Rio de Janeiro Botanical Gardens, Brazil. 16 February 2005.

A short shuttle flight from Sao Paulo up to Rio and back again today, giving me about four hours birding time! Four hours in Rio is a frustratingly short time, but thanks to a mate of mine - Peter Lewis-Jones, who lives with his wife and kids about two hours north of Rio - I knew I had a good chance to make the most of it.

Peter had driven down in the morning to meet me at the airport, and had decided that the Rio Botanical Gardens would be the best bet for such a short visit. That suited me fine - any travelling birder will have spent some time in a city-centre Botanic Garden when they’re short of time (I love the ones in Sydney and Cape Town for example) - and they can be pretty good: you won’t see many rarities perhaps, but the birds are often habituated to people and are therefore relatively easy to see, the Gardens are usually safe as there are always staff and people around, and they are accessible - which matters when you’re clock-watching.

Talking of clock-watching, the traffic in Rio is horrible, so give yourself extra time if you’re attempting something similar - but once you struggle through the gridlock and turn into the inconspicuous entrance gate it all gets left far behind and the effort is well worth it. The gardens are well-laid out and quiet - and spread out to the left as you walk in is a chunk of the Tijuca Forest (a remnant of the magnificent Atlantic rainforest that used to line Brazil’s coast before the mad, mad axemen of Europe arrived and wiped it off the face of the earth).

 

The forest seemed a logical section to head for - but before we even reached it we’d virtually tripped over two Slaty-breasted Wood Rails. Normally reticent and unobliging birds, these two were almost showing-off they were so confiding. I must have got some great photos…yeah, if I’d had the camera ready no doubt I would have done…what a dimwit…oh well…

There really wasn’t time to worry about near-misses, and walking on the short path that wanders through the forest we soon had some interesting birds. Palm Tanagers were everywhere, and we had good views of Violet-capped Woodnymph, Black-capped Foliage-gleaner, Creamy-bellied and Rufous-bellied Thrushes, Southern House Wren, Bananaquits, and an usually showy Lesser Woodcreeper.

Lesser Woodcreeper

Overhead were Plain Parakeets and a rather tatty Roadside Hawk. Much head-scratching followed brief views of what seems very likely to have been a White-fringed Antwren, and following a trail into the trees we found two huge and beautiful Channel-billed Toucans. Nothing hugely rare, but highly enjoyable nonetheless…and I finally managed to get a photo of the rail: not as close as the other two, but at least it made me feel slightly better for having missed the other ones…

Slaty-breasted Wood Rail

Going into the more open areas of the Gardens brought a few more birds: Ruddy Ground-dove, Tropical Kingbird and Great Kiskadee were common. Southern Rough-winged Swallows hawked over the water channels with one or two Blue and White Swallows and we saw a Great Egret which saw us before I could line up the camera. Surprisingly we only saw the one “small flycatcher”: a group that’s notoriously difficult to ID this was one of the easier ones - a White-crested Tyrannulet (easily identified, but not easily photographed unfortunately…)

While the birds are great, it was a mammal that was perhaps my favourite “sighting” of the day - I realise this is slightly heretical given that this is a bird blog - but the Common Marmosets that frequent the Gardens are just fascinating animals. Oddly human (which is a very obvious thing to say given our shared genetic pasts) they look like a hybrid cross between monkeys and squirrels: watching one perched on top of a huge jackfruit high over a little valley was wonderful…

Common Marmoset

Common Marmoset on Jackfruit

Jackfruit - Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.

Well, four hours doesn’t really last that long - it does if you’re at the dentist, or if you’ve got a full plane to feed and water and you’ve had no sleep for 24 hours - but not if you’re birding in Rio. Still, better than nothing at all for sure. And right by the car - just to round off the morning - was one of my personal favourites - a Masked Water-tyrant. Again, not a rare bird, but then I’m the bloke who could watch Common Swifts and White-throated Sparrows every day of the year and not get bored…

Masked Water-tyrant

So, it may have been brief, but it was fun - and it’s always good to see Peter, a truly decent bloke! Oh, and just in case I make the birding sound TOO easy, how about a photo I took on the forest path to finish with…?

Peter L-J - “No, I don’t know what that one was either…”

By the way, if you’re going birding in SE Brazil - or anywhere in South America - then check Arthur Grosset’s amazing site: loads of info and loads of photos.

Rio de Janeiro’s Botanical Gardens (Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro) were created in 1808 by the Prince Regent D. João of Portugal as a temporary repository for imported plants, where they could become acclimatized to the tropics. The gardens were opened to the public by his son D. Pedro I in 1821, and about 600,000 people visit every year.
Covering 170ha the Botanical Gardens are home to some 2,600 species of plants. Bromeliads and orchids are prominently featured in their own exhibits. Today the Arboretum has an important role protecting those Brazilian species that are in danger of going extinct. In the Botanical Garden, they are cultivated and prepared for their reintroduction into the wild. In 1937 it was listed as part of the Brazilian Historical Heritage, and in 1992 the Gardens were considered by UNESCO a biosphere reserve.
The Botanical Gardens are open everyday from 8 am to 5 pm. There are two entrances from Rua Jardim Botãnico (Jardim Botanico Street) at numbers 920 and 1008. The entrance at number 1008 gives access to a car park and to the Centro de Visitantes (Visitors Center) that caters for the public in general. Children under 7, senior citizens over 65, handicapped visitors with a companion and students of state and municipal schools do not pay. Information: (21) 2294-9349 and 2239-1497.