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Rich Hoyer on his just-completed tour, Brazil: Marvelous Mato Grosso



August 23: Rich Hoyer on his just-completed tour, Brazil: Marvelous Mato Grosso

Flawless weather and a nearly continuous parade of birds and animals on this year’s Mato Grosso tour resulted in a treasure of memories and photos. Even without the easy-to-obtain photos, no one will ever forget the intensely blue and immense Hyacinth Macaws in the Pantanal, voted favorite bird by an overwhelming margin.

A distant second favorite but equally unforgettable was the Collared Crescentchest at Chapada dos Guimarães that crept around like a mouse under the clumps of grass right at our feet, eventually working its way up a bush to sing just a few feet away.

It was hard to choose other favorites among the 460 species of birds we saw, but those with impressive color combinations and fantastic bills seemed to draw the most attention, with White Woodpecker, Spangled and Pompadour Cotingas, Rusty-backed Antwren, Golden-green Woodpecker, and Helmeted Manakin in the first category and Red-billed Scythebill and Fiery-tailed Awlbill clearly in the second.


Pompadour Cotinga

Not especially colorful but favorited for their high cuteness quotient were Burrowing Owl and Snow-capped Manakin.


Snow-capped Manakin

There were fewer non-birds to choose favorites from, but how could our outstanding views of three different jaguars not top any list? But several South American Tapirs, Giant Anteater, Southern Tamandua, and a most exciting Yellow Anaconda helped make this a tour of epic proportions.

Posted: August 23, 2016