Ubatuba Birdwatching Centre

We have just taken delivery of a new stock of T shirts, in all sizes and in two colours, kharki and beige, both suitable for use in the field. The new staff T shirts are a mixture of the two colours.

Elis modelling the new staff T shirts.

The other day as we were feeding the birds at the centre this male Yellow-fronted Woodpecker turned up, they are not uncommon in the area, after all the site is called Pica-Pau (woodpecker in Portuguese), but it was exciting to have one so close and obliging, allowing Elis to take this photo.

Male Yellow-fronted Woodpecker.

Photoraphs on this page copyright Rick and Elis Simpson.

Down at the centre today we had a bit of a spring clean. Elis waxed the floor and I hung some pictures, the ones that David Fisher of the Neotropical Bird Club gave us at the British Birdwatching Fair last year. We had them framed and they look good in the centre. Thanks again David.

Elis doig the 'Spring-cleaning'.

Here are some pictures of the inside of the centre.

Inside the centre.

The library; books, car stickers, badges and craftwork for sale. The plates are painted by one of our volunteers, Odette.

T shirts and caps for sale, plus some of the work done by the children at the Namaskar project which UBWC supports.

Some of Rick's artwork and collection of birding car stickers. Feel free to send your club's sticker for our collection.

Our growing library.

Framed Neotropical Bird Club posters.

We had our Christmas Lunch at the lanchonete, not quite Turkey with all the trimmings but enjoyable nevertheless. The lanchonete will now be open daily providing for the hungry campers, from now until at least the end of Carnaval, which this year falls on the 13th – 16th February. There is of course no reason why visiting birders shouldn’t take advantage of this place to eat and rest whilst still being surrounded by forest.

Tha lanchonete ladies.

The happy campers don’t seem to have deterred the birds, the feeders are still having to be replenished as usual and today a Buff-throated Purpletuft sat and sang over the observation area for five minutes, sadly there was no-one else there to enjoy it, not even campers. We didn’t get a picture of the purpletuft, but our friendly Neotropical River Warbler came to see us and we got a shot of him, he is a regular at the observation area and is getting bolder all the time. He likes to frequent the compost area where we thow the empty banana skins to feed on the insects that gather there.

The centre's bold Neotropical River Warbler.

All photos on this page copyright Rick and Elis Simpson.

We have just received the two volumes of Ridgley and Tudor’s Birds of South America (The passerines). These two books are a very welcome addition to our growing library. The amont of information stored within them is tremendous. Our grateful thanks go once again to Luiz Carlos Ribenboim.

Birds of South America, vols I & II by Ridgley and Tudor.

We hope one day that our collection will be recognised as it grows and that we will be able to supply people, who are unable to get access to these works, with the information they seek from them via e-mail or by post.

Being a birdwatching centre has some unusual spin-offs. Unexpectedly a few weeks ago a member of the public turned up with a baby Tropical Screech-Owl in a bag. He had rescued the bird from a group of children that had been playing with it. Not knowing from whence the creature came, and therefore where its mother might be, or even if she was alive, he decided to bring it to us.

Molly the day she arrived at the UBWC.

He said he had managed to feed it on meat and chicken, and indeed she seemed delighted to take our expensive steak, however, this is not the normal diet of a Tropical Screech-Owl. So ensued the daily routine of catching grasshoppers, crickets, moths and other unfortunate insects whilst about our business at the centre, in order to give the bird a more natural diet.

That steak went down well!

I dislike anthropromorhising wild creatures, but somehow or other the bird ended up with the name Molly-Wol, Molly for short. As she grew and shed her downy chick feathers, she started to flap her wings and fly from one end of the cage to the other, and started catching any small creature that was unfortunate enough to stray into her cage. When she dropped an insect, or we put one in the cage she pounced on it with enthusiasm displaying a natural ability to feed herself.

Juicy grasshopper, that's better.

Eventually we decided she was ready for the big wide world. Our only concern was whether she was able to fly strongly enough. We needn’t have worried. Her first free flight was even and controlled and lasted for about 20 metres. We watched her for a while, released some grasshoppers near to her and waited to see what would happen.

Having a good look around.

Naturally with all the new sights and sounds she resolutely ignored the grasshoppers, and she eventually moved off into the forest on silent, steady wings, alighting perfectly and not with the awkwardness of youth. Then she was gone, silently into the night, her passing was marked by the eerie lament of a Common Potoo, as if welcoming her back into the wild. The Potoo by the way was a new record for the Centre.

Good luck Molly, farewell.

All photos copyright Rick and Elis Simpson.

The Namaskar project is an NGO set up in a poor district of the town, butting right up against the forest, to help underpriviliged children. One of our volunteers, Odette, has been working there with the kids for some time, and this year she invited us to try and spread the conservation message to the children. Being so close to the forest, it is inevitable that conflict between human interests and wildlife occur. The killing of birds for fun and the trapping of birds is commonplace. It is for this reason that we agreed to be involved, hopefully persudaing the next generation that birds, and wildlife in general, are not there to be abused but to be enjoyed, untouched, now and in the future. We had a couple of field trips with the children, we have visited the project from time to time to encourage them in their work, and a group from the project performed at the inauguration of the UBWC. Today we were invited to their Christmas ‘party’. The party was due to take place at the UBWC but the weather has been so bad recently the venue was changed to the Namaskar Project building. Rick re-inforced the conservation message with help from Elis and of course Odette. The children seemed to respond well and entered into the discussion with enthusiasm. Photograph copyright Namaskar Project, Ubatuba.

Elis, Rick and Odette with some of the children.