Paraguay

Day 1: The tour begins this evening at our hotel in Asunción (see Note **, below). Participants traveling directly to Asunción should arrive no later than this evening.

Day 2: Following an early morning introductory meeting at our hotel, we’ll begin our journey across the Chaco to Laguna Capitán. We’re likely to notch up a surprisingly long list of spectacular species at the roadside pools along the Trans-Chaco Highway, not least among them Jabiru, Maguari, and Wood Storks, Roseate Spoonbill, Plumbeous and Buff-breasted Ibis, Limpkin, Cocoi Heron, and Black-collared Hawk. 

In areas with more grass Whistling Heron, Savannah Hawk, Long-winged Harrier, Yellow-headed Caracara, Chotoy Spinetail, and Screaming and Shiny Cowbirds are all likely, while in the true palm savanna Southern Screamer, Giant Wood Rail, and Blue-crowned and Nanday Parakeets are common. Along the way we’ll stop at reedbeds for Donacobius, Olivaceous Pampa-finch (a potential split), Unicolored and Scarlet-headed Blackbirds, and, with luck, Rufous-sided Crake and some of the smaller bitterns. Night at Laguna Capitán.

Days 3-4: We’ll explore Cuenca Upper Yacaré Sur, a region of dry Chaco and salt lagoons. Birding in the Chaco is not always easy, but the rewards are great. Though our accommodation is basic, the birding is stunning. Our main aim will be to see the 18 Chaco endemics. Many of them, such as Chaco Nothura, Brushland Tinamou, Many-colored Brush-finch, Crested Hornero, and Black-capped Warbling-finch, are easy to find while others, such as Chaco Eagle, need a little luck. The real prizes are the “Chaco Big Five”: Quebracho Crested-Tinamou, Black-legged Seriema, Black-bodied Woodpecker, Chaco Owl, and Crested Gallito. 

On the saltwater lagoons we might see the last of the winter flocks of Coscoroba Swan, Chilean Flamingo, and ducks such as Brazilian and Ringed Teals, White-cheeked Pintail, three whistling-ducks, and maybe Rosybill. The surrounding habitat can hold Cream-backed Woodpecker, Olive-crowned Crescentchest, Scimitar-billed and Great Rufous Woodcreepers, and Chaco Earthcreeper.  

Chaqueño forest is a stunted, xerophytic, and often thorny affair, but it is home to a number of highly specialized species, such as Chaco Chachalaca, Chequered and White-fronted Woodpeckers, Greater Wagtail-tyrant, Solitary Cacique, Orange-backed Troupial, Short-billed Canastero, Stripe-backed Antbird, and Cinereous Tyrant. Only two nightjar species commonly occur in the Chaco—Scissor-tailed and Little—and we hope to see both, as well as Tropical Screech-Owl, Striped Owl and Chaco Pygmy Owl.

Mammals are bolder and more visible in the Chaco than anywhere else in Paraguay, and night drives may produce anything from armadillos, foxes and the rabbit-like Chaco Mara to Crab-eating Raccoon and White-lipped Peccary. There is also the chance of a Lowland Tapir or a Puma, which are more abundant here than in much of South America. Night at Laguna Capitán.

Day 5: We have an early departure to travel east through the Humid Chaco and cross the river to the Cerrados of Concepción. En route we will stop for Rufous-fronted Thornbird and Common Tody Flycatcher and maybe Pale Titi monkeys in the Humid Chaco forests. North of Concepción and we begin to pick up our first Cerrado specialities, White-rumped Monjita, Black-throated Saltator, Peach-fronted Parakeet are all straightforward and with a bit of luck we may stumble across a Pied Lapwing or a Giant Anteater along the way. Tall forests in this area may hold Grey-headed Tanager, Orange-winged Amazon and the soon to be split nominate subspecies of Olivaceous Woodcreeper. Night at Estancia Arrecife.

Day 6:  Estancia Arrecife is famous for its parrots, and we have two very large and colourful reasons for spending time here – Red and Green and Hyacinth Macaws, which breed here. Other parakeets include Monk, Nanday, Blue-crowned and Maroon-bellied. Once we have our megaticks in the bag we will explore the gallery forests on the Apa River where there is a chance of Amazonian Motmot, Blue-crowned Trogon and Bare-faced Currassow, before heading back to Concepción for a fancy dinner. Night in Concepción.

Days 7-8: We’ll continue on to Laguna Blanca, where we’ll be looking for more Cerrado birds, including White-banded Tanager, Sharp-tailed and Cock-tailed Tyrants, and Black-masked Finch. Other birds of interest are Red-winged Tinamou, White-rumped Monjita, White-rumped Tanager (at its only known site in Paraguay), Thrush-like Wren, White-eared Puffbird, Plumbeous and Chestnut Seedeaters, and Cerrado endemics Black-throated Saltator and Curl-crested Jay.

However, the real star here is the endangered White-winged Nightjar, at one of only three locations in the world where it is regularly recorded. Night birding generally is productive, and Grey Potoo and Rufous, Little, and Scissor-tailed Nightjars are all possibilities. Tropical Screech Owl and Ferruginous Pygmy Owl are among the frequently recorded owl species. After our evening of birding we’ll head back to the hotel for a late barbecue dinner. Nights in Santa Rosa de Aguaray.

Day 9: We’ll travel to the Mbaracayú Biosphere Reserve, a model private reserve in Paraguay with 70,000 hectares of pristine Atlantic Forest and Cerrado.  We’ve allowed plenty of time for exploration at this fabulous reserve, named by the World Wildlife Fund as one of the 100 most important sites for conservation on earth. We should arrive just after lunch. Night at Mbaracayú Lodge Hotel.

Days 10-11: Over 400 species of birds have been recorded in the Mbaracayú Reserve, including the vast majority of the Atlantic Forest endemics. The endangered Black-fronted Piping-guan, Bare-throated Bellbird, Black-capped Screech Owl, Saffron and Spot-billed Toucanets, and Helmeted Woodpecker are all possible, and other species of interest that are frequently recorded include Solitary Tinamou, Red-breasted Toucan, Chestnut-eared Aracari, Surucua Trogon, Blond-crested and Yellow-fronted Woodpeckers, various woodcreepers and tanagers, Streak-capped Antwren, Red-rumped Cacique, and Rufous-capped Motmot. The list could easily become very long! In the Cerrado we’ll search for specialties such as Rufous-winged Antshrike and Collared Crescentchest. Other target birds will be several of the big owls, such as Black-banded and Mottled. Nights at Mbaracayú Lodge Hotel.

Day 12: We head east to bird in a tiny but very special enclave of forest on the Paraná River adjacent to the town of Salto de Guairá. It doesn´t look like much, but this tiny blob of trees is home to five species that to date have not been recorded anywhere else in Paraguay – White-wedged Piculet, Large-billed Antwren, Ashy-headed Greenlet, Rusty-backed Spinetail and Buff-breasted Wren Night. In addition to these we’ll be hoping for Saffron-billed Sparrow, Orange-backed Troupial, Rusty-backed Antwren and Masked Tityra, as well as Yellowish Pipit on the river beaches. Night in Salto de Guairá.

Day 13: Transferring from the north of the country to the south, along the way we will stop at Salto del Monday to twitch the Great Dusky Swifts that call the waterfall home and hopefully arrive in time to see the Hooded Capuchins coming to roost close to our accommodation, serenaded by circling Short-tailed Nighthawks. Night at San Rafael National Park.

Days 14-15: In San Rafael National Park we’ll be looking for birds in the Atlantic Forest and Mesopotamian Grasslands. San Rafael is the most biodiverse reserve in the country, but our time here is limited so we’ll want to spend it wisely. We’ll be up at dawn for a forest walk with some very special birds in mind, specifically some of the more sought-after and threatened passerines of the Atlantic Forest. These include Blackish-blue Seedeater, Creamy-bellied Gnatcatcher, and Southern Bristle-tyrant. After an early lunch we’ll travel to the Kanguery grasslands, where more great species await—Russet-winged Spadebill and Saffron-cowled Blackbird are two of these, and, once the sun has gone down, Giant Snipe and (with luck) Sickle-winged Nightjar. Night birding in the forest may well deliver us Rusty-banded and Tawny-browed Owl. Our hosts, the Hostettler family, are renowned for their hospitality and delicious, hearty, home-cooked meals. Nights at San Rafael National Park.

Day 16: We’ll depart early for the rice fields of Isla Alta to look for Bearded Tachuri, Strange-tailed Tyrant, various seedeaters, and, if the rice fields are at the right height, Pinnated Bittern. We’ll then drive for a couple of hours to Ayolas, stopping at roadside marshes along the way to see what birds they hold and arriving in the town in time for a late lunch. After a rest in our hotel we’ll venture into the grasslands to search for the threatened Ochre-breasted Pipit, and as darkness falls we’ll hope to get close-up views of the stunningly bizarre Sickle-winged Nightjar, another weird mega. Night in Ayolas.

Day 17: There will be a pre-dawn excursion to the gallery forests of Yacyretá Island, where we’ll hope to see the shy Bare-faced Curassow and the secretive Pheasant Cuckoo as well as other forest birds, which will be new for the tour such as Orange-headed Tanager, Green-backed Becard and Crimson-crested Woodpecker. After picking up Grey-headed Gulls on the river and undoubtedly coming across Azara’s Agouti and Black-and-gold Howler Monkeys, we’ll return to the hotel for a late breakfast before driving back to Asunción. Night in Asunción.

Day 18: We’ll make a brief visit to Arroyos y Esteros to look for Strange-tailed Tyrant along with the newly described Iberá Seedeater. Other species of interest here include Lesser Grassfinch, Bearded Tachuri, Crested Doradito, Spotted Rail, Azure Gallinule, and Long-tailed Reedfinch. The tour concludes after lunch with flights home.

2024 Narrative

Setting out through the palm savannas of the Humid Chaco, the contrast with the city of Asunción, the closest Paraguay comes to a metropolis, could not be more stark. Picturesque wetlands, marsh banana swamps and grassy scrub stretch as far as the eye could see, with varied communities of waterbirds including Jabiru, Maguari Stork, Bare-faced, Plumbeous and Buff-necked Ibis (including a nest) and a multitude of heron species complementing the panorama. Noisy flocks of Nanday and Monk Parakeets assaulted the ears, whilst charming rafts of Ringed Teal and Whistling-ducks did the opposite to our eyes. As we progressed northwest the palms began to disappear and samu'u (bottle trees) and quebrachos (axe-breaker trees) signaled the transition to Dry Chaco. The transition could also be felt in the birds too, the Rufous Horneros being replaced by the Crested Horneros, the Blue-grey Saltators ceding to the Golden-billed Saltators and the Greater Thornbirds giving way to Little Thornbirds.

The salt lakes of the Central Chaco were relatively dry during our visit, but some waders (including Stilt Sandpiper and Hudsonian Godwit), Coscoroba Swan and small flocks of Chilean Flamingo were still around. Greater Rheas, including a male with chicks delighted us with their abundance, and we were able to add three species of tinamou to the list in the first few days, Tataupa, and two Chaco endemics Brushland and Quebracho Crested. Our morning walks were performed to a cacophony of noise from tuneless songsters such as the Chaco Chacalaca, Brown Cacholote, Larklike Brushrunner and Scimitar-billed Woodcreeper, and we were able to see some stunning mammals, including a colony of Vampire Bats, Chaco Mara and a magnificent mother Lowland Tapir with her baby. Our main Dry Chaco targets were of course the Chaco Big 5, and we managed to get them all Chaco Owl, Black-bodied Woodpecker, Crested Gallito, Black-legged Seriema, and the aforementioned Quebracho Crested Tinamou. But we also cleaned up on the “lesser” Chaco endemics, with Cinereous Tyrant, Cream-backed Woodpecker, Great Rufous Woodcreeper, Chaco Earthcreeper, Chaco and Black-capped Warbling Finch, and the gorgeous Many-coloured Chacofinch all delighting the group with their cooperation. With a substantial list building we headed east, back across the Humid Chaco towards the Cerrado region of Concepción, a new and exciting addition to this year’s tour. 

The gallery forest of the Arroyo Tagatiya-Mi delivered some stunners, with Amazonian Motmot and Blue-crowned Trogon added to the list, great looks at Flavescent and White-bellied Warbler, Grey-headed Tanager, Green-winged Saltator and the tongue-twisting Sibilant Sirystes singing surreptitiously from the tree-tops (ok I admit there is nothing surreptitious about this noisy bird, but I was struggling for another S-word to describe the racket these things make). 

The following day we headed north to Estancia Arrecife, through wonderfully beautiful hilly Cerrado where we got our first Cerrado specialties, White-rumped Monjita and Black-throated Saltator. We stopped at a nest of Rufous-fronted Thornbird to call in a noisy pair, got slightly more muted appreciation for a Mouse-coloured Tyrannulet, and enjoyed groups of Red-legged Seriema along the way. Lowland Hepatic-tanager put in a surprise visit, while an interesting mixed flock on a wooded roadside delivered some nice species including Rufous Casiornis and Saffron-billed Sparrow. A smorgasbord of psittacids accompanied our journey, composed largely of White-eyed, Yellow-chevroned, Nanday, Reddish-bellied and Peach-fronted Parakeets. However, the real reason for driving out here were the two macaws, the gaudy Red-and-green and the breathtaking Hyacinth. Neither bird disappointed.

Not done with the Cerrado yet we proceeded on to Agroforestal Rio Verde a little further south, stopping along the way to enjoy some Cobalt-rumped Parrotlets. The wet grasslands of the Arroyo Clementina had us marveling at a female White-tailed Goldenthroat on her nest, a more furtive Planalto Hermit, some Long-winged Harriers and a confiding Ash-throated Crake, but also scanning through a large flock of migrant capuchino seedeaters. We ended the extensive study with Marsh, Plumbeous, Rusty-collared, Double-collared, Tawny-bellied and Chestnut Seedeaters in the bag. For the tour leader the biggest surprise here was a White-throated Kingbird, only the third Paraguayan record of a bird that may be extending its range into the country.

Agroforestal Rio Verde is a patch of lovely, natural sandy-soiled Cerrado that is famous for a number of threatened species which can all be seen here with ease if you know the right fields! Luckily we do, so we were soon ticking off megas like Cock-tailed Tyrant, White-rumped and White-banded Tanager and Curl-crested Jay, as well as “slightly less megas but good nonethelesses” like Tawny-headed Swallow, White Woodpecker, and Streamer-tailed Tyrant. But anybody who knows birds knows that the real jewels at this wonderful locality come out after dark. This is where we were able to get within metres of two of the world’s rarest and most extraordinary nightjars, the extra-super-triple mega White-winged Nightjar and the extra-super-double mega Sickle-winged Nightjar. This is perhaps the only place on earth where you can see both species within a few minutes’ walk from each other. After an additional Little Nightjar, we declared it a job well done and it was time for a celebratory barbecue dinner back in Santa Rosa del Aguaray,

With the Cerrado level completed without missing a target, it was time to proceed to the megadiverse Atlantic Forest at Mbaracayú Biosphere Reserve. A pristine, almost virgin forest, we were disappointed to see that we arrived shortly after a serious wildfire that had devastated part of the reserve. The sight of a pair of Buff-bellied Puffbirds sitting quietly in the canopy of a burned out former forest created mixed emotions. The birding was a little slow here, but we plugged away and continued to add species like Undulated Tinamou, Bat Falcon, Ruddy Quail Dove, Surucua Trogon, Rufous-capped Motmot, Yellow-fronted Woodpecker, Chestnut-bellied Euphonia, and Band-tailed and White-banded Manakin. At Aguara Ñu we had a little more luck with great views of Rusty-backed Antwren and Lesser Elaenia, a good look at a Collared Crescentchest (eventually) and sumptuous view of Burnished-Buff Tanagers.

Next stop was the remarkable “bird island” at Salto del Guairá. Well strictly speaking it’s not an island so much as an island of forest on the coastal promenade, but despite being less than a couple of hundred metres wide it is so chock full of birds that you don’t know where to look. The contrast with Mbaracayú was stark, as we once again began racking up the ticks. Remarkably this locality has a number of species that occur only here and nowhere else in Paraguay, and we were able to pretty much log them all – Large-billed Antwren, White-wedged Piculet, Ashy-headed Greenlet and Buff-bellied Wren. Other crackers included Little, White and Blond-crested Woodpecker, Silver-beaked Tanager, nesting Common Tody-Flycatchers, Swallow-tailed Hummingbird, Orange-backed Troupial, Thrush-like Wren, Black-capped Donacobius, White-bellied Seedeater and a Common Potoo “branching out”. A quick visit to Salto del Monday en route to the south got us Great Dusky Swift and one of the most underrated waterfall experiences on the continent.       

San Rafael is the jewel in the Paraguayan birding crown, with lovely log cabins on the edge of the dense Atlantic Forest and some of the best home-cooked meals you will get outside of, well, your home. The birds kept on flooding in at this point, Magpie, Swallow, Chestnut-headed, Ruby-crowned and Black-goggled Tanagers, Red-breasted Toucan, Planalto and Olivaceous Woodcreepers, Crested and Chestnut-crowned Becards etc etc. Forest Furnariids included White-eyed and Buff-fronted Foliage-gleaners, Rufous-capped and Grey-bellied Spinetails and we watched Sayaca Tanagers and Greater Anis feeding acrobatically on emerging flying ants. Blackish Rail and a Slaty-breasted Wood Rail with progressive greying were interesting additions, and one participant had the rather bizarre experience of watching a Pale-vented Pigeon plunge accidentally into the lake and find itself unable to get airborne again, before finally succumbing to drowning! After dark we got walkaway views from two very special and very rare owls, the elusive Rusty-barred and the mysterious Black-banded. 

Unfortunately, poor weather stopped us from visiting the Kanguery grasslands, costing us our shot at Saffron-cowled Blackbird and Giant Snipe, but we were soon back in the money with a twitch to Arequita where we snapped up Strange-tailed Tyrant, Scarlet-headed and Unicoloured Blackbird, Lesser Grassfinch, and Grassland Yellowfinch in a matter of minutes. By the end of the afternoon we were in the grasslands at Isla Yacyretá where we bagged two more rarities Sharp-tailed Tyrant and Ochre-breasted Pipit, supplemented with a dash of Grey Monjita, Chimango Caracara, White-tailed Hawk, Red-winged Tinamou and Spotted Nothura. Large-billed Tern and Grey-headed Gull were watched flying along the Paraná River. In the forests of Yacyretá we found a Pauraque sitting on a nest, and caught up with Dusky-legged Guan, Bare-faced Currassow, Orange-headed Tanager and a pair of Crested Oropendolas defending their nest from marauding Giant Cowbirds.          

Our last morning had us head out to Arroyos y Esteros for one last push. Additions here included White-headed Marsh Tyrant, Crested Doradito, Long-tailed Reedfinch, and the newly described Iberá Seedeater. Rounding off the trip in style we spotted an Ash-coloured Cuckoo lurking in the bushes. 

Of course there were some birds that we kept on encountering along the way which, despite their abundance, always gave us something to look at. I’m thinking about you Crested Caracara, Black and Turkey Vulture, Savannah and Roadside Hawk, Southern Lapwing, Picazuro Pigeon, Eared Dove, Ruddy and Picui Ground-dove, Campo Flicker, Guira Cuckoo, Smooth-billed Ani, Burrowing Owl, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, Cattle Tyrant, Plush-crested Jay, Rufous-bellied Thrush, Sayaca Tanager and Saffron Finch. Even when the going got tough you always gave us something to look at.

We ended this tour with 386 bird species, the vast majority well seen, 14 mammals, 4 amphibians, 12 reptile species and some great memories. Not bad! 

                                                                                                                                                                                 -          Paul Smith

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