The mid-winter month of July can be a very exciting time for birding at REGUA. An influx of winter visitors to the area, in addition to many species moving to lower elevations for the cooler winter months, mean that at this time of year unusual species can be found, and the REGUA wetland is a good place to watch.

The avian highlight of the month must be the 3 female Comb Ducks that appeared at the wetland for just 15 minutes on 23rd. Sadly they haven’t been seen since.

Another excellent record at the wetland came in the form of a Stygian Owl heard calling for over 10 minutes on 15th, the 2nd record for REGUA, and to the best of our knowledge only the 3rd record for Rio de Janeiro State!

The male Sungrebe continued to show well at the wetland all month, and the much more elusive female also put in an appearance on the 8th (potential future breeders?). Other notable records at the wetland include a Giant Antshrike on the 5th, 12 Azure-shouldered Tanager over on the 5th, a White-necked Thrush on the 6th, 1 Great Black-Hawk on 19th and 2 Masked Duck on 25th.

Situated at the edge of the wetland, the lodge garden produced a couple of notables – a male House Sparrow briefly on 3rd and 2 Giant Cowbirds on 15th (both ‘firsts’ for the garden), and a female Chestnut-bellied Euphonia visiting the feeders from the 8th is further testament to the success of the reforestation around the lodge and the wetland.

Highlights from elsewhere around the reserve include a pair of Red-ruffed Fruitcrows in a fruiting tree along the Brown Trail on 3rd, a female Sooty Grassquit along the Brown Trail on 5th (the first record for this trail), 4+ Yellow-legged Thrush on the Brown Trail on 5th (a very good count for this trail), a male Shrike-like Cotinga on the Brown Trail on 7th (records are getting closer and closer to the lodge!), and at Waldenoor 1m Frilled Coquette and a Planalto Woodcreeper were present on 10th.

Several excellent spot-lighting excursions led by Adilei in July produced extremely close views of small numbers of Giant Snipe on the the ground by torch-light, along with Scissor-tailed Nightjar, Spot-tailed Nightjar, Common Potoo, Tropical Screech-Owl, and Burrowing Owl. Also just outside the reserve, a Streamer-tailed Tyrant was a notable sighting on 18th.

Finally, an intriguing sighting was made this month by one of our rangers, Antonio, who spotted a Black-fronted Piping-Guan feeding from a fruit tree. Presumably one of the 10 birds introduced at REGUA in 2008, this is the first sighting since 2010 and this bodes well for the forthcoming introduction of a further 40 birds as part of the SAVE Brasil Projeto Jacutinga reintroduction programme.