The Introtours are designed for people who enjoy a more relaxed trip, based in just one or two lodges. This one visits the beautiful rainforests on the slopes of the Serra dos Orgãos mountain range. We are based for five of the nights in the excellent Guapi Assu Bird Lodge, at the base of the mountains and in a large 18,500 acre (7,400 ha) nature reserve, while two nights will be spent at a hotel up in the mountains.

Day 1: Arrival. After a morning arrival in Rio de Janeiro, we’ll drive about two hours northeast to Guapi Assu. After settling into our rooms, we’ll have time for some easy afternoon birding around the wetlands near the lodge. We’ll look for some neat birds like Long-billed Wren, Aplomado Falcon, Ash-throated Crake, White Woodpecker, and Tail-banded Hornero.

Day 2: Guapi Assu. After breakfast, we’ll drive about 20 minutes to the start of a forest trail, where we can bird our way to a beautiful waterfall and have a picnic lunch. The forest is full of birds and with patience we will find many of them like Spot-billed Toucanet, Spot-breasted Antvireo, Unicolored Antwren, Scaled Antbird, Shrike-like Cotinga, Blue Manakin, Southern Antpipit, and Azure-shouldered Tanager.

Day 3: Guapi Assu. Another day to enjoy the forest trails. This time we will probably take a jeep to a trail that is several hundred meters higher in elevation and good for mixed-species flocks. Some birds we could see up here include Grayish Mourner, Bare-throated Bellbird, Ochre-breasted Foliage-gleaner, Streak-capped Antwren, Eastern Striped-Manakin, Eared Pygmy-Tyrant, and White-bibbed Antbird. In the afternoon we may bird the wetlands again or try a different trail.

Day 4: Sumidouro. We’ll take a full day-trip to some drier forests on the other side of the mountain range. Forest patches still support small populations of the endangered Three-toed Jacamar, and Blue-winged Macaws usually fly over in the morning, but we'll also take time to look for some of the distinctive open-country species like Red-legged Seriema, Firewood-gatherer, Streamer-tailed Tyrant, and Whistling Heron. We end the day near the town of Nova Friburgo, where we spend two nights in a mountain hotel with great feeders.

Day 5: Pico Caledonia. This 2200m (7200ft) is the highest mountain around, and we'll make use of a 4WD to drive a long way up it. The treeline forest is home to one of the world's rarest birds, the Gray-winged Cotinga, one of the state's three endemic birds. Even though this is the best place to see it, we still need some luck. A trip up here is still worthwhile for the high elevation birds that we won't see elsewhere such as Rufous-tailed Antbird, Serra do Mar Tyrannulet, Diademed Tanager, and perhaps even Itatiaia Thistletail.

Day 6: Macae de Cima. Not far from our hotel there is a private reserve with superb hummer feeders that attract Scale-throated Hermit, Black Jacobin, White-throated Hummingbird, and others. The wide entrance track also provides easy birding for higher-elevation species such as Black-and-gold Cotinga, Hooded Berryeater, Brassy-breasted Tanager, and Bertoni's Antbird. In the afternoon, we return to Guapiassu Bird Lodge for another two nights.

Day 7: Atlantic Coast. A two-hour drive takes us to the Atlantic coast where we target another of Rio's endemics, the critically endangered Restinga Antwren. This bird is restricted to the rapidly-vanishing coastal scrub east of the city of Rio de Janeiro. We look for this bird right next to the sea, where we will also see Brown Boobies, Magnificent Frigatebirds, and a variety of terns. We usually return to Guapiassu for lunch, and half another afternoon to bird around the reserve.

Day 8: Departure. We need to return to Rio to catch our flights home, but time permitting we will take a detour to the Serra dos Orgaos National Park to look for some of the montane species we may have missed, such as Brazilian Antthrush and Mouse-colored Tapaculo.

Tour Info:

CLIMATE: Hot in the lowlands, cool in the mountains. Rain likely.

DIFFICULTY: Easy to moderate. The walking is not usually difficult, but there is one two-mile roundtrip hike at Guapi Assu, and getting to the top of Pico Caledonia involves walking up a very steep, cobbled road. Several early starts are necessary.

ACCOMMODATION: Very good, but two of the rooms at Guapi Assu share a bathroom. Single rooms cannot be guaranteed at Guapi Assu, but no single supplement is charged here.