This page will present the changing yearly birdscape to expect when visiting Misiones. If you’d like to review the weather and temperature at different times of the year, see our Weather and Conditions page.
JAN
Hot summer – while people are on vacation, birds are busy feeding their young. Common Potoos guard their growing chicks on unlikely posts.
FEB
One of the first of the Summer visitors to leave are the Plumbeous Kites. They’re normally around till the end of Feb.
MAR
Swallow-tailed Kites collect and call, then form big kettles in preparation to their migration. Many other Summer visitors also leave in March, like Streaked and Variegated Flycatcher, Swainson’s Flycatcher, with Piratic Flycatchers following on soon behind, Thrushes are on the move and Pale-breasted, our common summer breeders, make way for returning Creamy-bellied populations – although both species are present year round.
APR
Winter visitors begin to arrive. Not as numerous as our summer migrants, nonetheless a number of interesting species are here in the winter months, including – for the lucky few – the unmistakeable sound of Bare-throated Bellbird and treetop views of Swallow-tailed Cotinga.
MAY
Blue-and-yellow Tanagers in small numbers till August. Flocks of Hooded Siskin come for thistledown. Flocks of Bay-winged Cowbirds may also appear at this time of year.
JUN
Chestnut-backed Tanager – uncommon winter visitor to Araucrias Park and gardens in winter months, and normally secretive resident antbirds like Giant and Tufted Antshrike can sometimes be seen among bare branches. Good time also for Creamy-bellied Gnatcatcher high in bare trees.
June and July is also the time of the “avocado migration”: normally forest based birds, like Ruby-crowned Tanager, Green-billed Toucan and thrushes, notably the seldom-seen White-necked, come out and feed on the numerous avocado fruits in gardens of San Pedro and elsewhere.
JUL
Golden-rumped Euphonia along with other winter specialities Shear-tailed Tyrant and Sharpbill, possible for the lucky observer in forested areas.
Black Jacobin at feeders in San Pedro, White-vented Violetear and White-throated Hummingbirds in Puerto Iguazu’s Hummingbird Garden.
AUG
Groups of recently-returned Blue-and-white Swallow and Grey-breasted Martins on wires and antennas presage the coming migration. Swallow Tanagers on high snags and first Lowland Hepatic Tanager sightings.
SEP
Swallow-tailed and Plumbeous Kites back. Yellow-billed and Dark-billed Cuckoos. Occasional Solitary Sandpiper along muddy watercourses. Passage migrants, like Barn Swallow and the cassini race of Peregrine Falcon may be glimpsed flying over or momentarily on high towers. Occasional records of North American warblers.
OCT
The month of the returning birds. Fork-tailed and other flycatchers are by now back in force, Tireless Chivi Vireo songs fill the forests and birds generally are breeding and nesting. San Pedro’s only Swallow-tailed Hummingbird stayed 2 weeks, feeding on Ceiba flowers in and around the central plaza, from 3rd October 2015
NOV
Tityras arrive late on in the game and search for abandoned woodpecker nesting holes.
DEC
High summer again – birds breeding and young beginning to appear, while Iguazú’s boardwalks fill up with summer visitiors too!