Aug 9--Hotel Pantanal Norte, Porto Jofre

Sunday, August 9, 2015 

Hotel Pantanal Norte, Porto Jofre

As well as being Jeff's and my 46th Anniversary, today is Brazilian Father’s Day. Three generations of males — the owners of the lodge — grandfather (founder), father (present-day manager), and son (future manager) came to the breakfast room to bid all a Happy Father’s Day. Marcelo told us that the grandfather and founder was a poor farmer when some people came and asked if they could camp on his farm and fish. Ecotourism began with his permission. The family is now wealthy.

After a 5 am breakfast we birded the grounds. The Brazilian Porcupine was nowhere to be found, but we did make friends with the owner’s yellow cat and saw lots of birds at fruit and seed feeders, including four cowbirds that we could view together for comparison: Shiny Cowbird (1), Screaming Cowbird (2), Bay-winged Cowbird (3), and Giant Cowbird (4). The Giant Cowbirds like to eat bugs on and around capybaras.

We also got  pretty good looks at a Red-billed Scythebill (1). I had actually held this bird with its long, curved bill in my hand on an Earthwatch Expedition in the Ecuadorian cloud forest; Saffron Finch (2), Black-capped Donacobius (3), Cattle Tyrant (4), a bird we have seen in several places, generally on the ground; and Vermillion Flycatcher (5), another eye-catching bird that I had seen first in So. California and then in Ecuador. They were fairly common in Brazil, but not as common as were the Cattle Tyrants.

After birding the grounds, we boated down river in an effort to get away from the paparazzi and all the jaguar seeking tourists upriver. Marcelo told us there were not as many jaguar sightings down river and that the jaguars were more secretive and wary of boaters. Nonetheless we got a brief look at one peering out at us from the thick vegetation. Its head appeared enormous. The best part was that we had it briefly, but quietly to ourselves.

On this trip we got lucky and saw both Sun Bitterns and a Sun Grebe as well as a Boat-billed Heron, and a White-wedged Piculet. The tiny piculets in the woodpecker family are one of my favorites. There were two Sun Bitterns in the shade of a tree on a sandbar-type shore where we stopped for a pitstop. We got to observe them for quite awhile. Though Marcelo tried to coax them into displaying like the one on the right below, neither was interested.

Sun Grebe, top; Boat-billed Heron (bottom)

White-wedged Piculet

 On this same bank was a pretty large family of Capybaras. We also stirred up a roost of Band-tailed Nighthawks that had been resting on the ground under a tree. They were making their calling sounds and Marcelo wanted to record them. He walked down the sandbar shore to capture their call and frightened the capybara family into the water. Mom, dad, aunts, uncles, and babes all swam to the opposite shore. They were back on their sandbar on our later return upriver to the lodge, however. 

This day was very HOT and tiring so Marcelo gave us a longer siesta time than usual. We were free after lunch until 3 pm.

After lunch I rested and then took pix around the lodge again, walking out on the bridge over the pond. The pond was full of the giant water lily pads with upturned edges that Jacana walk on. Below is a screen grab of a video Pierre took of a Jacana doing just that. I tried to embed or link the video to no avail.

Though Jabirus were everywhere, building and tending nests and even walking on the lawn before our rooms, I don’t believe I’ve given you a good look at one yet. They are a symbol of Brazil and there was even a statue of one by the pool (see below).  They are in the stork family I think, very large (50”) and distinctive.

Internet pic

Pierre Henkart's photo of a jabiru flying to its nest with a  stick

 At 3 pm, after siesta, we again boarded the boats for our final birding and jaguar spotting on the river. This time we motored upriver to see more jaguars, the hoi polloi be damned. So far we had seen 3 jaguars, one on each of our river outings. 

The photo above is by Pierre Henkart of our group.

When our boat got word of a jaguar sighting, we motored to the location. Many boats had already gathered. The jaguar was lying on the bank, but then got up and walked back into the bushes along the shore, out of sight. 

Suddenly Heini said, “I see it!”  And we got some looks at this our fourth jaguar as it played hide and seek with us. However, everyone was struggling with the afternoon sun which was HOT and reflected into our eyes from the water. I wore sunglasses, the hat combo described below, and covered my face with a wet bandanna, but was still uncomfortable in the heat and glare.

Below are again pix of Kathy and Heini on our first day on the river. Both are wearing “jungle” hats. I forgot to mention that this hat was Nelson’s dinner gift on our first day. It was very handy because of its tie. I wore it with my duck-billed cap or bandanna under it.

Just before we managed to get to the jaguar, our boat developed problems. The pilot called Hotel Pantanal. The hotel sent another boat—narrower and two seats shy of the boat we were in, but after the jaguar left for good, we managed to get to the shade on the other side of the river and transfer into it, the three smallest people on one bench seat in the back and Marcelo sitting on the bow. We birded for the rest of the afternoon in this boat, taking it into other rivers and water-iris-clogged backwaters where one would not imagine it could go. But, in the process we got good looks at three Bare-faced Curassows along a bank—two females (left) and a male (right).

On our way back to the hotel, Neotropic Cormorants were congregating in a roosting tree on a point between two rivers. More and more flew over our heads after we passed the tree and I wondered how the tree would hold them all. Though they are smaller than our Double-crested Cormorants, they are still fairly large birds.

Early Neotropic Cormorant arrivals at the roosting tree

This, our last evening, the cooks prepared a special meal for our group. They brought out a huge platter with a whole catfish on it. The catfish was garnished with mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, etc., and there were roast potatoes on one side of the platter. The fish was so large that the nine of us (Luis ate with the help) could not eat it all! 

At this buffet there was a big basket of apples and bananas, and also little squares of wrapped peanut brittle and a soft peanut square that tasted like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. I had been taking these apples and squares to snack on during our birding jaunts. This evening I stocked up for the long bus ride back up the Transpantaneira tomorrow. The apples were small and deliciously tart and juicy, nothing like those we get in American supermarkets. Bigger—as demonstrated with tasteless strawberries—is not always better.

This evening Danalee excitedly showed us a set of Piranha jaws that she had asked for. Marcelo had asked a local fisherman to catch one. The fisherman had boiled the flesh off his catch and presented the jaws to Danalee. The teeth were sharp and pointed but the jaw arch looked surprisingly human. The things we Americans take through customs!

Below is a collage of Hotel Panatal Norte and Pantanal highlights from the Internet. Notice that the Transpantaneira ends right at the river. Notice also the river snaking in the background.