Pork Ribs for Dinner

September 5, 2015

I’m home for only six days between the Brazil tours and my Bolivia tour. That’s plenty of time to repack, make backups of my laptop files and photos, and do laundry, but not enough time to see all the friends I want to. And it’s been weeks since I’ve been able to cook, so I made:

Cheesy onion bread (from Peter Rheinhardt’s Artisian Breads Every Day)

Curry cole slaw (from Cook’s Illustrated)

Lentil salad (from a the back page of The Thymes, the First Alternative Co-op’s newsletter in Corvallis)

and Oven-smoked Pork Ribs (from Cook’s Illustrated).

This last recipe involves smearing the ribs the day before with a mixture of mustard, ketchup, garlic, and spices; heating the oven with a pizza stone to 500°F; scattering powdered, ground lapsang souchang tea leaves over the bottom of a baking tray; putting the ribs over the tea leaves on a cooling rack; sealing the whole thing tightly in heavy-duty aluminum foil; and then placing the pan on the pizza stone so the tea leaves smoke into the ribs. After a half hour, I added some apple juice to the tray, resealed the foil, and roast it at a much lower temperature for several hours. I made a ton and invited a bunch of people.

Correction: Twelve Jaguars

It turns out I’ve seen 12 Jaguars.

Considering Paul Donahue’s intimate familiarity with all the jaguars down there, I decided to submit to him photos of the two for which I never did get a good frontal view. He was able to identify them, and both are new:

This is Patricia from October 1, 2013

And this is Cage from August 14, 2014

Marvelous Mato Grosso WINGS Tour: Our Last Day in Pantanal

August 28, 2015

Today we had a long drive all the way back to Cuiabá for our farewell dinner and flights home tomorrow. But it’s not so long that we didn’t have time for some birding. We were actually supposed to have an even more relaxed day, with afternoon birding at Pouso Alegre and even a night drive, with flights home tomorrow afternoon. But less than two weeks ago, Gol canceled that afternoon flight and automatically booked everyone on an early morning flight. We would have to leave Pouso Alegre at 2:00 a.m. to be on time for that one, but WINGS and our ground agent were able to change things around last minute so that we’re in a hotel only a 6-minute walk from the Cuiabá airport tonight.

As I said, we still had time for some birding which turned out to be excellent. At one bridge we saw this very responsive American Pygmy Kingfisher. (The kingfishers are actually very territorial and often respond to recordings of their vocalizations.)

Playback at a Gray-breasted Crake in just the right configuration of vegetation resulted in a wonderful sighting of this very shy bird.

I alerted the group that we were standing next to a large patch of Heliconia psittacorum, so we were well prepared when a scarce Buff-bellied Hermit flew in. Will Russell was especially prepared as he snapped this shot of what was one of my favorite birds of the trip.

We paused again at the mango grove where this time Fabrice spotted the roosting Great Horned Owl that we couldn’t find two days ago.

It was very busy with birds here, Chotoy Spinetail, Maguari Storks, and many other birds keeping us diverted. I managed a shot of this Silver-beaked Tanager that barely shows the deep velvety red.

A good find here was this migrant Yellow-browed Tyrant, a bird I’ve seen perhaps only 3 or 4 times.

We made an emergency stop for a roosting Great Potoo that Fabrice says he spotted while we were driving. I think he must have had inside information. Or he possesses twice as many rods and cones in his retina and has a superhuman flicker fusion threshold. But there it was. People got back on the bus stunned.

But I proved my prowess by spotting this retina-scorching Scarlet-headed Blackbird. It took me two minutes to explain where it was to Fabrice, as he had a hard time seeing it.

We did have lunch at Pouso Alegre, seeing a few nice birds as well as this fancy treehopper, Membracis bucktoni, in the mango trees.

We made only a couple brief stops on the final stretch back to Cuiabá. One was for this cooperative Guira Cuckoo, normally a very common species but one that had largely avoided giving us decent views until now.

And a final stop at a truly pantanalian sight, dozens of egrets and countless Yacare Caiman, with Fabrice wondering how close he can get without scaring them.

How Many Jaguars Have I Seen?

August 27, 2015

After having seen three jaguars earlier this month and two today, I got to wondering how many different individuals I’ve seen since I first did this boat trip with Doug Futuyma in June 2012.

I cropped out the face of every one I had photos of and compared them over and over. Turns out the answer is ten. Virtually every sighting has been a different individual; the only repeat sightings I’ve had were twice where we saw the same animal in the morning as in the afternoon (such as today) and last month when we saw Ruth on two consecutive afternoons. There are two more animals I’ve photographed without getting a good frontal view, so these could be repeats or two more new ones.

Paul Donahue was kind enough to analyze my photos and provide names for them.

Fabrice also looked carefully at his photos from the first animal this morning and determined that it was Mick, one that I hadn’t seen in almost two years.

Marvelous Mato Grosso WINGS Tour: Jaguar Day in the Pantanal

August 27, 2015

The amazing eyes of Fabrice spotted our first Jaguar this morning. It was tucked under the foliage a bit, sitting on a bank overlooking the Tres Irmãos River. Our group is in three small boats, but the two of us in front were able to turn around just in time to see it lying there then get up and disappear into the forest. Fabrice managed one quick photo.

We waited around a bit to see if it would reappear, and at least four other boats arrived, hoping for the same. The river vegetation here was very dense, and it didn’t look as if there would be a place for it to reappear. While waiting we spotted group of Alouatta caraya, Black Howler, apparently looking down on the jaguar.

I then decided we could see more birds and maybe even another Jaguar if we continued up river. We indeed saw lots of birds. This is a Pied Lapwing.

Southern Rough-winged Swallows were by far the most numerous bird (the dirt banks here must be absolutely ideal for their nests), but this White-winged Swallow was more photogenic.

This is a rare plumage of Rufescent Tiger-Heron, an older subadult. I believe it’s still unknown how long it takes these birds to transition from juvenile to full adult plumage; it might take a few years.

Not just birds – we saw plenty of Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, Capybara.

Then mid-morning we got word that another Jaguar had been spotted back downriver. Or rather, we saw a boat speeding by at full speed and got the gist.

Here it was, overlooking the river in a more open location, and totally at ease with the gathering flotilla of boats below. We counted 21 well-behaved boats holding just about 100 people.

My friends Beth and Will Russell came as participants on the tour; here they are with a Jaguar after-glow.

One of our fine boatmen, Aloysio.

We returned to our boat for lunch, then set out again the afternoon to see more wildlife.

Black-capped Donacobius must be one of the most photogenic birds here. It had, at various times, been classified with wrens, other times with thrashers, but recently finally got what it deserved – monotypic status in its own family, Donacobiidae.  They have a fantastic duet, bowing and pumping their tails, inflating a grouse-like orange neck sac that is barely visible here. Despite all this, whenever I say this bird’s name, I hear the round in my head “Dona Nobis Pacem.” But of course the words are “Donacobius Pacem.” Try watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QewO_lVomGs and you’ll never hear it otherwise again.

We got very lucky to see this buck Blastocerus dichotomus, Marsh Deer.

Also a lucky sighting was of this Ringed Kingfisher with a Helicops leopardinus, Leopard Water Snake. It was crushing the length of the snake with its bill, alternating with whacking it with great force against the branch. We finally watched it swallow the whole thing.

A very common tree here is Triplaris americana, an exclusive home to an ant with a powerful sting (Pseudomyrmex triplarinus), dioecious, and a member of the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. This female was particularly brightly colored.

We rushed to two other Jaguar sightings today to arrive with a bunch of boats drifting around waiting for an animal to appear where one had been. Each time we eventually gave up to find more birds or a more cooperative one.

Finally, very late in the afternoon came word of another Jaguar, so we dashed off to find the same animal as this late morning’s sighting enjoying a view of the river below.

Marvelous Mato Grosso WINGS Tour: First Day in the Pantanal

August 26, 2015

Today we awoke to the loud, rollicking hoarse duets “pick-it-all-up/you-pick-it-up” of the Chaco Chachalacas all over the grounds of our lodge. Despite the noise, before breakfast our attention naturally was drawn to the Hyacinth Macaws feeding, playing, and obviously starting to nest in the trees by the horse corrals.

After breakfast we walked the entrance drive of our Pouso Alegre lodge in advance of the long drive south to Porto Jofre. This Capped Heron was surveying its territory from the top of a tall tree.

I whistled in this predictably territorial Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl.

Noisy groups of Monk Parakeets were tending their nests.

One of the most characteristic sounds of the Pantanal dawn is that of the duetting Plumbeous Ibises from their perches in big trees.

Maybe just feeling pretty in this pink Tabebuia was this Rufescent Tiger-Heron.

A favorite observation for some was watching this Chestnut-eared Aracari feeding on Ipomoea asarifolia morning glory flowers at the edge of a pond by the road.

This pair of Jabirus were right next to the road on our way out, causing our driver to suddenly stop for a photo op.

With such a long dry season as well as occasional pouncounced cold fronts from the south, this is a terrible time of year for butterflies in the Pantanal. So I was surprised at lunch to see this Taygetis sosis fly in and land in the office of the hotel in Pixaim.

It’s a long drive to Porto Jofre, so I was nodding off in the front seat of the bus when Carlos stopped and pointed out my window. I jerked my head up just in time to see this Eunectes notaeus, Yellow Anaconda slither off into the undergrowth, but we were lucky that it stopped just in the shade for better views. My guess was that it was only about 6 feet long, probably average for this smaller of the species. Carlos had seen it completely stretched across the road, probably sunning, and it moved off either seeing the bus approaching or feeling the vibrations through the ground.

We made a stop at the abandoned farm house and mango grove near the southern end of our drive. I had never entered the house, but bold Fabrice did, finding a huge colony of Glossophaga soricinia, Pallas's Long-tongued Bats.

We arrived with perfect timing at our hotel for the next two nights, the Jacaré Boat, and motored upriver to be close to the area where most jaguars are seen, arriving just after dark.

Marvelous Mato Grosso WINGS Tour: Last morning at Cristalino Jungle Lodge

August 25, 2015

Today was a travel day, changing worlds from the Amazon rainforest to the Pantanal while remaining in the same state of Mato Grosso. Like magic. Nevertheless, we had a good morning’s birding at Cristalino before our scheduled departure.

But wait – with just one last morning in such an amazing place, how I could possibly just sleep in when so much of the magic in the rainforest happens under the cover of darkness? To the dismay of Fabrice, I set my alarm for 3:50 a.m. and walked the trail towards the tower. There was not as much bird vocalization as I had expected, but I did hear Tawny-bellied Screech- and Crested Owls. The Red-handed Howlers began roaring early as well. The only photos I came back with were of this true bug, possibly in the broad-headed bug family Alydidae.

The other was this crepuscular (or nocturnal?) skipper, Euriphellus euribates, Euribates Scarlet-eye.

Then the group gathered for a dawn vigil in the secret garden, a small rocky area not far from the common area that resembles a tiny version of the serra. We had a Blue-black Grosbeak here, only my second ever at Cristalino, fabulous views of Tapajos Hermit feeding from the Ananas ananassoides wild pineapple plants, and a pair of distant perched Red-fan Parrots, really showing off their crests.

The old dried fruits of this vine looks like the open-ended flasks of the family Lecythidaceae, but I think all members of that family are trees; I have no idea what this is then.

We moved then to the staff clearing where we saw several more birds, including these Curl-crested Aracaris feeding one the açai palm fruits.

The Samanea was blooming nicely providing food for at least 3 species of hummingbirds as well as this Eulaema sp. orchid bee (yes, the same subfamily, Euglossinae, as those shiny green orchid bees).

I also saw a some more nice butterflies before we had to leave. This is the upperside of Callicore cynosura, Cynosura Eighty-eight.

And the first “greenmark” I have seen in a while, Caria trochilus, Trochilus Metalmark

We departed early from the lodge in order to have some time to bird from the boat along the Cristalino River, rather than having to rush to the Teles Pires river bank. We hoped to catch a glimpse of yesterday’s Harpy Eagle, but they never seem to show up in the same place twice.

We did have an exciting raptor soaring overhead, at first thinking it might be an Ornate Hawk Eagle, but saner minds and photos held sway, and we settled on a female Hook-billed Kite.

Our flight back to Cuiabá was only 15 minutes late, but this still meant arriving at our lodge Pouso Alegre well after sunset, not long before dinner. We then took a drive for spotting night life but only had Common Pauraque and Common Potoo. Tomorrow we drive deeper into the Pantanal for some Jaguar seeking.