Woodpeckers from Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Here are two of the most common Woodpeckers from the lowlands in Bolivia.
Yellow-tufted Woodpecker from Santa Cruz. This Woodpecker can be seen in the central parts of the town.

White Woodpecker from Loreto, Beni. I have also seen this species in Lomas de Arenas several times.

The possibility to get a trip for free

Hoatzin, Amazonian Lodge, Manu

It is possible to promote ecotourism in many ways. Gunnar Engblom offers now a trip for free to Manu and Satipo road in order to get visitors to the new lodges in these areas. The idea is that the visitors should promote the new lodges, and at the same time the community lodges receive some more visitors.

It is important for these community lodges to receive visitors and get some benefits out of their protections efforts. If you want to learn something more about the project (and get a possibility to win a trip) you should go to: http://bit.ly/8s830C%20

Still not convinced? Satipo Road and Manu are among the best places to see birds on our planet

Returning from Loreto 08.11.09

The king of all frogs almost twice the size of my hand.

This is what you can get for 3 USD a day in Loreto, a room with a bed.

Sunday morning I planned to watch birds close to Loreto and then return to Trinidad in the afternoon. I woke up at 06:00 AM, and I soon realized that I had to change my plans. It had rained several hours by then, and the sound of the frogs was intense. The frogs were everywhere, and I observed one almost twice the size of my hand.

The rain stopped at 08:30 AM, and I started to look for a car that could bring me back to Trinidad. Mauricio told me that it could be difficult to drive shortly after the rain, but hopefully someone could give me a lift. Luckily one of the local drivers decided to go at 11:00 AM, and despite some difficulties we used only two hour on our way back to Trinidad. Below: A Piculet, but witch species?

Finding the Blue-throated Macaw the hard way, part IV

Southern Caracara

After 30 minutes at the back of the motorcycle, with Mauricio as the driver, we entered a farm with several small buildings. Several palms around the farm had breeding nest boxes for the Macaws. According to Mauricio the Blue-throated Macaws are probably going to use one of the nest boxes less than 100 meters from the farm buildings this year. It seems like the Blue-throated Macaws accept the presence of humans close to their nest. We started to wait about 50 meters from the nest boxes.

Mauricio told me that the Blue-throated Macaws have to fight with the Blue-and-yellow Macaw in order to get a nest box, and normally it looses the fight because it is smaller. The Blue-throated Macaws are also normally seen close to the farms in the area, and the last breeding season two pairs used the nest boxes made by Mauricio. Last year the chicks were stolen from the nest box used by the Macaws in this area, but the other pair of Blue-throated Macaws had fledgings at another farm.
Blue-and-yellow Macaws

After a while we decided to take a walk looking for the Macaws. We entered the area were the Blue-throated Macaws had their nest last breeding season, and a Laughing Falcon had occupied the nest box the Macaws used then.

Returning to the farm we soon heard the sound of the Blue-throated Macaws and the pair could bee observed in the palms not far from the nest boxes. I took my photos at some distance, and after some 10 minutes we decided to head back to Loreto. I have now seen one of the scarcest Macaws in the world, and hopefully this pair mange to raise their chicks this breeding season!

One of the Blue-throated Macaws

Loreto 07.11.09, seeing the Blue-throated Macaw the hard way, part III

Some more species from Loreto.


Limpkin walking next to the main street.

Southern Screamer

Jabiru
Let's start the last leg to find the Blue-throated Macaw together with Mauricio. He is one of the few who knows were to find this scarce species. According to himself he has never failed in his attempt to shove this species to visitors.

To be continued.

Loreto 07.11..09, seeing the Blue-throated Macaw the hard way, part II

The light varied considerably in the evening, but many bird shove up, and I it is at least possible to identify the birds. Totally I saw five species of Seedeaters in a couple of hours. Here are some of them.
Rusty-collared Seedeater, male. Not a sharp photo but the bird is identifiable.


Lined Seedeater, male and female

Double-collared Seedeater, male in poor light. Caqueta Seedeater and White-bellied Seedeater were also seen during the short walk around the town.

To be continued.

Between Trinidad and Loreto 07.11.09. Seeing the Blue-throated Macaw the hard way, part I

On the 06 of November at 21:00 PM I headed from Santa Cruz to Trinidad. The bus came to Trinidad at 06:00 the next morning. The next thing I had to do was to find the place were you can get a lift to Loreto. I soon learned that there is not any regular service to Loreto, so I just had to wait hoping that someone could pick me up. I met my guide Mauricio from Armonia at 10:00 PM, and half an hour later a Pick-Up shoved up (with all the seats occupied), and I got a space at the back of the car together with five other people. Mauricio headed towards Loreto at his motorcycle.

I had decided to see the Blue-throated Macaw "the hard way", at my own (paying a reasonable price), using Mauricio as my guide in Loreto. A week earlier Armonia had been very helpful providing information and the first contact with Mauricio. Then I had to find my way to Loreto, the last leg at the back of a Pick-Up. It was a sunny day and I managed to see 60+ species along the road. Among them Maguari Stork, Jabiru, Wood Stork, Plumbeous Ibis, Scarlet-headed Blackbird & White Monjita just to name a few.

According to Mauricio the best would be to visit the farm were we could see the Macaws in the afternoon. This meant that I could spend some hours watching birds walking around in the outskirts of Loreto on my own. It was quite warm, and in the middle of the day, but I still managed to see some birds.
Rufous Hornero, common in Loreto.

Narrow-billed Woodcreeper in the outskirts of the town.

Two White Monjitas could be seen at the end of the main street leading towards some ponds and lagoons.

White-rumped Monjita was easily seen in the town. I took this pictures in the late afternoon.

To be continued.

Birds in and around Sucre

Brown-backed Mockingbird is quite common in Sucre.

Grey-hooded Parakeet, Alto Tujsupaya, Sucre. This species is not present all the year, but several flocks were seen during August and September. Now it seems like they have disappeared from the area just as the Mitred Parakeets present at the same time.

Streak-fronted Thornbird, Alto Tujsupaya, Sucre, 10.09.09. It can be difficult to photograph this species.

Rufous-sided Warbling-Finch, Alto Tujsupaya, Sucre, 06.08.09.

Rusty-vented Canastero

Rusty-vented Canastero at the announcement board.

Caching insects.

The nest in Molle 03.10.09

Several months I have tried to take some decent photos of the quite cryptic Rusty-vented Canastero. It’s a bird that rarely perches in the open, and most of my photos are either distant or only a part of the bird is visible. However, some weeks ago a bird looked for insects hopping on the announcement board at the wall opposite to my office window. The bird visited the announcement board several times a day during the next couple of days, and I managed to take some photos of the bird. Rusty-vented Canastero belongs to the Creamy-breasted Canastero complex together with amongst others Dark-winged Canastero. Here in Sucre the Rusty-vented Canastero builds almost exclusively the nest in trees (mostly Molle), and not in Cactus like the Dark-winged Canastero.

Lomas de Arena, Santa Cruz III

Guira Cuckoo is one of the common birds in and around Santa Cruz.

South American Snipe, not a good picture but it is the best I have of this species.

Jardín Botánica, Santa Cruz IV

Purple-throated Euphonia, this group is now considered to be a part of the Siskins in stead of the Tanagers.

This Spot-breasted Woodpecker nested in the same tree as the Yellow-tufted Woodpecker (below).

All the photos are from my visit to the Botanic Garden 07.09.09. When you visit this place its important to tell the driver that you wants to go the new Botanic Garden (el nuevo Jardín Botánico).

Jardín Botánico, Santa Cruz III

Wattled Jacana

Here are some of the birds I saw along the oxbow lake in the Botanic Garden. I also had a Gray-necked Wood-Rail in the morning, and several Little Grebes were present as well.

Purple Gallinule

Ringed Kingfisher

Amazonian Kingfisher

Jardín Botánico, Santa Cruz - some animals

The woodland and the oxbox lake also holds some animals, here are some of them.

Lomas de Arena, Santa Cruz II

Red-legged Seriema, I observed this sought after bird in the gardens in the area with the last entrance sign over the road (were the patch of wood you have to drive through begins).
Cocoi Heron
Green Ibis & Black-necked Stilt
Plumbeous Ibis
Nacunda Nighthawk

Lomas de Arena, Santa Cruz

Lomas de arena
White-tailed Hawk
Southern Crested Caracara
Roseate Spoonbill
Ringed Teal (highest) & two Brazilian Ducks.

This area lies quite close to Santa Cruz. However, it takes some time to get there. Sometimes you need a four-wheel drive the last 3 or 4 kilometers, but off course you will see more birds walking through the forest the last kilometers before coming to the dunes and lagoons.