Anelle came to pick us up on 15th June. We had spent the day with last minute packing. We stayed over at her home to be closer to the airport & enjoyed a lovely meal with her. But there was no heating & it was freezing!
The next day saw us up in the freezing cold & on to the airport. The flight was pleasant with very nice food & we arrived in Sao Paulo on time & transferred to LATAM Airline for our flight to Campo Grande. We got a taxi to the nearby Hotel Orla Merino & collapsed into bed after a gruelling 23 hours of travel.
Our hotel bedroom looked out over a busy road but there were large stands of native forest & we started to see birds! Five species of Parrot & Macaw including Peach-fronted Parakeet a new species for us. 10 Toco Toucans were special & a couple of Burrowing Owls were in the next doors supermarket car park!
We then picked up our car & drove 260 kms to Fazenda San Francisco. Driving was easy & we arrived around mid-afternoon.
The place was much larger than we envisaged. It is an old, well established fazenda in the traditional sense. It is also very birdy, with birds being fed from a variety of feeders.
We had a walk around before dinner & were almost overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of birds, all at very close quarters.
After dinner we ventured out on a night safari seeing our first Marsh Deer & Crab-eating Foxes. Bird wise we recorded over 50 Common Pauraque & 15 Scissor-tailed Nightjars, including several superb males. We also enjoyed brilliant views of American Barn Owl & the rare Striped Owl.
On 18th we were up early & birding around the fazenda. I spotted a Pale-crested Woodpecker, which was a new species for me, but didn't have my camera with me, but I did manage a few photos later! We also enjoyed point blank views of Turquoise-fronted Amazon.
Then we were off on a morning safari ride in a large truck with lots of other people. It was a nice trip but a little frustrating as they don't stop for small birds. In fact they hardly stopped for birds at all! However, we recorded 55 species & I spotted a Jaguar, which no-one else saw! I walked away from the masses & down a track next to the river & suddenly I was in the presence of a huge male Jaguar! It came out of the vegetation about five metres from me, looked at me & walked across the track once more into cover. I was stunned! I had my camera with me but froze to the spot & didn't get a shot! Delana was a few metres behind me & never saw it!
In the afternoon we went on a short river trip down the Miranda River. It was very pleasant & very scenic, netting us one new bird: Rusty-backed Spinetail, which was very secretive in the riverside vegetation.
Evening saw us on another night safari. It was quiet until we saw a female Giant Ant-Eater with a baby on it's back! Unfortunately the bouncing truck & the fast moving Ant-Eater made for terrible photos! However, we did obtain good binocular views.
We birded around our accommodation at dawn on 19th June, the highlight being a Pale-crested Woodpecker.
We then had a great boat trip down the Rio Miranda. We went quite slow & managed to see quite a few birds along the way. It was a fantastic way to spend the morning.
In the afternoon we walked along the Vizante Trail, which is a boardwalk above a wetland area. We then took a slow drive home.
However, it was the night drive which stole the show! Two Jaguars & an Ocelot seen well. Whow!
Early morning on 20th saw us birding along a track which ran down to the river through a small patch of forest. It was a dull, cool morning & bird activity was low. We recorded 48 species, no new birds.
In the afternoon we birded the access road from the main highway to the fazenda. It is open country here, mainly cattle country but with patches of trees & lots of marshy areas. It was easy pleasant birding & we saw some nice species like Narrow-billed Woodcreeper; Chotoy Spinetail & Grassland Sparrow.
Evening saw us on our last night-time game drive. It was quite cold & activity was low. We saw a Crab-eating Fox & a fleeting view of a Peccary, otherwise it was very quiet.
We were both up early (before dawn) on 21st June to work on our computers. It was another overcast morning so we didn't bird around the fazenda. After breakfast we once more jumped into the trucks for the drive to Vazante Trail. For several kilometres one drives next to a flooded levy & it is very birdy, particularly for waterbirds. Then we walked part of the trail, until we could go no further because the walkway had collapsed! However, it was a lovely mornings birding, adding Short-crested Flycatcher, Unicolored Blackbird & Chestnut-capped Blackbird to the list.
In the afternoon we once again headed to a backwater of the Rio Miranda, mainly for Piranha fishing! We dis see Black-capped Donacobius, White-headed Marsh Tyrant & Yellow-chinned Spinetail. It was a pleasant couple of hours pottering about on the river.
We leave in the morning, after enjoying a very pleasant five night stay here.The birding was a little below par, mainly because one cannot stop to view the passerines. The tours are all geared up for middle of the road mass tourism, heavily weighted to seeing Jaguar. I managed eight new species & we saw a total of 116 species during our stay. The staff are very friendly & work hard for you. We would thoroughly recommend the place.
