Shorebirder

Today was largely a travel day. Porto Jofre is located at the very end of the Transpantaneira, which as you may recall is the long dead-end road that goes into the heart of Brazil's northern Pantanal. So we had to turn around and re-travel the long (but very birdy) road that we took in. Our destination would be Pousada Piuval, which is located way back toward the beginning of the road. Along the way we stopped whenever we had the prospect of finding new birds. It was our last chance at the usually common Maguari Stork, of which there had only been one or two seen all season. We ended up dipping on that one which would stand out as our one big miss. Black-collared Hawk Rufescent Tiger-Heron Capped Heron As we drove back north, we again watched the transition from lush and green near Porto Jofre to drier and browner near Pousada Piuval. Each small wooden bridge (all 100+ of them) held varying amounts of water and wildlife beneath them. The Transpantaneira: dirt road, wooden ...

Since the pressure of finding a Jaguar was off, we decided to again split the day between a long morning boat ride and an afternoon of landbirding. Again, shockingly, we found our 4th and 5th JAGUARS of the trip almost immediately. This pair was restless and was only seen briefly, from a distance, under overcast skies - hence no photos. Every encounter with this cat was thrilling, but there was no matching our experience from the previous morning. We again spotted a TAPIR along the bank. Continuing along, we drove past a few house boats owned by local fishermen. The fishermen live on the river and fish from small canoes - they keep their catch in large refrigerators in their house boats, then sell them to local communities. house boat owned by local fisherman local catch navigating narrow river channels Back on land in the afternoon we enjoyed fantastic views of the largest parrot in the world, the HYACINTH MACAW. Hyacinth Macaws Other afternoon sightings included Peach-fronted Parakee...

Porto Jofre is situated on the Cuiaba River, known for its sportfishing and jaguar sightings. We planned to spend the bulk of the next two days on the river in search of Jaguar. The jags are most active at dawn/dusk and nighttime, but can be seen during daylight hours along the riverbanks, possibly bathing, drinking, or just resting on a bank. According to local knowledge, we had about a 50-75% chance of spotting a jag if we spent two days on the river. The group boarding the boat at Porto Jofre About 20 minutes into our ride, we took a turn off the main river to check a spot where jags are sometimes seen. Incredibly, less than a half hour into our 2-day search, our boat driver spotted a JAGUAR along the river. We watched, speechless, as a second Jag swam across the channel toward the first one. The two cats proceeded to interact for a few minutes before swimming away as we watched from a distance. This was THE top moment of the trip for most of us. JAGUARS After that remarkable experi...