Cristalino Jungle Lodge Report: Sep 22-28, 2011

OK, cutting to the chase, this past week’s top bird was definitely the CRESTED EAGLE that I spotted from the old tower.

The view from the top of the tower is something I try to show every guest, but a very few people have difficulties with height. I really feel sorry for them, as the tower opens up a whole new world of viewing opportunities.

A long-awaited lifer, this slightly smaller relative of the famous Harpy Eagle seems to be even rarer than that giant. Another bad photo of this bird – digiscoped using a Zeiss scope zoomed in to the max and my Canon PowerShot at 3.8X. The bird was probably about 1.5 km away.

Ornate Hawk-Eagle isn’t nearly as rare as either of the above, but it’s a very hard bird to find, see, and especially photograph at Cristalino. This one was from the top of the Serra.

The rainy season hasn’t quite started, and with temps now reaching 98.5°F (37°F), things are getting pretty dry. Well-placed bathing pools are one of the top attractions now, even for non-birders who can tolerate sitting still for more than 20 minutes. This Black-spotted Bare-eye is an example of something that comes with such patience.

But enough of lousy photos – my favorite photo this week was that of a foraging Spotted Antpitta that I actually didn’t have to be all that patient for. I know one very experienced birder who spent an entire morning with the sole purpose of seeing this species and failed. I wasn’t looking for it, just had dumb luck.

Photo at top: A Spotted Antpitta stumbled into Rich Hoyer while he was on an afternoon stroll at Cristalino Jungle Lodge

Random Posts:

Gunnar: Birdingblogs Fest #002 May 15, 2011: Warbler week. This is not how I planned this. Trying to get together a new birdingblog fest in just
Category:Birdblogging

Rich Hoyer: A Lesson on Digiscoping Techniques – the Zeiss Diascope: I recently conducted some tests in my back yard to determine which digiscoping techniques work best
Category:Birding North America

Gyorgy Szimuly: Addicted to birdwatching: Szimi Style birding Shorebirds, bird conservation, travelling for birds and bird photography and rec
Category:Birding Western Palearctic

Similar Posts:

Rich Hoyer:Cristalino Jungle Report – August 16-23, 2011: There are now two 50-meter towers here at Cristalino Jungle Lodge, making it the best place to view
Category:Birding Neotropics

Rich Hoyer:Cristalino Jungle Lodge, Brazil: One of My Favorite Places in the World Cristalino Jungle Lodge is one of my favorite places on Earth
Category:Birding Neotropics

Rich Hoyer:Cristalino Montage – Row 3: If there’s one thing clear from my Cristalino Montage, it’s that I like a lot more than just birds –
Category:Birding Neotropics

Rich Hoyer:Cristalino Jungle Lodge – Rich Hoyer’s Last Days and Bird List Totals: My last days of this two-month stay at Cristalino were anything but relaxing. But who wants to relax
Category:Birding Neotropics

Rich Hoyer:Another Two Months at Cristalino Jungle Lodge: I’ve written about Brazil’s Cristalino Jungle Lodge before here, and I’ll be writing about it some m
Category:Birding Neotropics

Tagged as: Black-spotted Bare-eye, Crested Eagle, Cristalino Jungle Lodge, Ornate Hawk-Eagle, Rich Hoyer, Spotted Antpitta