Wasp

This wasp rolls the mud into little balls, inside which it lays the eggs.

Tough competition

The hummingbird and the wasp compete for nectar from the banana-tree flower.

Beauty of the butterfly

Numerous species of the butterflies enhance the beauty of Mato Grosso.

Seed of life

The outer shell opens and reveals the fruit that contains the seed of the new plant.

Lost in time

Just like with passing time, the water and winds erode the mountains, that´s how I am losing the contacts with and the memory of the people that I met through my life. Lost in time.

Carnivorous orchid

Found in Chapada dos Guimaraes plateau.

A flower and a butterfly

Lucky for this butterfly, this flower does not eat butterflies.

A flower from Brazilian Cerrado

This flower blooms directly on the tree-trunk.

Another flower from Chapada dos Guimarães

Ducks in Pantanal

Rains have brought back the flocks of ducks to Pantanal. The mixture of Black-bellied Whistling-Duck - Dendrocygna autumnalis and White-faced Whistling-Duck - Dendrocygna viduata.

Chestnut-eared Araçari

Chestnut-eared Araçari - Pteroglossus castanotis, picking-up the fruit on the Embauva (Cecropia pachystachya) tree.

Chopi Blackbird eating the bee

Chopi Blackbird - Gnorimopsar chopi.

Greater Rhea

Greater Rhea - Rhea americana, the largest Brazilian bird. It is flightless, just like the African Ostrich. It is the male that takes care of incubating the eggs and raising the young ones. Male tries to get as many females as it can to lay the eggs in the nest.

What do egrets eat?

Great Egret

Great Egret - Casmerodius albus.
A frequent visitor to Pantanal.

Sunset over Cuiaba River

Flasher?

Not really. That is how Cocoi Heron - Ardea cocoi cools itself. The cow just happened to be there.

Amazon Kingfisher with the catch

Amazon Kingfisher - Chloroceryle amazona.

People of Mato Grosso

My friend Amauri at his ranch in Mato Grosso.

The team work

Wood Stork - Mycteria americana, these wading birds work in team, hunting for the little water creatures.

Secretive bird

Common Potoo - Nyctibius griseus with the baby. The little one has already learned the trick to stay without moving, posing like an adult. Power of an instinct.

Another jewel of Mato Grosso

Fork-tailed Woodnymph / Thalurania furcata.

Little acrobat

Everyone loves hummingbirds. This is Planalto Hermit - Phaetornis pretrei.

Flowers of Cerrado

There are thousands of verieties of flowers in Cerrado.

Black-collared Hawk

Black-collared Hawk - Busarellus nigricollis holding Piranha, very skilled in catching fish. A common fixture in Pantanal, usually perched on the trees above water looking for the fish.

Another lizard

Colombian Black-and-white Tegu - Tupinambis teguixin, a lizard that can reach the length of 2 meters.

Lizard

Cayman Lizard - Dracaena paraguayensis, large lizard from Pantanal. It can reach 1.3 meters.

Capybara

The largest rodent in Americas, Capybara (Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris) can reach up to 80 kilograms in weight. They live usually in small family groups.

Largest deer in South America

Swamp Deer (Blastocerus dichotomus).

A smile

Actually this Paraguayan Caiman (Cayman crocodilus yacare) is not smiling, just warming up in the sun. There are hundreds of thousands of those animals in Pantanal and they are responsible for controlling the population of Piranhas. It is rather small, length does not exceed 2.5 meters and not dangerous, unless one steps on it.

My first book

"Aves do Pantanal e do Cerrado do Mato Grosso - Birds of Pantanal and Cerrado of Mato Grosso". Published in December 2005 by the local Cuiaba publisher - Carlini & Caniato.

Pollution

Bush burning is one of the major cause of the pollution in Mato Grosse, where there is almost no industry. It causes respiratory problem during the dry season. It creates spectecular sunsets, on the other hand.

Trees of Cerrado

Trees that grow in this ecosystem have developed a natural protection against the fire. They are very short, have very deep roots and their thick "skin" can protect the tree core from the heat of the fire for a short time.

Queimadas

"Queimadas" is a Brazilian word for criminal fires of savanna and forests. After few months without the rain, savanna (Cerrado) becomes very dry and many locals set it on fire. This causes the destruction of the natural cycle. In nature burning happens, but not with the intensity and frequency of the human created problem. Dry grass of Cerrado burns very fast and hot. Often fires stops as quickly as it starts and most trees are not affected, however, this is not always a case (photo).

Deadly beauty

Nobody can deny the beauty of this large bill of Toco Toucan, the largest toucan in Pantanal. However toucan uses this large bill to extracts the eggs and little newborn birds from the nest. The beauty can be deceiving.

126 wooden bridges of Transpantaneira

Transpantaneira Road cuts through the Pantanal of Mato Grosso. To travel through 149 kilometers of this road, it is necessary to cross 126 wooden bridges. Are they safe? Sometimes they fall under the heavy trucks but most cars and trucks pass.

Moriche Palm tree

Moriche Palm tree (Mauritia flexuosa). Those palm groves are formed close to the rivers in Cerrado and are home to many species of the birds, including at least 5 species of macaws.

Simple things in life

Tomorrow will be another day

Tout e rien, rien e tout

Everything is nothing, nothing is everything

Birds do it too...

Wattled Jacana caught in action.

The rainy season

The rainy season started in November and it rains almost every day.

The skies of Chapada dos Guimarães.

The frequent visitor to the sky of the plateau is Swallow-tailed Kite. It soars in the sky and catches and eats the insects in the air without stopping. He often hits the branches of the tree with the talons to shake the insects out of the tree and then catches them in the air.

Tragic end

I was watching the male and female Yellow-chinned Spintail building this nest together. For the better protection from the predators, they built this nest in the bush above the water. They miscalculated the water levels and the flood destroyed their work.

Dedicated to singing.

This little Yellow-chinned Spintail is really dedicated to singing. When it sings, the whole body vibrates to the tune.

Typical house in Pantanal

This is one style of the houses in Pantanal.
During the anunual flooding (between February and May), the water come close to the house.

Family

The girl and her little brother watch their sister helping mother to clean the fish.

Storing the fish

Those baskets immersed in the water are filled with fish to keep them alive. This is the best way to keep fresh fish in the place that lacks electricity.

Simple fisherman shelter

When working away from home, the fisherman builds himself a little shelter.

Fisherman in Pantanal

This fisherman is fishing with simple line. The fish is a main source of proteins for the people of Pantanal. Those living close to the rivers are called "ribeirinhos".

Work or steal?

Neotropic Cormorant is an excellent fisherman, but there is always temptation to steal someone else’s fish. To avoid this, the bird takes off with the fish in his bill, as soon as the other one approaches.