Shrike-like cotinga

I was fortunate to see a pair catching caterpillars from the undersides of a branch on the Sao Jose trail one morning and have also had sightings on the green and red trails further up in the forest. Like so many of the species in the Atlantic Rainforest it has a very limited distribution and sites to see them are very few. The reliability of the birds at Regua, may make it the best site in the world to see this beautiful species.

One of the reasons that there are so many endemics in the Atlantic Rainforest is because it has been isolated from the only other area of similar habitat (The Amazon basin) for so long, that species have evolved separately. However many of the endemics now are isolated to just a small area of the forest because it has become so fragmented.

Some scientists have proposed that the Atlantic Rainforest is actually more bio-diverse than many parts of the Amazon because of its diverse range of topography, altitude and wide distribution along the South American coastline that passes through different climatic regions.

Red Trail

On Saturday 31st May and Thursday I joined Adeli and a guest at the Guapi Assu lodge on a trip to the highest trail in the Reserve, the red trail. It reaches a higher altitude than many of the other trails through the area. Near the top, the forest changes character from tall secondary growth into bamboo thickets and eventually elfin woodland. The elfin woodland is a mixture of stunted trees, palms and dwarf ferns with an abundance of lichens and mosses growing on the floor and there is an increase in miniature bromeliads and orchids.

This different habitat offers a different food and habitat source to many specialist birds such white-bearded antshrike, black-billed scythebill white-bibbed antbird, greenish Schiffornis, grey-capped tyrannulet, golden crowned warbler and ferrugionous antwren. All of which we saw very well.

The trail can be very steep in places and that makes looking up in the canopy very difficult whilst moving but we managed to see an extensive range of mature forest species such as rufous-breasted leaftosser, ochre-breasted, black-capped and white-eyed foliage gleaners, pale-browed treehunter, sharpbill, white-throated, planalto, olivaceous, scaled and thrush-like woodcreepers, star-throated antwrens, red-necked, green headed, brassy-breasted, white-bellied, brown, red-crowned ant, flame-crested, olive-green and black-goggled tanagers, black-throated grosbeak and rufous-capped anthrush.

Near the top of the trail on Thursday I came across two frog species, both requiring full identification still, but one was particularly spectacular as I immediately noticed it had obvious horns on it's head.

I am currently building a showcase of amphibian and reptile pictures that when I get a chance will thoroughly go through to identify them. There is very little help on the Internet to help with identification.

The wetlands at REGUA

I have been at REGUA (Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu) for 2 weeks now and have settled in well and have been busy helping to show visitors to the Guapi Assu Bird Lodge the birds and wildlife around the reserve.

The main habitat that I am spending most time in is the restored wetlands close to the conservation centre. The habitat is mostly open lakes with islands, causeways and reed fringed edges to create a suitable nichies for a mix of species.

The bird life around these wetlands is fantastic and a great place to introduce yourself to many of the South American bird families.

Some of the regular species include; white-faced whistling duck, Muscovy duck, Brazilian teal, purple gallinule, capped, striated, cocoi and rufescent tiger herons, great and snowy egrets, wattled jacanas, white-headed marsh and masked water tyrants, wing-banded horneros, social flycatchers, smooth-billed and greater anis, creamy-bellied thrush and tropical kingbird.

I am starting to learn good spots to find certain species such as yellow-lored and common tody flycatchers, chestnut backed antshrike, slaty-breasted wood rail and rufous-sided crake.

There is also an impressive cattle egret roost on the main lake every evening with around 400 birds jostling for the best positions amongst the branches of the islands.

There is a group of around 30 capybara regularly around the wetland and there are currently several youngsters amongst the group. Broad-snouted caiman are more difficult to find around the wetland but I usually see at least 2 every visit. This species was new for me as it only occurs in Eastern and southern south America. It can grow to around 3 meters but most of the individuals here are about 1-2 meters long. 

I have started a special set of pictures on Flicker for my time at REGUA.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ian_loyd_wildlife/sets/72157634100644789/

Or alternatively scroll through the various Overseas albums to see some new pictures.

REGUA

REGUA

I will be based in Brazil for the next 3 and half months staying at the Regua project in the Rio de Janerio state of south east Brazil.

Regua which stands for (Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu) is a non-governmental conservation organisation set up to protect and restore a large area of the Mata Atlantica or Atlantic Rainforest. This is a unique habitat that stretches all the way along the Atlantic coastline from north east Brazil to Uruguay and inland to Argentina and Paraguay.

The Atlantic rainforest is much less well known than huge Amazonian rainforest, and as a result has not received the protection it requires. The forest used to cover 1,477,500 km² but after decades of deforestation only 7% of this forest remains and only 2% of this is primary forest today making it the second most endangered biome on earth. Only the ecosystems of Madagascar are rarer. This forest is also ranked in the top 5 biodiversity hotspots in the world which shows just how important it is that the remaining 7% is given full protection and areas can be re planted to increase the sustainability of the eco system.

The Regua project protects one of the largest remnants of the forest left and is determined to restore lost habitats, stop over-hunting of dwindling populations and restore lost species. It employs guards to patrol the forest to prevent any illegal extraction and had planted over 38,000 trees by 2008. Natural wetlands also used to be widespread in the region but were drained for agriculture and to eliminate the spread of water borne diseases; however these wetlands were a crucial part of this ecosystem and Regua has successfully restored a flourishing wetland habitat within the Reserve.

The project has also created an environmental education scheme to give local children an awareness of the importance of the forests and hopefully encourage them to protect them in the future.

One of Regua’s aims is to monitor the health of the forest and wetlands and record the species that are returning to the re-created habitats. Researchers and scientists from all over the world have visited the reserve to help research the diversity of species in different taxonomic groups.

Given the high diversity of wildlife and in particular birds, the reserve has created a bird lodge for visitors from around the world to come to and explore the diverse bird assemblages found within the reserve. There have been 455 species recorded so far including 118 Atlantic forest endemics and 62 Brazilian endemics. The lodge is non-profit making with the income going back into the conservation work. Brazil alone has an extremely high percentage of all the bird species in the world with 1700 recorded.

The Regua project is managed by Nicholas and Raquel Locke and has been given funding from the World Land Trust

While I am at Regua I will be acting as a volunteer bird guide for the visitors to the lodge. I hope to regularly post my sightings and news about my experiences on this blog over the coming months.

This is my second visit to Brazil and the first time I have visited the south east region so I hope to find many different species to those I saw during my trip to Mato Grosso in 2010.

Minsmere RSPB Reserve

Saturday the 11th was the East Berks RSPB group's coach outing to Minsmere RSPB Reserve.

It was a great day out, and really nice to see some of the gang again.

At this time of year it is possible to reach a big count for the day by the group and this year 90 species were recorded by the group as a whole.

Highlights included:

3 kittiwakes roosting amongst the gulls on the scrape, 7 little terns, 5 hobbies, 2 nightingales, turnstones, common sandpipier, bar tailed godwit, a roosting tawny owl and intimate views of a avocet pair swopping incubating duties on their clutch of eggs.

For more pictures please see http://www.flickr.com/photos/ian_loyd_wildlife/sets/72157632630818279/?page=5

Otmoor RSPB

The last couple of weekends I have spent the morning at Otmoor RSPB Reserve near Oxford.

On one of the visits I met up with my friend Zoe Edwards who is a part of the Reserve team. Not only was this a nice birding day out but I was also able to learn more about what was happening on the Reserve, including the recent breeding bird monitoring and habitat creation work.Some particuarly exciting news is that the increase in size of the reed bed has successfully encouraged 2 bitterns to take up territory. This may hopefully be the start of regular breeding for this species on the reserve and maybe the other typical reed-bed species will follow.

Over the course of the two visits I saw a good tally of species including: Grasshopper warbler, (1 seen, 3 heard), Lesser whitethroats (2 seen, 2 heard), whimbrel (1), yellow wagtail (1), water rail (1 seen, 2 heard), reed bunting, (6 seen, 1 heard), reed warbler (2 seen, 3 heard), sedge warbler (7 +), redshank (4), Curlew (1) and good numbers of lapwing.

Toads were still calling from the ditches and several Brown hares and (non-native) Reeve's Muntjack showed well.

The meadow at Ruscombe wood is finally coming to life with 4 grass snakes seen including one that was particuarly sluggish in the morning. Butterflies included: small tortoiseshell, peacock, holly blue, speckled wood and cowslips and cuckooflower are in bloom. 2 common and pgymy shrew were also found under the corrugated iron sheets.

A brief and unofficial newt survey of the newly estblished pond in the grounds of the Piggott school yielded 7 smooth newts, which was encouraging for such a new pond.

Black-necked grebes

On Saturday the 6th April there was a break in the cold weather and sunshine was seen again.

I went to Woolhampton Gravel pits near Aldermaston (West Berkshire) to look for the trio of Black-necked grebes that are present on the Rowney Predator lake (The first large lake from the car park at the Row Barge pub). They were very easy to locate in the eastern corner of the lake. Two of the birds were in full breeding plumage and appear to be a pair as they were witnessed performing the start of their courtship display and regularly called to each other. Therefore there is a chance that they could breed. This would be very signifcant as they have not bred in Berkshire for a long time and there are only around 40-60 pairs that nest in UK as a whole.

I had a look around the other side of the lake and had sightings of red fox, shelduck, little egret and a pair of little-ringed plovers. Little ringed plover is a species suffering from the reduction of gravel extraction in the Thames basin. Most of the exsisting gravel pits are now filled in and any open shingle has succeded to scrub. However natural habitat for this species would have always been low in Berkshire. Singing chiffchaff and a brimstone butterfly were reminders that spring might come one day.

Decoy Heath BBOWT Reserve is not far from Woolhampton and is one of my favourite sites for watching reptiles in Berkshire. In a 30 minute search I found 4 male adders basking around the site, but no common lizards which was a suprise. The site also supports slow worms and grass snakes. (For more recent pictures look at my flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ian_loyd_wildlife/sets