It was difficult and frustrating in
the forest today. Large parts of it were very quiet and when birds tried to
give themselves away by singing, I was unable to find them. They did not
respond well to pishing and stayed deep in the shadows, or high in the trees.
I had come to the Pedra Grande
section of Parque Estudial Cantareira. I had arrived early and had to kill half
an hour before the gates were opened and visitors were allowed into the forest
at 08.00.
A few non-forest birds kick-started
my list; Blue-and-white Swallow, Great Kiskadee, Rufous-collared Sparrow and Swallow-tailed Hummingbird were all seen as I waited.
There is a 9.5km route that takes in
the two main attractions of this section of the park, with most of the walk
being on tarred road. The road climbed from the entrance and a side trail cut
into the trees after a short while. The Bugio
Trail runs for 350m, re-emerging further along the road. “Chaks”, “Chiks”,
“Chips”, “Chits” and “Quits” greeted me as I walked along through the gloom.
The trail was very dark and the birds of a small party were difficult to pin
down. Eventually, a Red-crowned
Ant-tanager showed well enough to be identified and a Scaled Woodcreeper called to give itself away. A Black-capped
Foliage-gleaner flashed its head pattern to aid identification and
bring the first of today’s three red-letter birds.
A movement at the edge of the path
caught my eye as a small snake (I think it may have been a small Jararaca,
but I am open to opinion) moved off the path. It had tried to hide amongst the
leaf litter, but I was just able to make out a section of its back. I wanted to
take a picture so that I could identify the snake later and spent a long time
trying to locate its head. It was so dark under the trees that I couldn’t find
anything more than the short section of body, but I could have kicked myself
when I took a closer look at the photograph later on. There was the head with
the snake looking straight at me! The ISO had to be pumped up to 3200 and the
aperture was as wide as it would go to get as much light as possible. Even so,
the exposure was still 1/15th. Hand-held at 400mm – excuses, excuses,
but I have been cross about it ever since.
The trail rejoins the road at the turn off for the park administration buildings which is off-limits to the public. I continued up the hill and recognised an insistent call from the canopy and eventually tracked down a Red-eyed Vireo. The road reaches a turn off to the left after approx 2kms. This is one end of Caminho de Pedra Grande, the circular road that passes the eponymous big rock that affords an extensive view of Sao Paulo, 10kms to the south. Do people really come from the city to visit the forest and look back at the city?
(My recollection of the road layout in the park differs from that of
Google Earth. I am convinced that the circular road runs around the rock, while
Google Earth has the viewpoint to the south of the road)
Working from memory, the second turn
off is the easiest, quickest and recommended by the park as the best route to
approach the rock. Despite the park’s advice, it is also the easiest way back
out, which leaves the lower three-quarters of the road less travelled. This
makes it no less frustrating as the birds were still difficult to find and those
that could be seen were still maddeningly difficult to identify in the dark, at
distance, or silhouetted in the canopy. A few that could be identified were the
Eared Pygmy-Tyrant and the stunning Brassy-breasted Tanager.
The second attraction of this section
is the Lago dos Carpes, a delightful
lake along the unmade road at the bottom of a steep slope.
(Again, my recollection of the road system differs from Google Earth.
The main road from the gate has two turn offs to the left which form the top
and bottom end of the side road leading round the big rock. The main road
continues past the second turn off, but from here on, it is unpaved. A junction
splits the road and the left fork leads down a steep incline to the lake)
A pair of Least Grebe was maintaining a nest on the lake and a pair of Euler’s Flycatchers
was tending a nest in the cavity of a bamboo stem. A caterpillar was brought in
and a foecal sac removed as I watched.
The walk back up the hill was not
quite as bad as I had feared, but the downhill walk back to the gate was rather
jarring on my poor weak knees. A small group of Brown Howler Monkeys broke up the descent and a tanager had me
somewhat perplexed. My best guess would be an Opal-rumped Tanager, after a
half-decent look, but none of the photos showed any of the field markings. I
can’t find anything else that it could be.
Only around half of the birds on the list below could be thought of as forest birds, but quite a few were missed. The Red-throated Fruit Crow was heard all day as it moaned from the tree tops and many small silhouettes and fleeting shadows were left unidentified. Even some of those that made the list bore little resemblance to their illustrations in the field guide. A Brassy-breasted Tanager for example, looks good on a printed page, but took my breath away when I saw it in the sunlight. The Opal-rumped Tanager is still under consideration. It was not a perfect view, none of the pictures came out and it was beyond its accepted range. A question from eBird should be expected if I decide to submit it.
Yellow-legged Thrush
Birds seen; 24
Least Grebe 2, Black Vulture 8,
Southern Caracara 1, Yellow-headed Caracara 1, Plain Parakeet 3, Black Jacobin
3, Swallow-tailed Hummingbird 1, Amazon Kingfisher 1, Ochre-breasted
Foliage-Gleaner 1, Black-capped Foliage-Gleaner
1, Streaked Xenops 1, Scaled Woodcreeper 1, Eared Pygmy-Tyrant 1, Euler’s Flycatcher 2, Great Kiskadee 1, Tropical
Kingbird 2, Red-eyed Vireo 2, Rufous-crowned Greenlet 1, Blue-and-white Swallow
15, Yellow-legged Thrush 2, Rufous-bellied Thrush 1, Ruby-crowned Tanager 4,
Brassy-breasted Tanager 4, Rufous-collared Sparrow 6, Red-crowned Ant-tanager 4.
It covers
nearly 8,000 hectares of the south facing slopes and is part of the larger
64,000 hectare preserve of Serra da
Cantareira
Cantareira Nucleo Pedra Grande can be found in the hills to the north of Sao Paulo.
Actually it is a mountain by virtue of reacing 1010m at the big stone.
Public visitors are usually only
allowed entry from 08.00 until 17.00 at weekends and private vehicles are not
allowed. The entry fee of 9 Reas is paid at the gate.
To walk to Lago das Carpas and complete
the return by way of Pedra Grande on the mostly paved road is a distance of
9.5kms.
It may be possible to gain special
entry to the park outside of the normal public hours with a park
employee/guide. Previously I have been able to visit the park at 06.00 on a
weekday, but my guide on this occasion has moved on to a different section. He
has sent me a link to his friend and colleague who may be able guide you at a
time more conducive to birding.
Contact Daniel at;
Mobile phone; 011985962043
Take the Metro to Tucuruvi. Take a
taxi from here and show the following address to the driver to make sure that
you are going to the right place;
Rua do Horto, 1799 – Tremembe –
Parque Estudial da Cantareira – Nucleo Perda Grande.
From the small open area in front of
Alberto Lofgren Park, keep right and continue to the top of Rua do Horto where
you will see the park gates at Google Earth ref; 23 27 17.41S 46 38 8.27W.
Streaked Xenops
On return, it may not be possible to
find a cab, so make your way back down the hill to the small open area in front
of Alberto Lofgren Park. Here you will find a stop for bus number 2470 which
returns to its terminal at Metro Station - Jardim Sao Paulo for 3 Reas.
If your only time in Sao Paulo does
not coincide with a weekend, Alberto Lofgren Park, (Google Earth ref; 23 27
31.90S 46 38 2.52W ) is adjacent to Cantareira and a small area of forest and
forest edge is accessible through the large wrought iron gates in the small
square at the bottom of the hill.
Visit the dedicated South AmericanPage to see more posts from Sao Paulo, including Parque Ecologico do Tiete and
Jardim Botanico, Sao Paulo.
Birding, Bird-watching, Bird watching
in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Cantareira bird list.
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