Due to poor wifi service and human error (!) this is a belated first day post.....!
Following a lengthy flight via Miami and a lengthy delay we
eventually arrived in Santa Cruz some 4 hours behind schedule. This meant that
we couldn’t bird the Botanical Gardens until a few days time and instead drove
north towards our lodge for the next couple of nights at Buena Vista. It’s
always extremely exciting to be in a new country and have a long list of
potential lifers on offer almost immediately. So we began with a quick check
around the airport perimeter for
Red-winged
Tinamou but it was just too hot, so we didn’t linger.
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| Burrowing Owls |
However, just along
the road a pair of
Burrowing Owls
posed nicely, and we saw the first of many
Chopi
Blackbirds and
Southern Lapwings,
plus a few distant
Fork-tailed
Flycatchers. Further on a roadside pool warranted our next stop as some
largish shapes proved to be a group of White-faced
Whistling-ducks plus a couple of
Brazilian
Teals. The scope was handy to identify a couple of shorebirds skulking at
the far end, which turned out to be one each of
Solitary and
Pectoral
Sandpiper. Then a pair of
Sayaca
Tanagers flew in and landed on the fence wire, a
Rufous Hornero walked past them and a
Wattled Jacana posed on the bank as well. Continuing our drive we
had plenty of
Southern Caracaras, a
few
Yellow-headed Caracaras, both
Black and
Turkey Vultures,
Purplish
Jay,
Picui Ground-dove, a close
Limpkin,
Guira Cuckoo and immature
Snail
Kite.
 |
| Greater Rhea |
We made another stop beside a field for our first group of 5
Greater Rheas, and we’d see plenty more
along the way this morning. A large pool then caused us a rush of excitement as
a stately
Maguari Stork was stood in
the middle, and then a
Savanna Hawk
flew in and a
Lesser Yellow-headed
Vulture appeared close by.
 |
| Maguari Stork |
We reached our lodge by early afternoon and
whilst waiting for lunch we took the opportunity to scan the surrounding area
from the veranda. A pair of
Rusty-margined
Flycatchers were quite active in the shade of some Palm trees, whilst it
was apparent there was a heavy southwards movement of
Eastern Kingbirds, with small flocks passing overhead all
afternoon. A
Short-tailed Hawk was
scoped nearby,
Rufous Horneros
patrolled the lawns, and a
Streaked
Flycatcher was also seen. After a wonderful lunch and a short rest we drove
to a nearby area and birded from the quiet road. We did really well with
Blue-headed Parrot,
Dusky-headed and
White-eyed Parakeets and several
Chestnut-fronted Macaws flying over. We also had
Roadside Hawk,
Greater Yellow-headed Vulture, and lots of
Yellow-headed Caracaras to bump up our raptor list.
 |
| Chestnut-eared Aracari |
A pair of
Fork-tailed Woodnymphs appeared at the
same time as a
Gilded Hummingbird, and at the same spot a pair of
Yellow-tufted Woodpeckers flew in, a
Chestnut-eared Aracari was scoped in a
Cecropia tree and a
Black-billed Thrush
flew onto some power lines.
 |
| Southern Screamers |
We finished the day with
Southern Screamers,
Laughing
Falcon and
Buff-necked Ibis to
round off a very good introduction to Bolivia’s vast birdlife.
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