Since this post is mainly about sounds, I have put up a fairly random photo of one of the forest views here, looking across the São Laurenço valley from the main track approaching the farm. The lingering morning mist shows the line of the river. The big news to report is that I have finally managed to confirm the 200th bird species encountered at Sítio do Cervo and its immediate surroundings.

It was the outcome of an interesting exercise suggested by my friend and colleague Eduardo Duwe, a cameraman/film-maker in São Paulo. He is working with a project to monitor human impact on wildlife through sound, in some of the forest areas around the margins of the city. So as a test, we mounted a high-quality microphone on a tripod on the main trail through the forest here, connected it to my digital recorder, and let it run for just over 2 hours in the morning.

The result is a great record of the variety of species inhabiting the forest interior here, and I think I will repeat this every month or so in order to get a really good spread across the year. The sound file is too big to post on the site (comes to 125MB), but on a preliminary spin through, I came across a loud call I had not heard before. Sending the clip off to my fount of information Bruno, I found it is a White-eyed Foliage-gleaner (Automolus leucophthalmus). It seems to be a fairly common forest species, endemic to the Atlantic Forest, typical of the mixed-species flocks that roam the undergrowth feeding on ant-swarms. So in a sense it is surprising I had not located it before - but for me it wins the prize for being Species No. 200.

This was the scene confronting me two weeks ago as I tried to do my usual walk to the riverbank. There had been several days of incredibly torrential rain, and widespread flooding in the region. The whole of the low-lying area of forest beyond the hill which separates our living areas from the river was underwater for several days, and when I managed to return there a week or so ago it was covered by a layer of slimy mud.

As the summer draws to a close (the temperature has moderated now after a week of impossibly hot nights) some of the sounds are starting to change. For example, the more or less continuous singing of the Yellow-legged Tinamou (Crypturellus noctivagus), one of the characteristic species of the lowland forest here, has reduced to a more sporadic series of calls in the early evening. One curiosity is that the song has changed slightly from its usual haunting hoot to a more cracked piping. I can only speculate that this is the sound of juveniles from this latest nesting season "trying out" their call like an adolescent's voice breaking. Incidentally, even though we hear this elusive ground-dwelling species all the time through the spring and summer, we have yet to have a good view of it - one project we have in mind is to set up a hide and feeder in the middle of the forest to see if it will come out for us.

In just a few minutes spent in the area with lots of mature palmitos in front of the forest edge, I was able to see this morning how their ripening fruit is a magnet for some of our most charismatic bird species. A group of 4-5 White-tailed Trogons (Trogon viridis) sat perched for a long time on branches near the fruit, every now and again swooping in with their characteristic technique of picking fruit on the fly, using specially-serrated beaks. The individual here and in the top photo is a male, as you can see from the deep turquoise back and more rounded tail pattern.

The female, shown here with a palmito fruit in her mouth, has a more geometric-stripe pattern on the tail. It is a real treat to see these trogons so close up - their soft call, a bit like a distant seagull, can often be heard from quite high branches inside the forest, but it is mainly during this fruiting season that they come out into the open.

Next to arrive on the scene was this Dusky-legged Guan or Jacu (Penelope obscura), a rare opportunity to get a clear shot of this species in full light, as they tend to be most active after sunset and around dawn. Bearing in mind these are large birds about the size of a peacock or pheasant, you can see from the photo above just how abundant the fruit is on the larger palmito trees, and why it is such a draw when it emerges.

And finally the inevitable toucans turned up - this one a Channel-billed toucan, which were suddenly all over the place feasting on the palmito fruit, and they were also joined by their Red-breasted cousins.

A particularly noisy species at the moment is the Boat-billed flycatcher (Megarhyncus pitangua), very similar looking to the ultra-common Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus) but with a more pronounced bill and more black around the eyes. It only appears in spring and summer, and groups in the canopy near the house are calling from early morning, both with the characteristic "Nenenei" which provides one version of its Portuguese common name (Neinei), and a more insistent, querulous song that I have only heard at this time of year. I guess they may be getting ready for their Northern migration which can't be too far away. The recording linked to here, incidentally, includes a flock of Scaly-headed Parrots (Pionus maximiliani) on one of their regular morning flights high above the forest.

Two new identifications during a recent visit by ornithologist Bruno Lima have brought our bird species list here to the tantalising number of 199. The latest IDs included the call of Chicli Spinetail - aka Spix's spinetail (Synallaxis spixi) alongside the entrance track leading to the farm, which passes an open grassland area alongside some electricity pylons. In this area you tend to see many species associated with open landscapes rather than forest, some of which have spread their range due to deforestation.  The second "new" species identified by its call was the Planalto Tyrannulet (Phyllomyias fasciatus), one of those very inconspicuous small flycatcher species that I would never spot without expert help. A visit from a bird guide nearly always adds an extra species or two, so hopefully the next one will tip the list over that magic 200 number!

The fruit of the juçara palm, although mostly still green, is already starting to attract forest fruit-eaters into the open areas where this tree grows. Most excitingly, we came across a Spot-billed Toucanet (Selenidera maculirostris) on one of the "palmito" trees just next to the entrance to our main forest trail - the first time I have seen this charismatic species outside the deep forest. Of course I did not have my camera with me, but hopefully there will be other chances as the fruit ripens over the next couple of months.

Finally, just as I was complaining that February was a dead month on the banana feeder, some snaps I took this morning during a break from the computer screen: first a Bananaquit (Coereba flaveloa)....

...Sayaca Tanager (Thraupis sayaca)

... and its cousin the Palm Tanager (Thraupis palmarum).

Walking along the track which winds through the forest to our entrance gate, I came across this black vulture which did not fly off when I approached, and I realised it had an injured wing. I did not think much more of it, but some time later it appeared in the field just above the house, being pursued by our dog Lara.

Lara clearly thought it was great fun, the vulture less so. Strangely, however, it made no attempt to crawl back into the forest but carried on down towards the house.

It hung around for a couple of days, returning every time I tried to chase it away, seeking shelter in odd places such as behind the washing machine. At first I worried about hygiene, but reading up on it I realise that vultures are in fact very clean as they have developed ways of killing bacteria to avoid getting infected themselves from all that carrion.

A more obviously attractive house guest is this Red-breasted Toucan, which came to perch just in front of our bedroom window this afternoon. Whenever this species comes to visit it causes consternation amongst the other birds nesting nearby as it is a notorious egg-stealer and will even carry off fledgelings. I have seen toucans being mobbed by gangs of Great Kiskadees chasing them noisily from tree to tree to protect their nests.

The main nesting season is now over, and there are lots of juvenile birds around - for example this green-headed tanager, one of the most common species to come to our banana feeder, which has not yet developed the bright yellow patch on the back which completes the multi-coloured plumage of the adult. For comparison, see the adult below.

The fruit of all that hole-drilling, chasing off parrotlets and food-collecting finally popped its head out of the nest of the Yellow-fronted Woodpeckers this week. A single chick is calling hungrily all day from one of the bigger holes in the dead stump just behind our barbecue area, and the parents return regularly after pecking around for food on nearby branches. As you can see from the picture below, the fledgling already has a slightly dusty version of the adult bright colouring, including the beginnings of the red crown which identifies the male.

The woodpeckers are among a number of bird species that can be observed at very close quarters from the house at the moment. Another is the Yellow-lored Tody-flycatcher, (Todirostrum poliocephalum), a beautiful little bird which hops busily around the leaves just below the canopy, giving its loud teque-teque call which provides the Portuguese name. Fortunately the balcony from our upstairs bedrooms looks directly into the crown of one of the "Sun Hat" or Indian Almond trees (Terminalia catappa) planted next to the house for shade. That allows us to watch canopy birds like this from eye-level and sometimes within a couple of metres.

A couple of interesting sights from my walk to the river this morning. First, these weird and beautiful fungi appeared suddenly on some fallen branches near the riverbank. Seeing the variety of fungi which spring up all over the forest helps you to realise the importance of rotting debris in the biodiversity of the ecosystem.

A point also made by these bright orange wood-beetles which had invaded a stump along the trail near the riverbank. There has been some extremely heavy rain recently in dramatic January thunderstorms, and perhaps this has brought out more of these creepy-crawlies.

By the river itself this morning, I got out my recorder and camera to get sounds and images of this Social Flycatcher (Miyozetetes similis), a common enough bird but for some reason not yet on my species records. As I was recording a Green Ibis flew over and landed in some high branches just upstream - you can hear its "corro corro" call approaching along side the thin whistle of the flycatcher.

Photos above and below left: Copyright Tommy Pedersen 

In a small forest fragment such as this one, species come and species go. We have had both gains and losses here recently. First, the good news: the Dusky-throated Hermits, the exquisite and difficult-to-find forest hummingbirds whose restless song I first recorded in August, are now putting on a daily show in the heliconia-rich forest edge where they have a lek - a series of adjoining breeding territories. When you go to the area (it's at the start of the main trail through the forest) you are guaranteed to see two or three of them chasing one another and settling in predictable places to perform the elaborate display captured brilliantly in these photos by my guest Tommy Pedersen on Wednesday. Tommy was here with guide Rick Simpson during a 24-hour stopover between flights - not as a passenger but as a pilot! He flies Boeing 777s for Emirate Airlines, and in his spare time acts as bird recorder for the UAE.

The less encouraging news is that I have now pretty much given up hope of hearing or seeing the Black-headed Berryeater this breeding season - thereby losing (for now) one of the flagship species of this place. Since we were hearing it continuously - literally every day - between early September 2007 and July 2008 when it abruptly stopped singing, the optimistic view is that it simply moved location for the current breeding period, and we may still get one coming back in the future. For birders reading this, however, I should add that if you really want to see this amazing and threatened species there are primary forest areas nearby where it can be located.

There've been plenty of compensations, like this little White-throated Spadebill (Platyrinchus mystaceus) which hops about quite tamely at the far end of the forest trail near the Jaboticaba tree. I quite accidentally caught this wing display when I took this photo a couple of weeks ago. Another great find is that we have Uniform Crakes (Amaurolimnus concolor) breeding in the wetland area near the trail to the riverbank. They have so far evaded the camera, but I nearly stepped on the female ushering two black chicks away from the trail. I also got this recording of the distinctive song, interrupted near the end by the chatter of a nearby Brazilian Squirrel.

Finally, an example of the amazing mysteries of nature you see daily here. A couple of weeks ago we looked at a hole near the base of one of the big trees along the forest trail and saw that it was seething with a mass of ants - when I gingerly poked a stick in, it was a good 4-5 inches thick, and these big light-coloured soldiers emerged to defend the colony. A few days later, they had all disappeared. 

Even with all this natural habitat around us, several bird species are taking advantage of our infrastructure to build their nests. This Cliff Flycatcher (Hirundinea ferruginea), for example, has put nesting material on an impossibly narrow ledge formed by the top of one of the pillars supporting the lower roof of the house. It is barely 10cm wide and there is not even room for the adults to perch, so they keep watch from a pile of rocks and rubble on a bank a few metres away (see photo above).

I guess this bizarre choice of nest location is mimicking the conditions of the narrow rock ledges where the species is "supposed" to live. Every now and again they flutter off on an acrobating flycatching manoeuvre, displaying their unmistakeable plumage of reddish-tan wing and tail feathers.

The pair of Crested Becards (Pachyramphus validus) which arrived from their migration a few weeks back have now set up home in one of the exotic pines planted just in front of the house by our predecessors - demonstrating that some birds are not too fussy about choosing native species above alien invaders.

Another couple of examples: some Blue and White Swallows (Notiochelidon cyanoleuca) are nesting in the apex of the roof space above our barbecue area - I have not been quick enough yet to get a picture as they swoop in and out....

...and believe it or not, this very unglamourous pipe hole in the side of our swimming-pool base is the entrance to a nest made by a Southern House-Wren (Troglodytes musculus) - again, watch this space as I will try to get a shot of one them flitting in and out.

Back to aesthetics, and I have finally managed to get some decent photos of the Dusky-throated Hermit (Phaethornis squalidus), the tiny  hummingbird species that can always be found now in thick undergrowth by the entrance to our main forest trail, an area rich in Heliconia flowers. Even though they are constantly singing their hearts out, they are very difficult to spot as they perch on twigs just above the ground among dense vegetation, but help given themselves away by a constant, rapid raising and lowering of the tail which these photos may help to show.

Finally, another confession. Some weeks back I wrongly identified this other hummingbird species as White-throated Hummingbird. In fact, it is the delightfully-named Festive Coquette (Lophornis chalybus), an immature male identifiable by the pair of "tuft" feathers starting to form near its throat (click on the photo for a better view), which will later develop into an extraordinary black and white ruff that gives the species its name.

A bad time to have neglected this blog due to work pressure, as things move quickly here as spring approaches. I did not even have to move from my desk to photograph this seasonal visitor out of the office window - it is a Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus), the second species here whose male has bright scarlet colouring mixed with black feathers - the other being the Brazilian Tanager (Ramphocelus bresilius). Apart from a sleeker body and very different behaviour, the tanager can be distinguished by a white spot at the base of the lower mandible (beak). The flycatcher also shows the characteristic feeding pattern of the family, staying perched for long periods in the same place like this wire, and fluttering off for short acrobatic forays before coming back to the same spot. This pair stayed a few days in September before apparently moving on south for its annual migration.

Other bird news: the pair of Southern Lapwings (Vanellus chilensis)  that had been protecting three eggs in the middle of our lawn for nearly a month finally hatched their young. We have only seen two chicks, however, and I suspect the third may have been taken by a Roadside Hawk (Rupornis magnirostris), as I have seen this hawk being fought off several times by the lapwing parents as they try to defend their very exposed nursery.

This female Crested Becard (Pachyramphus validus) perched on one of the big jerivá or Queen Palms near the house, is one of a string of species that have appeared in the past weeks for their spring/summer visiting periods. Others include Piratic Flycatcher, (Legatus leucophaius), Streaked Flycatcher (Myiodynastes maculatus)  Fawn-breasted Tanager (Pipraeida melanonota), Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) and Southern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx ruficollis). Among the  characteristics sounds of the season is this song of the migrant Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus) which sounds in the treetops from dawn onwards.

One very welcome development is that the endemic and vulnerable White-necked Hawk (Leucopternis lacernulatus), pictured here from last year, has been spotted pretty much constantly since it re-appeared on the farm in August. It is often seen making its characteristic small circles above the forest from around mid-morning. Previously I had only seen it very sporadically, but this suggests it uses this forest as a full-time hunting ground during the spring and summer.

The gloriously-coloured Swallow-tailed Manakin (Chiroxiphia caudata) more commonly known as Blue Manakin, is among several species responding very well to playback for visitors at the moment, coming out to be snapped with little prompting. Our species list is now at 176, and some notable new discoveries have been the endemic Black-capped Foliage-gleaner (Philydor atricapillus) associated with mixed ant-followers in the forest;a twelfth hummingbird species, the orange-billed White-chinned Sapphire (Hycharis cyanus), seen buzzing around the citrus flowers; and a Green-barred Woodpecker (Colaptes melanochlorus), the ninth species of this family , which has the strange habit of drumming on the bamboo stems growing  near the house.

We have been seeing much more of the sloths, which now seem to be staying in the trees close to one of the forest trails between the farm and river - on one late-morning walk recently we saw a whole family, male and female with baby clinging to its chest, moving around the high branches. I am waiting to get a good photo of them.

Finally, an update on the Blue-winged Parrotlets mentioned in the last post.  Soon after that episode they seem to have given up on the woodpecker holes which have now been re-taken by their rightful owners, but since then have been competing with a pair of Rufous Horneros (Furnarius rufus) for nesting in one of their mud "ovens" constructed in the top branches of an "Indian almond" shade tree (Chapeu do Sol) near the lake.

An amusing nesting-season drama has been unfolding just in front of our kitchen window. The hollow trunk in which the Yellow-fronted Woodpeckers (Melanerpes flavifrons) have drilled a series of nesting holes has acquired a squatter. Look carefully at the lowest hole in the picture here on the left, and poking out gingerly you will see the little green head of a Blue-winged Parrotlet (Forpus xanthopterygius), the smallest member of the parrot family found in this region.

It is really quite funny to watch. The parrotlet's head will emerge for a while, then withdraw back inside the hole as one of the irritated woodpeckers flies down to see what creature has the audacity to occupy the hole it has carved out with so much effort.

Then as the woodpeckers fly off in a group to do some foraging, the parrotlet emerges again to see if the coast is clear ...

And finally comes out of the hole to fly off. This has been going on for several days now, and it will be interesting to see how it pans out. I certainly can't see the woodpeckers giving up the other holes, so I guess it will end up as a multi-occupancy tree.

It may be because lots of our fruit trees are coming into flower, but suddenly there seems to be an explosion of hummingbirds at the farm, and I have been finding new species almost by the day. This tiny example -- barely bigger than a large bumblebee -- was perched on an acerola tree when I returned from a forest walk the other day. It was completely unafraid and sat without flying off as I got closer and closer to get these pictures, which for once did not need to be edited to crop them closer. I realised it was one I had not seen before, and it seems to be a White-throated Hummingbird (Leucochloris albicollis), more commonly found in the mountains. [Please see entry of 15 Oct for correction of this- in fact this is a Festive Coquette]

Among the fruit trees currently flowering is the large lychee we have growing near the guest house. It is absolutely covered in these delicate yellow and white flowers with a faint sweet scent a little like honeysuckle. I can't remember them being so abundant before, and hopefully it is an indication there will be plenty of fruit when the lychees ripen around October/November. This year I will remember to make lychee capirinhas which I had for the first time recently, and are sensational. Anyway, to the point: they were irresistible for this Versicoloured Emerald (Amazilia versicolor), one of the most common hummingbird species here. It's one of the varieties with an irridescence to its back feathers that changes the colour and hue depending on angle and light.

Next, an unexpected bonus to the hummingbird bonanza. I went out onto the bedroom terrace over the weekend to record the call of some White Woodpeckers that were in the trees just below. To my amazement, this Black-eared Fairy (Heliothryx auritus) -- who comes up with these names? -- had become obsessed with a blanket hanging over the railing to air. It kept coming back, also hovering right in front of my face to check me out, as hummingbirds sometimes do. It is one of the most extraordinary birds I have seen here, with its long white wisps of tail fluttering around crazily like paper decorations you cut out for kids. In this recording you can hear the buzz of the Fairy's wings (how many websites can claim that?) and its weak "cheep" in the foreground, with the louder call of the White Woodpecker (Melanerpes candidus), a kind of descending warble, heard more prominently from nearby trees.

Finally, a couple of seasonal notes. First of all, this morning the Yellow-legged Tinamou (Crypturellus noctivagus), a near-threatened endemic ground-bird, began sounding its haunting four-note call across the forest. Since March this has only been an occasional distant sound at dusk. From now on we can expect to hear them calling pretty much throughout the day. In this recording you can also hear the loud call of the Lesser Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus fuscus), another endemic species of the Atlantic Forest. I was also pleased to see the return of the White-necked Hawk (Leucopternis lacernulatus) circling above the forest at the weekend (see photo below). It is one of the five Vulnerable (ie threatened) species identified here, and I had not seen it since February.