Southeast Brazil: Atlantic Rainforest and Savanna
17 September – 5 October 2011
Tour leader: Nick Athanas
Report and photos by Nick Athanas

This tour was truly, well, “elemental”. Fire for the raging wildfires closed Canastra National Park, sadly costing us a number of good birds. There were signs of fire almost everywhere we went in Minas Gerais; we even watched Three-toed Jacamars in a forest quite literally burning around us. Water for the torrential rains that began the day we left Canastra, the first in six months (but too late for us), as well as rainy days at Ubatuba and Guapiassu. Air for the gale-force winds that buffeted us on the wide open (and also recently burned) plains of the Cipó range, making our search for the endemic canastero almost a fool’s errand, though it did make it onto the list, if just barely. Earth for the billowing clouds of dust from dirt roads that hadn’t seen any rain in months, covering us and our gear and the car

This may paint a horrible picture, but in between these onslaughts, the birding was often fantastic, sometimes bordering on the miraculous. We ended with a higher than average triplist, leaving me to wonder what we could have gotten with better weather. Antbirds once again behaved spectacularly, with 33 species of all shapes, sizes, and colors all showing well. We also saw terrific cotingas, all the antthrushes, and even a couple of antpittas for half of the group. The latter part if the trip was also filled with several very surprising sightings, such as a Chestnut-capped Foliage-gleaner in a burning city park in Belo Horizonte, a trio of Spot-backed Puffbirds at the base of the Serra do Cipó (at the very edge of their range), and a pair of Checkered Woodpeckers not far from there.

Intervales was stunning as usual with the highlight being the ultra-rare Helmeted Woodpecker, my favorite of the tour, not to mention ridiculous numbers of Black-fronted Piping-Guans, a perched Mantled Hawk, and an unbelievable Pavonine Cuckoo that we could literally walk right up to. Rain at Ubatuba didn’t slow us down much and we saw nearly everything we could have hoped for, though I’ll never forget waiting in that clearing and having patience and optimism rewarded when it briefly and almost miraculously cleared, and two majestic White-necked Hawks soared up over the ridge. The wet weather also made Jonas’s feeders better than I have ever seen them before with 14 hummers visiting and an astounding number of hungry tanagers devouring bananas in a whirlwind of color.

We stopped by Perequê for Black-hooded Antwren, swung past Rio, and reached Guapiassu where rain once again reared its ugly head, perhaps costing us Shrike-like Cotinga, though that isn’t really a bird we can expect every time despite our recent luck with it. The wetland birds didn’t mind the rain and we had nice views of the likes of Rufous-sided Crake, Masked Duck, and Chestnut-capped Blackbird.

We had a near total cleanup of Pico da Caledonia including three cotingas (Gray-winged, Black-and-gold, and Swallow-tailed), then headed on to Itatiaia NP, making a little detour for Restinga Antwren and various shorebirds, terns,  and waterbirds. After our good luck in the higher elevations, we were really just filling in holes, so concentrated on tough birds like Such’s and Rufous-tailed Antthrushes, Itatiaia Spinetail, Black-capped Piprites, and Southern Antpipit with decent success. The Saffron Toucanets at the feeders were also a definite bonus!

Onward to Minas Gerais and the savanna part of trip. Our travel day was livened up by an energetic pair of Streamer-tailed Tyrants (video here), Red-legged Seriemas, and a surprisingly good set of hummer feeders at an auto repair shop with Stripe-breasted Starthroat, White-vented Violetear and others.

Canastra was disappointing due to the aforementioned fire, and to add insult to injury the Brazilian Mergansers never put in an appearance despite an unprecedented search, only the second time in 11 visits I have failed to find it (though we could not access some of the best sites due to the fires). That’s not to say it was a waste of time – I targeted everything I could think of to make up for the lost birds, and we had nice sightings of the likes of Saffron-billed Sparrow, Blue Finch, Helmeted Manakin, Rusty-margined Guan, Rufous-winged Antshrike, King Vulture, Golden-capped Parakeet, Great Dusky Swift, and many others.

We left Canastra as the skies opened up. We were glad of the rain even if it was too late for us, and this was especially highlighted at a stop at a city park near Belo Horizonte that had been partly burned down – we watched Three-toed Jacamars, Orange-headed Tanagers, and even a rare Chestnut-capped Foliage-gleaner even as the fire still smoldered and hissed in the rain.

The Caraça Monastery once again hosted a very hungry wild Maned Wolf, and we targeted endemics like Serra Antwren, Gray-backed Tachuri, and Pale-throated Pampa-Finch. It was still wet and foggy, but luckily we had done well at Intervales and Itatiaia and did not need much there. Astop en route to the Serra do Cipó got us a surprise trio of Spot-backed Puffbirds as well as Pale-bellied Tyrant-Manakin, and the Cipó area was still productive despite brutal winds. The canastero was a nightmare to find and was probably seen well only by me, but lower down where the wind was a little bit lighter we did find Hyacinth Visorbearer, Horned Sungem, and White-rumped Tanager, and we had a great evening of nightjars with Spot-tailed, Band-winged, and Little all seen in only about 15 minutes.

Forgive me for the short report, but my schedule is insane right now and this was all I could manage before my next tour. As usual it was  a very memorable tour and I look forward to doing it again next year!

BIRD LIST
This list includes all the bird species that were recorded by at least one of the group, including the leader. Taxonomy and nomenclature follow: Clements, James F. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. Sixth Edition, 2007, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, including all updates through December 2010.

Totals:
459 bird species seen
23 heard only

Abbreviations:
H=Heard only
(I)=Introduced species
(E)=Species endemic to Brazil