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VOLTA VELHA RESERVE near Itapoa 
BRAZIL

SANTA CATARINA (near), (Compass)

Lat:00o00´S/00o00´W ha topography msl 
Protected/registered status 
Best Time for visit (18th December, 2006)

 

Birding Site Guide

This excellent private reserve is located just a few kms from Itapoa, a seaside resort in Santa Catarina state. I visited on a day trip from Joinville from where there is a direct bus, but it would be better to stay in Itapoa or even better in the reserve itself. The bus from Joinville left at 9:30am cost 13R and took about an hour and a half. I found the reserve following the instructions on www.arthurgrosset.com which were however for people with their own car. The bus driver hadn't heard of the reserve but one of the passengers had. The bus reaches the coast before Itapoa, goes left and then doubles back towards the right. On the website it says the name of the reserve is painted on a wall after several kms but I found that there was a poster instead. The road takes a right at the poster, then left straight away. For the reserve don't go left but instead straight ahead, away from the sea. After 3km you get to a bridge over a small river, then past some cleared land with young palmito palms planted. The road ends at the reserve where there are some buildings. 

When I got there (about midday) there was nobody at the reception but a worker approached me. He was very friendly and said it was no problem entering the reserve as long as they knew I was there and when I left (for safety reasons). Follow the signs towards the trails and then left at a house with a huge grass roof. This track goes through palmito, then excellent forest but there were many mosquitoes when I was there. I only birded a few hours in the middle of the day but still saw some good birds like Azure Jay, Unicolored Antwren, Mouse-colored Tapaculo and Restinga Tyrannulet, and heard Yellow-legged Tinamou and Bare-throated Bellbird. At the spot described for Kaempfer's Tody-Tyrant (1.2km into the forest, just before the river and a few hundred metres further on) I heard some strange nasal calls that could have been the bird. The reserve is definately worth birding at least a couple of mornings, preferably when there are fewer mosquitos. 


I saw 71 species including 3 lifers 
Species seen 


Other Fauna 
A total of -- species of mammals. 

There are -- recorded species of amphibians and reptiles. 

Flora 

Author: Charles Hesse

 

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