Northeast Brazil - Part 1

Band-tailed Manakin

Northeast Brazil is among the best locations for endemic birds species and a must go destination for serious birders. And as I'm writing this after the conclusion of the trip I can say it lived up to the billing. Susan and I have seen about half the bird species in the world and still got nearly 300 life birds on the trip. Amazing. And the total species seen in three weeks was 537 species putting it among the best we've done anywhere in the world for this length of trip. For those who wish to drill down to the details, here is a link to the complete eBird trip report:

Trip Report

Traveling in Brazil was great, with very friendly people and good food. We were joined on the trip by good friends Nancy and Linda. Our primary guide was Ciro Albano, co-founder of Brazil Birding Experts [link]. Ciro's skills are as good as any guide we've been with - intimate knowledge of the locations and habitat, instant identification of every sound in the forest, keen eyes to find the bird no matter how buried it was in the foliage, and a hard working and friendly personality. Ciro brought Lucas, another BBE guide as our second driver (2 cars). How about that, four birders and two exceptional guides. We couldn't have been in better hands. 

This trip requires a lot of traveling by car to get to all the great birding locations. Brazil is a huge country, and even after 4,300 miles of driving we still only saw a fraction. The habitats were varied along the route, including Caatinga (dry forest), Cerrado (savannah), mountain humid forest islands, and the Atlantic Rain Forest of the coast. Some of the rarest birds in the world live along this route. The major locations for the trip are in the map below. The map included in the trip report above shows more detail. 

Day 1 - Fortaleza to Guaramiranga. We flew into the coastal city of Fortaleza the day before the tour started and got ourselves settled. Early the next morning Ciro and Lucas arrived and we were off. First stop, the coastal mangrove forests south of Fortaleza for two life rails that are tough to get - Little Wood-Rail and Mangrove Rail - along with lots of other great birds. Then we were off to a mountain island in the Caatinga forest and Guaramiranga for the afternoon. Here we would see one of the most endangered parakeets in the world - Gray-breasted Parakeet. 

Flying into Fortaleza

Ciro scans for rails on the coast

Heading into the Gray-breasted Parakeet Reserve

Mangrove Rail

Gray-breasted Parakeet

Ceara Gnateater

Rufous-breasted Leaftosser

White-browed Guan

On a personal note, my beloved Dodgers were in the midst of the World Series as we began the trip. So with streaming and good wifi, all was good in the world. Even if the games didn't start until 9 pm local time. I might have been a little bleary-eyed on a few early birding mornings...

Day 2 - Guaramiranga to Quixadá. We started the day in the humid forests around Guaramiranga and found lots more birds. Then it was time to drive down into the Caatinga habitat proper. Just looking you'd think there wasn't a bird to be found in this dry forest habitat. At the time we were there it was dry season and most of the trees looked like sticks. When it rains the trees bounce back immediately and leaf out. But birds there were, and lots of them. Somehow they find the food they need even in the dry season. 

The humid forest of Guaramiranga

The lodge at Quixadá

Dry Caatinga forest

Gould's Toucanet

Buff-breasted Tody-Tyrant

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

White-naped Jay

White-naped Jay

Pygmy Nightjar

Day 3 - Quixadá to Potengi. A bit of morning birding before we drove on to Potengi and Sítio Pau Preto, a small family reserve for Caatinga birds. It was a lovely stay at a small lodge on the property, complete with small pond and feeders. The birding was fantastic. 

Caatinga scenery

Lodge feeders

Linda says hello to one of the lodge guans

Dry caatinga birding

Pale Baywing

Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture

White-tufted Marmoset

Campo Troupial

Pileated Finch

Great Kiskadee

Swallow-tailed Hummingbird

White-naped Jay

Red-cowled Cardinal

There is obviously lots more to come, but I'll leave it here for now. I'm writing this post as I sit in São Paulo waiting for a plane back to the US. More soon...