Pantaneiro of Mato Grosso Pantanal

A Pantaneiro is a sort of Brazilian Cowboy. The word Pantaneiro also refers to a breed of cattle brought to Brazil by the Spanish over 300 years ago. The Brazilian ranches drove de-forestation in Brazil, but they are now working hard to protect the rainforest. As guests we had almost zero contact with the Pantaneiros and herds of cattle and horses. The visitors are housed in separate buildings away from the work of the ranch. Our accommodations are called a posada or pousada.

Black Capped Donacobius & Water Hyacinth

a view from the river, Black Capped Donacobius in Water Hyacinth. My visit to Brazil was timed to coordinate with winter. Winter in Brazil means no rain and the rivers get quite low bringing many animals to a small area. It also means that the Pantanal is easily accessible. The Pantanal is a natural region encompassing the world's largest wetland. During the rainy season 80% of the area is covered by water.

Rufescent Tiger Heron Juvenile

Beautifully camouflaged Juvenile Rufescent Tiger Heron. this heron is quite common in Brazil and is not considered endangered.

Jabiru Storks on Nest

These huge, prehistoric looking storks build very lage nests that grow year by year. It is sunset and one of the pair is on guard as the other brings materials to the nest., You can see the flaming sun reflected on the storks wings and stomach.

Black Crowned Night Heron Juvenile

The striations of this juvenile help her survive by camouflage. The Black Crowned Night heron is the world's most plentiful heron. They usually fly at night, although this captured in the early morning.

Yellow Billed Cardinal Juvenile

The kitchen threw out day old bread crumbs for the birds. They ate every last one. These charming small cardinals ate in a large group and were joined by chopis (blackbirds). They vanished when the crumbs were gone and descended when the crumbs reappeared.

Rufous Hornero

This bird builds a an extraordinary nest, domed and made of mud and straw. The bird pairs do not re-use the nest and it becomes available for other creatures. It is a large ovenbird and lives in second growth scrub and pastureland eating insects it finds on the ground.

Chestnut Eared Aracari

This amazing looker was on the branch because the kitchen gave him the papaya over his head. He made a big hole in it. This is a "backyard bird" for the folks of the Pantanal. He just stayed right where he was and worked on that papaya.

Hyacinth Macaws

Parrots are social creatures and these two birds did everything as an interaction. the Hyacinth Macaws are the largest of the parrots. Their faces and antics make them irresistible. What is not to love about these parrots?

Jaguar Hunting

This jaguar spotted a caiman and started to prepare to leap. The cat is huge, heavy and has a magnificent jaw. They don't make it easy for the photographer, lounging in underbrush until it cools down in early evening before they come into view.

South American jaguar

These astonishingly beautiful and powerful keystone cats are drawn to the river side during the dry winter of the Pantanal. As the sun sinks, the air cools and the cats show interest in the caiman, now plentiful due to the shrinking of the river waters. This is the only extant panthera species native to the Americas. It is the third largest of the big cats. Here he pauses before he leaps.

Jaguar Still Intent on Prey

The jaguar leapt on the caiman but failed to secure him. He has not given up. I feel it is only fair to share that when a jaguar is spotted, more than 20 boats of tourists arrive out of nowhere. In our case a large launch with a BBC film crew and camera on a boom simply floated directly in front of us to get a better view for themselves. We were out there for about 7 hours and I nearly went mad with impotent rage. The crew did make their documentary, but personally I will never forgive them. or bring myself to watch the documentary.

Soaked Jaguar

The jaguar lost his prey, a caiman. He emerged dripping wet from the Cuiaba River.

Lapacho Tree on Forested Island

These glorious trees are the best known floral spectacle in Brazil. All the flowers bloom at once, which prevents birds from eating too many of them before they have done their job of pollination. The blossoms blaze with color.

Jaguar on the Alert

On the river bank watching the caiman activity. Jaguars like water; they hunt in it, swim in it, fish in it and even play in it. I have read that there are stories that people have seen jaguars dangle their tails in the water to catch fish. The word Jaguar comes from the Indian Yaguar which means "he who kills with one leap". They have the strongest jaws of any of the big cats, 2,000 lbs of force.

Jaguar Watching a Caiman

Coming down to the water for a possible attempt on a caiman. These powerful cats are drawn to the river for their food during the Brazilian winter, or dry season. Very late afternoon or early evening, the sun begins to sink and the air cools, this is when the cats show interest any interest in moving. This is the only extant panthera species native to the Americas. It is the third largest of the big cats.

Jaguar Evening

No more sun, this cat took a moment to sniff the greenery. No matter the size of the cat, you will see cat positions and activities that are similar to your house "panther".

Savannah Hawk

I am not familiar with this bird and I found the positions it struck while marching along the shore of the river quite comical. He was, of course, hunting. This hawk is known to walk and hunt.

Giant River Otters or Ari'rana

I had wanted to see these wonderful creatures for over 35 years! They are fabulous and all that can be done to preserve them should be done. About 3000 years ago when the Tupi people first inhabited the Amazon Rainforest they named the animal the Ari'ana, meaning Water Jaguar, and they are as stately and magnificent as those apex-predators.

Giant River Otter

Good Scratch. Good camouflage. The Giant River Otters have cream colored patches on their necks. They use these patches as a means of identification among the group! When they encounter each other they stretch their necks up so they can tell who is who.

Rufous Tailed Jacamar Male

This jewel of a bird sits on an exposed branch close to the river and sallies forth to catch flying insects. Once caught he hits the insect a few times on a branch, to stun it. Then he removes the wings and eats it. Very neat!

Resting Jaguar

For the most part, what we could see was the jaguar resting on the river bank. Like most cats, they spend a lot of time resting, even behaving bored. This shot was captured rather late in the day.

Jaguar Waiting

This is what you see with your eyes when searching for the Jaguar in the Pantanal. The Jaguar, like most cats, takes note of everything - in this case 20 boats filled with tourists- and ignores it. I believe this was the big male missing his right eye. I was told by our guide he was the cat that started recent jaguar tourism. He had a big fight with a caiman that was caught on video, the video went viral and we all came to see him, but I saw this video.

Big Male Jaguar

Here you can see his missing right eye. From the small experience I have had with the big cats in the wild, a missing eye is par for the course. They fight to eat. You can also see his massive head, jaws and shoulders.