Following the Parrot survey, over a 4 week period in November and December 2007 at REGUA by myself Steve Brookes along with Catherine and Keith Duncan, I submit this short summary of our findings from what we consider to have been a very productive and well worth while survey.
I would like to thank all the staff at Regua for all their support during this trip especially Nicholas and Raquel for understanding and encouraging my passion for parrots and Adelei for being an incredible guide without whom we would never have seen some of the parrots (especially Blue Bellied Parrots Trichlaria malachitacea), his patience and enthusiasm has rewarded us with many magnificent sightings. I would also like to thank all the other guests that were at Regua during our stay, they went along with our obsession and passed on their sightings and observations to add to our own. This is something that I would really like to encourage all visitors to Regua to help with as I cannot be there all year (as much as I would love it, my wife would probably not approve, although I would like to express my thanks to her for allowing me to take these trips to follow my passion).
Our results along with sightings and observations from my previous trips to Regua will be published and expanded on (with more surveys) on a website for all to see in the near future and I look forward to returning again in November 2008.
The Parrots – well I have not been able to add any other parrot species to the bird list as yet but I am optimistic that they are out there and waiting to be found and the more Regua expands with land and all its conservation of the habitats the more chances they have got of staying there and increasing in numbers.
On a positive note we observed 10 out of the 11 species of parrot on the Regua bird list with the Brown backed Parrotlet Touit melanonotus being the illusive one at the moment. Photographing 8 out of 11 species as our survey took us across many of the trails in Regua, the wetlands, green throughout its entire length, black, orange, red and grey as well as Marias trail to Casa Anibel.
We camped at various places for 8 nights on Regua land to enable longer observation times of which these were the most productive times for parrots giving us 93 flyovers and sightings of parrot groups and individuals in one day alone. We were hoping to camp for more nights but the weather seemed to be against us at the beginning of this trip however it enabled us to see other areas around Regua.
Outside of Regua we went to Teresopolis, Sumidouru, Cabo Frio, Serra dos Orgaoes, Serra dos Tucanos, David Millers, Vale das Taquaras and many local lanes and places around Regua including the new to be added Matumbo land. These other areas are very useful to the survey as they give us an insight into the migrational movements of the parrots, in particular the Blue winged macaws Propyrrhura maracana and the White eyed parakeets Aratinga leucophthalmus, which seem to visit Regua on an infrequent basis.
We noticed distinct altitudinal differences in parrot presence as well as directional movements due to time of day and weather.
The Orange winged amazons Amazona amazonica have increased in number over the past 2 years and appear to be very settled on Regua land roosting in the bamboo thicket opposite the wetlands each night, and we even see some of them up on the ridge near Casa Anibel giving us an idea of their movements. One pair seemed to stay close to the bamboo as if guarding their home and greeted the others each night on their return. On a negative note here one of the Orange winged amazons has a chain and hook attached to one leg as though he has at some point been kept in captivity and although it does not seem to effect him in most ways he still does get it caught up occasionally so if we have the chance to remove this at some time he would be a lot happier. He seems to be one of the pair that stays around the bamboo each day.
Plain parakeets Brotergeris tirica and Maroon bellied parakeets Pyrrhura frontalis seem to be fairly common in all altitudes and the Blue winged Parrotlet Forpus crassirostris has been seen on this trip in several locations. The Scaly headed parrot Pionus maximiliani was seen at the higher altitudes but interestingly the large numbers seen together on the ridge at Casa Anibel appear to be juveniles probably from last year and pairs of Scaly headed parrots elsewhere seemed to be in pairs and have adult plumage.
The Red capped parrot Pionopsitta pileata was only seen flying over on this trip but I have several other observations to take into account from previous trips.
Probably one of the most encouraging signs was for the Blue bellied parrots. These were observed in several places by ourselves and others across Regua land, (Black trail, Green trail, Orange trail, Red trail and the new Matumbo land) as well as reports from Serra dos Tucanos, Serra dos Orgaoes and Vale das Taquaras. Due to when and where they were seen indicates different pairs at each of these sites. It was most enjoyable to be ‘buzzed’ by a pair several times, on the black trail before the river crossing, after trying to call them in and out of this world to observe a pair feeding in a tree on the green trail above our camp site for 90 minutes. We saw this pair several times at this same place this trip which is not far from a sighting on a previous trip of some 40 minutes eating a bromeliad flower.
The Golden tailed Parrotlet Touit surda was seen only once for a brief moment and unfortunately not photographed but this gives us hope to be able to further our search in the area it was seen to find and study this parrot.
Many of the parrots were seen perched and eating. Photos were taken of them eating as well as photos taken of the items they were eating and these are being processed to identify the various trees/plants that they eat. This will give us information to research the number of these various plants throughout Regua and enable us to give guidance to what trees/plants may be required to be planted over and above the present planting scheme at Regua.
One of my aims for this survey was to find nesting sites however due to the weather the season for breeding appeared to have been delayed. We were still able to identify numerous potential nesting sites for the various species apart from Blue winged macaw, White eyed parakeet and Orange winged amazons for which we are looking at a programme for introducing artificial nest boxes to try to encourage them to nest on Regua land.
On a positive note we observed several pairs of Maroon bellied parakeets mating and one pair of Blue winged parrotlets checking out trees for nest holes.
As all surveys generally produce more questions than answers this one has been no different but it has given us more of an insight into these magnificent, intelligent birds for which I can only hope I can continue to observe and help in whatever way possible to increase their numbers at Regua as often as I am able to travel to Brazil.
Once again my many thanks to all at Regua for their help with this survey.
