Rheally hungry

The Pantanal is home to the greater rhea (rhea americana). This is a large flightless bird, reaching a height of about 1.7 metres. Rheas are omnivorous, eating a variety of different things, from lizards and grasshoppers to fruits and broad-leafed plants. With the recent floods, we have enjoyed watching these curious birds as they wade through fields of water, plucking leaves from plants and tossing them in their mouths.

Tiger heron family

During the last few months, our lodge has been home to a family of rufescent tiger herons (tigrisoma lineatum). The herons made a nest on the branch of a tree, 3 or 4 metres above the river inlet beside our lodge.
This species of heron gets its name from the white and black lines on its front, which resemble the lined pattern of a tiger. These birds are often found wading attentively beside a body of water. They are carnivorous and have a varied diet, taking fish, reptiles, insects, crustaceans and molluscs. The photo below shows an adult tiger heron gulping down a water snake which it plucked from the shallow waters of a lake.


We were interested to see how the 2 juvenile tiger herons from the nest stayed very close to it, even when they were old enough to fly away. The photos below show one of the juveniles sitting on the nest and the other juvenile standing on a branch just metres from the nest. Notice the difference in their markings from the adult.