Brazil: The pantanal

It's worth acknowledging that we've found some of this trip very challenging from a health perspective, I won't bore you with the details (which involved a significant allergic reaction to something I ate for me and a bleed in the back of the eye for Helen) but we're both pretty much on the mend as I write.

We flew from Sao Paulo via Foz do Iguacu, (I'd not visited there before whereas Helen had), to Campo Grande, from where it was a few hours drive to reach our first accommodation in the southern section of the Pantanal.

We timed our trip, unintentionally, with the first drought-beaking rainfall for three years.   While this was great for the environment and habitat it led to an exponential growth in the number and voracity of mosquitoes.   For some reason none of the places we stayed had mosquito nets which made the trip more and more uncomfortable as time passed.

Anyway the first place we visited and indeed stayed at was a vast cattle ranch at the end of a long dirt road, but with a huge amount of land including forest, marsh, corridor land, etc., with an accompanying variety of birdlife. 

First thing in the morning, I wandered out to grab a coffee and saw Blue-and-yellow Macaw:

As well as one of our favourite species we've seen in Brazil, the Hyacinth Macaws:

The lodge has a safari approach to exploring their land and looking for wildlife.   This led to lots of interesting sightings, such as this Blaze-winged Parakeet:

 A small area of flooded land by the entrance was being perused by a Whistling Heron:

We saw lots of the non-avian wildlife too including Capybara:

Cayman:

Six-banded Armadillo:

As well as the 'safari' drives, the lodge has a number of well stocked fruit and corn feeders, so there's always plenty of wildlife coming in for a free meal including lots of birds such as this stunning Plush-crested Jay:

Lots of Nanday Parakeets:

Bare-faced Currasow wandered around the grounds:

One of my favourite visitors to the feeders was the Yellow-billed Cardinal:

On another drive we encountered a Giant Anteater:

And one of my favourite encounters of the trip so far a pair of Streamer-tailed Tyrants, recently arrived seasonal migrants:

As previously noted the rains had started, we had to duck and run on one drive as a huge cloudburst washed through:

Having really enjoyed our stay at Pousasa Aguape we moved on to a more commercial (and therefore poorer quality) lodge, specifically to try and see Jaguars, however we had no luck on the night drive and the sheer volume of mosquitoes and bites we were getting by this stage persuaded us that another day, let alone another week in these conditions would be untenable.

The next morning we therefore headed out early to some drier forest for birding on our way to our final lodge in the area.   We did see Crab-eating Fox on the road out though:

We also encountered a butterfly 'puddling' which was a magical experience:

We passed through some rice fields though they were still just planted so not much to see however an 

Amazon Kingfisher didn't fly away immediately: 

From our final lodge, in Bonito, we visited a sinkhole used by Macaws for nesting, apparently Helen and her younger brother Robert had visited this site some 30-odd years ago!

A Red-and-Green Macaw flew across the sinkhole:

As well as the sinkhole our local guide walked us around the property and took us to a nearby outdoor park, which was much quieter, to see some more species.   We did very well and added Chestnut-eared Aracari:

An immature Helmeted Mannakin:

Blue-crowned (Amazon) Motmot:

A Planalto Woodcreeper, probably species 3,900 of my birding so far:

And a Laughing Falcon with prey:

Instead of the scheduled next mosquito-filled week in the north of the Pantanal, our guide Demis managed to arrange a trip instead to Itatiaia National Park, with a layover back in Sao Paulo.   From Bonito it was therefore back to Campo Grande for a night in a cheap-and-noisy (but clean) airport hotel before heading back to Sao Paulo.   Next up, Itatiaia....