Araucaria Forests and Grasslands of SouthEast Brazil

February 2019: A Quick Trip to Rio Grande do Sul

I'd long wanted to go to the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, especially after visiting the neighboring states of Paraná and Santa Catarina last year.  The most Southerly state of Brazil was an intriguing blank spot on the map and, even though it didn't offer a lot of prospects for life birds, there were some high quality endemic birds to be seen.  Sometimes however, I'm just curious to see a place and so, with a planned business trip to São Paulo, I added a few days to explore the state on my way to Uruguay.

Sunday, February 17 - São Francisco de Paula

A quick flight from São Paulo to Porto Alegre on Saturday night and I met up with Rafael Santos, another super-talented birding guide who I'd coaxed into birding with me that week.  So early Sunday morning we were off on the road, driving North to Santa Catarina state (should have paid attention to the planning I guess) but at least our first stops were in Rio Grande do Sul.

This trip was all about grassland birds, so a lot of little brown jobs ('LBJs') had to be coaxed out of the grass and scrub in order to join my life list.  Our first couple of stops, in the vicinity of São Francisco de Paulo set the tone for much of the rest of the trip, mostly scanning and listening from the roads, then venturing into the grasslands when we located a bird.

Lesser Grass-Finch

Straight-billed Reedhaunter

Our first serious stop added some very good birds.  We could see Black-and-white Monjitas out in the field so stopped and ventured in, in the process uncovering several other specialty birds in the same area.  Lesser Grass-Finch was there, along with Long-tailed Cinclodes and some Black-bellied Seedeaters.  On the way out we were also able to coax a Straight-billed Reedhaunter out in a marshy ditch.  Three life birds at the first stop, not bad.

Chimango Caracara, cute in it's own way ... 

Freckle-breasted Thornbird

The rest of the day we kept moving North and picking up more birds.  Spotted Nothura was a treat (the first of 4 we saw that week), as was hearing Marsh Tapaculo (only my second time).  Freckle-breasted Thornbird was another 'LBJ' for the life list and rounded out a very nice day of birding before we crossed over into the state of Santa Catarina and arrived at our destination for the night, the Eco-Pousada Rios dos Touros in Urupema.

Araucaria trees

Monday, February 18 - Urupema

Today was a full day of birding and started out with a very civilized breakfast and a crop of life birds in the picturesque grounds of the Pousada.  As soon as it was light enough to bird we worked the Araucaria forest around the lodge and then had coffee while watching birds come to the feeders.  Scalloped Woodcreepers were perhaps the first birds we heard, soon joined by Striolated and Araucaria Tit-Spinetails. tapaculos always make me happy and we were able to lure a Planalto Tapaculo into view and even the local star, the Chestnut-backed Tanager cooperated beautifully, joining us for breakfast at the feeder.

Chestnut-backed Tanager

After breakfast we spent most of the morning birding some beautiful grasslands at Morro de Combate where, after some serious effort we finally tracked down some Saffron-cowled Blackbirds.  This was clearly the target for the the area and it took us several hours to find some (of course, once we found one, we then found a whole flock not long thereafter).  This species is fascinating - it feeds under Black-and-white Monjitas which it uses as sentries - but also rapidly declining due to habitat loss and poaching for the cage bird trade.  By scanning the fields, and looking for monjitas, we hoped to find some and then, on the fifth or sixth group of monjitas, there they were, hidden deep in the grass before flushing and giving us better looks.

Black-and-white Monjita

The scarce and declining Saffron-cowled Blackbird

More grasslands and some dwarf woodland in the afternoon added a few more species and, still having energy we decided to stay out after dinner and go night birding.  A try for Sickle-winged Nightjar came up empty but we did see Scissor-tailed Nightjar and Long-trained Nightjar so it was hard to complain.  A very nice day of birding in new habitats.

Scissor-tailed Nightjar and Long-trained Nightjar

Tuesday, February 19 - São Francisco de Paula

After some more birding in the morning near Urupema, notable mostly for my life Eastern Slaty Thrush, we decided to get on the road and head back to Rio Grande do Sul.  We had some nice grassland birding on the way back South but our goal for the day was two specialty species of parrot.

By 3:30pm we were in position near a known parrot roost and while we had to wait an hour or so, eventually parrots started to fly into a stand of non-native eucalyptus trees above our heads.  These were Red-spectacled Parrots, a lifer for me, and we ended up spending quite some time with them before heading off to our very nice hotel in town.

Red-spectacled Parrots

Wednesday, February 20 - São Francisco de Paula

The Hotel Veraneio Hampel was a great hotel with a wonderful restaurant and a delicious and extensive breakfast service.  It also had Vinaceous-breasted Parrots feeding in the trees around the grounds ... good food, good wine, and lifers from the terrance .... what more could you ask for?

Someone making me an omelet - this does not happen often on birding trips ...

After breakfast we had a very active and productive morning of birding with fifty plus species seen at the FLONA forest site near town.  Brown-breasted Pygmy-Tyrant was probably the best new bird but the scarce Blue-bellied Parrots were certainly the rarest species (only my second sighting ever) and Black Hawk-Eagle added a little drama when it came close over the tree tops above us.

Brown-breasted Pygmy-Tyrant ...
... the name may be longer than the bird.

Then, having seriously run out of potential life birds we went back to the grasslands and, after enjoying more Saffron-cowled Blackbirds, put some concentrated effort into tracking down a Hellmayr's Pipit for my life list (accomplished with the help of a generous local land-owner who directed us to the correct site based only on Rafael's description of what good habitat might look like).

Hellmay's Pipit in the grasslands.

Thursday, February 21 - São Francisco de Paula

Some final early morning birding then a long drive to catch my flight to Uruguay.  Another wonderful trip to Brazil and, as usual, I can't wait to go back.  I only had 20 lifers in this trip but many were memorable and it was a really quite pleasant natural history experience.  Plus I got to see a place I'd long wanted to see .... and so on to the next adventure ...