Iguazu falls Argentina

Due to an expired Brazilian tourist visa I made a day trip to Iguazu Falls National park.

The falls are listed as one of the 7 wonders of the world, and are the widest in the world with 275 separate falls stretching for 2.7 km as the Iguazu river divides, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

The longest drop is an impressive 82 meters and the impressive Devils throat on the Argentinean side is one of the most impressive cascades of water anywhere in the world.

Iguazu falls

After enjoying the beauty of the falls I turned my attention to wildlife which was very prominent. The National park is 550km2 and protects an area of subtropical Atlantic forest, home to a large diversity of wildlife. The most conspicuous group is the butterflies that occur in flock abundance around the forest edge and cafes where they come down to feed on salts, minerals and sugars from leftover food. I am still working on the identification of many species.

The birdlife in the park is very rich and species such as black-fronted piping guan and harpy eagle have found refuge. One of the best spectacles for me was the hundreds of great dusky swifts swirling in a swarm around the Devils throat falls. They use the safety of falls to roost overnight and feed on the flying insects attracted to the moist air during the day.

Great dusky swifts

Plush-crested jays, toco toucans, gray-headed kite and gray-breasted martins were some of the other avian highlights.

Plush-crested jay

Some reptiles were quite easy to see in the park, such as broad-snouted caiman, Amazonian whiptail and still to be identified turtles.

Broad-snouted caiman

The most evident mammal was the South American coati which have become habituated to the presence of hoards of tourists and scavenge around the cafes, allowing superb views.

 

I found 6 troops plus a few lone males very easily along the trails and around the cafes.

Azara's agouti was a species I was cautiously hoping for and I found one feeding on fruit on the edge of the forest near to the start of the walkway out to the Devils throat.

Azara's agouti

Brown capuchin is abundant in the park and I found a pair of juveniles working their way along the higher trail that leads out to the falls from a different angle.

Brown capuchin

Brazilian cavy or guinea pig was easily seen grazing on the short sword of the lawns near to the main visitor centre and entrance. I found 5 here scattered around the lawns but always close to the edge of the scrub that bordered the lawns.

Brazilian cavies

Towards the end of the day I found a trail that lead from the entrance road towards pampas wetland and open forest. I did not see much, but found lots of tracks in wet mud, most were from coatis, but a small deer (possibly red brocket) species was clearly regularly using the track and a small cat species which I suspect was jaguarundi. The taxi driver I spoke to on the way back, out of the park said he sometimes sees mammals crossing the road near the park entrance including jaguar.

Owling in the night

REGUA is well known for its exciting night time birding opportunities and the owls are some of the best finds.

One night was particularly productive, when I met up with a member of the Rio bird club, Daniel who was visiting the reserve with some friends keen on owls. We first went to look for tawny-browed owl in an urban area in the nearby town of Guapimirim, where we soon found one, but had no luck with the long tailed potoo.

Tawny-browed owl

Later on the drive back we found an obliging pair of tropical screech owl on the entrance track to REGUA. They appear to be currently frequenting the area near to the first farm house in the plantation of guava.

Tropical screech owl

The next morning we had a superb view of a roosting black-banded owl in the forest fragment partly owned by REGUA, and later on in the month I found one in the lodge garden at night, probably attracted to the banana feeders where they are rodents coming to feed. Adilei told me this was the first record for lodge garden of this species and the only other nearby known site is on the 4x4 trail, so this could hopefully be a new individual moving into the area.

Black-banded owl

There are also 3 different ferruginous pygmy owls resident in the lodge vicinity including a very vocal male that roosts in the tall trees bordering the track between the conservation centre and football pitch.

Ferruginous pygmy owls

I have also been out with Adilei and Leonardo on occasions with guests looking for the endemic black-capped screech which is known to occur in the forest fragment too, unfortunately I never managed a sighting of this species, but did hear it calling at night.

Finally I have had some very good sightings of barn owl in the pastureland near to REGUA land at night and in the fields at one of the giant snipe sites.

On the drive out of the reserve one morning I saw this roost of guira cuckoos, which was rather spectacular. They had huddled together over night to keep warm, behaviour commoner in smaller passerines but this social species is well known for this behaviour.

Roosting guira cuckoos.

Bothrops drinking

While walking along the edge of the forest fragment that REGUA has recently obtained, I came across this stunning bothrops jararaca (pit viper).

I had been hoping to find this charismatic species while at REGUA, but they are extremely sensitive to vibrations on the ground, so are usually long gone when you approach one on a trail. They are the snake to be most wary of when walking trails, because of their habit of sitting hidden amongst leaf litter on a trail or open area where their rodent prey may also pass. They also have very toxic venom which they use to kill their prey.

The specimen I found was very sluggish as it was a cool, overcast day and it may have been sat waiting for prey when the weather changed and therefore it lost its energy.

It then started drinking from the puddle it was lying next to and even yawned, which is something I have never observed a snake do before. This showed off its powerful fangs.

I also found this common whip snake swimming along a river on the Schincareol trail,

Common whip snake (Chironius exoletus)

A few of the frogs that I have managed to identify;

Girard's dwarf frog (Physalaemus signifier)

Scinax cuspidatus

Hipsiboas semllinezta

Crubixa snouted tree-frog (Scinax alter)

Crubixa snouted tree-frog (Scinax alter)

Dendropsophus meridianus

Pico De Caledonia

Another of the excursions on offer from REGUA is a visit to the high altitude elfin forest around the summit of the largest peak in the immediate mountain range, The Pico de Caledonia.

Bromeliads growing on the granite rock face.

The peak reaches 2255 meters in height and this harsh environment produces a very stunted or dwarf forest type known as elfin forest.

View from summit of Pico de Caledonia

Summit views

Flora community above the treeline.

This habitat is favoured by many species that have adapted to fill the niche of surviving only in this harsher environment. The birdlife is of particular interest and the star bird of this site is the gray-winged cotinga. The cotinga was only described in the 1980s and it is only known to occur on 4 other mountain peaks, making it very naturally rare. The habitat it favours is not currently threatened, but it can be negatively effected by forest fires and the encroachment of non native flora. A fire 2 years ago on the peak around the treeline was still evident during our visit. The world population is thought to be between 1,000 and 2,500 but due to the inaccessibility of its habitat it is very difficult to survey for. However the species is naturally rare because of the low abundance of its preferred habitat.

 

Elfin forest at Pico de Caledonia

 

Gray-winged cotinga

The habitat the cotinga favours is generally between 1650 to 2010 meters of altitude in humid dwarf cloud forest and it usually prefers the most sheltered patches but sometimes occurs on the exposed ridge of the mountain.

There is a tree line at the summit where woody plants can no longer persist on the rock face and sedges, grass tussocks, bromeliads mosses and some flowering plants take over.

Over 2 visits I had great sightings of 4 gray-winged cotinga, 2 black and gold cotinga, Serra do Mar tyrannulet, plovercrest, Brazilian ruby, white-throated hummingbird, diademed tanager, brassy-breasted tanager, white-crested tyrannulet, shear-tailed gray-tyrant, blue-billed black tyrant, velvety black tyrant, pallid spinetail, Itatiaia spinetail, large-tailed antshrike, variable antshrike, rufous-tailed antbird, ochre-faced tody flycatcher, white-tailed hawk and bay-chested warbling finches.

Black and gold cotinga

Plovercrest

Large-tailed antshrike

Bay-chested warbling finch

Blue-naped chlorophonia

Brassy-breasted tanager

 

Invertebrates

Tropical Rainforests are well known for their high diversity and extreme examples of invertebrate fauna. The Atlantic forest is no exception and many charismatic groups are well represented.

REGUA has many scientists studying particular groups such as odonata, lepidoptera, treehoopers and thorn bugs, arachnids and praying mantis. Some of the most impressive sights in the forest are the swarms of army ants (Eciton burchellii) that travel in colonies of 100,000 to 2 million and forage across the forest floor for prey. When a swarm is found all the large-medium sized invertebrates in the area can be easily observed climbing up branches or fleeing from their nests and holes. Even top predators such as spiders and scorpions are at risk from these swarms, that can overpower prey much larger than the single ant. This is the period when many of the "ant" specialist birds can be seen hunting not the ants but the insects caught out in the open fleeing from the ants.  I have come across several army ant swarms and always find a flurry of bird activity when I do.

Below is a selection of a few invertebrates from hundreds I have found in the reserve;

Golden orb web spider

 

Tarantula sp.  

Crab spider sp.

unidentified large beetle.

Stick insect sp.

 

Praying mantis sp.

Flatworm sp

Leaf-cutter ants