Cristalino Jungle Lodge Report – August 24-30, 2011
I don’t have much time for a full report of this week at Brazil’s Cristalino Jungle Lodge, but it’s been amazing every day.
Yesterday morning, the first Zigzag Heron of the season (resident but rather silent and very hard to find during the dry season) flushed from under my feet while I was on my way to nourish the butterfly mineral lick on the beach (see the title photo). Everyone at the lodge got to see it.
Just a few days ago, word came over the radios of a Harpy Eagle perched next to the river just a few hundred meters upriver from the lodge. Most people got to see it during its 2 hour stay, including yours truly.
Here are a few other photo highlights:
Even rarer here than the Harpy Eagle, at the exact same spot, was this Turkey Vulture. Strangely, no one else was excited about it.
A Band-tailed Antbird, probably an immature male, just in front of the lodge.
A Ladder-tailed Nightjar seen from a boat two days ago.
Swallow-winged Puffbird is a common daily sight here.
Yesterday, even during a day off lounging on the lodge grounds (and mostly working on the computer) I managed to see a lifer, a rare White-naped Xenopsaris.
I’m ‘excited’ about the TV, certainly never seen one along the RC, there will be Burrowing Owls in the clearing next…
That has to be the best shot of a Zigzag Heron I have ever seen. How often is Harpy Eagle seen at or near the lodge?
Thanks! Harpy Eagle hasn’t actually been seen by anyone actually standing at the lodge proper, but there has been about one sighting a week from somewhere along the Cristalino River so far. The one I saw was just upriver from the lodge, and the last one was about 1/2 mile downstream from the lodge just this past week, seen by four clients who were just on their way out after two full days at the lodge. Lucky!
Hi Rich,
Hope all is well with yourself and Tayler.
I’d be very grateful for any shots of the Harpy and the Red fan Parrot you took while we were there,
Many thanks, Marcus
Hi Marcus – Sure enough. It will take me a while to go through my 10,000 photos after I get home later this week. Tayler leaves just 10 days after me. We’re both doing great, and things continue to be exciting here. She’s now seen 3 Harpy Eagles!