Southeast Brazil
Atlantic Rainforest and Cerrado

14 September - 3 October 2006

Custom tour

Leader: Nick Athanas

Birders:
Maris Apse, Mark Cranford, Gavin Edmondstone, Jim Watt

All photos by Nick Athanas
(Right: Frilled Coquette at the Hotel do Ypê)

Update: Jim Watt has kindly provided some of his photos from the tour - click here to see a selection.

The team from Toronto was back for more after there highly successful Ecuador trip in 2004. This time they were hungry for Brazilian specialties like big, beautiful antshrikes, colorful cotingas, and rare "ducks," not to mention a few caipirinhas and churrascurias. We covered a heck of a lot of ground on this trip but it paid off in the end with a terrific set of birds from both the Atlantic Forest and the cerrado grasslands of the interior. We did especially well on antbirds, seeing virtually all the species possible in this area,  including the new "Marsh Antbird" near Sao Paulo, which may soon be described as a new species. Other special highlights were displaying Campo Miners and Ochre-breasted Pipits in the recently burned areas at Canastra, Jonas's amazing bird feeders at Folha Seca (not to mention the pair of Black-legged Dacnis in the forest near his house), the Maned Wolf "show" at Caraça, and nesting Swallow-tailed Cotingas. Thanks to all for such a memorable trip.  Special thanks go to Luis, the local bird guide at Intervales - he knows some great stakeouts there and helped us find some nice birds.

ITINERARY
14 September: Arrival late morning and drive south out of Sao Paulo. Afternoon at Ilha Comprida. Night on Ilha Comprida.
15 September: Morning on Ilha Comprida, afternoon in Carlos Botelho SP. Night Registro.
16 September: Morning in Carlos Botelho SP, afternoon in Intervales SP. Night in Intervales.
17 September: Full day at Intervales. Night in the park.
18 September: Full day at Intervales. Night in the park.
19 September: Morning at Intervales, then drive to Ubatuba. Night Ubatuba.
20 September: Folha Seca and Corcovado. Night Ubatuba.
21 September: Morning at Fazenda Angelim, Afternoon at Perequê. Night Hotel do Ypê.
22 September: Full day in Itatiaia NP. Night Hotel do Ypê.
23 September: Full day in Itatiaia NP. Night Hotel do Ypê.
24 September: Algulhas Negras road, night in Itamonte.
25 September: Early morning on Algulhas Negras road, then drive to Sao Roque. Night Sao Roque.
26 September: Canastra National Park (lower areas). Night Sao Roque.
27 September: Canastra National Park (upper areas). Night Sao Roque.
28 September: Morning at Fernao Dias State Park, afternoon at Serra do Cipó. Night in Cardeal Mota.
29 September: Morning at Cipó, afternoon at Caraça sanctuary. Night in Caraça monastery.
30 September: Early morning at Caraça, then long drive to Guapiassu. Night Guapiassu Bird Lodge.
01 October: Full day in the Reserva Ecologica de Guapiassu (REGUA). Night Guapiassu Bird Lodge.
02 October: Morning at Praia Seca, afternoon at Campos de Jordao. Night Campos de Jordao.
03 October: Morning at Campos de Jordao, afternoon near Mogi das Cruzes. Evening departure from Sao Paulo.

PHOTO GALLERY
Click here if you just want to skip ahead to the list
A selection of some of my favorite photos from the trip. There are a disproportionate number of photos of birds from grassland and cerrado, but that is simply due to the fact that the forest birds are a lot harder to digiscope - small passerines, such as antbirds, rarely sit in the open, but there are rare exceptions - check out the last photo of the set!

We found this singing Yellow-billed Blue-Finch glowing in the early morning light in a patch of cerrado at Serra de Cipó. 

The critically endangered Brazilian Merganser was our most hoped-for bird on our first day in Canastra NP, and once again it was one of the first birds we found as a pair landed in the water as we stopped at a lookout. Later in the day we returned to the same spot and were able to photograph them.

The Cinnamon Tanager is endemic to Brazil, though it is a common bird in non-forest habitats through much of the country. Luckily, this one sat around long enough to be digiscoped.

We were really lucky to have these Golden-capped Parakeets land in a tree nearly right beside us. Another Brazilian endemic, these beautiful parakeets are far outnumbered in the Canastra area by the more common Peach-fronted Parakeet.

This Hellmayr's Pipit was a nice find at Campos de Jordao - It is very local in SE Brazil and it was one of several lifers I had on this tour.

Masked Ducks only occasionally turn up on the wetland at Guapiassu, and most records seem to be of females such as this one. It was the first time I had seen one there, and it was a lifer for one of our party.

Over 65% of the grasslands up on the plateau at Canastra NP had burned a few weeks before our visit. This rare Ochre-breasted Pipit did not seem bothered by it as it  was singing and displaying with great enthusiasm in the newly sprouting grass. He flew high into the sky and then dove down in a spiral giving a wierd humming call. Just before crashing head-first into the ground, he flipped upwards and landed gently, sang for a bit, then repeated the performance.

Plumbeous Kites are definitely seasonal in SE Brazil. I didn't see them at all on my June trips, but we had numerous sightings on this tour.

A definite highlight was finding this nesting Swallow-tailed Cotinga in the picnic area at Caraça. While the female incubated, the male kept watch nearby on a dead tree.

The burn at Canastra made it tricky to find some of the tall grass specialists like this Sharp-tailed Tyrant. We had to drive a long way before finding a patch of unburnt grass.

A subtle beauty, the Versicolored Emerald seems to ripple with a thousand shades of blue and green as it looks back and forth. The amount of white on the underparts varies quite a bit throughout its range - this bird, which was coming to the feeders at the Hotel do Ypê, shows very little.

Normally quite a skulker, this White-shouldered Fire-eye perched in the open for several minutes along the Carmo road at Intervales State Park.

BIRD LIST
This list includes all the bird species that were recorded by at least one of us. Taxonomy and nomenclature follow: Clements, James F. 2000. Birds of the World: A Checklist. Fifth Edition. Vista, CA: Ibis Publishing Co., including updates.

Totals:
456 bird species seen
24 heard only

Abbreviations (threat codes from BirdLife International):
H=Heard only
(I)=Introduced species
(E)=Species endemic to Brazil
(nt)=Considered near-threatened by BirdLife International
(VU)=Considered vulnerable by BirdLife International
(EN)=Considered endangered by BirdLife International
(CR)=Considered critically endangered by BirdLife International