2016 Mato Grosso, Brazil

From July 12-30, I was off on my third trip to Brazil since 2011 starting with a layover in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where I was joined by my friends Terri, Larry and Liz to make the late night flight on Azul Airlines to Sao Paolo and on to Cuiaba, Brazil. A repeat for me of my first trip there, it was interesting how familiar everything seemed and yet quite a few differences in things we'd see - many more mammals, fewer butterflies, and loads of birds. Once again organized by Mark Pretti of Mark Pretti Nature Tours, the trip was an excellent adventure for the four of us and the five other friends we'd meet in Cuiaba before heading out on the two-week trip to the Pantanal (Fazenda Santa Tereza and Pousada Piuval), Amazonia (Hotel Alta Floresta and the Cristalino Lodge), and Chapada dos Guimaraes (Pousada do Parque). My "Natural Moments" blog posting from August 10 has a bit more description of the trip along with 50 of my favorite pictures of the trip.

Once again, I tried to limit the number of pictures shown here, but ended up with more than normal. Got home with more than 2200 pictures, which were first boiled down to about 450. They're presented pretty much in taxonomic order for each major grouping. This first page has the mammal pictures along with a few of that didn't fit anywhere else, followed by the birds on the next page and butterflies at the end. All were taken with my Nikon D7100 and 80-400mm lens and cleaned up later with CaptureNX2. Did my best to try to label them correctly, and can easily fix them if anyone spots mistakes.

Click on any of the thumbnails below to see a larger image of any of the pictures in a new window.

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Home Birds Butterflies


Pre-trip Fort Lauderdale

With a day to hang out waiting for our late-night departure, Fort Lauderdale turned up some interesting sightings on its own. That waterspout the night before was particularly cool (thanks to Terri for the picture) as it first grew in size churning up the ocean surface before finally dissipating. Having a Park Ranger and volunteer show us a turtle hatching site early the next morning was also very cool.


Waterspout

Turtle Nest

Turtle

Lizard

Iguana

Alligator

Iguana

Friends

Note the cold weather gear sported by the ladies - a most unusual cold front was blowing through the normally rather warm Pantanal this time.


Cuiaba Park

Terri

Larry

Liz

Sunsets

Cristalino Sunset

Piuval Sunset

Chapada Sunset

Bugs & Flowers

Passion Flower

"Fascinator" Flower

Cocoa Flower

Ipe

Bug

Dragonfly

Dragonfly

Katydid

Spider

Spider

Reptiles & Amphibians

Yellow-spotted River Turtle

Tree Lizard

Black and white Tegu

Caiman

Caiman

Caiman

Caiman

Caiman

Mammals

Certainly no anteaters on my 2011 trip or Ghost Bats, and by the end of the trip we'd see way more mammal species than on that earlier trip.


Giant Anteater
(Cuiaba Zoo)

Giant Anteater
 

Southern
Tamandua

Southern
Tamandua

Ghost Bat

Long-nosed Bat

Chestnut Sac-winged Bat

Silvery Marmoset

Silvery Marmoset

The next four pictures are from Pousada Piuval where we got to watch as two Brown Capuchins raided a Southern Caracara nest (#1 and #2), one feasted on a stolen egg as the male Caracara showed up (#3), and finally ran away (#4).


Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Brown Capuchin

Black Howler Monkey

Black Howler Monkey

Black Howler Monkey

Black Howler Monkey (imm.)

Crab-eating Fox

In 2011, we did see Coatimundis and the Crab-eating Fox, but were quite amazed this time to have a Maned Wolf wander into the yard at Pousada do Parque to steal a coconut, get to see an Ocelot come to a baited location at Santa Tereza, and see a Brazilian Tapir walking along the riverbank at dusk at Cristalino.


Maned Wolf

Maned Wolf

Coatimundi
(Cuiaba Zoo)

Coatimundi
(Cuiaba Zoo)

Giant Otter

Giant Otter

Ocelot

Ocelot

Ocelot

Brazilian Tapir

Capybara

Brazilian Guinea Pig


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Home Birds Butterflies

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