their presence is often given away by their very loud vocalization (click to hear !)

Dominant male.

Female with baby on the back.

A golden beauty

The Pantanal is not well-known for its hummingbirds ... but the gilded hummingbird (Hylocharis chrysura, beija-flor dourado) is an easy to find beauty that draws everyone´s attention. On this photo it´s feeding on the pink trumpet-vine (Cuspidaria sp., cipó roxo).

Tiger heron

If you go around and watch carefully, you´ll notice that many species of birds fish. Each one has a different technique. The rufescent tiger-heron (Tigrisoma lineatum, socó-boi) has a standing-still way of fishing. Sometimes they wait for several dozens of minutes without any apparent movement until a suitable fish is in reach and then they precisely and deadly spear it.

Because of their mooing calls, we call them socó-boi (cow-heron) in Portuguese. 

A successful early morning hunt ...